For the past few months, WIDE and MATRIX researchers Liza Potts, Bill Hart-Davidson, and Rebecca Tegtmeyer have been working on an innovative approach to solving problems relating to the detection and treatment of food-borne illness. The team has developed a tool that uses social media bots to detect self-reported instances of food-borne illness made through common social media channels (i.e., tweets, Facebook status updates, etc.). This data is then compiled and arranged into a dashboard view that is shared with local health department officials. Based on the patterns they see in the data, these experts can then decide how best to respond to the outbreak.

This project was started due to the inefficiency of the current food-borne illness detection process. Presently, the only way health officials are alerted to outbreaks of food-borne illness is through hospitalization records. This means that an outbreak isn’t reported until an individual’s symptoms have become severe enough to require medical attention. The problem here is that by the time there are enough individual reports to warrant declaring an outbreak, it is too late to contain or do anything but allow it to run its course, leaving vulnerable populations at risk. Also, for every reported case of food-borne illness, and estimated twenty-eight cases go unreported, leaving health officials with either vague or dramatically underestimated data by which to determine the spread and danger of a food-borne illness outbreak.

Using social media as a way to monitor and mitigate food-borne illness helps solve some of these challenges. Each status update or tweet gives not only a rough description of the symptoms being experienced, but also links that data to a specific time and geographical location. If a certain pattern starts emerging (i.e., a lot of updates about “puking” centered around Albuquerque, New Mexico), the bots can then ask important follow-up questions that would normally be asked by a medical professional, such as: How long have you been experiencing these symptoms? What was the last thing you ate? Is anyone else in your family experiencing similar symptoms?

As this data is collected, health officials can monitor the data inputs and use their professional skills to determine a) whether or not the pattern constitutes a food-borne illness outbreak and b) the response procedures most appropriate to the situation. In this way, health officials have a larger, quicker, and more efficient way to detect and respond to food-borne illness.

While still in the developmental stages, the framework developed around this project is already being slated for future work in a number of projects related to the digital humanities. Because the core software and user interface can be used to find patterns in data, the foundation for this project could easily be customized to answer questions in other contexts. Slight modifications could, for example, allow users to track the sale of antiquities, the migration patterns of individuals or objects, and the existence and spread of human trafficking in Michigan.

MATRIX is excited about the current and future plans for the food-borne illness project. We see both the impact this project will have on health and human safety as well as the potential of this methodological and technical infrastructure as it applies to other projects and applications. To learn more about the food-borne illness project, we encourage you to contact Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Liza Potts, or Bill Hart-Davidson.

Episode 74 of Africa Past & Present was released on May 14.  Special guest is Prof. Abdi Samatar, Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota and current President of the African Studies Association (ASA) in the United States. During his visit to MSU, Samatar gave the African Studies Center Annual ASA Presidential Lecture titled “The Politics of Piracy off the Somali Coast.”

In the podcast interview with Peter Limb and Peter Alegi, Samatar explores the social, political, and economic complexity of pirates in Somalia. He describes four different classes or types of pirates operating in Somalia and their impact on Somali culture and society.  Samatar also examines common misconceptions and misrepresentations about pirates in both the media and the academic literature. The interview ends with a reflection on “Africa’s First Democrats” and the future of Somalia.

In an article released by MSU Alumni Magazine, MATRIX was recognized for its role in building and maintaining Michigan State University’s long-standing connection with Africa. Michigan State University is internationally recognized for its ongoing partnership with African institutions to solve challenges and conduct research related to Africa and the African diaspora and MATRIX is proud to be a significant contributor to that partnership.

MATRIX’s work with the African Online Digital Library (http://www.aodl.org) demonstrates the Center’s commitment to the preservation of African cultural heritage and the continued collaborative relationships MATRIX has been able to develop with both MSU-based partners— such as the African Studies Center and the Department of History —and with international partners and independent scholars. MATRIX is currently home to more than 20 collections of Africa-based materials, such as digital images, oral history interviews, archival video footage, original podcasts, and more. This focus and commitment to African scholarship and cultural heritage preservation is both a strength of MATRIX and a passion for future development.

The MSU Alumni article also talked extensively about how the partnership between Michigan State University and African countries is often rooted on the idea of building capacity amongst African partners and institutions. MATRIX has recently modeled this type of relationship with the Goreé Island Archaeological Digital Repository. This project— aimed at creating online, virtual 3D animations of artifacts from the Goreé Island dig site —demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between MATRIX and Senegalese partner institutions. In exchange for the Senegalese students’ and scholars’ subject matter expertise, MATRIX trained the same students in basic 3D visualization techniques, benefiting both parties and resulting in a more robust and sustainable final repository.

MATRIX has been delighted to be a part of preserving and promoting African history and cultural heritage and is thankful to be part of an institution where this interdisciplinary and internationally collaborative work is recognized and rewarded. We are indebted to many, many project partners who have made our work possible. We have enjoyed collaborating with them and look forward to future partnerships and projects. To learn more about MATRIX projects that focus on Africa which were not mentioned earlier in this article, please feel free to browse our “Projects” page at http://www2.matrix.msu.edu/projects.

This Monday, April 8^th, marks the 2013 Day of Digital Humanities. For the next twenty-four hours, digital humanists from across the world will document their DH-related work and activity through tweets and blog posts. This data will then be shared in an open-sourced repository that is accessible to all scholars. The goal is to collect a representative data set that will a) help demonstrate the breadth and variety of the DH and b) make steps towards answering the age-old questions, “What are the digital humanities?” and, “What do digital humanists actually do?”

If you classify yourself as a digital humanist, we would encourage you to participate by either joining or following the conversation about the day of DH on the project site (http://dayofdh2013.matrix.msu.edu/activity/) or on Twitter at #dayofDH.

By David Wiley and Christine Root

The world is a poorer place with the loss in February of Phyllis Naidoo, a defender of humanity, a protector of people in the midst of apartheid oppression, and a loving and responsive humanist in a society of growing materialism and bourgeois consumption of the global West.

Phyllis lived a lifelong struggle against the apartheid system as a member of the African National Congress (ANC), the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK, Spear of the Nation) ANC underground, and the South African Communist Party. She was a prominent target of the apartheid regime that wanted to assassinate her for her passionate work.  Phyllis harbored escapees from the regime and helped them escape to Swaziland.  She was banned and therefore without a job while her husband was in Robben Island prison.  When the regime broke one of her cell members, she fled into exile to Lesotho where she cared for refugees and children and where she was riddled with shrapnel from an apartheid parcel bomb.  She then escaped to Zimbabwe, took care of hundreds of movement members in her home, and then learned that an apartheid agent in Zambia had assassinated her son.

Phyllis went to great effort to find employment for ex-Robben Island prisoners, even employing five of them as messengers at her law office—including Jacob Zuma, the current South African president.  Throughout the struggle, she fought fiercely and paid dearly for her commitment.

In recent years, Phyllis continued her care for persons by hosting many—rich and poor—and celebrating living and dead heroes of the liberation struggle in her books Footprints in Grey Street (2002), 156 Hands that built South Africa (2006), Footprints beyond Grey Street (2007), and Enduring Footprints (2009).

All the while, she lived in a small apartment on the exhaust-filled Umbilo Street in central Durban where she was a center for so many friends and for the needy of the neighborhood.

Phyllis Naidoo was a great defender of liberty, a guardian of the soldiers of the resistance, a hero for so many, a political warrior, and, most of all, an immensely principled but compassionate human being.  To the end, she knew the cause of justice and humanity for which she cared for so many people and for which she gave all of her life and treasure.

Hamba kahle (go well), Phyllis.

See a number of documents, photos, and a video interview with Phyllis Naidoo on www.overcomingapartheid.msu.edu – and read her history at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/phyllis-naidoo

The newest episode of the GradHacker podcast, hosted by Alex Galarza, is now available online at podcast.gradhacker.org. The episode begins with conversations between Alex Galarza, Andrea Zellner, and Ben Sawyer as they discuss issues common to the graduate community, such as: common defense errors and preparation processes; responding to aggressive students who protest grades; and graduate school “imposter syndrome.”

The second half of the interview contains discussions between Jason Heppler, Miriam Posner, and Tim Carmody. The conversation begins with a conversation about #altac, or alternative academic careers, and what the #altac community looks like. The participants also discussed new methodologies for training graduate students and how those new training programs should be implemented.

MATRIX is pleased to continue to support the work of GradHacker and its commitment to discussing themes and concerns within the graduate school community. We encourage you to browse through this most recent podcast as well as the thriving GradHacker blog.

Episode 65 of Africa Past & Present was released September 6^th. In this episode, hosts Peter Alegi and Peter Limb interview MSU colleague Nwando Achebe. Achebe talks at length about the history of a female king of northern Igboland, Nigeria, Ahebi Ugbabe, and discusses other aspects about Igbo gender, culture, and power during British colonial rule. Throughout the discussion Achebe also reflects on the value of oral history and multidisciplinary research methods.

Feel free to listen to and download the episode in its entirety from the Afripod website or from iTunes. We also encourage you to visit the Afripod site to browse past episodes and to learn more about the Afripod project. Africa Past & Present is a podcast about African history, culture, and politics produced by MATRIX in conjunction with the MSU Department of History.

On Sunday, August 12^th, Ethan Watrall travels to Australia to participate in a workshop that will discuss and analyze the present state of archaeological information management in Australia. This workshop, which is being hosted by the University of New South Wales is part of the Federated Archaeological Information Management System (FAIMS) project and is funded by an initiative of the Australian government to build new infrastructure for Australian researchers.

The workshop spans four days and will explore issues in mobile applications, archeological data and data standards, sensitive data, data federation, sustainability strategies, and the analysis, processing, and visualization of archeological data. Watrall will present in a plenary session on online repositories. That session will investigate different strategies for designing and building online repositories and how existing repositories meet various needs and accomplish various goals. Specifically, Watrall will discuss KORA— the open-source, database-driven, digital repository platform created by MATRIX— and its advantages as an archiving tool.

In addition to discussing KORA, Watrall will offer feedback and advice as Australia seeks to build an infrastructure for archeological metadata. Feel free to investigate more about the workshop, the FAIMS initiative, and KORA itself.

On Monday, August 7^th, MATRIX launched a three-day workshop aimed at identifying preservation and dissemination strategies for born-digital dissertations. Generously funded by an NEH Digital Startup Grant, the workshop is organized by Liza Potts (Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at MSU and Director of User Experience Design Projects at MATRIX) and Kathie Gossett (Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities at Iowa State University)

The impetus for this workshop comes from the rising demand for born-digital dissertations and the accompanying storage and licensing systems to support them. Born-digital dissertations are scholarly research projects which incorporate interactive or dynamic digital media, such as moving images, hyperlinks, or Web pages. Being able to incorporate these types of complex media into their dissertations will allow student scholars to better explain and augment their research questions in ways that are not possible with traditional print-based media. The desire and demand for born-digital dissertations is becoming critical as areas of scholarly interest are being more significantly impacted by digital technologies. As Viginia Kuhn, a pioneer in born-digital dissertations has said, “If your research warrants it, than you can’t help but not move digitally. And really, in the twenty-first century- in a networked world- that’s getting to be more and more the case.”

The workshop is looking at ways these born-digital dissertations can be adequately archived and preserved. The workshop will begin with a landscape analysis of various content management systems and using actor-network theory to identify the necessary components, characteristics, challenges, and characters for a born-digital dissertation repository. Workshop attendees will also discuss how born-digital content can be open-sourced, a discussion that is framed around questions of access, copyright, and re-use/remixing.

The workshop’s main deliverable will be a white paper that summarizes the intellectual, pedagogic, and technological contexts for developing an open-source archive and will outline the steps necessary to produce a prototype. The white paper, which will be freely available online, will also serve as the basis for further efforts to secure funding, including future grant applications such as an NEH Digital Implementation Grant. To follow the workshop as it develops, or to contribute to the conversation, check out the Digital Dissertation Depository website or follow the workshop on Twitter #digidiss.

In May 2009, Dave Bing was elected mayor of Detroit. But, before he became mayor, Bing had a long-standing career as both a member of the Detroit Pistons and the owner of Bing Steel, one of the largest black-owned businesses in the U.S. during the 1980s.

It was during his time as owner of Bing Steel that Bing was interviewed by Ed Gordon on the Detroit Public Television program, American Black Journal. That interview, now available on the American Black Journal Online website, gives insights into Bing’s views on government, business, affirmative action, and the city of Detroit.

The full interview with Dave Bing can be accessed here, along with an older interview from Colored People’s Time (1969) that discusses a leg injury Bing suffered while playing for the Detroit Pistons. These artifacts on Dave Bing represent a small fraction of the interviews, audio, and video clips that MATRIX has archived in the American Black Journal collection. The ABJ contains original footage of other well-known individuals such as Eartha Kitt, Stevie Wonder, Jesse Jackson, and Nelson Mandela. We invite you to browse through those shows to learn more about American history as told from an African-American perspective.