We're pretty excited here at the corner of Broad and Oxford Streets. Over the last few weeks, we've watched the final demo of the old strip mall Progress Plaza to make way for the new and LONG promised grocery store in North Philadelphia. 

Progress Plaza has a long and storied history on North Broad Street. Progress Plaza, the brain child of Leon Sullivan, a Baptist minster, civil right leader and social activist, was the nation's first black-owned and developed shopping center.

It has served as a field trip for the students involved in ITSRG's BITS program as they explore and document their community. One of the students favorite stories about Progress Plaza has been how the Leon Sullivan got the project started in the 1960s. 

Sullivan suggested the development of the strip mall to address two major needs he saw in the community. First, the need for black-owned businesses and the need for jobs.

The story goes that when Sullivan approached the chairman of the bank to request a construction loan. He was told that Sullivan needed some equity and  to, "think about it," and come back in two, three of four years. Sullivan then presented the chairman with $400,000 in cash raised from the community.

The shocked bank chairman quickly changed his story and told Sullivan he could work with him. The strip mall opened to the community in 1968 and has been home to a variety of stores and  community services since its opening.

The story always brings a smile and a laugh to the students faces and a new appreciation for the plaza and the sometimes hidden treasures found in North Philadelphia.

Today, Progress Plaza is currently undergoing a 16-million dollar renovation. The plaza is soon to be anchored by a 42-thousand square foot Fresh Grocer. Earlier this year, it served as a campaign stop for President Obama.

Caroline Guigar
ITSRG - Temple

The post above, tweeted around 7 pm last night, set off a tweetstorm of LOLs, sarcastic advice, witty patois, and outright disbelief both inside the venue for the McCain dinner to honor Obama on the eve of the inauguration and outside across the twitter network of @ev. Some of @ev's twitter followers joined the fun within seconds:

"don't you just love it that politicians are so "with it" : - ) "

 "Very jealous of @gmc @konatbone @ev and @sacca right now... "
   
"LOL! tell him you have a great mid range system! "

"Tweeter is a much better name. Of course Stat.us was even better."

"You should've asked if he was excited about being Secretary of the Anterior in response."

@ev responded by tweeting: "Travis (@konatbone) is signing up Senator Wicker to Twitter via sms: @magnolia09," followed by a question about which senators are on Twitter. The responses came quickly: Clinton, Biden, Dodd, Franken, OBAMA and  countless links to congressional twitterer aggregators. With so many thousands of emails sorting the silos of political and technology knowledge bases, a few folks might have missed a really cool pic of @zappos in a tux, also attending the dinner.

It seems likely that Obama will keep his Blackberry, and for good reason. With CEOs of major technology companies all in a room electronically high-fiving their tweeps - while simultaneously mobilizing a just-in-time research force consisting of tech savvy and interested followers around the world - the movement of information through social networks has never been speedier and more able to transform the dynamics of a given space at a given time. 

Twitter followers of dinner participants were put in the place, albeit through the eyes of tech movers and shakers. Yet older established politicos and tech elite alike were exposed for the breathtaking quality of the information silos that shape their decision making worlds. The dinner space was subtly altered by the tweet heard round the tech-crunched world, even if only adding a bit of snarky levity to the milieu.  Yet through the digital footprint of the event, we gain yet another reminder of the profound ways in which social media are reshaping the creation of knowledge far beyond the boundaries of that room.

Michele Masucci
Director, ITSRG
Temple University