Students Contribute to Online Encyclopedia

French literature is Fayçal Falaky's specialty, so he was unsure how he could add a service-learning component to his next class. But then he heard about KnowLA, a new online encyclopedia about Louisiana, and that's how a group of Tulane students got involved with writing entries to help KnowLA become a reality.

It turned out to be a win-win-win project. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities couldn't be happier to have supporting entries for KnowLA, an online encyclopedia of Louisiana history and culture scheduled to test launch this summer. Falaky's students earned service-learning credits needed for graduation and will see their written work published.

And Falaky? "For me it is very enriching, too. It worked very well."

Eighteen students are in the "French Louisiana" course this semester, Falaky's first service-learning course in the Department of French and Italian, where he is director of graduate studies and a specialist in 18th-century French literature. For their service-learning project, coordinated with the Tulane Center for Public Service, his students developed topics they would write about and submit to KnowLA.

At 6 p.m. today (April 28) in room 203 of Jones Hall, the students' work will be on exhibit at a reception that is open to the public.

The topics that the students wrote about include "Louisiana as Represented in French Cinema;" "Creole Folktales;" "Free People of Color and the Fight for Rights;" "George Washington Cable and French Louisiana;" "St. Charles Avenue in History and Literature;" and "Street Names of New Orleans."

"We got wonderful entries," said Cathy Corder, KnowLA editor at the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. She hopes KnowLA will have its test launch in July, with a full launch of 300 entries in six categories by the end of the year.

Ultimately, KnowLA will be a free, dynamic, online reference on the peoples, places, cultures, events and institutions of Louisiana.