Visualizing Community Literacy

The Augusta Community Portfolio homepage

A wireframe for the social network view of the proposed Map of Community Writing

We have a longstanding interest in community literacy as a practice and a field. Three examples are illustrative. First, working with the University of Arkansas and the White River Rural Health Center, Darren Cambridge developed the Augusta Community Portfolio, using multimedia and social software to support literacy development across the community of Augusta, Arkansas. It providing a means for community-wide reflection about the history and future of Augusta.

Second, with colleagues from several universities across the U.S. the Cambridge Learning Group has begun preliminary work developing Map of Community Literacy (MCW), an interactive visualization platform for community members, students, researchers, and teachers. Designed to bring them into meaningful, sustainable conversation with one another about local writing projects, the MCW will capture and support writing and research by, for, about, and with communities. These include historically underrepresented groups, such as homeless youth, veterans, and prisoners, often in collaboration with schools, colleges, and universities. The initial prototype will be unveiled at the 2017 Conference on Community Writing. 

Finally, Cambridge is currently working on a series of photographs documenting the range of literate practice in Washington, DC, to be exhibited at the University of Colorado in Fall 2017.