Around  2012, the area centers at the University of Illinois began expanding their efforts to understand the impact of new social media on global change, especially in the political arena. This has led to development of new courses, and more broadly, the Global Informatics Initiative (GII).

The Global Informatics Initiative is a collaborative venture involving the Illinois Informatics Institute (I3), the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) and six federally funded Title VI National Resource Centers:

• Russian, East European & Eurasian Center (REEEC)
• Center for East Asia and Pacific Studies (CEAPS)
• Center for African Studies (CAS)
• European Union Center (EUC)
• Center for Global Studies (CGS)
• and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)

Its purpose is to bring together Illinois’ strength in informatics and computer science with its rich area studies resources to support research and teaching on new social media on global change.

For more information on the Global Informatics Initiative, read this article on the Title VI grants.