OpenWorld Atlanta (OWA) is an interdisciplinary, cross-institutional research project that utilizes digital tools to collect, analyze, and disseminate data about Atlanta’s history and present. The OWA Research and Learning Hub connects various digital projects, neighborhood spaces, and community organizations by aggregating them into a single learning hub, creating opportunities for local and international partnerships and collaborations. By putting existing Atlanta scholarship in conversation with original research projects, archival datasets, & public-facing digital methods, OWA is finding new, accessible ways to tell over 100 years of urban history up to now.

Projects housed within OWA make visible the great strengths & challenges Atlanta has grappled with over the years. We group these projects into People, Places, and Things as a starting point for exploring everything from celebratory deep-dives into Atlanta’s prominent film, food, and rap scenes to critical engagement with the systemic inequalities and structural racism present in Atlanta’s geography. 

OWA is committed to an equitable dissemination of data, information, and best practices. All outcomes of the OWA project are open-access and open-source. The project aims to engage broad audiences in exploring the history and development of Atlanta, providing insights into past urban structures and processes to inform the present and future of the city. One way of keeping our community connection open is asking for folks to submit their own work to be included on OWA, which anyone can do by visiting our “Contact” page.