“Preserving the American Black Journal African-American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words”

“Preserving the American Black Journal: African-American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words” Proposal Summary Detroit Public Television (DPTV) requests $350,000 to preserve and provide public access to 33 years of historic American Black Journal (ABJ) television programs Building upon two years of planning and initial consultation, this project will move forward the complete cataloguing, analog migration, and digital preservation of all existing ABJ programs Moreover, the project will develop public and scholarly access through online availability of both the rich catalog information and a portion of the actual programs in streaming video Currently, the shows exist in various videotape formats and physical conditions, from molding two-inch Quadraplex tape in open reels to pristine BetacamSP cassettes This project will support expert evaluation, cleaning and cataloging of the ABJ tapes, followed by migration of all playable ABJ programs to digital Beta videotape and transfer of selected programs to OMF video files These robust and widely used formats will make the content of ABJ equally accessible for the public television production studio and for research and educational purposes It is urgent to preserve this rich multimedia archive of African-American history and culture now before the physical condition and image quality ages and deteriorates any further Without intervention, this unique chronicle of 20 th century AfricanAmerican experience will be lost to future generations American Black Journal, originally titled Colored People’s Time, went on the air in 1968 as a forum for black citizens of Detroit during a time of racial unrest The show has continued on the air consistently since then, documenting over thirty years of Detroit history from African-American perspectives It is a national treasure as one of the most extensive video records of local African-American history and culture in a city with the third largest black population in the nation The collection includes interviews, roundtable discussions, field-produced features and artistic performances featuring African-Americans, many of whom are among the nation's most recognized figures While many collections focus on the contributions of African-Americans specifically to music or science or politics, ABJ explores the full range of AfricanAmerican experiences The collection includes in-studio interviews and on-location footage that documents attitudes, issues and events ranging from labor unrest in the automobile industry, to the Detroit and nation-wide urban civil disturbances of 1967, to the emergence of outspoken African-American political leaders, to the explosion of Motown music The ABJ collection also ties events occurring in Detroit to national issues and showcases the significance of Detroit in African-American politics throughout the country About half of the shows are devoted to national issues and themes Many high-profile African-Americans were interviewed while in Detroit to support and participate in a local event Because Detroit is home to the largest chapter of the NAACP and a black population exceeded only by New York and Chicago, many leaders come here to secure local support for a national issue, or “test the waters” prior to delivering any message nationwide Support from the Preservation and Access Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities will enable DPTV both to preserve this historic video record and to work with humanities scholars to assess the content of the programs and to deepen the understanding of humanities issues and scholarship relevant to the diverse African-American perspectives represented in the ABJ programs Funds will support consultation with experts in online access, public programming, and humanities computing at MATRIX: Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online at Michigan State University DPTV will work with MATRIX to preserve the programs in digital format and develop and implement appropriate metadata and archive cataloging MATRIX will also design and host the interface framing and delivery structures necessary for presenting DPTV’s television archives for long-term public use via the Internet In general, DPTV owns the rights to all these programs (with the exception of some performances) including the right to rebroadcast them in any manner and to present them on the Internet The station intends to take this opportunity to use these materials in accordance with its public mission and create access to these materials “Preserving the American Black Journal: African-American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words” Proposal Narrative Detroit Public Television (DPTV) requests $350,000 to preserve and provide public access to 33 years of historic American Black Journal (ABJ) television programs Building upon two years of planning and initial consultation, this project will move forward the complete cataloguing, analog migration, and digital preservation of all existing ABJ programs Moreover, the project will develop public and scholarly access through online availability of both the rich catalog information and a portion of the programs in streaming video Currently, the programs exist in various videotape formats and physical conditions, from molding two-inch Quadraplex tape in open reels to pristine BetacamSP cassettes This project will support expert evaluation, cleaning and cataloging of the ABJ tapes, followed by migration of all playable ABJ programs to digital Beta videotape and transfer of selected programs to OMF video files These robust and widely used formats will make the content of ABJ equally accessible for the public television production studio and for research and educational purposes It is urgent to preserve this rich multimedia archive of African-American history and culture now before the physical condition and image quality ages and deteriorates any further Without intervention, this unique chronicle of 20th century African-American experience will be lost to future generations I Significance Explain the importance of the project and justify its need and priority on the basis of its value for research, education, or public programming in the humanities Applicants proposing projects that preserve, stabilize, and/or provide intellectual access to collections should provide information about the nature, size, intellectual content, current and past use, level of description, the relation of the collection to similar holdings in the U.S., and the physical condition of the materials Applicants proposing digitization projects should make a cogent argument that the creation of digital surrogates would significantly enhance access to and use of the materials American Black Journal, originally titled Colored People’s Time, went on the air in 1968 as a public media forum for black citizens during a time of racial unrest The show has continued on the air consistently since then, shifting format-styles and titles over 30 years while documenting Detroit history from African-American perspectives It is a national treasure as one of the most extensive records of local African-American history and culture in a city with the third largest black population in the nation The collection includes interviews, round-table discussions, fieldproduced features and artistic performances featuring African-Americans, many of whom are among the nation's most recognized and controversial figures While many collections focus on the contributions of African-Americans specifically to music or science or politics, ABJ explores the full range of African-American experiences The collection includes in-studio interviews and on-location footage that explores issues and events ranging from labor unrest in the automobile industry, to the Detroit and nation-wide urban civil disturbances of 1967, to the emergence of outspoken African-American political leaders, to the explosion of Motown music It is hoped that the preservation of this collection would further the original mission of CPT, by increasing the availability and accessibility of media relating to African-American experiences The show was intended to explore the history and issues of the black community in order to encourage greater involvement from Detroit citizens in working to resolve community problems and mobilize positive action As stated in the original DPTV proposal for the 1968 program, “Detroit must assume its share of responsibility for meaningful public communication in this neglected area,” (see p.4 of original proposal attached in Appendix) Similarly, this restoration project is a valuable and necessary tool for public education and research purposes The ABJ collection would undoubtedly further the initial vision of promoting African-American representation in communications and media, and would assist teachers, students, community members and scholars with research on African-American culture, history, music and other issues relating to life in Detroit and the nation as it has been documented in the ABJ collection The ABJ collection also ties events occurring in Detroit to the national scene and showcases the significance of Detroit in African-American politics throughout the country About half of the shows are devoted to national issues and themes Many high-profile African-Americans were interviewed while in Detroit to promote and support a local event Because Detroit is home to the largest chapter of the NAACP and boasts a black population exceeded only by New York and Chicago, many leaders came here to secure local support for a national issue, or “test the waters” prior to delivering any message nationwide For example, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech actually was delivered for the first time in Detroit While commercial television provided sound bytes and cursory interviews when an event or issue was deemed topical, ABJ acted as a microscope for Detroit’s African-American population ABJ offered (and continues to provide) a full half hour each week of in-depth coverage of areas of concern to Detroit’s African-American audience The spontaneous, unrehearsed dialogue delivered on ABJ was often far more candid than what was prepared for public presentation or expressed to mainstream media Interview hosts asked pointed questions, interaction between the guest and host was dynamic, and frequently the discussion deviated from the intended topic in surprising ways Hosts developed dynamic, ongoing and public relationships with key political figures, such as the relationships developed between host Ron Scott and Detroit mayor Coleman Young and between host Ed Gordon and Jesse Jackson These 33 years of television programming about African-American issues and culture are a valuable resource that need to be made accessible to a broad popular as well as academic audience African-American history is often presented in a single dimension, from a single perspective and featured during a specific time of the year In contrast, the ABJ programs represent a wide variety of African-American viewpoints on culture, history, and issues important to the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, and the nation as whole Without a doubt, many of the individual shows that aired on the ABJ have lasting humanities interest as multimedia documentations of African-American history, using the images and voices of both prominent international newsmakers and local citizens The collection can be used to illustrate the pluralism and diversity of voices within African-American communities; highlight the changing nature of African-American social, civic, and political history over time; and demonstrate the culturally diverse contributions of African-American artists, entertainers, promoters, and business people This project will support efforts to explore and elaborate on these humanities themes by fully cataloging the collection, by preserving the video and peripheral materials, and by presenting ABJ catalog and content online for research, education and public use The rise of U.S interest in African-American studies roughly parallels the civil rights movement in this country As universities across the U.S developed programs in African-American studies, colleges, museums and private individuals collected cultural and historical artifacts In 1967, as ABJ was being developed, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C opened the Anacostia Museum and Center for African-American History and Culture Sorry, Brother was developed in Boston during the same era This show has recently been archived at WGBH Media Archives and Preservation Center Results of this NEH funded project are available online However, as noted on the Sorry, Brother website, detailed content descriptions are only available in-house The ABJ collection, unique in both content and accessibility, will make an important contribution to existing African-American archives in Detroit and the nation The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research library of the New York Public Libraries, probably has the most extensive collection of material related to African-American culture in the US The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division is a repository of documentary and dramatic films, public affairs television broadcasts, recorded music and oral history interviews It does not, however, include materials specific to Detroit history and only a small amount of written, photographic, and video material is available online Most sound recordings and videos are accessible only in person at the New York Public Library; motion picture films are shown only by appointment There is also an extensive collection of personal papers, photographs, scrapbooks and sheet music on African-American culture housed within the Smithsonian in Washington, DC Access to audio and videotapes is limited to scholars by appointment only at the museum Once preserved and accessible, the ABJ archive will complement other regional collections that contain information about black life in the city and the country In Detroit, information and materials about African-American life are scattered in various archives The only substantial archive located in Detroit is the E Azalia Hackley Collection of Negro Music, Dance and Drama that focuses on performing artists The E Azalia Hackley Collection of Negro Music, Dance and Drama, located at the Detroit Public Library, was the first collection of its kind in the world when it was started in 1943 The archives include materials on the Motown Recording Company, the National Association of Negro Musicians, renowned dancers and concert and opera singers The Photographic and Print Collection contains items dating from the mid-19th century to the present, including portraits of performers, organizations, vocal and instrumental groups and still photographs from black films and stage productions The Recorded Sound Collection contains music either performed or composed by black musicians Documenting the development of black music, recordings include African chant, Negro spirituals, ragtime, jazz, gospel, opera, orchestral music, soul and rhythm & blues Hundreds of examples of "popular music," produced in the middle to late 19th century and based on Negro themes, are similarly preserved in the Sheet Music Collection The Burton Collection is a repository of records also housed at the Detroit Public Library Its focus is the history of Detroit and Michigan from the time of settlement in the 17th century to the present The background history encompasses the Great Lakes region as well as New England and New France, areas that are inextricably linked with Detroit history Noted for its source material and its extensive genealogy resources, the Collection contains books, pamphlets, bound newspapers, atlases, maps, pictures, photographs, personal papers, archives, business records, and ephemeral items such newspaper clippings, broadsides, and scrapbooks Within the Burton collection various records of African-American life in the region can be found At Wayne State University in Detroit, the Walter Reuther Library’s Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs were established in 1960 to collect and preserve records of the American labor movement The collection maintains a special emphasis on industrial unionism and related social, economic and political organizations in the United States It also collects historical records related to urban affairs, with particular focus upon metropolitan Detroit Damon Keith Law Collection contains the accomplishments of African-American lawyers and judges; and the Harry W Flannery Collection contains research files that focus on labor union issues, including 10 folders on African-Americans in the labor movement The library also holds a collection on the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists The Reuther Library also contains records of AfricanAmerican life in the region, including the original proposals that contain the history of the conception and development of Colored People’s Time at DPTV This project will contribute ABJ videotape and program documentation to this set of cultural and historic materials about African-Americans DPTV and MSU will make these important educational and historical resources available to the public via the Internet and on DVD Once the website is completed, streaming video will be easily accessible from home, school, business or kiosk computers to people the world over seeking primary source information of 20th century African-American history Description of Collection Conditions and Storage American Black Journal used the most common tape formats at the time and utilized tape usage practices common to weekly television production While footage of significant people was often saved for reuse (or even personal staff use), field material and some master tapes not deemed important were probably often re-recorded to reduce tape costs for the station The remaining ABJ tapes and materials are currently stored in three places at DPTV: 1) an offsite storage facility, 2) in the DPTV production building in the original basement archive, and 3) on the 3rd floor of the production building in a climate and temperature controlled and monitored room with an adjustable metal shelving system From a visual inspection, the general condition of the tapes ranges from excellent to fair, though dropout and more serious problems may emerge when we first play (and simultaneously record) the older tapes The tapes in the excellent category are in the higher image quality formats (1”, BetaSP), and these were stored under relatively dry, safe conditions above ground The tapes in the fair category are in the comparatively low image quality formats (3/4” and 2”) and were normally stored under relatively dry, safe conditions below ground Unfortunately, a great deal of this material was ruined and immediately discarded after a broken city water pipe flooded the basement in 1997 The following chart represents an analysis of the numbers of tapes and percentage of the collection by dates and formats A complete listing by year is included in the Appendix Number of tapes 32 365 634 407 % of Collection 2% 25 45 28 1,438 100% Format 2” 1” ¾” BetaSP Dates 1968 – 1980 1971 – 1999 1978 – 1999 1993 - 2002 The material still stored in the basement includes approximately 100 videotapes and approximately 40 cubic feet of program documentation materials in boxes 2” tapes (dating as early as 1968), ¾”, 1”, beta and betaSP tapes have been stored on the floor and on wooden shelves The boxes on the floor and on wooden shelves contain information, logs, notes, stories and telephone notes from the producers, pictures, press information, research papers, documents and reports This large amount of ephemeral material will likely be of great use for research purposes, once it is carefully catalogued and can be made accessible The videotapes are generally labeled, either on the case exterior or on the reel inside or both However these labels are not necessarily thoroughly descriptive of the actual content Thus they must be viewed and fully catalogued during the restoration process On visual examination, there are at least four tape condition problems on these tapes that were stored in the basement: 1) white crustaceous powder on some 2” and 1” tape rolls 2) yellowish powder on some 2” and 1” tape rolls 3) crumbling foam, insulation and sealing from cases that fill tape cassettes with fine and medium powder 4) physical damage, such as wrinkles and creased tape, particularly on outer quarter of 1” and 2” reels The materials stored in the 3rd floor archive include the most recent BetaSP and ¾” tapes These tapes remain in good condition, however some ¾” tapes exhibit crumbling foam contamination as well These materials will be catalogued and cleaned However, because of their relative stability compared to other tapes in the collection, they will be on lower priority for migration to digital Beta and DVD formats, which will ensure long-term access and ability to migrate to future media The materials stored in the off-site storage facility include about ten boxes of peripheral materials related to American Black Journal programs These boxes of field notes, logs, photographs and program research were saved after the flood in 1997, but have not been catalogued This project will support the restoration and complete cataloguing of all these materials, as well as the migration of the most critical videotapes to digital beta and DVD format, chosen according to the project selection criteria Content American Black Journal/Detroit Black Journal/Colored Peoples Time has explored current and critical topics through interviews with African-American citizens and leaders as well as through on-location footage Over the course of the show’s history, program format style and content has shifted with the times and with the producers The show’s original host in 1967 was Tony Brown, who went on to produce Tony Brown’s Journal, currently the second longest running public affairs show on PBS After Brown left CPT, the series was retitled Detroit Black Journal and host George Martin continued to cover critical issue topics as well as increasing the musical content of the programming Ron Scott was the next host (approx 1975-1978) Scott, a former black panther and social justice activist in Detroit, brought a hard-hitting slant to the program From 1979-1984, under the leadership of producer Juanita Anderson and host Ben Frazier, the program took a more documentary style featuring monthly topical documentaries rather than instudio interviews and performances Ed Gordon, host from 1984-1988, returned DBJ to an interview-style format Gordon’s tenacious interviewing style developed a tough but friendly relationship with his interviewees, most noted in his numerous interviews with Jesse Jackson during that period The current host, Darrell Wood has been leading the show for ten years under the title American Black Journal His shows have brought an exploration of the skills and talents of many of the nation’s leading African-American business people to public television These shifts in programming style and content also reflect the historical changes in the role of media and of African-Americans since the late 1960s Guests and topics featured on the show reflect a wide range of issues of interest to humanities fields of History, African-American Studies, Music, Jazz Studies, Ethnomusicology, American studies, Media studies, cultural studies, literature, urban studies, women’s studies, and political science Throughout the course of the series, ABJ has taken advantage of the national traffic through the city of Detroit and to universities and locations in the environs For example, Alex Haley, historian and author of Roots, was interviewed before a public lecture he held at Eastern Michigan University Dr Benjamin Carson, a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins University, appeared on ABJ when visiting his Detroit home after the tour for his inspirational book, Gifted Hands Cornel West, Harvard professor and philosopher, appeared on ABJ during his book tour for Race Matters His powerful yet down-to-earth discussion illuminated the ways that the entire country was still deeply affected by the issues and politics of race Also interviewed was Lerone Bennett, a prominent journalist, historian, and author of Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream, a polarizing critique of the foundation of Lincoln’s abolitionist actions ABJ shows feature a wide range of musicians and music industry professionals Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, reflected on the creation of Motown and on his background and family life, including his childhood in black neighborhoods of Detroit in the early part of this century Entertainer Eartha Kitt performed and was interviewed on one of the earliest program tapes that still exists in the archives Appearing during the height of her career during a tour to Detroit, Kitt reflects on the place of Detroit as a black music center of America James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” appeared on the show several times In an extensive interview, conducted at local Rhythm and Blues Station WCHB, Brown discussed his philosophy as an early musician and businessman When mainstream stations were not playing R&B music, Brown began to invest in radio stations in his home state of Georgia so that he could have more control of the music that was being played, thus promoting his own music Jazz vocalist and Detroit native Anita Baker reflected on the role of music throughout her family life Rhythm and Blues group The Spinners performed on a stage custom built in the DPTV studio Host Ron Scott interviewed them and learned their dance steps Jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson brought out a softer side of the usually business-minded Darrell Wood Wynton Marsalis, interviewed in the mid-1990s, reflects on his hero Louis Armstrong and on the vicissitudes of fame, critics and popular American music This period of documentary-style production produced other unique and important video footage as well Renowned poet, librarian and pioneering publisher Dudley Randall was interviewed at his home where he wrote and published Detroit’s Broadside Press Interviews with classic Jazz vocalist Betty Carter and avante garde jazzman Sun Ra also represent this documentary-style phase of DBJ Carter, interviewed in the tight quarters of her dressing room at Detroit’s Music Hall, reflected on the history of jazz and her jazz heroes, particularly Sarah Vaughn Sun Ra, on the other hand, was recorded on-location in a small club, a Detroit jazz hot spot at the time ABJ hosts have also interviewed numerous black actors, such as actor Danny Glover; Dick Gregory, comedian and social activist; Arthur Mitchell, founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem; and Ossie Davis, whose summer high school acting workshop has been a yearly inspiration to Detroit’s black youth Davis discussed his life history, particularly his early years as a black actor in an exclusively black theater circuit Coleman A Young, the long powerful mayor of Detroit, appeared on the show many times discussing his efforts to shape Detroit, confront critics and fight for racial justice Young’s dynamic manner makes for several lively appearances, particularly in his early years as mayor in the late 1970s and early 1980s These programs delved into the city politics and his philosophies and obstacles as mayor Louis Farrakhan, religious leader of the Nation of Islam, made a typically intense appearance in the mid 1980s Civil rights leader and politician Rev Jesse L Jackson also appeared on the program several times Interviews on ABJ also include a wide range of leaders from the United States Civil Rights Movement and from black protest movements in the U.S and abroad Julian Bond, chairman of NAACP, discussed black history and the intellectual and political roots of the NAACP Ken Cockrel, attorney and Detroit activist, has appeared on ABJ numerous times In one instance, Cockrel had a brilliant exchange with host Ed Gordon about the rights and limits of free speech and the domestic surveillance conducted by U.S groups; Rev Joseph E Lowery, founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Bobby Seale, former Black Panther and politician; Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers; Lani Guinier, nationally known civil rights attorney; Carl T Rowan, journalist; Dr Yosef ben-Jochannon, historian and author; Bishop Desmond Tutu, religious leader of South Africa; and Yolanda King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr The range of ABJ guests also included leading black professionals such as: Earl Graves, publisher of Black Enterprise and Essence magazines; Wally Amos, founder of Famous Amos Cookies; Les Brown, motivational speaker; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic track champion; NBA star Isaiah Thomas; Dave Bing, businessman and former Detroit Pistons basketball star; and broadcaster Greg Gumbel In addition to this broad range of guests, the hosts and producers for ABJ include media personalities who have gone on to host a variety of other television programs A list of the ABJ hosts and producers with approximate dates of service to DPTV is located in the Appendix This original material is ripe for scholarly uses in many humanities and social science fields The programs, once well cataloged and transferred to accessible materials, will be available for use in DPTV production In addition, ABJ staff will re-broadcast some of the historic programs on ABJ Other preserved shows will form the basis for retrospective review programs as well as the basis for the development of new programs that will revisit the issues, topics, and locations of earlier programs in order to assess change (or stasis) These materials will also be of interest to other media producers The increased accessibility and accurate cataloguing, rights and guest contact information in the database will facilitate the process for other media outlets and independent media makers Rights While right clearance issues can become very complicated and costly, the advantage of this collection is that DPTV knows the provenance of all media In preparation for this project, DPTV staff members have undertaken detailed rights research in program files (see History section below for more detail) In most cases the station has full rights to use the media for DPTV use and rebroadcast, with some significant (but not problematic) limitations on some musical and dance performances Since the beginning of ABJ, DPTV policy has been to obtain signed releases for the programs from the show guests These releases have changed over the 30 year period to detail increasingly more specific uses However, in general, DPTV owns the rights to all these programs (with the exception of some performances) including the right to rebroadcast them in any manner and to present them on the Internet The station intends to take this opportunity to use these materials in accordance with its public mission and create access to these materials Need for Digitization The creation of digital surrogates on AVID formatted OMF files and delivery of these segments on DVD and online and will significantly enhance access to and use of the ABJ materials Digital technology opens a wealth of opportunities for the arts and humanities, one of which is the ability to transfer obsolete media such as certain videotape formats to a more state-of-the-art (and more easily transferable) mass storage material First, digitizing the programs into high resolution Avid format and storage on Digital Tape back up will make these programs accessible to DPTV for production and programming use DPTV has a number of linear editing systems and excellent quality playback equipment for BetaSP, 1”, ¾”, and D3 tapes as well as two AVID edit suites that utilize these formats In addition, DPTV is in the process of installing a digital tape back up system for the AVID which will keep digitized media in a digital form for storage and quick retrieval in the AVID While these digital tapes pose long-term problems such as dropout, the advantage of maintaining DPTV’s tapes in the highest resolution AVID format is that they will then be available for easy use by DPTV in their non-linear editing system To counter the tape degradation problem, this project will store the tapes in optimal conditions and develop and follow a tape exercise and migration plan The public access via DVD will enable physical access and portability for the programs Researchers and public citizens will be able to view these tapes on a viewing station on-site at DPTV Online access to the entire catalog and to selected programs allows a broad national and international presentation of ABJ programs The Internet is the ideal medium for such a presentation Bandwidth and public as well as private access to the Internet has rapidly expanded in the U.S and the world, making delivery of full-motion video a reality in much of the country While this technology has advanced, there is still a gap in diverse content that appeals to multiple audiences The ABJ project will help close the digital divide by adding a rich resource of varied African-American voices to the World Wide Web The multi-media capabilities of the online environment enable combinations of text, audio, video, graphics and photographs that will enrich and deepen the ABJ presentations Much conceptual work is needed to understand how best to present this unique resource on the Internet Each American Black Journal episode was produced at a particular historical, political, and social moment in time They were envisioned as episodic broadcasts rather than as ongoing exhibits To translate these shows to the Internet where they will be continually available, they must be reconceptualized and framed for public use For example, interviews with a long-haired Jesse Jackson in the early shows speaking with sixties-era colloquialisms present quite a different picture from interviews with him in the 1990s when he was working with the Clinton administration These interviews will be more meaningful if they are contextualized in terms of the historical and political moments when they were produced The Internet is the ideal medium for creating wide-ranging access to the collection and for framing such material with metadata, text and visual information to situate the archival materials in their historical context Yet the medium also allows items to be viewed alone so that scholars and researchers can make their own connections and draw their own conclusions II History Provide a concise history of the project, including information about preliminary research or planning that has been conducted If a project (other than stabilization) requires more than two years to complete, applicants should describe the intended scope and duration of the entire project as well as the specific accomplishments or products of the grant period for which funding is requested Preserving the American Black Journal: African-American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words is part of a larger project to develop ongoing on-line access to the American Black Journal, to continue to produce DVDs of a subset of ABJ programs, and to create topical segments drawn from different productions, featuring retrospective programs with panels remembering and evaluating the social, economic, artistic and cultural situations of the past in light of history In September 2000, Detroit Public Television and Michigan State University (MSU) began meeting to discuss the use of digital technology to preserve the ABJ tapes and create a significant archive of African-American history Detroit Public Television is moving in a new direction by consulting with Michigan State University to digitize and make accessible these important historical and cultural programs As the first major Internet venture of DPTV, the project also represents a new direction in developing television archives for long-term use via the Internet DPTV has worked with individual university experts in the past to produce individual shows Now, in partnering with MATRIX, DPTV will take advantage of the humanities technology expertise of MSU and develop an ongoing consultancy, which will benefit the station’s continuing program development Preliminary research and planning for ABJ Online to date includes: • • • • • • • • Finalization of a cooperative agreement between DPTV and MSU outlining roles and responsibilities Review of similar projects for content, format, etc Consideration of the various methodologies and technologies Assessment and preliminary inventory of tape collections Cataloguing (in progress) of ephemeral materials Legal background work in releases and rights clearance Development of a timeline Hosted a citizen’s focus group 10 Pre-planning collection analysis for this project includes a rapid hand-count of all ABJ tapes in basement storage and 3rd floor archive This count produced a tally of ABJ tapes by year and tape format A separate process of research for information through program files was undertaken primarily to determine rights and release information Information was obtained through delving into program files for relevant data To date, program information gleaned from the folders includes: Series Title (ABJ, DBJ or CPT), Tape ID, Recording Date, Length, Format, Host, Producer, Year Produced, Topic and Notes (includes guest names) A separate guest section includes Tape ID, Guest Name, Vocation, Guest Bio and Signed Release box (checked if signed waiver and release form is available) This work is not yet complete, however, over 650 guests have been recorded thus far A sample of this data is included in the Appendix Information from the citizen’s focus group is being collated and analyzed in order to guide future programming and the use of past shows III Methodology and Standards Explain and justify the procedures that will be used to accomplish the goals of the project Discuss how materials will be preserved or how information will be organized, presented, and disseminated in a manner that reflects national standards and accepted professional practices Applicants whose projects depart from usual standards and procedures should provide a rationale for the compatibility of their methodological approach with the intellectual goals of the project and the expectations of its users The Endowment expects that any original materials preserved with NEH support must be returned to an environment that meets standards for preservation Describe the manner in which collections will be stored or housed The American Black Journal will adopt current “best practices” and standards to optimize access to information, and long-term preservation and usability of this resource This will help ensure the widest possible access to information as well as facilitating, in the years following this initial digitization and preservation effort General areas of standardization currently under consideration include intellectual property, terminology, imaging, cataloguing, storage and markup Situating this project within the context of a national dialogue about and development of digitization best practices for sound and video archiving is a primary concern of this effort Developing Best Practices and Standards Preserving the American Black Journal will benefit from multimedia research at MATRIX in tape preservation and digital transfer, digital media sampling and searching, metadata creation and storage, and online delivery of multimedia digital objects for research and educational purposes Researchers at MSU have made great strides in implementing key research areas, establishing paths to "Best Practices" in the delivery of online educational multimedia, continuing research on searching and watermarking tools, prototyping interfaces and educational exhibits, and developing the infrastructure for production MATRIX projects have addressed critical technical and intellectual problems in the delivery of high-quality media materials online First, in the early attempts to present audio files on the WWW, little attention has been paid to standardization of digitization techniques MATRIX through its NSF-funded NGSW project is creating a set of standards for future development of sound on the web, including for formatting, sampling procedures, archiving of sound, and tagging of materials Second, while a number of search techniques work well for text, search techniques for very-large-scale databases not yet exist for audio and video materials MATRIX projects take a multi-prong approach to 11 searching -utilizing programming to tie media files to text for searching and using algorithms for searching using the acoustic and visual data directly, as well as developing an XML metadata schema that can be easily deployed and searched by sound and motion picture archives Third, our goal is to make aural and visual resources useful through the web to a wide variety of audiences, including researchers, teachers, students, journalists, and the educated public Thus, we have undertaken extensive research in interface and presentation design and presentation Fourth, we are paying particular attention to the incorporation of multimedia resources into the educational curriculum, both at the K-12 level and in universities and we work with teachers in developing educational interfaces and uses Working with digital library initiatives at Library of Congress, Cornell, Harvard, University of California Berkeley, and University of Michigan, Matrix personnel have established a Metadata Encoding and Transmission (METS) extension for describing audio holdings The work on the schema also provides extensions for the ingestion of text, images, and video The METS schema provides an encoding format for administrative, descriptive, and structural metadata that follows a storage archive model proposed by NASA as the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Depending on its use, a METS document could be used to follow OAIS protocols in the role of Submission Information Package (SIP), Archival Information Package (AIP), or Dissemination Information Package (DIP) The development for the METS extensions is based on a number of existing standards projects including NISO, MPEG7, National Library of Australia, CEDARS, NEDLIB, and LOC, among others Selection criteria The selection criteria for preservation and digitization are based on the current project scope First, all 2” and ¾” tapes recorded prior to 1985 (665 tapes total) will be considered for tape preservation and digitization Completed programs and edited segments will be given first priority Raw footage and supporting field-produced elements will be considered based on further criteria listed below Tapes produced from 1985 to present will also be considered based on the following appraisal criteria Field produced elements and tapes recorded post-1985 will be selected for preservation and digitization based on the following criteria, modified from WGBH appraisal criteria developed for the Say, Brother video preservation project: • • • • • Historical importance of event, subject, person Uniqueness of subject Technical quality/production standards Rights clearance Potential for use in further programming 12 Preparation and processing of material In preparation for processing, engineering staff at DPTV and technical staff at MSU will review the ABJ tapes and separate them by tape condition A restoration specialist will be consulted to determine the best cleaning procedures for tapes in good condition and any extraordinary measures that must be taken with degrading tapes A sample of the tapes in best condition (but with least vital content as determined by the project’s selection criteria) will be cleaned and played back for transfer to determine quality of existing electronic information A work plan will be developed for playback and digitizing to ensure duplication during initial playback Playback equipment from DPTV and MSU will be cleaned and calibrated by technical staff at regular intervals and before and after playback of any problematic tapes to prevent crosscontamination Quality control will be overseen by DPTV vice president of engineering Transfers will be made to digital beta tape, which will serve as the uncompressed archival master Compressed versions will include the DVD copies, OMF files, and QuickTime and Realmedia files down sampled from the OMF files for streaming Metadata will include collection-level description as well as individual object descriptions using the MATRIX digital repository system For this project, object-level of markup is necessary for the uses intended for this video material In addition, each video will be handled individually for digitization, so object-level markup does not introduce additional object handling time Organization of and access to material MATRIX project investigators have developed an OAIS based delivery system to temporarily store multimedia files as they are ingested from participating archives For this delivery system to be successful, participating archives, one of which is the OAIS compliant MATRIX Digital Repository, are designed to work in a federated system of metadata and digital object exchange Following this development, MATRIX staff have focused on designing and implementing a digital repository for storing and delivering both digital objects (files created by digitizing original physical holdings) and the associated metadata needed to both preserve and locate those digital objects As XML processing software is still immature, MATRIX staff opted to build an interim metadata storage system using more traditional relational tools The record formats were selected to match XML-based METS and its extensions as closely as possible The interim solution is fully web-based The digital repository, as designed for this project, is more than a database for holding files and metadata The repository was designed explicitly with online entry and administration in mind Staff can digitize an object, create the file, and, using only a standard web browser, enter metadata about that object and then upload the object itself into the repository The repository itself is currently housed with other MATRIX servers in the MSU Computer Center This process of entering metadata and digital objects into the repository through a standard web browser window requires very little training of staff beyond digitizing as the browser interface has become a familiar working environment for most people, yet the system developed by MATRIX staff is powerful enough for all data entry needs associated with this project After beta testing with partners and rewriting several input forms, all participants agreed that using 13 institution customizable forms would be best for all concerned Matrix staff worked on designing and implemented a method whereby each partner is able to create, edit, and change as often as necessary web entry forms for their staff Designing these forms takes very little understanding of the technological side of the repository and has enabled each institution to customize their metadata entry explicitly for their needs and workflow process Thus, technicians at MSU can input digitized objects; the archivist at DPTV can input the current database information; and associated content expert can input additional descriptive metadata Each, in turn, can build upon the same record, using an input form specific to their inputting tasks Our decision to work with the Metadata Encoding Transmission Standard (METS) and Dublin Core grows out of our ongoing dialogue with a range of national and international bodies and our National Digital Libraries Initiative Phase projects METS grows out of the “Making of America II” project, a collaborative endeavor of several large digital repositories including the University of California at Berkeley, Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, Michigan State University, and the Library of Congress (which hosts the official METS website) Like XML, METS is a developing standard that is already in use by a wide range of educational and public institutions worldwide, and was developed with the goal of facilitating the ability of digital libraries to share metadata METS will be Open Archives Initiative (OAI) compliant and interoperable METS extensions have been developed in partnership with the Library of Congress to ensure long-term preservation of video material MSU joined the METS partnership to provide a metadata format for its National Digital Library Initiative project, the “National Gallery of the Spoken Word.” The METS scheme developed by MSU at MATRIX was developed in consultation with the Culpepper project at the Library of Congress A subset of this same schema using Dublin Core plus quilt-specific data fields will also be used by MSU and MATRIX for the American Quilt Index, a NEH-funded Preservation and Access project Cataloguing information for the American Black Journal videos will then include: • Dublin Core Information • Administrative Rights Data • Technical Metadata These choices reflect compatibility with the most common Internet and broadcast equipment – web browsers, digital beta, and DVD The metadata schema is extensible to accommodate additional object-level descriptive needs of this collection A collection-level MARC record will be submitted to RLG’s national bibliographic database Storage, maintenance, and protection of data Storage, maintenance and protection of the data are part of both DPTV and MSU’s commitment to this project The specific modes of protection vary according to the media in question Original cleaned tapes will be accessioned at MSU in a climate-controlled archival environment Digital beta tapes and digital tape back up of OMF files will be stored by DPTV The Digital beta tapes will be maintained in the climate-controlled archive For redundancy and protection, the tape backup will be stored in a separate location to be selected for the environmental safety of the climate as well as the ease of accessibility for production editors Compressed digital video will be held on the MATRIX repository servers that are located in the MSU Computer Center 14 MATRIX has exerted significant efforts to ensure that it has adequate facilities and procedures to protect and deliver the resources in its care The following paragraphs describe salient features of this facilities plan All servers are subject to a tape backup regimen All systems are backed up in full at least weekly, most daily Tape sets are rotated to provide several months of historical backup sets This system protects against most hardware failures, and against user or program error An offsite tape rotation system is in place to protect against "complete destruction" scenarios such as major fires MATRIX computing systems are located in the MSU Computer Lab machine room The facility is manned 24x7, and offers redundant environmental control, and fire alerting and suppression systems MATRIX operates a large UPS system to protect against power outages; in addition, electric service to the facility is provided by the campus generation plant, which has an excellent record of uptime that far exceeds local commercial utilities Large campus computing facilities are high on the priority list for early return of power after an outage MSUCL staff control access to the facility using authorized personnel lists, card readers, cypher locks and an alarm system Local fire department service is quite good, and the nearest station on campus, is half a mile from MSUCL The facility is above the highest recorded water level MATRIX uses commonly available hardware, e.g Dell and Sun, for its servers Most are covered by next business day warranties Use of commodity hardware also eases purchase of replacement parts from local stores or via overnight shipment from mail order houses To address potential intruder activity, MATRIX staff endeavor to keep security fixes current Good password practices are encouraged File protection systems are designed to limit writability of files Staff use SSH to encrypt login sessions, reducing password sniffing Nonessential services are disabled to limit opportunities for misuse Several MATRIX staff carry pagers An automatic service monitoring system is in place to detect outages Prominent labels on all MATRIX equipment display configuration and contact information Facility operations staff are available nearly 24x7 MATRIX staff are registered on the Operations call list Growth potential is covered by the nature of the building: additional electrical power is close at hand, as the facility originally supported several large mainframes All Internet connectivity off campus originates 50 feet from the MATRIX server rack This limits exposure to service outages due to campus network problems MSU has extensive and redundant connectivity to the Internet There are two OC-48c links, plus other smaller links Providers include Abilene, Equinix, Norlight, AADS, Qwest and C&W In order to prevent accidental or unauthorized changes or replacements of electronic files, the MATRIX repository has a time-stamped, password-protected record lockout process as well as a verification system based on strict OAIS system for verifying information packages Once the entire cataloguing is completed, those files will be locked from further revisions MSU is committed to long-term access to the digital collections ingested in its repository The archival files will be maintained in the repository system and a long-term migration plan will be developed for the future of the project Rights information will be included in the metadata records for each program The repository will honor any restrictions to access and unauthorized access to materials will be prohibited in 15 the system Technical documentation concerning development and implementation of MATRIX repository software will be available in Fall 2002 Plans for continuing maintenance and updating will be part of the MATRIX repository plan and the archival migration plan MSU, as one of the largest public research universities in the United States, has long made a very serious commitment to providing the infrastructure and resources necessary to bring online material into the classroom It was the first large state university to provide e-mail accounts to all students MSU is a leader in developing Internet II and will continue to be at the forefront of Internet development into the next century The commitment to information technology is a modern version of MSU’s original mission As one of the original land-grant institutions, MSU is formally dedicated to a balanced effort in the areas of teaching, research and outreach MSU and MATRIX are dedicated to providing continuing access and maintaining object permanence of the archival materials and digital collection accessioned as part of this project Presentation Project staff will prioritize ABJ programs according to the selection criteria, then create an accessioning schedule for the migration of tapes and for the online presentation The site contain the entire catalogue of metadata as well as several selected programs and significant or exemplary clips from a variety of other programs The site will also include relevant materials to provide social and historical context designed for a broad audience The site will likely include a written introduction about the significance of the entire collection written by one or more of the humanities consultants; written introductions to each of the specific programs; each program in its entirety; transcripts and selected clips from each program In addition to these treatments of the television programs, the site will feature supporting materials compiled or created during program development such as the producers’ research notes, interviewers’ questions and photographs IV Plan of Work Describe in detail the organization and implementation of the project Include a schedule indicating what will be accomplished during each stage of the project Indicate the project's costs per relevant measure, i.e., volumes, pages, and frames for microfilming projects, number of bibliographic records, or linear or cubic feet for archival processing projects Organization and Implementation The project directors at DPTV and at MATRIX will co-coordinate the entire project, determine overall workflow and lead the project effort at their respective institutions The project team will convene at the outset with members of the advisory board to create a detailed work plan DPTV will hire an archivist and prepare the collection for cataloguing MATRIX staff will adapt the MATRIX repository cataloguing system to meet the needs of the DPTV collection Project staff will consult with a video restoration specialist to determine any extraordinary techniques that may need to be used when transferring the materials The materials and additional necessary equipment will be transferred to MSU for digitization, where each item will be given a unique alphanumeric object identifier Tapes and ephemeral materials (photographs, documents) will then be cleaned, digitized, and transferred to digital beta tape and Avid media From this media, each show will be backed up on digital tape and DVD and selected shows or portions of shows (see selection criteria, above) will be further compressed for online use 16 Schedule Months 1-6 (May 2003 through October 2003): Project Preparation and Cataloguing • • • • • • • • • • Work group meeting with appropriate content staff from MATRIX and DPTV Hire archivist (DPTV) Assemble material for orientation of archivist and Advisory Board (DPTV) Convene Advisory Board (DPTV) Complete general inventory, relocate all tapes to central storage area and organize them in chronological sequence (archivist) Review database information on program content (program logs, notes, stories and telephone notes from the producers, releases, research material, press clippings and other documents) and compare to actual tapes and label information (archivist) Conduct formal evaluation of existing tapes to determine numbers in each media and specific preservation problems (DPTV, MATRIX) Identify subset of approximately 400 tapes meeting selection criteria (DPTV, archivist) Identify a subset that can be readily and safely digitized (archivist, MATRIX) Continue release evaluation, as required (archivist) Months 7-12 (November 2003 through April 2004): Digitization Phase I • • • • Digitization of first group of tapes that are not problematic (MATRIX) Enter additional information into database, if necessary (archivist) Cataloguing and indexing entire corpus (archivist, MATRIX) Interim project evaluation (DPTV, archivist, MATRIX, Advisory Board) Months 13-18 (May 2004 through October 2004): Digitization Phase II • • • • • Digitization of entire corpus of selected tapes and pressing of preservation DVDs (MATRIX) Identify themes, framing, and target audiences for prototypes (DPTV, Advisory Board) Create topical re-organization of segments drawn from different productions (DPTV, Advisory Board) Development of 2-3 prototypes using individual shows to illustrate potential of ABJ Online (MATRIX) Distribute to Advisory Board members and others for feedback Months 19-24 (November 2004 through April 2005): Dissemination • • • Purchase computer for dedicated viewing station (DPTV) Design and implement outreach plan (DPTV) Identify and determine links to websites (archivist) 17 As funding becomes available: Phases III & IV • • • Design web site for educational and research purposes and to present streaming videos of these programs within broad educational and historical contexts Develop educational materials Develop materials for visually- and hearing-impaired V Staffing Identify the project's staff, including consultants, and describe their duties and qualifications for the specific responsibilities assigned to them Indicate the amount of time that the principal members of the project's staff will devote to the project All people directly involved in the conduct of the grant, whether paid by NEH or cost-shared, must be named in the budget and their anticipated commitments of time must be indicated If the project has an advisory board, explain its function The project will combine the expertise of several interrelated groups of staff and advisors This project will be produced by DPTV staff, MATRIX staff, and a consulting archivist and will be advised by humanities consultants and a broad advisory board consisting of humanities scholars, moving image archivists, and digital presentation experts Jim Woods, Executive Producer of American Black Journal, is the overall Project Director A three-time Emmy award winner, Woods first worked with American Black Journal in 1972 His longevity with the program and with DPTV will provide unparalleled depth and knowledge for the project Woods will contribute to metadata development and tape handling and analysis He will convene meetings, oversee cataloguing of material and assist in selection of material for use in prototypes He will also make recommendations on the thematic presentation of material Tony Mottley, the Producer of American Black Journal, will assist on the project Mr Mottley joined Detroit Public Television in 1989 as a freelance producer on the award-winning PBS series Club Connect He has produced American Black Journal since 1993 His intimate knowledge of the show will contribute to the archiving process, particularly for the most recent shows His central work will be in the selection process and in crafting the retrospective programs that will showcase the newly usable materials cleaned and restored through this project The primary digitization and humanities consultant will be Mark Kornbluh, an historian of 20 th Century U.S social and political history and an expert in digital humanities In addition to directing MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online, Dr Kornbluh sits on several national standards boards including the Best Practices in Humanities Digitization Advisory Board for the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) He and his staff at MATRIX are particularly attuned to the need to follow national standards in developing this project At present, Kornbluh directs several large, digital research and education initiatives, including the NEH-supported American Quilt Index and two NSFsupported projects to digitize, preserve and make widely available, a range of spoken word and textual resources in multiple languages, the “National Gallery of the Spoken Word” and “West African Digital Library.” Dr Kornbluh will provide the links between national archiving 18 standards, digital preservation and the development of humanities content and online multimedia presentation An archivist will be hired to work 20 hours a week on the project The archivist will oversee and direct the archiving process, including cataloguing of materials and creation of finding aids The archivist will have a graduate degree in Library Science with in-depth knowledge of archival principles and practices, knowledge of the care and storage of video media, and background in African-American studies In addition to Dr Kornbluh, the ABJ project will entail the work of MATRIX staff with specialties in digital library preservation and online presentation Professor David Bailey, Assistant Dean of the Honors College at MSU, will provide content expertise to this project Dr Bailey specializes in American history He also has over five-years experience in integrating new Internet technologies into his classrooms and has played a major role in the content development of the Historical Voices collection Media specialist Justine Richardson will devote half her staff time to this project as MATRIX project manager She will coordinate the MATRIX activities, conduct quality checks on database information, and manage the production standards for the video transfers and ephemeral media digitization Ms Richardson is an educational technology specialist with expertise in video production and online archive project management, as well as an adjunct curator with MSU Museum She brings to this project eight years experience in video production, with particular emphasis on camera and editing work Her art history background includes coursework in museum and archival collections management New MATRIX staff member Amy Wells will contribute half her time (through MSU cost share) to library management and cataloguing questions Dennis Boone, the system administrator at MATRIX, will provide ongoing programming and technical support throughout the grant period and during the ongoing life of the online project NEH funds will also support part of the time of a graduate assistant who will work with the humanities content and technical media specialists to execute the project Finally, undergraduate staff with multimedia skills will execute specific work as necessary Additional DPTV staff participants will be Helge Blucher and Jay Nelson Helge Blucher, VicePresident of Engineering and Technology, will act as consultant to the project on issues related to technology Prior to joining the Detroit Public Television staff in 1997, Mr Blucher was Manager of Television Engineering and Operations on the Information, Imagery, Media and Public Affairs Support Services (IMPASS) contract at NASA’s Johnson Space Center He has extensive background in all technical functions of television production and transmission Jay Nelson, Detroit Public Television Vice-President of Production and Station Enterprises, will consult on educational content and thematic presentation of material Mr Nelson was the Executive Producer of the local arts and cultural series Backstage Pass, Smart-TV, and the award winning local documentary series, Detroit, Remember When Mr Nelson has also been involved with many projects created for the national audience He served as production manager for the PBS productions of Lionel Hampton Back to Paradise, the Les Brown pledge specials and the Wealthy Barber series He was the Executive Producer of two Parenting Puzzle series, and the PBS performance/documentary program Mahler’s Beethoven He is currently serving as Executive Producer of the Annenberg/CPB project The Learning Classroom Preserving the American Black Journal will utilize the expertise of a small, specialized advisory board comprised of a historian of race relations, a historian of U.S social movements, a media 19 producer, and a librarian and media archivist Dr Vernon Burton of University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is a nationally known scholar of U.S race relations Dr David Bailey is an historian of U.S social movements and Michigan and Detroit history Cliff Russell, former host of American Black Journal, will contribute programmatic and television production expertise Sandra Clemons, former Deputy Director of the Detroit Public Library, will contribute expertise in library science and Detroit media history Together these advisors will review the content of the 33 years of ABJ programs and peripheral materials The scholars will receive copies of program titles and content, producers’ notes and peripheral research materials, as well as several sample programs assembled by the project staff Consulting scholars will review these materials independently and will gather resources, bibliographies and notes based on their field of expertise and their assessment of the ABJ program content An electronic listserv will be created so that consulting scholars and project staff can share information and discuss themes, analyses and approaches in advance of a project-wide consultation meeting VI Dissemination Explain how the results of the project will be disseminated As relevant, describe the format of the project's final product and discuss its appropriateness to the subject matter and the intended audience Explain publishing arrangements and provide an estimated price for the final product If the project involves materials currently under copyright, the applicant is responsible for securing a copyright release for their use and dissemination and the application must include a statement confirming such a copyright release has been secured In the case of an institutional collection, a description of the procedure that will govern requests to consult the materials and to use them subsequently in scholarly publications or programs should be provided There will be several final format products of the digitization process that will enhance the preservation of the ABJ collection After cleaning, original tapes will be accessioned into archival storage at MSU Digital beta tapes and broadcast-quality high resolution Avid OMF files will be backed up on digital tape and stored in archival conditions in the 3rd floor archive of the DPTV studio Additional DVD copies of each of the approximately 400 shows will be produced for general access and re-dissemination The project will purchase equipment and dedicate a viewing station at DPTV studio headquarters in downtown Detroit so that DVDs will be accessible to researchers, students, scholars, teachers and the general public Selected shows will be converted to a lower quality digital format optimized for streaming on the web These programs will be stored on hard disk in streaming format for the web The material will be available on the DPTV and MSU websites to a global audience Links to the Public Broadcasting Service master portal for African-American issues (currently in development) and other relevant sites will be created ABJ Online will be showcased as a new project in DPTV’s various outreach materials and on air announcements to the station’s audience of over million viewers Once the programs are available, we will advertise ABJ’s project and existence widely through a variety of electronic and traditional media As the world’s largest distributor of online scholarly discussion networks, H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, whose technical and administrative hub resides at MATRIX, is one ideal choice H-Net and MATRIX reach over 115,000 scholars and educators around the world through a wide variety of mailing lists; the Center’s World Wide Web sites conduct over million web transactions per week from over 20 75,000 distinct hosts around the world; and H-Net and MATRIX are well-represented at professional conferences and forums nationally and internationally in humanities computing and digital culture The scholars that work with MATRIX have published in a range of scholarly journals in the classics, learning sciences, education and technology, digital libraries, and related interdisciplinary fields H-Net’s over 120 subject and discipline specific networks provide a range of possibilities to target specific audiences, solicit additional feedback from scholars and practitioners and to publicize the results and progress of this project Listservs with potentially interested scholars and researchers include: H-AfResearch, Primary Sources in African Studies; H-Afro-Am, African-American Studies; H-AHC, Association for History and Computing; HAmstdy, American Studies; H-Announce, H-Net Academic Announcements; H-Arete, Sports Literature; H-ArtHist, Art History; H-Business, History of Business and Commerce; H-Film, Cinema History; Uses of the Media; H-High-S, Teaching High School History and Social Studies; H-Labor, Labor History; H-Labor-Arts, Cultural and Artistic Heritages of Working People; H-Law, Legal and Constitutional History; H-LIS, History of Library and Information Science; H-Local, State and Local History Museums; H-Michigan, History and Culture of Michigan; H-MusTxt, Musico-Textual Studies; H-Oralhist, Studies Related to Oral History; HPCAACA, Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association; H-Pol, United States Political History; H-Public, Public History; H-Radhist, History, Theory, Politics from a Radical Perspective; H-Teach, Teaching College History; H-Teachpol, Teaching Political Science (Post-secondary); H-Urban, Urban History; Jhistory, List for Discussion of History of Journalism and Mass Communication 21 .. .“Preserving the American Black Journal: African -American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words” Proposal Narrative Detroit Public Television... American Black Journal: African -American History through Detroit’s People, Pictures and Words is part of a larger project to develop ongoing on-line access to the American Black Journal, to continue... Content American Black Journal/ Detroit Black Journal/ Colored Peoples Time has explored current and critical topics through interviews with African -American citizens and leaders as well as through