The #NetworkedOC digital public humanities project, is looking for personal or professional photographs, images, letters, and documents that speak to the lived experiences of Black people in Orange County, Calif. #NetworkedOC, seeks to creatively document the past, present and future of Black-Owned businesses, and community organizations in Orange County, CA, using interactive digital maps and data storytelling. This project is invested in capturing, managing and creatively disseminating open-source data on Orange County’s Black communities past and present. In so doing, we aim to build a rich network of information sharing amongst local Black-owned businesses and community organizations and provide resources that foster sustainability in the local region and increase equity in the circulation of the Black dollar in and beyond Orange County.

As an inclusive and restorative data project #Networked OC is supported by the Andrew Mellon Funded Digital Ethnic Futures Consortium (DEFCon) at California State University Fullerton. CSUF DEFCon seeks to cultivate the next generation of social justice engaged digital scholars to work alongside communities and cultural organizations on projects and initiatives that both increase access to digital tools and technologies, and amplify the voices and experiences of underrepresented events, histories, cultural practices and people in the U.S. and beyond. This event is hosted in collaboration with CSUF’s Pollak Library and the Institute for Black Intellectual Innovation.

(From Official February 2023 Press Release)