Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade Commission
February 26, 2008
To: Research Team
From: Iva Carruthers
Re: Access and Utilization of Internet Based Collaborative Tool
Research Project Timetable
As we are anticipating the first round of your research reports prior to March 28, 2008. You may begin to any documents related to your report and / or your completed reports. At this point report abstracts would be greatly appreciated. We are still interested in the identification of any other persons from around the world who’s work you think we should consider including.
Submitting any and / or all aspects of your completed scopes of work, abstracts, drafts and / or final versions of your report may be submitted seamlessly via the projects SharePoint intranet site. Read below and see attachments for further details.
Technology Update
Please know that we have made significant progress in assessing, planning and implementing the internal technology tools we discussed at our last meeting. Our identified server host and collaborative tool are ready for use and the community infrastructure is in place.
We are continually expanding the foundational elements of our public web site. Please note that on the public site there are several links that may serve your research interests. We expect that you will utilize the intranet site for communicating and posting notes and drafts of your work as this will allow for increased collaboration as well as the opportunity for a more stream-lined process as we work towards creating the final commission report.
In the future we are looking to turn our attention to expanding our infrastructure to accommodate internet conferencing and instruction, as well as organizing, designing and posting information for more public dissemination.
We truly appreciate your continued cooperation and adherence to our schedule. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the use of the SharePoint site please contact Kesha Daniels at 773.268.7500 ext. 166 or via e-mail at kditastc@yahoo.com.
We urge you to please access and utilize the Illinois TransAtlantic Slave Trade Commission’s SharePoint site by going to http://www.itastc.com/for-staff.html and clicking on the highlighted link to the SharePoint site. Please note: Before gaining access you will need to enter your assigned User name and Password which was e-mailed to you from our technology consultant, Stanley Young.
The Sharepoint site may also be accessed by going directly to the SharePoint site at http://itastc.sharepointsite.net.
Staff and Researcher Resources
SharePoint Site
The SharePoint site is a restricted access site established for the benefit of Commission staff and researchers. The main purpose of the site is to facilitate communications to and among individuals involved in the Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade Commission Project.
To obtain log in credentials to the SharePoint site, contact the ITASTC project coordinator at the Center for Inner City Studies or the webmaster.
ProQuest Research Database
The ProQuest database includes the world's largest digital newspaper archive, periodical databases, dissertation collections, and various other scholarly collections. ITASTC researchers and staff can access ProQuest only through the ITASTC SharePoint site.
Ancestory.com
The Commission recently acquired an Ancestory.com account for use by ITASTC staff, researchers and Commissioners. Contact the ITASTC project coordinator to obtain the user name and password needed to access member only tools on the site.
The Ancestory.com site is the most widely used of a growing number of genealogy sites. The site has free content, including a family tree maker, but also lets members search immigration, census and military records.
Ancestory.com searches databases containing more than 16 million names and thousands of government records. In the Military Records Collection, you can find enlistment dates, learn about famous battles, locate grave sites of war veterans, and discover the unique details of military service.
Ancestory.com recently announced a partnership with Sorenson Genomics, a DNA research firm, to add DNA results to personal family trees members maintain on the site.
Once you connect to the site, enter the ITASTC Commission's user name in the "Member Login" box at the top right of the screen, then enter the password in the next box.
To e-mail the webmaster, click here.