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Southside Chicago Documentation Project

Partner(s): Sudhir Venkatesh - The Center for Urban Research & Policy

The Southside Chicago Documentation Project (SCDP) is a web-based environment for students in Columbia's Urban Research Workshop to conduct social science research on South Side black communities in Chicago. The project is centered on a digitized collection of the South Street Journal, a local newspaper that was once a powerful voice in the Bronzeville community in the 1990s. Through tagging and data visualization mechanisms, SCDP allows students to discover patterns and lacunae from primary source materials they are commonly investigating, deepening their understanding of context and discourse in sociological research.

CCNMTL developed the SCDP in partnership with Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology and African-American studies and instructor of the Urban Research Workshop. The project currently contains a publicly-accessible repository called Southside Chicago Archive, as well as a private workspace for workshop students. Professor Venkatesh plans to use student-generated work to expand the SCDP and eventually use the online environment as a resource for larger undergraduate classes, continuing the model of collaborative development of meaningful sociological analysis.

Access: Public
Status: Active

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