Saturday, February 28, 2009
Movie Response: Prompt 1
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Midterm Review: Public Library Use in New York City
1. “Public libraries in disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to use library resources on site more so than off site.” p. 461
2. “this research found that the national trend of a typical public library user being white, middle class, and well-educated does not give a complete picture of public library use.” p. 460
3. “The analyses in this research confirm the importance of the traditional factors such as neighborhood characteristics in terms of race, income, and education and the spatial accessibility of the branch location.” p. 460
4. “Relationship between circulation and neighborhood characteristics is nonlinear…For example a high percentage of Hispanics and a high percentage of households with less than a $10,000 annual income in a disadvantaged neighborhood have an exponential negative impact on the circulation per capita of the library branch.” p. 461
What did the researchers discover about circulation statistics? What main recommendations did the researchers make?
“These (correlations between the circulation per capita and the racial, economic, and educational variables) simple bivariate correlation analyses are not the best way of examining the causal effects of these variables on circulation per capita." p. 456
“Public library use was higher in a neighborhood with better spatial accessibility, stronger social connections in the form of nonprofit organizations, and more racial diversity and integration.” p. 459
Recommendations:
1. “Disadvantaged neighborhoods can improve the use of their library branches by targeting residents with high school diplomas.” p. 460
2. “The branches in disadvantaged neighborhoods should be maintained to reflect the neighborhood characteristics both in appearance and in library materials.” p. 460
3. “Library branches in disadvantaged neighborhoods should get higher budgets than are proportional to their circulation figures.” p. 461
4. “Public library systems should seek to standardize and account for in-library use of resources.” p. 461
5. "For the long term, a beneficial relationship between public library use and the human, economic, cultural capital in disadvantaged neighborhoods could be established to improve and sustain the use of the library branches." p. 462
"gentrification"
gentrification refers to when the government invests in a community to fix up deteriorating infrastructures, incentives for redevelopment, or improve rental properties.
This came into play when the government built the Near North Branch to accomplish one of their primary goals, and that was to encourage Cabrini Green to develop more established buildings in their area.
A Neighborhood Analysis of Public Library Use in New York City
Midterm Review Sheet
*serves as a bridge between an affluent community called the Gold Coast and a poverty-stricken neighborhood with the name Cabrini Green.
The two main goals of the branch library are to (1) encourage other improvements in Cabrini and (2) to bring together residents of the two neighborhoods who had previously had almost no contact with eachother.
The library intertwined itself with the local schools by offering several after school programs for kids that include play time to homework help. Also, they offer an extensive children's section that is often filled with up to 80 children after the school day is over!
Humbolt branch library is located in an area that is mainly hispanic. Because of this, Humbolt contains a huge selection of hispanic books, magazines, and dvds. The library director also combined the youth section with some adult books to cater to all levels of readers.
Uptown library- offers a diverse language section to cater to the diverse cultures that reside in the uptown area. Also, the library offers language programs to help those who speak English as a second language.
Why is this library a 3rd place- functions as a kind of community center by recognizing regulars and offering fishing poles, etc.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Midterm Response
- Social capital refers to the relationship between a community and its individuals, emphasizing on honesty. There can be good social capital networks, for example a neighborhood watch group; each neighbor contributes in order to make their neighborhood safe, and in response each household benefits. However, their could be a negative social capital like the KKK. This group is brought together to achieve a common goal with every members contributions, but the group is seen immoral to most people. (p.22)
- The problem of leisure is associated with the lack of participation is activities, clubs, etc. which arose after WWII. This is a problem because people are less involved and the quality of social capital decreases when the contributions of individuals to their community decrease.
- The decrease of social interactions are due to a lack of involvement in the community because not many citizens are as concerned (p.25).
- Bridging social capital is inclusive and external because to bridge social capital means to reach outward to an external community, group, person, etc. in order to increase the benefits of another social capital network and inclusive to everyone. Bridging social capital generates border identities and reciprocity. Bonding social capital is exclusive and internal, referring to a specific social network improving. Bonding social capital is the "glue" whereas bridging social capital is the "WD-40." Bonding is very tight within a network and doesn't leave much room to add or build upon whereas bridging isn't as tight and leaves room for flexibility within the system.
A Neighborhood Analysis (Week 2)
Midterm- Analysis in New York City
--A geographical information system
According to Wikipedia, it "captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that refers to or is linked to location. In other words, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information.
--The notions of space were important in this study because this study focused on the neighborhood library branches. The "space" in this sense were the different library characteristics, such as size and services.
What is the "central place theory"
---"a location theory in geography explaining the location of consumer services such as library service." (p. 448)
How did the researchers define "neighborhoods"
"a limited territory within a larger urban area, where people inhabit dwellings and interact socially" or a geographic "unit within which certain social relationships exist" (p 449)
Midterm: Questions from Chapter 2: "Branch Libraries-The Heart of the Community"
Midterm: Give an example of both bridging and bonding social capital. Which one is inclusive and external, and which, exclusive and internal?
The White Cathedral vs. The Yellow Palace
· Now describe the “white cathedral.”
· What social and community changes prompted Hall’s visit to the white cathedral?
· What were some barriers to Hall’s access to the white cathedral? How did this change her view of the yellow palace?
Hall first visited the white cathedral in 5th grade, and previously had been content with the library on her side of town which she affectionately called the yellow palace. She went on a field trip with her class which she describes here on the second page of the article Race and Place, "My contentent with the yellow palace was challenged by a visit to a branch in a wealthier neighborhood in my 5th grade year. It was one of those 'let's pretend to be a pro-integration' exercises that post - Brown v. Board of Education schools engaged in back then." Her visit was prompted by social changes to try to start integrating blacks and whites into one community. When she got to the library she was very impressed. There were no burglar bars, rows and rows of books, and the librarians whispered in soft, inviting voices. Hall's vision of what a library should be, or could be, was copletely changed as soon as she walked into the white cathedral. Initially she was astonished that a library as nice as the white cathedral could even be in the same system as her yellow palace. She wanted her mother to take her all the way across the tracks to go visit it, and her mom found time to take her there after the field trip. When Hall came to the library a second time, though, she did not leave as enthusiastically as she did the first time. The barriers of her access become more clear after the second time she visits. Clearly it is a barrier in itself to have to go all the way across town to get to the nicer library, but there are also other invisable barriers. The notion that the wealthier, white side of town got the privaledge of having such a great library made her side of town, and she herself seem inferior. The white cathedral "taunted" her library, which once was a palace and now seemed like a sorry excuse for a library. She noticed things about it she never noticed before, "I thought of the yellow palace's early closing hours as if it were racing the street lights, of how the cramped quarters spilled over with children all talking and reaching at once, and of how the clamor frustrated the librarians and shortened our story times. After seeing the white cathedral Hall lost interest in the yellow palace and even eventually stopped going all together. The tracks were a physical barrier to the white cathedral, but the idea that she wasn't good enough to have a library like that was really the most devastating to the young girl, and after seeing the great library on the other side of town, Hall couldn't even bring herself to go back to the yellow "palace."
Tracie Hall's audience
I think we sometimes get the perception that libraries are these great places where everyone is treated equally and has equal resources, but as her story of the Yellow Palace and White Cathedral show, this is not the case. I feel like she kind of wants to change the disparity that exists between libraries (some which are even in the same system), and this article is her way of showing that there is a real problem here, even in today's society.
RACE & PLACE Tracie Hall
♦ “the yellow place”
· anti-theft bars over windows
· library placed between police station and jail
· 2 very small reading rooms
· her grandmother would take her to the library – walk long blocks to get to library
♦ “the white cathedral”
· beanbags and soft chairs, inviting atmosphere
· multiracial library staff
· much nicer facility
♦ social and community changes that prompted Hall’s visit to white cathedral
· pro-integration
· post Brown vs. Board of Education
♦ barriers to Hall’s access to white cathedral
· distance
· yellow palace was considered “her” library because it was easily accessible and in her hometown
♦ who was Hall’s audience? I think library workers and anyone working on new library plans for insight on what community members think of libraries and how they can actually divide a community instead of integrating it
Race and Place Yellow Palace Description
The neighborhood of the yellow palace was poverty stricken and dysfunctional. There were no grocery stores, the hospital had closed and was replaced by a smaller health clinic. The ambulances were very far away and so was the 'real' hospital they would take you to. There were plenty of churches in the neighborhood, but the author considered the library dearer to her than the churches.
The only key features of the library were that it provided the impoverished community a library. It was very dear to the author, and possibly other children. The grandmother in the story has said she never had anything like it when she was young. The barriers of the library far outweigh the features. Drawbacks like the location near the jail and the community itself being without a hospital or grocery store and people like the author's grandparents who did not receive much education are far more prevalent than the few 'features'.
Social capital and cyberpower in the African American community
It refers to the difference in digital-divide among different races.
"The digital divide has turned into a "racial ravine" when one looks at access among households of different races and ethnic origins"(Social capital and cyberpower, p177)What is "public computing"? What is a "Community Technology Center(CTC)?" Define
"In addition to home and work, people access computers and the Internet in public settings including government institutions (such as libraries and schools), commercial enterprises (such as copy shops and private business schools) and other venues making up the public sphere. We call this public computing." (p. 178)
"The community-technology centre is a generic name given to a computer lab open to the public." (p. 178)
The authors invoke Castells' "dual city"? What is it? Briefly identify.
Castells claimed the dual city is that
" By dual city I understand an urban system socially and spatially polarised between high value-making groups and functions on the one hand and devalued social groups and downgraded spaces on the other hand..The power of new information technologies, however, enhances and deepens features present in the social structure and in power relationships (p. 178)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Midterm: CARI model
According to Community analysis: Research that matters to a north-central Denver community, the article by Sarling, J.H., & Van Tassel, D.S. (1999):
"The Community Analysis Research Institute (CARI) model begins with a focus on the community from four perspectives--individuals, groups, agencies and lifestyles--and incorporates both quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect a variety of data including demographic characteristics, history of the community, topographical features, transportation routes and traffic patterns, commercial activities, communication patterns, housing, education, cultural activities, health facilities, employment, recreation, entertainment, and the characteristic lifestyles of the community and its sub-cultures" (pg 8-9).
Basically, the method emphasizes the need for the library to understand what the community needs. The library should be molded to fit the community around it. For example, in the library that this study covered they recommended areas for children to study since they might not have the space at home. They also recommended a large video selection, since there was no nearby video rental store. And because the surrounding community was diverse, they knew that the library needed to be very bilingual. The researchers found this all out by using various methods--such as conducting interviews, driving around, and consulting Census data--and seeing what the community had and what it needed.
Midterm: The problem of leisure and bridging and bonding social capital.
- "53% thought that their parents' generation was better in terms of 'being a concerned citizen, involved in helping others with the community...'"
- "Fully 77% said the nation was worse off because of less involvement in community activities..."
- "Only 8% of all Americans said that 'the honesty and integrity of the average American' were improving, as compared with 50% of us who though were were becoming less trustworthy..."
"For the first two-thirds of the twentieth century a powerful tide bore Americans into ever deeper engagement in the life of their communities, but a few decades ago- silently, without warning- that tide reversed and were were overtaken by a treacherous rip current. Without at first noticing, we have been pulled apart from one another and from our communities over the last third of the century" (Bowling Alone, 27).Give an example of both bridging and bonding social capital. Which one is inclusive and external, and which one is exclusive and internal? Which one is "glue" and which one is "WD-40"?
Midterm: Community Informatics: Integrating Action, Research and Learning.
- What is “Community Informatics”? What does it hope to accomplish?
- CI is a multidisciplinary field for the investigation and development of the social and cultural factors shaping the development of the social and cultural factors shaping the development and diffusion of new ICTs and its effects upon community development, regeneration, and sustainability . (p6)
- CI is making efforts to promote a positive role for computers and the Internet in society. (p7)
- Define “pragmatic technology.”
- Pragmatic technology encompasses the common language notion of how to design tools to meet real human needs and accommodate users in their lived situations. (p8)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Social capital
It's not necessarily like you as an individual have to benefit from social capital, but the society as a whole does. For instance if I were to participate in a Bowling League, it's not like the other people in the league are doing anything "for" me, but it probably benefits the society as a whole because leagues like this are what connects the society and reduce negative things like discrimination.
In a town with zero social capital, it'd be pretty easy for people who know nothing about eachother to start judging everyone else based on race, economical status, etc. With things like book clubs at the library for example, people who normally wouldn't gather together are meeting and mixing. Things like race and how much money you have are irrelevant.
Again, this benefits the society more than an individual person and that is how I view the concept of Social Capital.
What is social capital?
[Social capital consists of] "those tangible substances that count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit.... The individual is helpless socially, if left to himself.... If he comes into contact with his neighbor, and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which may immediately satisfy his social needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community. The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors."
It is also important to note that social capital consists of different parts. You would not go to your hockey buddies to help you write a ten page paper, and you wouldn't rely on the bookworm to go out and score a goal. Different people are valuable in their respective environments. Once they have been taken out of that environment, their use as social capital becomes diminished.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
MIS from "Race and Place"
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wk. 3 - Race and Place MIS
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Bowling Alone - MIS
MIS
MIS from "Thinking about Social Change in America"
MIS for week 3, Race and Place
MIS
I found this to be a very interesting sentence. I find myself agreeing with it as well. Libraries are meant to treat everyone equally and are also supposed to be equal among themselves. However, it tends to be that the nicer libraries are in the nicer neighborhoods or communities. At first, when I started to take this class, I didn't realize there was such a difference and I thought people were making a big deal out of nothing. After reading the assigned readings I realize this is not the case and in fact I had grown up with the "yellow palace" and when I first came to the United States, I was amazed at how big the libraries are. After two years, I still can't navigate through one. I saw the communities I lived in mirrored in the libraries. I went from an Air Force community, which is thought of as being the "higher class" community out of the military to an Army community, which sadly is thought to be much "lower class". (Just to clarify, neither of these even make it into "higher class" unless their officers, all enlisted for both branches tend to have lower middle class economic status, one is just treated better than the other). These class differences are mirrored significantly in the libraries. Neither of the two libraries can compare with the United States libraries. When reading about the "yellow palace" I immediately thought of the two libraries I grew up with. I have to agree with this statement that local politics and socioeconomic stratifications are mirrored in the libraries.