RaceMatters SitePlan
RaceMatters.org
is a web portal intended to encourage and provide
inspiration and tools for racial reconciliation.
It has information about racial matters throughout
America and the world, both historical and current.
However, our most important purpose is to provide
information about people and organizations whose
efforts are helping to achieve racial reconciliation in
Palm Beach County, Florida and to serve as a
resource for them.
Here are some thoughts that describe the perspective in which this effort was begun.
- We believe that racial prejudice and the problems
that stem from it are among the most important problems
in America and the world.
- We do not think it is useful to say it is a black problem
or a white problem. It is a problem we are all hurt by,
it is complex, and a multitude of solutions will be needed.
- We believe that we can make a difference by
making information readily available that will publicize
constructive effort and provide inspiration and tools.
- We believe that multi-cultural and ecumenical efforts
and the appreciation of diversity are an essential context
for dealing with racism.
- We believe that children are the very most important
part of a strategy for racial reconciliation. We
will give importance to efforts directed to improving
the well-being of children, especially children at risk.
This effort has been underway for more than a year
with encouragement from Commissioner Mary McCarty,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAMPU,
and from Pastor Ben Williams of Lighthouse Ministries of Boca Raton.
People with technical skills in remote locations have been
coordinating their efforts to fulfill this vision. The text included
here is from an on-line database wherein we have been coordinating our work.
As work continues, this information is constantly updated and
serves as documentation and priorities for continuing work.
This document is a work program.
It may need to be rewritten for use as a funding proposal.
(this report was created 4/21/07 16:08)
BACKGROUND
Phase I of this effort has been documented at
www.qkw.com/rmpd/RM-PhaseI.htm.
A vision of a web-based portal providing a vast amount of information about race relations
and ready access by means of a search engine was described. Twelve companies were asked to
estimate costs for realizing the vision. Seven companies made proposals ranging up to $500,000
of development cost. All those proposals would put considerable burden on us to manage the web portal.
So, an alternative plan was developed whereby our portal would be tucked under the wing
of an existing general purpose portal leaving us responsible for ensuring that we get
all the content into it that we want.
(A great deal of the content we want is not on the web.)
There will also be additional needs we will have that a general purpose portal might not have.
We are now seeking funding to move us into the next phase of our work.
RaceMatters.org
is in continual development and was last updated on April 28, 2002.
So far, for demonstration and discussion purposes, we have identified
772
resource items, we have a search engine, and we have a well developed work program.
Our Frame of Reference
A very good expression came out of the TAMPU retreat
(which was first said by Robert Theobald), "think globally and act locally".
We are thinking globally by seeking information on a broad array of subjects that bear on racial and cultural subjects.
Our subjects include community development, workforce development,
child care and racial and multi-cultural matters. Our program planning will be
"acting locally" as it will be devoted to undoing racism and
valuing diversity, especially in Palm Beach County.
We believe that the global perspective is essential to good program planning.
TAMPU expects to create objective measurement of the
extent to which it accomplishes its objectives.
That requires focussed program planning and good information.
Because of TAMPU's desire for objective measurement,
we will give special importance to objective information like the
U.S. Census,
the
Community Indicators Survey by the Knight Foundation
and
Taking America's Pulse,
a recent publication from the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ).
We expect to create a database of statistical information in order to make it easier to access.
CONTENT
We have articulated six types of information that belong in our Resource Center.
- ideas for action or for progam planning
- good research based information providing insight
- journey (personal discovery)
- inspiration (poetry, anecdotal stories, spiritual matters)
- local (Palm Beach County, or southeast Florida)
- background (historical)
Content can be of many types, including text, photos, maps, videos, film, CD and DVD.
All will be identified and managed in our digital catalogue.
A great deal of our content will be entirely available from our digital archives.
Some of our resources will be of types that must be "checked out" (as from a lending library).
Content Policy
Our content policy should be shaped by an Editorial Board led by TAMPU.
Since we do not yet have an Editorial Board, the following is a starting point.
- This portal began with information related to racial reconciliation.
It seemed obvious that historical and current new information
were very relevant, and that a broad sense of what "race" means was
useful. Some scholars say that there is no scientific basis for
race, but that it is a fabrication of humankind.
So, whatever is called "race", we are treating as "race".
It also soon became evident that organizations affected by race oriented
legislation have a place here, and that organizations dedicated to
improving conditions for disenfranchised people belong here, especially
since disenfranchisement has often been said to be a result of racial
discrimination. Thus,
community development corporations (CDC's)
belong here.
Clearly, children are a special concern. Sometimes a story will not seem
to be about race. Perhaps it is here to help us understand people who are
affected by race. Religious perspectives belong here provided
diversity is respected.
The spirit of this portal is one of free exchange with respect
for diverse perspectives and beliefs. Any content which does
not appear to respect this spirit should be reported to the
WebSteward for possible removal. The discretion of the WebSteward and
the RaceMatters Editorial Board will prevail in any dispute.
Appeals will be considered when someone differs with the decision of the
WebSteward and the RaceMatters Editorial Board.
Any content of this website which appears to be published material
must be posted here in its entirety unless it is excerpted by its
author or with permission of the author. This does not apply to
quotes from published material which are presented as part of
another document.
Generally, if content is published in general media we will
initially assume that the reputation of the publisher is assurance
of it being worthy of our presentation. If there are objections
to the content, or if our later review warrants, it will be removed.
Sometimes a sensitive story will appear in our webpages and someone
will want the other other side of the story to be presented. That is
a reasonable request, provided both sides are presented in a factual,
informative and reasonable way.
We need to find a way so that pages which speak a cause or which
seek to convince are evident as such and not confused with news or
other content which is intended to inform. Our policy on this
will evolve. Our general tone is to be informative, not to be advocates.
This portal will operate like other portals in that content
from other web sources or media will be cached for ease of
indexing and to prevent its loss. Copyright, author and photographer
credits and a hyperlink will be provided to the source site or document
whereever possible. This policy will need to be developed further
as we evolve. Perhaps we should routinely generate correspondence
to any copyright holder asking permission. We need to get some expert
help on this.
Lastly, this web portal is made possible by rapidly advancing technology.
To help us keep abreast of it, we may include some material about the technologies that may help us.
Content Sources
So far we have been gathering resources in an experimental manner
to develop our procedures for managing a digital library and to provide
a means whereby TAMPU people can discuss how our Resource Center should develop.
We have been careful to identify our sources and to give full credit
to the writers and publishers whose material we are gathering.
We are encouraged in this by the practice of all internet search engines
to "cache" content so that they can index it and so they can provide it
if the original source moves it or removes it from the web.
However, we do need to develop our policy on this and we need to make
sure it is legally sound. When this policy is developed, some of our
content may be removed from the web. It is expected that some media,
especially local newspapers, will become "partners" to our effort and
will therefore be happy with our use of their material.
- Print sources we have been using most frequently....
- Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
- Palm Beach Post.
- Miami Herald.
- New York Times.
- Washington Post.
- Baltimore Sun.
- Voice of America. VOA is an important source of unbiased news for people throughout the world.
The quality of reporting is very high and very thorough.
It is non-partisan and frank, even about the political problems of U.S. leadership.
It's content is not copyrighted. VOA is forbidden by an act of Congress to distribute its material
in the United States. However, the VOA content can be freely distributed by any group other than VOA.
This makes it possible for RaceMatters.org to provide full coverage on any news items
that have bearing on race relations and cultural diversity without copyright concerns.
Voice of America includes photographs which are also copyright free.
Sensitive Content
- We include some "sensitive" items that some visitors might prefer not to see.
These include stories about historical racial events and current or recent
hate crimes and examples of racist literature. Some viewpoints might be
objectionable to some. People who are seeking ideas for useful social action
or for inspiration should be allowed to not be confronted with resources
deemed "sensitive", while other visitors may feel these "sensitive items"
are essential to free speech or to an accurate record of history.
One solution would be to say "ValuingDiversity.org" has access to everything
in RaceMatters.org except "sensitive items".
Another solution will be to build selectivity into the database that supports
our search engine.
The proper solution is yet to be developed.
Content We'd Like to Find
- There is a process of cultural evolution which should keep
us from being arrogant about what we perceive as the travesties
of other cultures. The concept of civil rights did not exist
before the Magna Carta in 1215 (date?). Civil rights were not
widely respected in this country until the latter half of the
20th Century. Abuses of civil rights have often been a matter of
public policy in America, even in the second half of the 20th Century.
In the 19th Century the advantages of the rich and powerful
were so great that the term "Robber Baron" has some respect from a
historical viewpoint. Similar abuses exist today, and we
forgive powerful abusers more readily that we forgive lesser crimes
committed by people without priviledge or power. The value of
a statement along these lines is that it might help us avoid
arrogance when we are aghast at some practices in other cultures.
There must be some literature to provide insight into how one of
the most scientific, artistic and commercially successful civilizations has become
a billion people with such a high level of hatred for America.
An example is the
New York Times story on November 8, 2001
of the surprising consequences of inheritance practices in the Muslim religion.
Partnerships
Partnerships of many sorts are thought to be an important idea for the
development of TAMPU. Our Resource Center might be designed with
at least two types of partnerships being essential. One would be our
partnerships with the media so that as we use their information we
use it in a way acceptable to them. A second type of partnership
is with the people who are contributing to our technology.
All effort thus far has been pro bono, and great progress has been
made. It is TAMPU's purposes that our Resource Center will
serve and it is the community of people involved in TAMPU who should
guide our work. Furthermore, it is expected that funding will become
available to our effort because of the community ownership of our
project. Nevertheless, our technical people are
contributing in an exceptional way and those contributions should
not be overlooked. Out of pocket costs during the first
year have been advanced by Carl House and by APL2000, Inc.
Many hours have been contributed by Bill Parke and Adrian Smith.
And Adrian Frost and Jonathan Manktelow are beginning to be
contributors of talent as well. We hope Tom O'Brien and the
Executive Committee will help us develop proper relationships in this regard.
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
- Essential requirements:
- it must work well for people with low tech home computers.
- we must build onto existing technology for this to be affordable.
- this facility must be self-maintaining to the extent possible.
- we must provide for policing its links to weed out obsolete links.
- we must build a process for gathering and screening contributions from visitors;
this includes the evalution of our resources to make browsing easier for future visitors.
- response must be fast and clean (no advertising or gimicky graphics).
- Our slogan is:
- any resource
- any media
- simple and intuitive retrieval without special training.
Staff Can Easily Add Content
- we will be able to efficiently add content we think is important. Fred.
We'll Go Where Search Engines Don't
- it will include information from major archives not spidered by search engines (newspaper archives). Fred.
Evaluation Of Our Resources
- any visitor can evaluate resources to help future visitors. Fred.
High Speed Printing
- Many serious researchers insist on paper copies of material.
They say a computer screen is not adequate for serious study.
In addition, printing to ordinary printers is very slow.
Therefore we should have a facility that will allow a researcher to select
resources (few or many) and then send a command so that all will be printed on a high speed printer
or placed in a postscript or pdf file so Kinko's can easily print it.
Our production process is expected to make possible many different formats
(postscript, eps, rtf, html, pdf, vml, svg).
It may be useful to consider this in selecting a printer.
The Knight Foundation has a printer which also serves as a color copier.
It produces 22 pages/minute and is a Toshiba FC22 which costs in the range of
$20,000-$24,995 with an EFI Fiery system. (from CopyCo. 1-800-5copyco,
Vickie Birnberg, Boca Raton 800-526-7926, local 428-1300, ext. 3128) Adrian, staff.
Visitors Can Add Content
- visitors can add content (provided it survives our screening). Fred.
Bulletin Boards
- bulletin boards can be added if desired. Fred.
Threaded Discussion Groups
- threaded discussion groups can be added if desired. Fred.
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Our development plan may seem ambitious, but it is made possible by
two technologies that are already well underway and that are fully in the spirit we seek.
The first technology is evident in a web portal called
OpenHere.com that is now
one of the top 50 web portals in America.
Our principles of ease of maintenance and ease of use are
inspired by OpenHere.com. The operators of this web portal
have adopted RaceMatters.org and have been hosting it on a courtesy
basis and have been providing important technical help in its
evolution thus far. They share our vision, and, in fact, have greatly inspired it.
All of our tasks related to search engines will use technology that they have already
developed for use in OpenHere.com. The principals of OpenHere.com
(Eric Baelen and Fred Waid) live and
work in and near Princeton, New Jersey and are the chief technical officers
(and President) of
APL2000, Inc.,
a wholly owned subsidiary of Cognos, Inc.
Cognos, Inc. ...(I need to find the words Eric gave me to put here. C.H.) ....
The second technology is a facility for processing text in many formats
with many types of computer graphics that has been developed by
Causeway Graphical Systems.
These systems are products that include a Windows interface
providing all the flexibility anyone would want for producing documents and graphics.
However, it is the flexibility of these systems and the readiness of
their designer to work with us that makes possible our goal of
providing a capability that will be simple, intuitive, very pleasing in its result,
and that will not require special skills or training for its use.
The Concept Map facility that we propose will be built from this technology.
The designer of this facility (and President of Causeway) is Adrian Smith.
His company is located in Malton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
This document is an example of the technology that is being developed
with Causeway. This document is assembled from a complex database
that is constantly being updated. Everytime any part of the database is
updated, the update automatically flows into this document. As resources are
improved, they only exist in one place and are easily fed into a new
document or funding proposal.
It is also important to acknowledge the assistance of Bill Parke of Barberton, Ohio
for software products that he has make available to our effort and for his
continuing excellent technical assistance. His products can be downloaded from
www.parkenet.com. Some webmasters say his
Parkenet web editor is the best there is, and I can't imagine having come this far
without his product "TruLink".
Icon Graphics
Eventually we will need to choose a logo (or hire an artist to create one),
possibly a different logo for each domain we maintain.
The logo shown on this document is for illustration only;
it is not available to us.
It is the logo for the Pulitzer Prize winning series in the New York Times
How Race is Lived in America.
The design of a logo can extend to color choices and the design of navigational graphics.
The current TAMPU logo could be used, but it may not be sufficiently bold to be
effective on the web.
Information
We have the ability to gather a very important collection of resources and a far broader catalogue.
Search & Discovery
We have the ability to create exceptional tools for research and discovery.
Integration & Analysis
We have the ability to create exceptional tools for integrating information, gaining insight and teaching.
Technology
The technology for handling information is advancing very rapidly
in the world today with billions of dollars of investment.
It is
NOT logical that TAMPU invest greatly in technology,
but by being alert to development work already advancing and by
selectively putting it to work, we can make remarkable progress at modest cost.
The topics below represent opportunities for advancing our subject
matter greatly by taking advantage of development work already
under way.
It should be stressed that in each of these cases, importance will
be given to acquiring technology that does not require us to
learn special skills.
Our technology must work for us in ways that seem simple and intuitive.
Much of our content will be stored in the way that it comes to us.
Examples are printed material, CD's and DVD's, videos and film.
However, text information that is stored in our digital archives
will preferably be stored in a format that is as close to
"unadorned" as possible. We, and those who use our resources,
will make the choice of the format they prefer when they select it.
Often that will mean it is delivered from a web server.
In some cases, though, other formats may be preferable and our
technology will make them easy to produce.
Annotating images
We are developing a photo gallery of the people and organizations
who are working for empowerment and reconciliation in Palm Beach County.
Examples are photos of the
Guatemalan-Mayan Multi-Cultural Program
and of
Glades Artisans.
Many more will be added to our photo library.
However, the photos are not being adequately documented.
We need an easy to maintain procedure whereby the organizations
whose photos we are collecting can provide annotation on the web.
- Expand SizeofIMG or write another function to capture
what Mark Osborne captures from jpeg images.
Create means for a person browsing our website to add one or more annotation fields.
Store info as an XML file as Mark does, though contents
may be different.
Maybe there is no need to store in the annotation file
what can be read from the image file itself.
The date-time stamp for when the image was taken is very important. Bill.
Creating Charts & Plots from Data
The Concept Map
- Concept maps help in the understanding of complex subjects because they:
- show relationships,
- can present as much or as little information as desired, and
- are visually interesting.
Our first attempt was handled as a simple html table.
The Race Matters Dialogue.
Our second attempt used graphics and was drawn by Adrian Smith.
Prejudice & Enlightenment.
We have a third which has not yet been sketched.
Healing and Cultural Identity.
And, the organizational plan for TAMPU might be a fourth Concept Map.
Here's an example of how one might get built.
Let's create a blank pallette, a tabula rosa. And we'll have in mind a purpose. As
we discover items among our documents that relate to our purpose, we'll click on
them and a box with a brief abstract will be placed on our pallette. If we wish,
we can select the abstract text from the original document by highlighting it. The
initial rendition of the box is small, so if there is too much text to display in it,
the extra text gets stored in background and available at a click. As we discover
more documents or ideas, more boxes get added to the pallette. As we begin
to see how they relate to each other, we'll want to drag the boxes to new locations
on the pallette, and we'll want to add some connecting arrows to show relationships.
We might add a little annotation to the arrows. We might use different colors or line
thicknesses as properties of the graphic elements to so that a very complex idea
can be rendered in two dimensions. This is a Concept Map.
We have an illustration in RaceMatters.org.
Imagine that to develop a complex idea each node of the Concept
Map becomes a Concept Map itself. Now we have the NASA Mars Concept Map as presented in
www.qkw.com/pvmm/refer/ConceptMaps.htm
And, in case you haven't seen it, here's a gif that shows a static version of the NASA Mars Concept Map.
This map was created by people from the
University of West Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
who are on loan to NASA.
Adrian.
Animation
- Microsoft has created a facility for using animated
characters in a wide variety of software products.
Each character has a set of programmed "behaviours"
which can be specified as content is created.
The characters can speak lines of text which are
given as simple typewritten text.
Tom Atkins, president of Right Seat Software, Inc.,
of Golden, Colorado, has created a means for
creating content for teaching and sales presentation
purposes using this "Microsoft Agent" in the Powerpoint environment.
His product is called Vox Proxy and it was recently
recognized as the most innovative new product in the
state of Colorado by the Denver Business Journal.
Phase I: Demo CD/DVD
- Goal: show what Vox Proxy characters are like
- Introduce one or more RaceMatters.org web page(s) when run (on a CD)
- Demo interactive characters using the Vox Proxy Promo (on a CD)
- Target Date: 11/7/01
- Estimated cost: completed at no cost.
Phase II: Initial Content Development
- Goal: Identify teachers or staff in PBC School District, CSC,
or other to show how children's interest might be increased with Vox Proxy characters
- enlist their professional abilities at curriculum development to develop content for RaceMatters.org subjects
- review Vox Proxy (and Concept Maps) as a means to enhance presentation
- integrate their work into RaceMatters.org
- Target Date:
- Estimated cost:
Phase III: Implementation on CD/DVD
- Goal: Create a window into RaceMatters.org that will interest children (of various ages)
- a 12 year old
- a 15 year old
- a 18 year old
- Target Date:
- Estimated cost:
Phase IV: Web Demo
Phase V: Implementation on the Web
Phase VI: Content Development Tom.
Multi-Media
The Sun-Sentinel multi-media presentation on "Aids in the Caribean"
As soon as RaceMatters.com
has legitimacy as a community effort and
looks like a search engine, we intend to
contact the editor of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel to seek
their cooperation. Hopefully they will allow us to use their
content as we are (with photos) and maybe they will let us put
the "Aids in the Caribean" multi-media presentation on our RaceMatters.org CD.
Search Engine
Filtered Searches
- we will include filters to tailor responses to the technology and taste of the visitor.
- select Palm Beach County content, national content, or both.
- filter out "sensitive items" (that might be offensive to some people, e.g. racial violence).
Fred.
Targeted Search
It is our intent to identify the most important websites
in several areas of importance to us and to index them completely.
This means that anyone using RaceMatters.org or ValuingDiversity.org
will be able to conduct a search for a name or topic restricting
the search to the websites we've identified as especially important.
This will greatly reducing the amount of irrelevant material one must
search through. The search can be targetted to sources we judge to be
dependable and relevant. This is a great improvement on the search
capability we've had until now because until now our search has been
limited to material in our web portal (or the entire web).
When this work is completed, one will be able to select from the
following "universes" when starting a search.
- Race matters, this will include some "sensitive" content
that will make one uncomfortable and will include all of "Valuing Diversity".
- Valuing diversity, this will exclude "sensitive" items.
- Community building.
- African-American culture, heritage and tradition. (thanks to
ubp.com/History/ and
blackhistorypages.com/Museums/)
- Children at risk, health care, poverty, economic development.
- Voice of America news and features (this is not a website; it is an OpenHere.com database).
- TAMPU resource items, including RaceMatters.org.
- combinations of the above.
- the entire world wide web.
Another benefit of spidering
our national community of websites is that as new or changed material
appears on any of our websites, it can automatically be posted to
What's New at RaceMatters.org (and ValuingDiversity.org).
Click here for
the list of websites that are on these lists at the present time.
We Are Also A Megasearch Engine
- all the technical powers of a major search engine plus filtering of content.
we will spider other search engines and certain important websites to identify new material quickly,
we don't anticipate that we will spider the web ourselves. Fred.
Search Engine on a DVD
- It is important that our resources be available on a DVD.
Some resources will be too big to put on the web.
We must generate the DVD index on the DVD material, not from a web based index. Fred.
Forms
- Forms need to be as easy to create and maintain as possible.
It should be possible for them to maintained by non-technical persons.
The approach under consideration is inspired by Adrian Smith's galleries
and illustrated with Eric Lescasse's function ConferenceDemo5. This
function puts up a somewhat complicated and certainly attractive Windows
form using his Objects. The following might be all that is
needed to specify the form, though maybe box position and size might be
useful (optional) additions. The first column is the "field name", the second column
is the text to be displayed next to the field, and the third is the
"type of handling" desired. Adrian's "gallery" approach suggests we can
separately store reference data saying that when this "field name" & this
"type of handling" are requested, we'll handle them in such and such a way.
The function qkeFN handles this in a preliminary way using Windows Objects.
This has been discussed with EricL. He says this is a higher level of
abstraction than he has attempted thus far, but he see no reason why it
can't be done. Form specifications are generalized so they can be
rendered in any desired environment (Windows, HTML, Excel, Access).
| NAME | Name | Edit |
| FNAME | First Name | Edit |
| | | OKButton |
| | | CancelButton |
| APL | Like APL | Check |
| SPORT | Sport | Check |
| SMOKING | Smoking | Check |
| URL | URL | Combo |
| AGE | Age | Edit |
| | | WebBrowser |
Bill.
Quality Control & Audit
- Load the local website in your browser for quality control.
Since my process is automated, I only look at some of the pages for quality assurance.
If you use a WYSIWYG editor, then quality control might be browsing the site after it is uploaded
to make sure everything works and looks good. Fred.
Promote the website
- We need a strategy for increasing traffic to RaceMatters.org and its related domains. Fred.
Search Engine Optimization
- This is our list of the most important search engines.
(We'd like to put them in order and show the amount of traffic each gets.)
Fred.
OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE
Administration
As RaceMatters.org increases in activity,
we must develop systems of accountability and management.
Teaching
The content of RaceMatters.org, we believe, has important teaching value.
We must develop ways of working with our teaching institutions
and encouraging the development of teaching approaches and content.
Participation
This will discuss the ways we must participate in our community
and elsewhere to help others to use our tools and to assure we
are alert to the ways they must be improved to serve well.
FINANCIAL PLAN
Ownership & Responsibilities
We must develop appropriate relationships and legal instruments.
Priorities
Top priority is to obtain funding that will enable
APL2000, Inc. (Fred) and Causeway (Adrian) to
step up their level of work on tasks that do not
require participation by Carl. Second priority
will go to tasks that require Carl's collaboration.
Participant Roles
Coming very soon.....
Budgets
Coming very soon.....
