The Not-So Inclusive Web and Network Failure

Dawn Douglass recently asked the question, “How can the Web truly be “open” when only young white male geeks get to decide what the Web is?”

I spend a lot of time thinking about technology. Every morning the first thing I do is pop open my feedreader to read all the incoming articles from all my favorite tech blogs. When I’m not reading about tech, I’m writing about it here. When I’m not writing about tech I’m coding, or designing or tweaking my laptop or learning how to do something I didn’t already know. I’ve been an audio engineer, a graphic designer, a tech columnist, a blogger, a software developer, etc. I got to goof off as a junior Director at public company in the states for a while. I think about tech so much that my girlfriend once famously (well as famous as something can be between two people) told me that she was jealous of my laptop. I’ve since learned to share.

I also think about race, gender and nationality a lot. I have to, I run a start-up incubator in East Africa that is trying to do business with some of the biggest companies in the world. With that comes debates about whether or not people are qualified because they have the skills, or if it’s because they need the opportunity so that people like them will get opportunities elsewhere. For instance, in Uganda (for that matter most places in the world), it’s not so much the culture for females to be technology entrepreneurs. But I’m in the middle of hiring people and I would really like an all inclusive staff, all things being equal. If one woman can succeed in the environment that I’m trying to create then maybe more will be inspired to pursue tech as a career either with us or with some other group.

Of course in Uganda, all things are not equal. Traditionally, women have held specific roles in society and coming here with my liberal American mindset is not going to change a social hierarchy that’s been in place for generations. The fact of the matter is that even in the U.S. it’s difficult for women (for a number of reasons) to find the tech industry comfortable and even survivable. I’m hoping that in Uganda I participate in a differing trend.

A friend of mine runs a web development company here, Mountbatten, has a incredibly talented awesome female hire that I think sets a really good example for other Ugandan woman here. But there’s a lot of things working against this scenario from even happening to begin with. It begins with local culture and people fulfilling perceived roles in society. There’s also a lot of pressure from the people around to live up to those roles. This usually means men work, while women run households while having lots of babies. This is reality here, and for a woman to resist is to experience a type of social isolation I can’t even imagine. Or so I’m told by some of my Ugandan friends. Thus, it’s often the case that people who might be great at certain jobs don’t apply because they’ve been socialized not to even consider such ideas, even though things are rapidly changing.

So this debate about sexism and homogenization in the tech industry is an interesting one for me. Of course these people were talking about Silicon Valley and the U.S. market, but I don’t think the arguments are completely beyond the scope of relating the African experience.

For instance, a few months ago I stumbled across a string of posts from South African bloggers who were discussing the lack of diversity in the South African web scene. It’s all the more interesting to me because if you took the whole argument and moved it to any city in the U.S. (and around the world), you’d come up with the same arguments. It all started when Mandy de Waal published a ‘power list’ of web professionals, only to realize that one thing she forgot to include was an ample supply of melanin. Ever observant, Ramon Thomas rebutted with this post that cited a number of web professionals, all of whom weren’t Caucasian. This also sparked it’s fair share of controversy and contemplation. Then the debate seemed to ping-pong around the South African web space for a while, ultimately arriving at Darren Ravens blog who made the most insightful comment of the meme. He wrote…

What these two pieces highlight is that there exists a network failure. The nature of social networks (the real world kind) is that there’s a tendency for homogeneity, especially in the short to medium term (long term always trends towards the diverse). Birds of a feather and all that. To create diversity within specific sectors it’s important to sow the seeds of integration. Once you’ve done that things are more likely to naturally become inclusive.

This is true, if you want to see a non-racial example of how exclusivity breeds, look over Robert Scoble’s thoughts on the idea of a ’social media power law’. But when you look at the faces on this list, the argument goes back to diversity. Your ‘personal network’ defines many of the opportunities you’ll receive in life. From almost the very moment you’re born, there’s an either an ever narrowing scope of friends and colleagues, or an ever expanding one. Being social is an asset. The reality is that the main reason why people complain about closed-networks is that they are often the ones on the outside of those networks, trying to figure out how to get in.

I also have a bit of a different perspective. Being black, and having been in Silicon Valley pitching my own start-up ideas, It’s pretty obvious to me that many groups there are starving for diversity. In many cases there’s just not a lot of women or minorities applying. Likewise, when it comes to pitching start-ups, while some do go for it, the number even trying is a disproportionate representation of the population. It’s not as if companies aren’t going to hire or fund people who know their stuff simply because they are Black, Asian, Indian or whatever. Quite the contrary, I think many groups see it as an asset to have a bit of diversity in the workplace. At the same time, you have know your stuff. In my case, maybe my ideas didn’t really connect or it’s possible that I just didn’t fit the mold of what VC’s in San Francisco were looking for in start-up founders. Less than a year later I’ve found a different path to pursue the same end-goal and it’s going quite well. Now people are interested. Some people have to learn by being shown that they were wrong. This is not to say that you do things out of spite, it’s just going to be reality that there are outliers (to borrow a term from Gladwell). There are always outliers. Not out of spite. In spite of, I suppose.

But I digress, Silicon Valley wasn’t built out of mediocrity even if it was the same stereotypical groups doing the building. These are the best of the best at what they do, regardless of where they come from or what they look like. There’s still a reason why people like Serge Prin, Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; all who revolutionized the industry. It’s more than just their ideas, personalities and intellect alone. It’s all of those things and more. Maybe they just happened to be the best people in the right place at the right time, or maybe even the barely capable people in the right place at the right time, but in order to be that person you’ve got to first be in that place otherwise you’ll never be there at the right time. If you want to be in ‘that circle’ you’ve got to do what they do, and play how they play. If you don’t have the same opportunities they did to get there to begin with, then you’re making your own path and in my opinion that’s the best place in the world to be.

I don’t feel like I should be allowed to work at Google or Facebook or anywhere else to fulfill some quota. I want to be there because I’m a qualified chosen candidate who happens to bring a different perspective or asset to the table. If I had breasts or a different skin color and background, I’m sure I’d still feel the same way.

I’m a firm believer in the idea that there is always a way forward. There’s always something to strive for. There’s always someone better. Make it your goal to beat that person (or people) at what they do best by becoming a peer or a leader in your field. And of course, if the ‘big boys’ won’t let you play on their field. Go start your own game. Eventually they’ll come looking for the game they aren’t a part of.

It’s only when you stop trying that you begin settling for less.

This is article is syndicated from Appfrica.org. Appfrica.org facilitates, mentors and incubates entrepreneurs in software in East Africa and Uganda. Their goal is to offer a physical space with a solid internet connection, servers, software and computers that will allow students and recent graduates a place to develop their ideas in a constructive environment with industry professionals outside of school. For more great articles from Appfrica please visit Appfrica.net.