<h1>Analyzing Publicly Engaged Projects as an MLIS Student</h1>
<p>In this section, you have a chance to use what you’ve learned about //publicly engaged scholarship// and the challenges involved in publishing it.</p>
We have provided you with some questions to consider and some guidance on how to <strong>[[Find an example]]</strong> of a publicly engaged project that you can analyze using the knowledge you have acquired from using this OER.
This section has been designed to help you develop a set of <strong>values-based</strong> approaches to working with engaged scholars who are looking to their library professionals for support in the development of a new or ongoing project.
<p>It starts with outlining some <strong>[[Questions to consider]]</strong> that will help you apply what you have learnt about the facets of publicly engaged scholarship
[[Next|Questions to consider]]</p>
<h1>Questions to Consider</h1>
<p>Consider the following questions in relation to the <strong>example projects</strong> that follow:</p>
<ul>
* What defines this project as <strong>public scholarship</strong>?
* What <strong>values</strong> motivated the participants to work on this project?
* What are the key <strong>outputs</strong>, and how were these created, distributed or made accessible, and preserved?
</ul>
<p>Make a note of these core questions to consider as you review the examples collated and click [[Next|Find an example]] to get started.
</p>
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.<h1>Find an Example</h1>
<p>Analyze one of the following examples using the [[Questions to consider]] on the previous page (<strong>right click to open link in new tab</strong>):</p>
* <a href="https://baltimoretraces.umbc.edu/" target="new">Baltimore Traces</a>
* <a href="https://behindthebighouse.org/" target="new">Behind the Big House</a>
* <a href="http://www.dcadapters.org/about" target="new">DC Adapters</a>
* <a href="http://ecohumanities.fiu.edu/ecohumanities/">Ecohumanities for Cities in Crisis: Conversations for Miami’s Future (aka Fragile Habitat)</a>
Or find your own examples at the NHA’s website Humanities for All <a href="https://www.humanitiesforall.org" target="new">here</a>
<img src="https://humanitiesforall.org/media/pages/home/da219723ce-1603239309/humanities-for-all-homepage-slider-gradient-1400x700-crop-50-50-q80.jpg" alt="white text on orange background" height="120" width="200"/>
<p><strong>[[Make your notes]]</strong> as you're reviewing these projects and see how your ideas compare with some model responses we have provided.
[[Next|Make your notes]]</p>
<span class="blink">In case you forget...</span> Here are the [[Questions to consider]]
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.<h1>Make your notes</h1>
<p>You can put your learning into practice by using the prompts below to analyse one of the examples you have chosen.</p>
Use the following prompts to make a set of notes about the project you have just reviewed:
* This <strong>project</strong> is an example of publicly engaged humanities work because...
* The <strong>values</strong> motivating and expressed through this project are...
* The <strong>publications or outputs</strong> of this project are...
<p>Once you have made your notes, see how your answers compare with the model responses that we have provided by clicking through to the [[next section|How did you do?]].</p>
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.<h1>Reviewing model responses to the core questions</h1>
In each of the projects that you have analyzed you will have encountered a diverse rnage of ideas, outcomes, participants and intentions. Each project is unique, and each project is uniquely exemplary of publicly engaged scholarship.
Dig into our analysis of each project starting with <strong>[[Baltimore Traces]]</strong>
Then move on to explore the remaining two projects in this analysis section:
* Behind the Big House
* DC Adapters
* EcoHumanities
[[Next|Baltimore Traces]]
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.<h1>Baltimore Traces</h1>
<h2>What defines this project as publicly engaged scholarship?</h2>
It brings together faculty and students at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County with community members (see the people and organizations listed in the right-hand navigation <a href="https://humanitiesforall.org/projects/baltimore-traces">here</a>) to create media (short films, zines, digital maps, podcasts, a radio series, a website) and public programming about Baltimore’s changing neighborhoods.
<h2>What values motivate and are expressed through this project?
</h2>
Central to the project is //a basic commitment to the common good and to listening to the community.//
<h2>What outputs have emerged from this project?</h2>
* <a href="https://baltimoretraces.umbc.edu/baltimore-green-space-podcasts/">Podcasts</a> on specific project themes
* <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpR9_gio-AQ">Short films on key events in Baltimore history</a>
* Digital maps (see the <a href="https://mappingbaybrook.org/about/">Mapping Baybrook</a> project)
* Zines
* <a href="https://baltimoretraces.umbc.edu/projects/stories-of-deindustrialization-on-the-marc-steiner-show/">Radio series</a>
* Website
[[Next|Behind the Big House]]
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.
<h1>Summarizing your analysis</h1>
<p>Now you have applied your learning here's what you should be able to:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Understand what is meant by publicly engaged scholarship</strong></li>
<li><strong>Describe the challenges and model practices of publishing publicly engaged scholarship</strong></li>
<li><strong>Recognise the core values of publicly engaged work</strong></li>
<li><strong>Know how to discuss publishing options with publicly engaged scholars</strong></li>
</ul>
In the next section, we look more closely at the roles of librarians and libraries in supporting publicly engaged scholarship.
<strong>Good luck!!</strong> We'll see you again in Section 5.
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.
<a href="https://publiclyengagedpublishing.org/">Return to the OER</a>
<h1>Behind the Big House</h1>
<h2>What defines this project as publicly engaged scholarship?</h2>
This project grew out of an effort by the owners of a Southern estate to preserve and interpret the houses of enslaved people and to teach other estate owners to do the same. Scholars Dr Jodi Barnes and Dr Jodi Skipper work with property owners, local communities (including descendents), historians, archaeologists, genealogists, local K-12 schools, and local museums and cultural organizations.
<h2>What values motivate and are expressed through this project?</h2>
This project aims to foster discussions of the history and legacy of enslavement of African Americans in the United States, with the goal of ending racism.
Founder <a href="https://behindthebighouse.org/about/">Dr Jodi Barnes</a> writes:
//By building programs like this, we have the potential to show white communities how to be allies, how to listen, and how to do what is needed to bring about change AND provide tools to empowere African American communities to remember and tell their own histories.//
<h2>What outputs have emerged from this project?</h2>
* A website offers free <a href="https://behindthebighouse.org/starting-your-own-program/program-development/">resources</a> and advice for people engaged in similar projects
* <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC42QtJq-Pr8ROrwfpAunVXA">Videos</a> for those launching their own efforts
* Public events and posters
* Local media (print and digital)
[[Next|DC Adapters]]
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.<h1>DC Adapters</h1>
<h2>What defines this project as publicly engaged scholarship?</h2>
Though mainly the work of one curious person, this project invites contributions (sightings of the creative adaptation of Washington, DC’s flag) from others and celebrates the vernacular artwork of graffiti, political posters, shop signs, and more.
<h2>What values motivate and are expressed through this project?</h2>
Creator <a href="https://www.dcadapters.org/about">Matthew Pavesich</a> writes:
//I want to help people see D.C. differently, to experience the wonderful visual landscape of our community, and to be tuned into the ideas, arguments, joy, and humor articulated by adapted flags. Second, I hope that DC/Adapters also encourages people to participate in flag adaptation. I've become convinced that flag adaptation is a powerful tool for good in D.C., but I think we can do more to achieve statehood, resist economic and cultural displacement, and more if we all embrace our inner artist-activist.//
<h2>What outputs have emerged from this project?</h2>
* <a href="https://www.dcadapters.org/map-and-charts">Digital map</a> showing the location of sightings and providing a picture of the flag adaptation seen there
* <a href="https://www.dcadapters.org/gallery">Online gallery</a> of images of flag adaptation
* Project website describing the project and inviting public engagement
* You Tube<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIVY4kFBHZs">video</a> on DC flag adaptation
[[Next|EcoHumanities]]
<strong>Note:</strong> Click [[start|Exercise]] to return to the beginning at any point.
<h1>Ecohumanities for Cities in Crisis: Conversations for Miami’s Future</h1>
(aka //Fragile Habitat//)
<h2>What defines this project as publicly engaged scholarship?</h2>
It organized community conversations including at least one humanities scholar, one environmental activist, and one artist. Scholar April Merleaux partnered with several community organizations–museums, gardens, and historic houses, the public library system, the public school system, a theater company, and others–to bring conversations to a wide range of neighborhoods across Miami.
<h2>What values motivate and are expressed through this project?</h2> Democratizing policy, scientific, and urban planning decisions about how to cope with climate change. These conversations create venues for community members to articulate and define the values that should guide these decisions. Merleaux <a href="https://humanitiesforall.org/projects/ecohumanities-for-cities-in-crisis-conversations-for-miami-s-future">wrote</a>:
//We were having conversations that were not necessarily solutions-focused conversations, but conversations that were more about values and ideas and ways of thinking about communities and selves in relation to the environment.//
This project also sought to democratize the practice of humanities work. Merleaux also noted:
//I really feel so strongly that public programming around the humanities has to decenter the expert on a stage. Successful public humanities programming has to be about facilitating conversations and not about transferring information or knowledge.//
<h2>What outputs have emerged from this project?</h2>
* Public programming: facilitated conversations
* <a href="http://ecohumanities.fiu.edu/ecohumanities/">Website</a> describing the project and archiving its digital outputs
* Teacher training and resources
* <a href="https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/ecohumanities/">Videos</a> of public events
<p>Now you have reviewed our analysis of these projects, you can check your learning in the [[next|Summary]] section.</p>
<<script>>
function EmbedTwineUpdateHeight(){
var passage = document.getElementsByTagName("tw-passage")[0];
if (passage === undefined){//SugarCube
passage = document.getElementById("passages");
}
var newHeight = passage.offsetHeight;
if(newHeight<500){newHeight=500;}
window.parent.postMessage(["setHeight", newHeight], "*");
console.log(newHeight);
}
setTimeout(EmbedTwineUpdateHeight, 50);
<</script>>