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The social sett<strong>in</strong>g here refers to urban communities <strong>in</strong> major cities that can benefit from computers and high<br />

speed technology to improve the quality of life and promote educational and economic development.<br />

Us<strong>in</strong>g the Web as a Learn<strong>in</strong>g Tool<br />

CCLP is a collaboration between the CUYT and the Aframian World Enterprises, a local web designer and<br />

several students <strong>in</strong> our department that were <strong>in</strong>terested <strong>in</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g about the WWW. Aframian World<br />

Enterprises had recently launched the Aframian WebNet that is a repository of African and Afro-American<br />

resources (Virtually Afro-centric) on the Internet. The Aframian WebNet also features another large repository<br />

(Cosmic repository) of general <strong>in</strong><strong>format</strong>ion about other resources on the Internet. (http://www.he.net/~awe)<br />

Mr. Reg<strong>in</strong>ald Knox, founder of AWE, stated,<br />

“This site was created because I was concerned about the limited presence that appeared on the<br />

Internet as it related to Afro-American and African issues. Once I explored the Internet, I was<br />

surprised to f<strong>in</strong>d that there is a strong presence on the net, but it was all over the place. I wanted to<br />

br<strong>in</strong>g these resources together <strong>in</strong>to a s<strong>in</strong>gle site. That is how Aframian WebNet was formed”.<br />

Design<strong>in</strong>g the Instructional Model<br />

The Aframian WebNet was a large list<strong>in</strong>g of Universal Resources Locators (URL) dropped <strong>in</strong>to the site with no<br />

categories and not alphabetized. Some of the URL’s did not work, because they had moved to another site or<br />

their names were changed. The site was divided <strong>in</strong>to two smaller sites Virtually Afro-centric and Cosmic<br />

Resources, which totaled 250 locations. The task was to check all the locations or URL’s to determ<strong>in</strong>e which<br />

ones were operational. Create a list of categories that the sites would relate to. Alphabetize all sites under<br />

their selected category, and then write the HTML code to make those corrections. The students were asked to<br />

share their experiences of web development, research, and design. Aliya Holmes, a graduate assistant and<br />

resident webmaster discussed her thoughts about the project. She stated,<br />

Understand<strong>in</strong>g the African concept that “It takes a village to raise a child”, it is our obligation to<br />

share this wealth of knowledge with our ‘village’. Through workshops and demonstrations we<br />

attempt to spark an <strong>in</strong>terest for technology <strong>in</strong> others This venture has been extremely successful <strong>in</strong><br />

develop<strong>in</strong>g and ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a site dedicated to the <strong>in</strong>terests of those of the African Diaspora. CCLP<br />

attempts to bridge that gap by expos<strong>in</strong>g communities to this new environment. CCLP cares too much<br />

to see the children of our villages fall through the cracks.”<br />

Discussion<br />

CCLP cont<strong>in</strong>ues to provide the Aframian WebNet with technical assistance and is now look<strong>in</strong>g for ways to<br />

improve the look and feel of the site. CUYT has just completed it’s own site, (www.albany.edu/cuyt) and has<br />

received a grant from WMHT-Channel 17, a local PBS affiliate to produce a web site about educational video<br />

resources <strong>in</strong> the capital region.<br />

References<br />

[Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993] Kretzmann, J., & McKnight, J. 1993. Build<strong>in</strong>g communities from the <strong>in</strong>side<br />

out. Evanston, IL: Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Neighborhood Innovations Network.<br />

Northwestern University.<br />

[Papert, 1991] Papert, S. A. 1991. Constructionist Learn<strong>in</strong>g. In Idit Harel (Ed.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Media<br />

Laboratory.<br />

[Shaw, 1994] Shaw, A. 1994. Neighborhood network<strong>in</strong>g and community build<strong>in</strong>g. S. Cisler (Ed), Ties that<br />

b<strong>in</strong>d: Build<strong>in</strong>g community networks (pp. 134-137). May 4-6, Cuuppert<strong>in</strong>o, CA: Apple Computer.

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