Collaboration to create Flint historical Web site

ANN ARBOR—The initial stages of a Web site that chronicles two centuries of Flint history will be unveiled at a reception at 7 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 29) in the Flint Public Library.

As part of its Cultural Heritage Initiative for Community Outreach (CHICO) project, the University of Michigan School of Information has joined the Flint Public Library and area high school and elementary students to create the Flint Timeline Web site.

An automotive history of Flint, completed over the summer by four high school students with funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, and a “Greater Flint Afro-American Hall of Fame,” comprise the initial parts of the Timeline.

Two more additions to the Web site are in the works. “Flint City Government, Past and Present,” created by a Flint Central High School 10th-grade civics class, and “Names of Distinction,” a biography project completed by fifth- and sixth-grade classes from Pierce Elementary School/Sarvis Center Campus, also bring research to the classroom.

“Doing research will be a major focus for classes that are planning to work on the Timeline,” says Flint librarian Cynthia Stilley. “There is also a focus on writing and bibliographic citations. The Flint Central High School class has a team of teachers who will work together to get the research and the writing done. When the civics and English teachers feel that the class has an acceptable product, they will come to the Library to scan their photos and type in their work,” says Stilley.

Stilley also sees the Timeline as an ongoing project that links the library with community groups, classrooms and Flint residents. By creating a publishing platform, it offers opportunities to teach people about the Internet and to build bonds among the diverse groups that make up the community. The library hopes to offer this platform to teachers throughout the school system, homeschoolers, genealogy groups, churches, and groups interested in local history as a Web site where information can accumulate and be shared.

Joan Durrance, U-M professor of information, says the U-M School of Information also views the site as a model for collaborative community projects and has worked with the Flint community since 1984. It helped conceive of the project and provided technical assistance to the library.

CHICO is a multidisciplinary, nonprofit project based at the School of Information, with participants from University departments in the arts and humanities, and from local museums, area K-12 schools, and public libraries. Its goal is to make cultural heritage materials accessible to a broad array of audiences. Pilot projects with partners in Michigan and other states have a strong multicultural focus and incorporate images, sound and video to enhance classroom instruction and independent research. CHICO is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

For more information, contact Stilley at cstilley@ns.flint.lib.mi.us or Sam Cronk, School of Information project manager via email at leftfld@umich.edu or (734) 763-2285. Olivia Frost, associate dean for professional programs and CHICO project director,

The Web site for CHICO is http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/

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Flint Public LibraryCultural Heritage Initiative for Community OutreachCommunity Foundation of Greater FlintJoan Durrancecstilley@ns.flint.lib.mi.ushttp://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/U-M News and Information Services