Seminar 2 Encyclopedia

We Are New York

Professor: Prabal De
ITF: Dana Milstein
Campus: City College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/spring13definal

Walking tours of various neighborhoods in New York and analysis from students’ perspectives.

Brooklyn Literature in Context

Professor: Martha Nadell
ITF: Laurel-Mei Turbin
Campus: Brooklyn College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/nadell2013/

If you think you know Brooklyn, think again. Your views, preconceptions & ideas will be challenged by the scholarly explorations of this Brooklyn College course. The Peopling of New York City offered a view into Brooklyn neighborhoods that changed our understandings of each place. Readings, class discussions, and film & web projects helped us understand the historical & sociopolitical contexts of Brooklyn literarature. Take a look around; you might be surprised at what you find!

Food and the Peopling of New York City

Professor: Cindy Lobel
ITF: Edwin Mayorga
Campus: Lehman College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/lobel13communities/

This site is for the Macaulay Honors College @ Lehman College students in Seminar 2, Food and the Peopling of New York City. This course will study the peoples and peopling of New York City through the lens of food and eating. We will look at a number of themes that relate to migration and settlement in New York City, including historical and contemporary immigration and migration; work experiences; settlement patterns and assimilation; community and neighborhood; commerce and business; and conflict and cooperation.

Our sources will include a variety of readings and films, our own experiences and memories and those of our families, visits to sites in New York City, and guest speakers. Assignments include in-class and online discussions and formal writing assignments throughout the term, and our culminating project – an interactive map of food and migration sites in the Bronx, which will be included in the 2013 Macaulay Encyclopedia.

The Stories of Us: Arriving and Adjusting in New York City

Professor: Els de Graauw
ITF: Ben Miller
Campus: Baruch College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/degraauw13/

The site, like the course it emerged from, focuses on how immigrant groups have integrated or not integrated into American and New York society. Various site sections — linked in the site’s top navigation bar — highlight a number of common projects: a brief biography and photo from each of the site’s authors; audio-recorded immigration stories from the authors, shared and embedded via SoundCloud, which allows for timed comments within the audio stream; statistical profiles of five major immigrant groups in New York, based in part on recent ACS survey data; and representative excerpts from interviews with individual immigrants, organized according to their countries of origin. A consistent visual style to the data figures and other visuals on the site contribute to a sense of unity across these various sections.

Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York Spring 2013

Professor: Margaret Chin
ITF: Pamela Burger
Campus: Hunter College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/chinatownsdocumentaries/

This site for the public-facing project for Margaret Chin’s Seminar 2. At the request of the professor and students, the course site, used for weekly blog posts, assignments, and course information, was kept separate. This site features four brief documentaries that explore different aspects of the two Chinatowns of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Initially, the assignment asked students to document the different responses to Hurricane Sandy, but many groups had trouble finding enough information. In the end, the Manhattan groups profiled Chinatown, whereas the Brooklyn groups focused more on responses in Coney Island and Bensonhurst to Sandy. Each group was in charge of their video’s dedicated webpage, and the entire class collaborated on designing the home page.

What Happened When the Lights Went Out?

Professor: Philip Kasintz
ITF: Anton Borst
Campus: Hunter College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/downtownhurricanesandy/

This site, designed and built by a team of students, showcases the documentary projects Professor Philip Kasinitz’s seminar developed in small groups over the course of the semester. Each group was asked to investigate how the social history and social networks of a particulal lower Manhattan neighborhood shaped its inhabitants’ experience of and response to the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It was a focused research question on a very relevant topic that gave students a lot of room to express their own point of view. Professor Kasinitz blocked off a considerable amount of time so that students could approach the project in stages throughout the spring: we led discussions and workshops on conducting interviews, planning through storyboarding and outlines, developing (and sticking to) a thesis, and, finally, how best to present the documentaries to the public. However, I think we both agreed that even more time could have been devoted to the project. In particular, I thought it would have helped if students had been asked to conduct more interviews and gather more material so they had a surplus of footage to choose from in telling more pointed stories. Bottom-line: to do even a 3-5 minute quality video takes A LOT of work and draws (or should draw) on many of the same skills as writing a research paper: namely planning, writing, gathering material, and developing a thesis or coherent point of view. As far as the site itself, I think the map navigation on the homepage is striking, attractive, and simple. I encouraged students to think about the first impression they wanted to make with the site, to think about how to ensure that visitors would quickly be able to understand what the site was about, who created it, and why it’s interesting–and I think they succeeded in that.

The Peopling of East Broadway

Professor: Ken Guest
ITF: Owen Toews
Campus: Baruch College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/guest2013/

This site displays students’ research findings in a brief, visually attractive way. It allows students to share multi-media creations, such as video, photography, and visual presentations. The site functions as a static, outward-facing exhibition of student work, rather than as an evolving, interactive space for students to share and communicate over time. Because of the way the assignment was structured – students were each assigned segments of the East Broadway strip to research and report back on – gathering their work together on this site conveys an overall sense of place produced by students in collaboration over the course of the semester.

Seminar 2, Professor Sharman

Professor: Russell Sharman
ITF: Maggie Galvan
Campus: Brooklyn College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/sharman2013/

Three groups of students investigated the ethnic diversity and immigrant populations in three neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn. These students identified cultural points of interest and put together an audio walking tour and map guide using the Leaflet Maps Marker plugin.

Gentrification in New York City

Professor: David Rosenberg
ITF: Emily Sherwood
Campus: Baruch College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/rosenberg13/

The Changing Personas of New York City: What is gentrification? Gentrification emerges in lower income level neighborhoods where the dynamics of the area change completely. It often involves the poor residents being pushed out by the new residents, who are significantly wealthier than the former. The average income increases, as well as rent property tax, real estate. Old buildings are modernized, and new infrastructures are built. New York City has certainly faced gentrification in many of its neighborhoods, including Chinatown, the Meatpacking District, Astoria, Harlem, and Williamsburg. Cultural, economical and social reforms have led to a series of numerous changes in NYC. These neighborhoods have encountered numerous transformations, for better or for worse. This site will give an insight into these neighborhoods and demonstrate the role gentrification plays in them.

Staten Island: Ethnic Foodways and Food Deserts

Professor: Catherine Lavender
ITF: Scott Henkle
Campus: College of Staten Island
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/peoplingofnycspring2013/

Most people don’t think of Staten Island as part of NYC, or associate it with the rich cultural diversity commonly associated with the “Big Apple.” However, just a ferry ride across the harbor, Staten Island resonates with the culture of the city, and in its own unique way. Staten Island also has a rich food history. Each immigrant group has brought with it unique tastes and flavors from around the world. This site explores the foods of Staten Island, and the way in which its islanders eat, giving special attention to food deserts in the past twenty years.

Staten Island Ethnic Foodways and Food Deserts

Professor: Michael Batson
ITF: Kamili Posey
Campus: College of Staten Island
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/peoplingofnycspring2013/

This project marks a collaboration between Michael Batson´s and Catherine Lavender´s Seminar 2 course. This project investigates 12 ethnic food communities on Staten Island and gives individuals familiar with the rich cultural diversity of New York City a chance to see that diversity through the often overlooked lens of Staten Island. The students for the course served as the primary researchers for the site and did firsthand fieldwork in the following communities: Dominican, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Sri Lankan, South Korean, Ukrainian. Some work was done investigating Staten Island´s West African community, but more country-specific work should probably be done here. We hope you enjoy the site!

The Peopling of NYC

Professor: Omri Elisha
ITF: Maggie Dickinson
Campus: Queens College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/elisha2013/

This course site is a showcase of each five individual group projects. Each group picked an organization to study that mediates the cultural politics of difference in some way. The group projects include a look at the role of the New York City Tenement Museum in historicizing poverty, a Polish neighborhood association, the role of Women for Afghan Women in the Afghani community in NYC, an education non-profit called the All Stars project, and Restore NYC, which works to end human trafficking. Together, all of these projects made efforts to move away from simplistic narratives of “melting pots” and multiculturalism, to take in a more nuanced and complex view of New York City. Each group used various methods of data collection including web research, scholarly literature reviews, interviews, and fieldwork.

The Peopling of New York

Professor: Peter Vellon
ITF: Caroline Erb
Campus: Queens College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/vellon13/finalprojects/

During the Spring 2013 semester, the students in Professor Peter Vellon’s Seminar 2 class researched the relationship between immigration and migration, race, and class on the Lower East Side’s identity. They translated their research into websites geared toward the general public with the help of the course’s Instructional Technology Fellow, Caroline Erb-Medina. Students were divided into groups to focus on the history, labor, food, culture, and demographics of different ethnic groups on the Lower East Side. Along with their research, students also learned how to customize a WordPress site. Every student participated in making the main design decisions for their sites. Each group incorporated tools including Google Maps, iMovie, iPhoto, and embedded music on their sites.

The Peopling of New York City

Professor: Gabriel Haslip-Viera
ITF: Aaron Kendall
Campus: City College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/haslipviera2013/

Students investigated the role of immigration and migration in the shaping of New York’s identity – past, present, and future, through oral history interviews and neighborhood research projects. The projects were carried out individually and with little structuring, which made the website content too broad in my opinion. Next time around I would suggest the students do the project in groups and focus on a few particular issues related to immigration and migration.

Making it in New York

Professor: Jackie Brown
ITF: Fiona Lee
Campus: Hunter College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/collectiveproject/

This website presents students’ findings and reflections on what they learned in addressing the question, What does it take to “make it” in New York? Popular media, as captured in the music of Frank Sinatra (“If I can make it here, then I can make it anywhere…”) and of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys (“New York/concrete jungle where dreams are made up/there’s nothing you can’t do/Now you’re in New York”), New York City is pictured as a city of endless opportunity for those who have what it takes. Working in groups, students explored the question from a range of perspectives: people who are or who have experienced homelessness; adult English language learners; workers handing out free newspapers at subway stations; subway commuters encountering solicitors; and Hunter College students on the topic of diversity.

Students opted to use Prezi to showcase their findings, a tool that worked especially well when they presented their research and website to their peers in person. For readers encountering the site on their own, the text accompanying the Prezi slideshows, as well as on the page explaining the overall theme of the project, is a helpful guide that ties together the wide range of perspectives presented. The header image, a modification of an image of the well known piece of graffiti art created by a student in the class, also captures the themes of struggle, defiance and fortitude reflected in the stories the class encountered in completing the project.

Seminar II: The Peopling of New York

Professor: Mike Benediktsson
ITF: Jesse Goldstein
Campus: Hunter College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/benediktsson2013

Our public facing work consisted of short video documentaries produced by small teams of students. Our website has a page in which all of these videos are embedded, though this site was not a focal point of our work. All of the videos are on vimeo and students are encouraged to link to them, add them to their personal eportfolios, etc.

Hidden Histories

Professor: Grazyna Drabik
ITF: John Boy
Campus: City College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/hiddenhistories/

The aim of this site is to make little-known aspects of New York City history visible on a map. In addition, the site links to resources in the form of books, films, and websites that cover these “hidden histories.” [This project remains incomplete]

Street | Lights: Micro-Documentary

Professor: Margaret Chin
ITF: Karen Gregory
Campus: Hunter College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/chinstreetlights2013/

Peopling of New York | Spring 2013
Prof Margaret M. Chin Thursday

Two themes developed as our class tried to capture the latest developments in the oldest and the newest New York City
Chinese neighborhoods, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It was clear in lower Manhattan that Sandy had lasting
effects on neighborhood institutions and the Chinese community. The collection of documentaries shows how stores, individual workers, and community organizations pulled together after the storm, “After the Lights Went Out”.

On the other hand, in Brooklyn, near Avenue U, the effects of Sandy weren’t as great. Instead, the students found that there were “Two Sides of the Street” along Avenue U, and these documentaries show how the Russian and Chinese immigrants coexisted right next to each other, peacefully and still apart.

The Peopling of New York City

Professor: Phil Napoli
ITF: Amanda Licastro
Campus: Brooklyn College
URL: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/napoli13/

On this site, you can find a collection of four wikis about the history, demographics, and current issues of four prominent New York City neighborhoods: Chinatown, Midwood, Flushing, and Jackson Heights. After exploring these neighborhoods on your screen, be sure to check out the fun and informative audio walking tours, complete with interactive maps.