The Scout Report -- Volume 27, Number 5

How can societies enhance written records and dialogue? Has Google obliterated Guttenburg? And what is with all of these emojis? These are some of the many questions pondered in The Future of Text, a collection of articles delving into where text came from and where it is going. At the link above readers can download a PDF or EPUB version of the book, which in many ways reads as a time capsule for the digitization of communication. It includes essays from psychologists, poets, artists, and engineers (among many other scholars), and each provides a unique perspective on the various facets of knowledge and dialogue. For example, readers interested in how the "digital revolution" has changed text production and consumption may enjoy Alessio Antonini's article, "The Future Is Text: The Universal Interface", while readers seeking a passionate defense of open source platforms may want to give Anastasia Salter's piece, "(Un)Proprietary Texts", a read. The book is not for the passive reader; between essays, blank spaces intentionally encourage readers to critique and reflect on their own relationship to text. In addition to these essays, the book concludes with a "timeline of text related moments and innovations," detailing the evolution of text from scripts and tablets to social media and (digital) tablets. Frode Hegland, a software developer and communications connoisseur, edited The Future of Text. Hegland also curates an annual symposium by the same name. [EMB]

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Deemed the "#1 code learning app on App Store and Google Play," SoloLearn invites users to join millions of learners and gain access to more than 2,000 lessons on various aspects of programming, web development, and data science. Courses cover Python 3, Java, SQL, CSS, Ruby, and much more, and each course consists of modules and quizzes for a comprehensive learning experience. A full list of offerings is available on the Courses page. For a more interactive experience, users can communicate with other learners on the Code Playground page (where visitors can share real-world code examples) and Discuss page (which operates as a traditional discussion board). For additional topical content, check out the frequently updated Blog page. While the premium version of the platform requires a subscription, the basic plan is completely free (though users will have to create an account to access the materials). Readers can access SoloLearn on Android and iOS apps or on the web. [EMB]

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Published quarterly since 2007, Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature features diverse mediums of work from writers with disabilities and disabled writers. The journal is digital and open access, a core component of its mission to create a "searchable core" of work from both well-known and up-and-coming writers. Each issue includes a variety of artwork, book reviews, interviews, poems, short stories, and more. The Submission Guidelines page expands on each of these categories for writers interested in submitting work. The journal prioritizes work that discusses "disability experiences and cultures," and "privilege[s] publishing work by writers and other creative artists with disabilities ... adopt[ing] a cross-disabilities perspective." Readers should note that submissions for the Spring 2021 issue will be received up until February 15, 2021. The current masthead is led by Editor-in-Chief Diane R. Wiener, a writer, research professor, and the Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute (housed within the Syracuse University College of Law). Wordgathering receives financial support from the this branch of the Burton Blatt Institute, as well as from the Syracuse University Libraries. [EMB]

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The collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, like those of most museums, have experienced closures due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, the museum is currently providing a variety of online experiences for visitors. For example, the museum's YouTube channel offers a large selection of videos, many with local artists discussing topics such as mask making, Pueblo weaving, and Colcha embroidery. Back on the main site, readers can access virtual tours and exhibitions, including the Museum's blockbuster, Alexander Girard: A Designer's Universe. This exhibition showcases the work of the influential textile and interior designer. To really transport the museum experience into homes and schools, there are DIY folk art projects and lesson plans for teachers. In addition, the Museum's collection of more than 130,000 objects from all over the world can be searched and viewed. [DS]

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In Australia, STEM-skilled jobs are growing faster than any other sector. Yet, women make up a disproportionately small number of those in STEM education and STEM jobs. Closing gender-based gaps in STEM careers is of global importance. Readers from around the world can enjoy the Girls in STEM Toolkit (GiST) report's contents thanks to its availability under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International licence. Relying on five years of data on STEM education specific to women and girls, the report highlights ways educators can address inequities. Each of the report's seven ideas, which range from creating engaging and interactive classrooms to ensuring access to diverse role models, is followed by a list of "classroom strategies" to ease implementation. The report was authored by Rebecca Vivian (University of Adelaide), Leanne Robertson (Education Services Australia), and Martin Richards (Education Services Australia) and guided by Melanie Isaacs's work in The GiST's Seven principles for a gender-inclusive learning environment. It was made possible with financial support from Education Services Australia (in collaboration with The University of Adelaide). [EMB]

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The Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum, a project of the Smithsonian Institute, curates exhibitions on soul music and social change. The museum "tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world." At the link above, readers can enjoy a virtual tour of the museum led by Executive Director John Doyle. Along the way, Doyle emphasizes that Rock 'n' Soul is not just a music museum, but it is equally a civil rights museum. In particular, the museum explores how musicians in Memphis came together to fight segregation. Doyle's virtual walking tour of the museum makes several stops to describe exhibition items including outfits, musical instruments, handwritten lyrics, and audio equipment. Doyle concludes the tour by commenting that the museum provides resources for educators, too, which are freely available on the museum's website (linked in the video description). This virtual tour is made possible by cityCURRENT, a philanthropic catalyst in Tennessee looking to "power the GOOD." [EMB]

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The Kennedy Center's series Of Thee We Sing explores how music shaped the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. In this 15-minute clip, host Jean Cochran describes a trove of civil rights music just recently discovered on the "B-side" of records. Cochran gets insights from a distinguished panel of guests: Dr. Dwandalyn Reece (curator of music and performing arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture), Robert Marovich (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gospel Music), Dr. Robert Darden (a professor focusing on communications arts at Baylor University), and Dr. Birgitta Johnson (a professor in the School of Music at the University of South Carolina). These guests answer the question, why did artists record music on the "B-side" of records? In part, artists were protecting themselves from the threats that accompanied speaking up and singing loud about civil rights issues. The "B-side" served as a secret vessel for artists to bring fans their movement music as a "special message." Below the episode audio and transcript, readers will find two additional resources. The first is a link to the gospel song "Where Is Freedom," performed by the Friendly Four. The second, Civil Rights and the 1950s: Crash Course US History, explores some of the early work of the Civil Rights Movement, specifically looking at school segregation, bus boycotts, and the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. [EMB]

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This resource is perfect for those looking to learn more about the connections between music and the Civil Rights Movement. The hour-long panel was organized by The Forum@MC, a project of UC Davis's Mondavi Center, in 2009. It features a conversation between Jeffrey Callison (Capital Public Radio, KXJZ, Sacramento), Dr. Milmon Harrison (Professor and Director of the African American and African Studies program at the University of California-Davis), and Mavis Staples (gospel singer and civil rights activist). Staples, a member of the renowned gospel group The Staple Singers, shares stories from her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and also reflects on the role of music in the movement generally. In her words, "the songs were stories ... the soundtrack of the movement." In addition to serious conversation about justice, equality, and perseverance, listeners will get the inside scoop on why the Staples family dropped the "s" to become The Staple Singers. [EMB]

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High school history educators may enjoy this lesson plan from EDSITEment!, a humanities education hub that was featured in its entirety in the 07-15-2011 Scout Report. This lesson plan, which focuses on Music and the Civil Rights Movement, recognizes that "the popular music of the early 1960s offers a unique and engaging entry point into the politics surrounding equal rights in mid-twentieth century America." The lesson draws connections between pop culture and activism and explores music's special capacity as a platform for social change, analyzing the work of Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, and Sam Cooke, and many other artists. The curriculum includes six different activities, some of which rely on multimedia from other reputable sources such as PBS and the Smithsonian. Educators are provided with guiding questions, worksheets, and applicable web resources. The bottom of the page even highlights related EDSITEment! lesson plans, including "The Music of African American History" and "JFK, Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights Movement." [EMB]

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This hour and a half episode of Teaching Hard History, a podcast produced by Teaching Tolerance, features host Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries (Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University) in conversation with Dr. Charles L. Hughes (a historian, author, and the Director of the Lynne and Henry Turley Memphis Center at Rhodes College). The pair reflects on how music serves as a narrative device to better understand social movements, especially in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, where activists relied on anthems to inspire and engage crowds and build resilience throughout a hard-fought struggle for equality. Hughes notes that songs like "We Shall Overcome" became anthems for meetings and protests, providing organizers an outlet to build up morale and to communicate their message to other onlookers. Another popular song from this period is James Brown's "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)," which Hughes considers "a product of the civil rights and Black power era," because the fact that radio stations were willing to play an anthem that called out anti-Blackness and called for Black empowerment was itself a win of the movement. Jeffries and Hughes also explore unique aspects of "freedom songs," including their call-and-response style, which is responsive to the input of the audience. Towards the end of their discussion, they also discuss more recent songs, including Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar's track "Freedom," which they consider a piece of modern-era politically conscious music reminiscent of the work of the artists' predecessors Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, the Staples Singers, and Nina Simone. They also end with a reflection on music's unique value in educational settings, noting that "music is one of the few points of entry into the lives of our students that we actually get." [EMB]

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Shiny's developers describe it as "an R package that makes it easy to build interactive web apps straight from R." Users need not have web development experience, nor do they need to write HTML, CSS, or Javascript. Instead, users construct the analysis and visualizations they desire as fairly standard R code from which Shiny will generate an interactive web version. In the Gallery section of the Shiny site, users can locate a variety of data dashboards that were created with Shiny. The Get Started section provides links to a number of written and video tutorials that demonstrate how to install and use the system. The Deploy section of the site discusses options and requirements for hosting web applications that were created with Shiny. Being an R package, Shiny requires R to run. It can be installed from CRAN by running install.packages("shiny") at an R console. [CRH]

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Zapier is a service designed to connect and automate other web applications. Their homepage gives an example that will be applicable to many readers. When an email with an attachment arrives in a user's Gmail inbox, Zapier will copy the attachment from Gmail to Dropbox and then send the user a notification in Slack about the new file. Additional examples can be located in the Popular Ways to Use Zapier section (found under the Explore tab on the website). A full list of the more than 2,000 apps that work with Zapier can also be located under the Explore tab. The Product Tour (under Why Zapier?) provides a video tutorial demonstrating how to use the service. Users on the free tier can configure up to five workflows that will take up to 100 actions per month. Additional and more complex automation is available for a monthly fee. [CRH]

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Readers interested in listening to "B-Side" records containing social movement messages will delight in this Black Gospel collection, last featured in the 06-29-2018 Scout Report.

In February 2005, Baylor University English professor Robert Darden penned an essay for The New York Times op-ed section entitled "Gospel's Got the Blues." In this essay, Darden noted that although gospel music has enduring popularity, a number of early gospel recordings are at risk of disappearing. Enter the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, which hopes to "have a copy of every song released by every black gospel artist or group during the target time period." A partnership between Baylor University and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the collection preserves the "most at-risk music" to be enjoyed for years to come. The collection includes thousands of records, including some of Mahalia Jackson's most treasured hits. Visitors can browse these recordings by file type, date, and custodian. Most records include images, descriptions, and audio files. Listeners should note that some files are only accessible from Baylor's campus, but non-Baylor scholars can contact the collection team to request access. [MMB] [EMB]

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