Gates, Appiah Collaborate on Encarta Africana CD-ROM

Encarta Africana, a multimedia CD-ROM encyclopedia of African culture around the globe that was edited by two prominent Harvard professors, was released Monday by Microsoft Corporation.

DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. and Professor K. Anthony Appiah conceived of and edited the project.

The idea has its roots in W.E.B. DuBois' 1909 proposal for a Pan-African encyclopedia, Appiah said. DuBois, who graduated from Harvard in 1890, never saw his idea come to fruition because of a lack of funding.

"It's a great day for Professor Appiah, Wole Soyinka and myself," Gates said. "The three of us, we believe, have ful-filled DuBois' 1909 vision."

Appiah, Gates and Soyinka, a Nigerian Nobel laureate in literature, first discussed the project at Cambridge University, where Appiah and Gates were graduate students and Soyinka was a professor. Gates said the trio thought they had as much of a chance of success as they had at winning the lottery.

"I've been fantasizing about this for 25 years," he said.

After Encyclopedia Britannica rejected the idea in the 1970s, they did not work on it again until 1995, Gates said.

The idea was rejected by several companies, including MacMillan and Voyager. Prodigy rejected the idea of developing the encyclopedia through the Internet.

Random House, entertainer Quincy Jones and entertainment lawyer Martin Payson eventually funded a demo project. Appiah said Gates called him from a pay phone to ask him what a CD-ROM was after agreeing to that format during a meeting with Random House officials.

Random House eventually rejected the demo, Appiah said. Microsoft and Perseus Books then decided to jointly fund Encarta Africana.

Appiah said the disc, which took 15 months to complete, contains about 2.25 million words, more than 3,000 articles by 400-some contributors and an extensive multimedia library of audio and video clips.

The video clips include segments of Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74 talking about freedom, actor Whoopi Goldberg on race, Jones discussing music, poet Maya Angelou speaking about the black diaspora and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan discussing Africa. Appiah and Gates also have a clip on the encyclopedia's origins.

Originally, Appiah said, DuBois wrote to 100 people, asking them to be on the encyclopedia's editorial board. Everyone accepted, except, ironically, then-Harvard president Charles W. Eliot, class of 1853, who said he was too busy.

Encarta Africana costs were split between Perseus and Microsoft. Microsoft is paying for the CD-ROM, Perseus is paying for the book and each company contributed $1 million to other costs, including research and writing.

Some critics, including Raymond A. Winbush of Fisk University's Race Relations Institute, have expressed concern about the project, however.

"I think that it's a good first step, but it certainly isn't a fulfillment of DuBois'

dream," said Winbush, who was critical ofMicrosoft's mainstream market approach. "DuBoiswanted Encyclopedia Africana to define the worldfrom an African perspective. I think from anAfrican point of view, it has to be moreaggressive in discussion of Europeancolonization."

Winbush said he would have liked to see abroader array of contributors and articles. He wasparticularly critical of the omission of MolefiAsante, the director of Black Studies at TempleUniversity.

"To write a history of Africa without includingMolefi Asante is like writing a history of moderncomputing without including Bill Gates," he said."You can probably do it, but the credibility ofthe enterprise would be highly questionable."

Much of the research for the project was donein Widener Library. Several Harvard alums andgraduate students were researchers for theproject, which cost $2 million to research.

Gates said he was grateful to his departmentand the University for supporting the project.

"Without the support of the entire faculty ofAfro--American studies and the board of advisorsof the DuBois Institute, we never could have doneit," Gates said

dream," said Winbush, who was critical ofMicrosoft's mainstream market approach. "DuBoiswanted Encyclopedia Africana to define the worldfrom an African perspective. I think from anAfrican point of view, it has to be moreaggressive in discussion of Europeancolonization."

Winbush said he would have liked to see abroader array of contributors and articles. He wasparticularly critical of the omission of MolefiAsante, the director of Black Studies at TempleUniversity.

"To write a history of Africa without includingMolefi Asante is like writing a history of moderncomputing without including Bill Gates," he said."You can probably do it, but the credibility ofthe enterprise would be highly questionable."

Much of the research for the project was donein Widener Library. Several Harvard alums andgraduate students were researchers for theproject, which cost $2 million to research.

Gates said he was grateful to his departmentand the University for supporting the project.

"Without the support of the entire faculty ofAfro--American studies and the board of advisorsof the DuBois Institute, we never could have doneit," Gates said