[11739] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Encyclopaedia Africana
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Wed Oct 15 20:11:06 1997
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 16:27:56 -0500
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
From: OneWorld@technologist.com
Subject: Encyclopaedia A F R I C A N A [..coming soon?] FWD'd
re: using CD-ROM/DVD technology for AFRICANA: text, images, audio
and video explore, teach and elucidate
Please post...of possible interest to some.
A project in the making.
C.W.
___________________________________
Dream of Encyclopaedia Africana Nears Reality [excerpted]
By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL - NY Times
[comment to: mirapaul@nytimes.com -- suggestions welcome!]
W.E.B. Du Bois, the great African-American thinker, first
proposed in 1909 compiling a reference work on black history
and cultures around the world. Du Bois moved to Ghana in 1961 to
direct the writing of the Encyclopaedia Africana, but it remained far
from finished at the time of his death two years later.
Now, Du Bois's dream is close to becoming a multimedia reality
-- perhaps as soon as 1999 -- as the Microsoft Corp. prepares
to add an African-culture title to its popular Encarta line of
disk-based, Internet-linked information resources for computers.
If Encarta Africana fulfills its ambitious premise, it will be an
essential guide to the continent's global influence on art, music and
literature through its overflowing streams of religion, politics and
other forms of cultural expression.
Like other Encarta titles, Africana can be expected to use text, images,
audio and video to explore its subjects, here ranging from an essay on
St. Maurice, an early Christian saint of black origin, to the sounds of
Motown, jazz and rap.
Previously planned as a series of four CD-ROMs, the new Encarta title
also might be released as a DVD-ROM, a new format that can hold
seven times more data than a standard CD-ROM.
A Web-based component might offer a condensed but freely accessible
information site, as well as timely updates for the disk-based resource.
A teaching guide for the educational market also is being discussed.
In a comment that may help explain the company's interest in the project,
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, said at a news conference during a
business visit to South Africa in March that the Internet "is the single
most important tool that will open Africa up to the rest of the world. It
is the future of communication worldwide and Africa is not as far behind
as some people believe."
Trademark concerns will prevent the use of the name "Encyclopaedia
Africana," which belongs to another publishing venture, although
negotiations are underway for a companion print volume that may be
called the Perseus Africana Encyclopaedia.
Through the Du Bois Institute, [the project will] have access to
a deep database of source documents. A Web-based list of research
projects includes an online collection of 20,000 slides of African art
and a CD-ROM of literary texts drawn from African-American periodicals. A
photo archive holds 25,000 images of blacks as they are represented in
Western art works.
Du Bois's writings were a profound influence on the course of 20th
century history, planting the seeds for both the civil-rights and
black-nationalist movements.
...........
Related Sites (you have to log onto this article at the NY Times site to
access these links)
Encarta Online from Microsoft Corp.
A prototype page about St. Maurice predates Microsoft's
involvement in the project
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research
Sample pages from the prototype CD-ROM for Encyclopaedia
Africana can be found at Dynamic Diagrams site, including an
arts-related table of contents and a jazz timeline
A biography of W.E.B. Du Bois
Matthew Mirapaul at mirapaul@nytimes.com welcomes your
comments and suggestions.
August 7, 1997 - NY Times
Go to: http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+
site+8088+1++%28africana%29%20AND%20%28encyclopedia%29%20AND%20
%28gates%29
Enter the above address without any spaces.
Well, hope this is of interest. Something to watch for and hope will
turn out well.
Regards,
Cecil
ps: let's hope for translations in African languages, as well as in major
European and Asian languages, if this project turns out well
A big IF...
____________________
Cecil Washington
Oberlin College/UC Berkeley
FAX: 310-631-1322
Consultant-African Affairs
& Former Director - Africa Program
Operation Crossroads Africa
OneWorld@technologist.com
