Glossary of Terms
To develop the categories for the map, we looked at topics and terms used across a range of institutions, grant agencies, and journals in the field, and then began consolidating and refining those terms. After making several passes over each project to assess and further refine these categories, we reached out to project creators to make sure the data we had collected using these categories was as accurate as possible.
Our hope is that the terms and definitions below remain broad enough to fit the spectrum of projects on the map (and those to come!) while also revealing and creating connections and community across the Black digital and public humanities.
Note: We welcome updates, suggestions, and corrections regarding the below terms and how we are using them. If you have any suggestions, please contact us.
| Field | Definition |
|---|---|
| Black Digital Humanities | An area of scholarly activity at the intersection of digital technologies, Black Studies, and the humanities. |
| Black Public Humanities | An area of scholarly activity at the intersection of Black Studies and the humanities that actively engages with diverse publics beyond the university. |
| Modality | Definition |
|---|---|
| Digital | Projects that are entirely digital |
| Physical | Projects that exist largely in-person (website is more advertisement, less project) |
| Mixed | Projects that have distinct digital and physical elements |
| Project Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| Art and Performance | A project presented through visual or performing arts |
| Data Mining, Mapping, & Visualization | Any project that has a focus on interpreting data |
| Digital Collections, Databases, & Archives | Digital collections of any kind of media |
| Digital Publishing & Digital Editions | Digital publishing efforts and/or digitally published works |
| Educational Resources | Materials and projects with an focus on knowledge-sharing for educational purposes |
| Events/Programming | Projects that are entirely or partially made up of interactive programming |
| Exhibits & Digital Storytelling | Narrative-based/focused projects and physical/digital exhibitions |
| Local History & Local Places | Projects with a focus on a particular location |
| Oral Histories | Projects that are entirely or partially made up of oral histories |
| Other/Unknown | Used when absolutely none of the other filters work |
| Resource Hub | A project that hosts lists of other projects/materials/etc |
| Organization Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| Community Group | A group of people who come together to promote a common cause for the public or community benefit. |
| Historical Society | Organization that collects and shares information about a certain aspect of history |
| HBCU (Graduate) | Historically Black college or university that significantly serves graduate/PhD students |
| HBCU (Undergraduate) | Historically Black college or university primarily serving undergraduate students |
| Independent Scholar/Individual Research | A project headed by an individual who may or may not be associated with an institution |
| Inter-Institution Partnership | A project run by more than one institution (eg. two universities) |
| K-12 | Project based in a K-12 school |
| Minority-Serving Institution (Graduate) | A college or university with a student body predominantly made up of minorities that significantly serves graduate/PhD students |
| Minority-Serving Institution (Undergraduate) | A college or university with a student body predominantly made up of minorities that primarily serves undergraduate students |
| Museum | Organization that cares for and displays to the general public collections or exhibitions of artifacts of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. |
| Other/Unknown | Organization type is unclear |
| Press | Organization that publishes all kinds of written media |
| Public Library | A library whose materials are accessible by anyone, including large, government-owned libraries/repositories |
| PWI (Graduate) | Predominantly white institution that significantly serves graduate/PhD students |
| PWI (Undergraduate) | Predominantly white institution primarily serving undergraduate students |
| University (other) | A university that doesn’t fall into any of the specified types of academic institutions |
| University Library | A library housed within a university of any size |
| Creators and Contributors | Definition |
|---|---|
| Community Members | Participants not associated with an organization beyond their community whose participation is driven by their membership in that community |
| Digital/Design Professionals | Employees that do artistic/online work (i.e. web design) |
| Faculty | Teaching or administrative employee of a university or other academic institution |
| Fellows and/or Postdocs | Those who are in research positions after being awarded the position or receiving a doctoral degree |
| Graduate Students | A student in a graduate degree program at the time of the project |
| Library Professionals | Employees of a national/private or public library, or an archive |
| Museum Professionals | Employees of any kind within a museum |
| Other/Unknown | Participants aren’t listed/are unclear |
| Translators | Those whose main role in the project is to translate documents, website content, etc. |
| Undergraduate Students | A student in an undergraduate degree program at the time of the project |
| K-12 Educators | Teaching or administrative employee of a K-12 institution |
| Funding/Resources | Definition |
|---|---|
| Grants/Awards (Public, Federal) | Money from the federal government |
| Grants/Awards (Public, State or Local) | Money from a state or local government |
| Grants/Awards (Private, Foundations/Charities) | Money from privately-owned funding organizations |
| Grants/Awards (Private, Corporate/Individual Sponsors) | Money from businesses or donors who gave enough for their name to be included on the website |
| Grants/Awards (Professional Organizations) | Money from a professional advancement group, likely in the same field as the project |
| Grants/Awards (Institutional, Internal) | Money awarded to an organization from within said organization |
| Institutional Operating Budget (Internal) | Money that was in the organization’s budget |
| In-Kind Support | Non-monetary support like donations of materials or labor (i.e. volunteers) |
| Small Donations | Non-grant-sized monetary gifts |
| Paywall/Access fees | Projects that make money by charging access |
| Merchandise/Sales | Projects that sell some sort of product in order to make money |
| Other/Unknown | Used when absolutely none of the other filters work |
| Minority Leadership* | Definition |
|---|---|
| BIPOC Run | Majority of the leadership of the project is made up of Black people, Indigenous people, and/or People of Color |
| Community Run | Majority of the leadership of the project is made up of community members not associated with an institution or organization beyond their community |
| LGBTQ+ Run | Majority of the leadership of the project is made up of those who identify as LGBTQIA2s+ |
| N/A | None of the tags apply/the project is not run by a majority of minorities |
| Women Run | Majority of the leadership of the project is made up of women |