Spelman’s Independent Scholars (SIS) Program, Directed by African American Sites of Memory project staff member Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles  is a two-semester independent, interdisciplinary and intergenerational learning experience open to students across all majors. In SIS, we enhance our critical writing and critical thinking skills. In weekly seminars we share our research, sharpen our skills and grow in knowledge about oral history. In addition to learning sessions with the SIS faculty mentor, we are privileged to lectures by guest scholars including a gerontologist, two oral historians, a museum curator, an archivist and a physician-researcher in traditional knowledge.  The SIS scholars have produced two volumes of   "Their Memories, Our Treasure: Conversations With African American Women of Wisdom." The volume contains life stories of  African American women of the South, ranging in age from 60 to 104. Dr. Gloria Wade Gales will draw upon her SIS experience and efforts to inform the  Second Life virtual experiences of the historical markers in Philadelphia. More information on the SIS program is available at the SIS Website.

The Information, Technology and Society Research  Group (ITSRG)  recently debuted its space on Second Life. Currently, ITSRG's virtual offices are currently located on Sbarro Health Research Organization’s (SHRO) island. SHRO’s virtual reality has been highlighted as a state- of-the- art example of how to conduct research across multiple locations using conference capabilities of Second Life. ITSRG has partnered with SHRO to establish Temple University’s Second Life Working Group, which has collaborated to develop the African American Sites of Memory space on Second Life. The African Sites of Memory SIM will be accessible through ITSRG's space on Second Life.

This past summer, students enrolled in the BITS summer intensive program had the opportunity to learn more about their own histories by visiting some of the African Sites of Memory in Philadelphia and by creating web-interactive maps of the entire marker collection.

The African American Sites of Memory Portal Project builds upon The African American Memory Module developed as part of the BITS program is this project builds on a currently funded National Science Foundation grant called Building Information Technology Skills (BITS).

The BITS program has engaged over 500 high school students, North Philadelphia community members and Temple University students and faculty to use of geographic information technologies to interpret local landscapes, cultural history, and local community development. Information technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS), social media web applications, digital design applications, and e-communications applications were integrated into the overall educational and research design of the program. 

The BITS program developed a curriculum and educational materials related to the theme of African American memory in which students connected archival research in the Blockson Collection with digital photo-documentation of local landscapes and online reporting through the use of blog applications (such as blogspot.com).

This led to the implementation of a summer intensive educational enrichment program in 2008 that specifically engaged middle school students in learning how to use geographic information technologies to explore several of the city’s African American historical markers. The summer program guided them through activities designed to introduce them to archival research associated with the markers, conduct real world observations of the markers in their local context, and create online representations of the markers.

To read more about the summer program please visit the ITSRG Blog HERE.