“Persons of Hispanic origin, who may
be of any race, is projected to increase from 4.4%of the 1995 state (KS)
population to 9% of the 2025 state population.”[1]
(PP - Cambridge 2007)
The projected growth of the
Hispanic community in Kansas is hardly news to communities like Junction City,
Salina, Garden City, Liberal, and others. Cities across Kansas feel the impact of
the growth in increased need for Spanish language in schools, translators in workforce training, and the rising gap between Anglo businesses and the region's fastest
growth economic base—Hispanic consumers. The need is
especially acute in communications, such as those provided by communities in
government web sites. User traffic on these sites is increasing, as exemplified by Junction City's site: unique visitors to the site increased by more than 50% between January 2005 and January 2006. Visitors to the site looked at more than four pages, on average, with street maintenance and new resident services leading the most frequently viewed pages. City government sites are a resource for existing and new residents
seeking information and access to basic services, such as utilities and public safety,
as well as vital services such as health care.
In the past, university
assistance to these communities in web site communication has been in the form of one-time student
service projects, such as the Kansas Center for Rural Initiatives Summer
Technology Teams in 2002 that set up web sites in four communities.[2] In at least one of these communities, Liberal, the student team built a city
site in English and Spanish. The English site has been routinely updated. The Spanish site, however, has remained untouched since the student
project ended, primarily because city administration lacked the required
language expertise to change both sites in tandem.[3] A conversation with a Liberal city administrator in late 2005, in part, led to
the recognition that a systematic approach is required to address this growing
need for bilingual web site creation and maintenance.
However, the need is greater than just site translation. Such word-for-word translations ignore the cultural needs of the community, missing an important role for web communication. Hispanic communities, just as those cities-within-cities established by groups migrating to this country early in the 20th Century, have special needs best defined within the new community itself. The purpose of this project
will be to work with these new communities, whether Hispanic, Vietnamese, Arabic, or any other identified group, to help them create the needed electronic information resource structures. Team students will work within these communities, acting on the needs identified by the local leadership.
In addition, the project will provide ongoing technical and linguistic assistance and training to
help rural communities serve this growing population, as well as provide
service learning for university students and mentors. The project will be fee-for-service that links community
officials with a university resource, Centro para los Nuevos Medios Electrónicos de las Llanuras Centrales (NMELC), that will not only provide web site creation and translation, but also, eventually, a
network to tap into community resources, such as ESL instructors. In
addition, the project will provide for annual technical training intended to
create and update community online experts.
The proposed near-term host for CNMELC at Kansas State University
would be The College of Arts & Sciences. The Arts
and Sciences provides the appropriate and necessary oversight and expertise through
the Department of Modern Languages (ML) and the School of Journalism and
Mass Communications (JMC). In addition, the College of Veterinary Medicine (VM) will be a
part of this project, potentially as a test model for future private industry
translations.
Principle Investigators
Thomas Gould (JMC), Douglas Benson (ML), and James Coffman (VM) will provide project
leadership and direction in the potential research initiatives that will run
independent, but parallel, to this effort. Leadership Studies will identify a student
coordinator, as it has in existing community projects it oversees. Benson and
Gould will, in turn, identify graduate students who will serve as
coordinators of student teams. The students will be recruited university-wide,
based on either primary expertise in web construction or Hispanic languages.
Teams of two to four students will work together in meeting with local Hispanic community leaders, assisting them in identifying the local electronic communication needs. This will extend far beyond translating and updating
existing sites and in the construction of new sites. The teams will present culturally focused sites that assist the Hispanic community in meeting goals set locally.
Possible long-term coordination with Kansas veterinarians, a select
professional field that would be a concurrent long-term project goal, could be coordinated through Coffman or another VM faculty member. An additional
student coordinator or liaison between VM and JMC would be helpful.
Within communities, city
staff and other officials will be identified as primary contacts and coordinators, and will
facilitate the local connection to the university.
2006 Prototype Trial
For eight weeks in the summer of 2006, one team of students will work within area communities to accomplish the goals in harmony with what has been stated above:
- Interact with local Hispanic community leaders
- Create online information centers
- Exchange knowledge and understanding within the team
- Assist in training of local technology and linguistic "experts" to take over community information artifacts.
The local community will provide $9,500 to fund the teams, dispersed as $3,000 per student (40 hours a week, $10/hour, 8 weeks) and $500 in miscellaneous meeting, travel, and other expenses.
The University will provide $1,000 in administrative costs (for Arts & Sciences as fiscal host), and $5,000 total in faculty (mentor) support. The two faculty members ($2,500 each) will responsible for oversight and assistance to students. This includes pre-project orientation and post-project reflection. The total hours expected from each faculty member will be fours hours each week for the 10 weeks.
This project can be offered for credit, either as an internship or as self-directed/readings course. In addition, where possible, Kansas Work Study funds will contribute to the community portion of project costs
One community, Junction City, has already committed to the project. We are open to the possibility of adding another community in the coming weeks. However, the project can and will move forward with Junction City alone if required.
For further information, please contact Thomas Gould, tgould(at)ksu.edu or 785-532-3449. Recruitment of students is underway.
[1] STATE POPULATION RANKINGS SUMMARY. U.S. Bureau of the
Census, Population Division, Population Paper Listing #47, Population
Electronic Product #45.
[2] Kansas State University Community Service Program,
Carol A. Gould, Director.
[3] Debra Giskie, City Clerk, Liberal, Kansas, November
15, 2005, telephone conversation. Since that discussion, Giske has reports a fluent Spanish-speaking city employee has been identified and is working on the site updates.
Page last updated
December 29, 2006
