Hopefully at the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival. The 2008 SXSW Panel Picker allows users to vote on what THEY think should be included in the panel line up. Vote now (scratch that, get EVERYONE you know to vote) because the poll is only open until September 21st!
Here is a quick description of the “Where are all the Black Tech Bloggers?” idea submitted by Lynne d Johnson:
In August 2007, Podtech Vlogger Loren Feldman got dressed up in black face (a tech nigga nonetheless) and asked the question, “Where Are The Black Tech Bloggers?” While Feldman’s video drummed up controversy and was labeled as racist, it got the blogosphere thinking and talking. Especially the black tech bloggers. Here’s your chance to discover that they really exist, and to learn how they think about technology, and well, people like Feldman.
Vote so that there can be representation at SXSW and it can be proven that black tech bloggers do exist.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Angela, thanks for letting me know of this. I may have to make my way down. I’ll place my vote. Good to see there are some black tech bloggers out there. Also check out TightBrain.com.
Feldman’s video was a sad demonstration of how what crack can do to someone’s brain.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
LOL, crack is definitely wack!
Thanks for the link, I always like to check out other black tech bloggers! There are really a lot of great panels on the panel picker, SXSW should be very informative this year.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:52 am
There are bloggers whose topic is tech, and there are bloggers whose method is tech… in either case, there are plenty who are black.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Phreeze I totally agree it is a shame that some still think there aren’t. I really think Dylan Tweeny over @ Wired said it best:
The truth is, there are many black tech bloggers, and the fact that Feldman doesn’t know it shows what a leveling force technology really is. That’s because, if they’re doing it right, they’re known as tech bloggers, not black tech bloggers. In fact, you might not even know a blogger is black, unless they choose to make that information public. That’s a sign that internet technology is working, and that it is making a real difference in the world.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I’m a former Black tech blogger who writes for a tech mag/site now. I have to say, just from the tech events I attend, there aren’t too many of us….at least not in NYC. I see the same five faces each show. Maybe out West, in the Silicon Valley, it’s different.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Jay, I partially agree. No, there are not a lot of black tech bloggers, no where near how many that are white but there are tech bloggers, they are not non-existent, and I am sure the majority doesn’t look like what Feldman depicted in his video. The fact that at tech events or conferences you only see the same faces is a problem, for sure. I will be writing a post and discussing this with a guest blogger soon in a weekly feature called “5 On It.” Stay tuned!
While researching this issue I have come across a lot of interesting takes on this issue. Some bloggers don’t mind being know as black and chose not to openly advertise it while others make a point to keep their race a secret. I don’t disagree with either tactic simply because working in the technology everyday racism does still exist, possibly not in NY or CA as much as other parts of the country I can’t say because I have not worked in either locations.
Thanks for your insight Jay!
September 6th, 2007 at 11:50 am
I think there are a lot of us out there, we just don’t choose to make it known. Race shouldn’t have to come into the issue, but I do like to see others who look like me in the IT industry. It’s good to get together to trade stories and network.
I’m not trying to call these guys out, but it’s public knowledge anyway. Here are some more black tech/developer guys.
http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/
http://www.kabatology.com/
http://martyblogs.blogspot.com/
September 6th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Yes I agree that there are a lot who chose not to disclose their race. For time to time I update my blogroll which people I find who are tech bloggers and are black. You can check it out to see if there are some bloggers on there that you may not have heard of yet.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:08 am
Thanks Angela for posting the link to the SXSW panel picker and the panel that I recommended and hope to moderate if people vote enough for it as a favorite. And I agree with everyone, a blogger should just be a blogger — they shouldn’t have to tell people they are black. But if you look at the recent Black Web Awards and Black Weblog Awards, you’ll see that very few of the black bloggers in general, and particularly the black ones end up being nominated for other awards. Very rarely. Also, you rarely see black bloggers being linked to by other bloggers. There’s a history of this at SXSW and with the two years that I moderated a panel called blogging while black. You’d be amazed how many people at the conference never read a black bloggers blog, or a woman’s blog. Actually, you wouldn’t be amazed. You should know this to be the case. None of this so-called “A-List Bloggers” are linking to black bloggers, very rarely. I do see the top celebrity type blogs either create black blogs or link to the black celebrity blogs — but that’s really the main space I see it happening in.
I hope you do all come out to SXSW to represent.
September 13th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
we’re here….somewhere.
i had some thoughts on this awhile back. check it out.
nice theme, btw. what other tech blogs do you read?
September 13th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I read your post and it is very good and very true. I am not sure why some people are still scared to adopt new web technologies especially when it is clear that things in that arena are moving forward constantly and not backward. Honestly for some I think it may be intimidation, some people when they don’t understand something tend to shut it out. I really think that is why it is so important to educate children in high school about the career options in technology, these are the people that have the potential to change the way we work. Who knows in 10+ years I may not be the only black in a technology dept. or better yet maybe there will be an abundance of successful black web start-ups run by the students of today.
In addition to mainstream tech blogs here are some interesting tech blogs by African-Americans that I read:
Ejovi Nuwere tech entrepreneur
Dare Obasanjo microsoft employee
Darla Mack mobile technology
June 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi Angela, great post I am a black techie on TV, Radio, Online and etc…I host a radio show on XM Satellite & Online, I also do a tech segment for NPR and have seen so few of us at major events where other techies are blogging from. I goto to CES, E3 & other tech events every year and see very, very few black journalists. I think it has been a mixture of black bloggers not revealing their identity and others not being linked from more established blogrolls. One of the reasons why I am starting a new online video show in August that will be like a “scobleizer” if you will covering more diversity in the tech space. And with as much content as I generate weekly it would be a great help to find others that are in tech and blog so I can have them get some exposure on my show and my website. We are expanding and are about to launch some cool tech stuff with Radio-One and Tv-One as well. We have to break through the clutter “garyvee of wine library tv style” and make our voices heard more regularly. Hit me up so we can chat: http://www.marioarmstrong.com/email