Welcome to KnowLA, the online encyclopedia of Louisiana history and culture. We are very happy you've decided to participate in our project as an editor and/or writer. We hope the information in this packet will answer any questions you have about the project. If not, please feel free to contact any of the KnowLA Staff:
- Joyce Miller, Editor, 504-620-2638
- Andrea Ferguson, Associate Media Editor, 504-620-2636
Our mailing address is Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Suite 300, New Orleans, LA 70113.
KnowLA will be a compendium of information about the people, history, government, economy, and culture of Louisiana, available free-of-charge to anyone with Internet access. The encyclopedia will chronicle Louisiana business, politics, history, and geography, plus the state's proud heritage in science, religion, medicine, sports, music, and art. To achieve this end, KnowLA will utilize audio, video, images, and maps to make the site as interactive and dynamic as possible. In addition, advanced cross-referencing and search functions will make finding this information easy.
Set to debut in 2010, the KnowLA staff hopes to present a Beta, or trial, version of the encyclopedia in 2009. Initially, the site will be limited to six subject areas-art, architecture, folklife, history, literature, and music-though KnowLA will eventually broaden its subject range dramatically. Because this kind of project is labor intensive, both in the creation of content and the application of technology, KnowLA will be developed over a period of years and, indeed, may never be "finished" per se.
Ultimately, our goal is to be the first place people--students, teachers, scholars, residents, and tourists--come for authoritative information about Louisiana's history and culture.
Editorial Process
Determining who and what to include in KnowLA first will obviously be a difficult task. To facilitate the decision-making process, we will assign at least one Section Editor to each of the broad subject areas (i.e., literature, art, music, etc.) Working with LEH staff and advisors, these Section Editors will each develop a list of potential entries, indicating topics of particular importance in Louisiana history and/or culture. He or she will also suggest an appropriate length for each entry: short (up to 500 words), medium (up to 1,000 words), or long (up to 1,500 words). When possible, Section Editors will also recommend potential writers.
KnowLA staff will then contract with writers to develop entries and identify relevant multi-media resources. The section editor will review drafts of each entry for content, and KnowLA editors will edit for stylistic consistency. After the entry is fact checked and copy edited, it will be returned to the original author for review.
KnowLA editors reserve the right to make any final changes necessary. We also reserve the right to reject any entry that does not meet our standards for comprehensiveness, readability, and/or originality.
Audience
As you complete your work as section editor and/or writer, it might help to think of your audience as consisting primarily of adult lifelong learners. These individuals are generally well educated and have a sense of engagement with learning. As such, he or she probably has some knowledge of U.S. and Louisiana history, but may have forgotten many of the details. Typically time conscious and goal oriented, adult lifelong learners will probably visit KnowLA looking for an accurate but concise answer to a specific question.
In the future, KnowLA staff will work with teachers to make the encyclopedia more accessible to younger audiences. For now, however, focus on creating content for educated, interested adults without a specialized knowledge of your field.
Other State Encyclopedias
- The New Georgia Encyclopedia
- The Encyclopedia of Alabama
- The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
- The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- The Handbook of Texas Online
- Ohio History Central
Feel free to share your thoughts on these encyclopedias with us; we welcome any feedback that will help us improve KnowLA and/or your experience working with us.
