This article reviews the implementation and outcomes of a social action research, university-community partnership titled Building Information Technology Skills (BITS). BITS trains high school–age youth in geographic field methods to gather and analyze geospatial information as a means of fostering their civic engagement and motivation to persist in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines. The program was designed from its inception to be culturally, historically, and geographically relevant. In order to accomplish this, the authors leveraged access to and use of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection as a beginning point for the youth in the program to consider and focus on the relationships between place, history, and digital geospatial technologies. This was achieved by introducing the youth involved in the program to geographic information through an inventory of historic markers depicting African American sites of interest in Philadelphia. The primary aim of the social action methods employed was to simultaneously increase the interest, engagement and geographic skills among the youth participants and to create a digital archive related to the historic markers that could in and of itself become a resource for the education of youth and community members in Philadelphia. Use of the Blockson Collection anchored the program's goals of a) advancing digital inclusion and digital content creation among relatively under-represented communities and b) promoting youth empowerment by fostering the development of STEM skills and engagement within a university setting. In grounding the acquisition of field methods and geospatial information technology skills in an understanding of local history and culture, the BITS program mutually reinforces the dual-objective of advancing STEM engagement and creating a more-empowering geography for students to learn from.

中文翻译：

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处于数字内容鸿沟的十字路口的图书馆：青年领导的地理空间技术计划中信息连续性的途径

本文回顾了一项名为“建筑信息技术技能（BITS）”的社会行动研究（大学与社区）的实施和成果。BITS用地理领域的方法对高中年龄的年轻人进行培训，以收集和分析地理空间信息，以增强他们的公民参与度和激励他们继续从事科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科的动机。该计划从一开始就被设计为在文化，历史和地理上相关。为了实现这一目标，作者利用对查尔斯·L·布克森（Charles L. Blockson）美国黑人收藏的访问和使用，作为该计划中年轻人考虑并关注地点，历史和数字地理空间技术之间关系的起点。这是通过将描绘该计划的青年人通过描绘描绘费城非裔美国人名胜古迹的历史标记引入地理信息来实现的。所采用的社会行动方法的主要目的是同时增加青年参与者的兴趣，参与度和地理技能，并建立与历史标记有关的数字档案，这些档案本身可能成为青年和青少年教育的资源。费城的社区成员。使用Blockson Collection固定了该计划的目标，即：a）在人数相对较少的社区中促进数字包容和数字内容的创建； b）通过培养STEM技能的发展和在大学环境中的参与来促进青年赋权。