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(08/04/10 11:04pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Libraries and the American Folklore Society have started work on Open Folklore, a new, free search engine that will allow users to access most of the already published folklore studies, as well as the previously elusive “gray literature,” all in one place.The initiative is expected to be launched in October during the AFS’s annual meeting to gather feedback.Gray literature is information that has not been published prior to this search engine but contains valuable data. Biographical information, insights into art and other essentials to the field of folklore are often considered gray literature because the information is contained in performance programs and other limited resources.However, AFS President Kurt Dewhurst of Michigan State University is looking to change the inaccessibility of research materials with Open Folklore.“The American Folklore Society is committed to making our scholarly resources more accessible using new technologies,” Dewhurst said in a press release. “The Open Folklore initiative will foster increased access and use of the published work of folklorists as well as scholars from related fields. “We are grateful to our partners, especially the IU-Bloomington Libraries, for this important investment in the field of folklore.”With the finished product, Open Folklore will combine digitization and digital preservation of data, publications, educational materials and scholarship in folklore; promote access to these materials, and provide an online search engine to aid researchers of folklore studies in finding relevant and reliable resources.Leaders of the IU Libraries expressed their commitment to and enthusiasm for the project as well.“Open Folklore provides us with the perfect opportunity to explore new tools that support research libraries’ historically rich mission — to provide persistent access to resources that support the creation of new knowledge — with our partners: scholars, scholarly societies and publishers,” said Brenda Johnson, dean of the IU Libraries, in a press release.IU Libraries is digitizing many of the resources that will be placed on Open Folklore. Many of the resources that are also being added have already been digitized and will be linked to the engine for access to a more complete search.Open Folklore is intended to be a “one-stop shop” for folklorists, said Tim Lloyd, executive director of AFS.“There is not a clearinghouse for information about or access to information on what public folklorists do,” Lloyd said. “There is an awful lot of literature in our field that is hard to get a hold of and use unless you have it in your hand.”
(07/25/10 11:59pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, an organization that aims to defend students’ rights on college campuses, has identified IU-Bloomington as a “yellow light” university, meaning FIRE has found several policies to be too vague and allow for too much discretion on the part of university administrators.However, other Big Ten universities did not fare as well. The University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin all received red light ratings. This means the universities have at least “one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.”At IU, one of the policies FIRE has identified as problematic is that there is only one place on campus designated for spontaneous meetings and exercising free speech: Dunn Meadow.“The right to engage in spontaneous expressive activity is an important aspect of the right to free speech, and this policy is unnecessarily restrictive,” said Samantha Harris, director of Speech Code Research at FIRE, in an e-mail. However, Pete Goldsmith, dean of students, said he does not see the policy as too restrictive. He said Dunn Meadow is designated for large gatherings but that smaller displays of free speech are tolerated throughout campus. Many of the people who speak freely on campus include those who are preaching their religious views, and Goldsmith said these people who come to preach are an example of IU’s openness to free speech.However, FIRE’s complaints with IU’s policies do not stop at Dunn Meadow. The organization identified six other policies that were ranked as “yellow lights.” These areas include policies in the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct and the Student Organization Handbook. FIRE labeled the Preamble for 2009-10 Code of Student Rights as a potentially oppressive policy. The preamble states, “A student who accepts admission to Indiana University agrees to: ... behave in a manner that is respectful of the dignity of others, treating others with civility and understanding.”Harris’ complaint with the policy is that free speech can often be offensive, and yet even the offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.“For example, it is very common for political cartoons and other kinds of social satire to be extremely disrespectful and mocking of its targets. And yet this type of expression, however much it may not ‘respect the dignity of others,’ is at the heart of what the First Amendment protects,” Harris said in an e-mail.Other policies that FIRE has disagreed with include outdoor campus event policies, hate speech policies and harassment policies, all of which FIRE argues allow the University to make judgment calls on what is acceptable and what is to be punished.While a majority of IU’s policies were given yellow lights, IU did receive two green light ratings, including one for the section of the Code of Student Rights titled “Student Rights — Right to Freedom of Association, Expression, Advocacy and Publication.” This policy states that all students have the right to free speech without university interference. It allows students to not worry about opinions shared in the classroom or other University settings and ensures a diversity of opinions across campus.“I think that the University community is supposed to be a noisy place and a civil place,” Goldsmith said.
(06/28/10 12:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Sizzler, Sea Ray and Super Slide were only a few of the attractions available for carnival-goers attending Fun Frolic, an annual event benefiting IU Child Care Centers and Big Brothers Big Sisters.Attendees rode festival rides and listened to someone selling four chances at the dunk tank over a loudspeaker, creating a nostalgic atmosphere for Bloomington resident Shelly Brown.“I used to come here when I was a kid,” Brown said as she watched her daughter on a ride. “It seemed bigger then, but I guess that’s because I am bigger now.”Fun Frolic has been an annual event for 52 years, said Tim Dunnuck, coordinator for the IU Child Care Centers. However, IU has only been working with the carnival for the past 13 years.Even though IU has not been involved with Fun Frolic since its inception, the same carnival company, Cumberland Valley Shows, has helped with Fun Frolic for as long as Jennifer Floyd said she can remember. Floyd is a fourth-generation member of the company and has been working for Cumberland Valley Shows for years.IU makes the arrangements for Cumberland Valley Shows to come from Lebanon, Tenn., to the west parking lot of the IU Memorial Stadium. The University provides water, electricity, security and bathroom facilities for the week-long event.At the end of the carnival, a percentage of the proceeds went to the local nonprofits.“We get a certain percentage of the games and food and gate charges,” Dunnuck said.In the past few years, Dunnuck said there have been dips in profit margins. He said he believes the decrease in profits might be due to the higher cost of fuel for the carnival to travel to Bloomington, as well as the fact that fewer people are attending carnivals in general, not just Fun Frolic. To help increase attendance, the event’s advertisers use radio announcements and yard signs to get information to families in the area. But Dunnuck said he has noticed a more effective method.“The best advertising is when the company shows up and starts setting up,” he said.Bloomington resident Craig Bailey agreed with Dunnuck.“We have been here twice,” Bailey said. “We live across the way, so the kids see it every day.”Even though attendance and profits are down, Fun Frolic still fills a need for IU Child Care Centers. Each of the five centers receives a portion of the proceeds.“It’s a major fundraiser for the year,” Dunnuck said. “Because of Fun Frolic, we don’t have to do a lot of the bake sales and things that other child care centers are doing.”
(06/24/10 12:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>New York Times best-selling author Karen Kingsbury visited campus for the first Baxter Family Reunion on Tuesday at the IU Auditorium in honor of her 18-novel series revolving around a fictional Bloomington family.Hundreds of Kingsbury’s fans, a majority of them women, filled the Auditorium for the Red Carpet Book Party. It consisted of performances from Kingsbury’s family, the people who inspired the characters in her books. The Christian Youth Theater of Indianapolis also joined the family in recreating some of the musicals that were influential in the series, including songs from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “Seussical” and “High School Musical.” Kingsbury also spoke about the themes in her writing: love well, laugh often and live a life with Jesus Christ. Tuesday was also the book release of “Take Four,” the final book in Kingsbury’s “Above the Line” series.During the event, Kingsbury gave away books and memorabilia from her multiple series. She also offered a first look at the full-length trailer for “Like Dandelion Dust,” the first movie based on one of Kingsbury’s novels, which is set to release in theaters Thursday. Kingsbury surprised her guests with a free showing of the film for the first 700 people who signed up.Kingsbury’s fans were not disappointed by the surprises at the end of the event.“I loved it — it was great,” Indianapolis resident Barb Beaver said after the show. “It was well worth the trip.” Beaver was not the only Kingsbury fan who traveled for the Baxter Family Reunion. Jeanne Forrester and Katie Goode came from Alabama to see the show.“We saw that there was going to be a reunion on Facebook before class one day and ended up buying the ticket at midnight when they came out,” Forrester said. The two friends have been roommates for four years at Auburn University and have grown to love Kingsbury’s books together. “It has become our resolution to read and own all (of Kingsbury’s) books,” Forrester said. Kingsbury’s success and the popularity of her books come as no surprise to Kathy Cormer of Indianapolis.“Her books truly are life-changing fiction,” Cormer said. “She relates it to real life.”Cormer continued to say how Kingsbury’s books touch on the same concepts that the Bible teaches, yet the books can sometimes be more effective for her because of the context of the story. She said she feels the books help enrich her spiritually.“She is an excellent writer. I am sure that is a gift from God,” Cormer said.The evening did have the occasional mention of the absurdity of a family reunion for people who do not exist. Kingsbury herself mentioned the quirk of the night while she was taking about the storyline and referring to the characters as real people.“I have them all right here,” audience member Cari Estes said, gesturing toward her head. “They are real.”
(06/17/10 12:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The first day of new student orientation started Tuesday with a tornado warning, severe thunderstorms and a fractured schedule. “We were in the (Wright Quad) food court when there was an announcement that there was a tornado warning,” said a member of the Heine family as they were hurrying to their car after the tornado warning had expired. “There were a lot of people in not very much space, but the student leaders checked to see if everyone had water and were okay. They did a very good job.”The Heines were not the only family that decided to miss the IU Alumni Association open house after the tornado warning. Parents were in a hurry, moving to their cars before the next storm front moved over campus.However, before the weather interfered with families’ dinner, the students and parents went about the schedule as planned. “It’s a well-paced day,” said Jerry Wolff, a parent attending orientation. “The professor speaking on college experiences and what to expect was good.” Incoming freshman Stephen Lederer agreed with Wolff. “The different speakers were really good and helpful,” he said.Melanie Payne, director of Summer Orientation and associate director of First Year Experience Programs, said she designed the orientation program so that each event of the day would be a learning experience. “They are learning about Herman B Wells, the buses, roommates and the University,” Payne said. To provide all of these learning opportunities for the new students, Payne and her staff have been working on the program for months. “We have to think ahead,” Payne said. “We know that we need to get 7,000 students and 12,000 family members through the program.”Not only are there thousands of people going through the program, but there is a varietyof information that has to be communicated to everyone attending.“Orientation has the philosophical and practical side of being a student at IU,” Payne said.A part of that practical side is how the program is tailored to the latest issues at IU, she said.“We change our program every year based on the trends on campus,” Payne said. Some of those trends are in light of harm that has come to students during previous years. This year, Payne said the program includes discussions concerning pedestrian safety, sexual assault and plagiarism. Given the nature of these topics, Payne said, they can be difficult to discuss. So instead of talking about them, students enjoy a musical about alcohol and its effects on decisionmaking. There are also songs that deal with receiving consent before engaging in sexual activity.Nick Johnson, an incoming freshman from Carmel, Ind., said he liked the way in which the sometimes-awkward conversations were handled. “It was really funny,” he said.However, only Johnson and the rest of Group A saw the musical. Because of the storm, Group B was forced to take cover during its scheduled show.
(06/02/10 11:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the first time in IU’s history 20 high school and middle school students will take on the African language of Swahili in a free four-week course that starts Monday.The course was planned by IU’s African Language Program in collaboration with the STARTALK program. STARTALK is a grant-funded language program that wlll work with IU to attract students to lesser-taught languages. The grants are renewable every year; however, receiving one depends heavily on the success and number of students involved in the applying university’s language program. Alwiya Omar, a Ph.D. in the African Studies Program and the Department of Linguistics, said the efforts have paid off.This summer program is not the first time she has worked with STARTALK. Last summer, she worked with middle school students in Rochester, N.Y., where she collaborated with the program director and acted as an adviser. The Swahili classes are formatted so there are two class sessions and a lunch hour each day. The first class will be a group lecture that lasts two hours. Then, during the lunch hour, associate instructors will facilitate conversation in Swahili with the attending students. The second class of the day will allow students to split into smaller groups to review the material learned throughout the day.“It is a kind of immersion,” assistant instructor Abdulwahid Mazrui said. “This is not 100 percent immersion, but (the class) is going to be taught in Swahili and conversations (will be) in Swahili.”Even though a four-week, three-credit class could seem daunting to the participants, Mazrui said no previous knowledge of the language is required to take the class.“This is right from square one,” he said. The intensive class will earn each participant three credit hours and two semesters’ worth of knowledge. There will also be contact between the program and its students throughout the upcoming school year. The summer instructors will visit the students once a month to maintain the participants’ knowledge and their interest in the language. Though Omar commented on many of the attractive aspects of the class, there seems to be one positive attribute that stands above the rest. “They don’t have to pay for anything,” Omar said. “What we need from the students is the motivation and dedication.”