Comments on: Will Google Bring High Speed Internet to the Hood? Probably Not.

By: Google Fiber: The Contest Begins « Black Web 2.0

Google Fiber: The Contest Begins « Black Web 2.0 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:31:03 +0000

[...] for the brass ring. With the digital divide well documented on many publications, including this one, I’m curious to know how many cities with large minority communities applied. Did the news [...]

By: BSmart

BSmart — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:45:35 +0000

Of course they would if the demand was there. But does the hood need FiOS? Lets get them on an affordable basic broadband plan first. k

By: Guestz

Guestz — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:02:48 +0000

Will Verizon bring FiOS to the Hood? Probably Not.

By: anothercommenter

anothercommenter — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:22:04 +0000

There is a movement. Be a digital justice champion for our communities today! http://centerformediajustice.org.

By: mikeydigital

mikeydigital — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:54:07 +0000

@Lauren - I agree the responsibility should be shared by the corporate world, but we also share some of the accountability as a community as well. We choose to consume more than we develop or own by chose, not always because greedy corporate companies are keeping us at arms length.

Google has (and is) doing a lot to balance out the disparities and Google co-founder Larry Page even alluded to the disparities when asked about them by Spelman College computer science professor Dr. Andrew Williams (check in iTunes U for The Research Channel: Andrew Williams' Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Speech.. in the speech he even talks about Steve Jobs asking him if he could help him get more black engineers at Apple). For example, Google partnered with HBCU's and the UNCF to offer scholarships. Google was at Howard University last week (I believe) holding a seminar about jobs, internships, etc.

But Google can't just increase black engineers and computer scientitsts for the sake of doing it. We have to be qualified, we have to be prepared and we have to be able to fit into their culture. I've heard this from Google reps directly as well as a recruiter from Microsoft. At the end of the day these Silicon Valley high-tech companies are looking to hire the best and the brightest and if you've been following the H1B visa debate (Bill Gates has been lobbying for increase H1Bs since 2006), you get insite into how a lot of these companies think.

"Google believes more H1B visas should be made available in order to lure the best foreign talent to work in the USA, arguing that overseas workers have shaped the IT industry." Source: http://bit.ly/dk37Fr

Pretty much self explanatory.. that's how they feel whether we agree with them or not.

Mike
Founder, Noire Digerati & Digerati Labs
www.blackdigerati.org

By: markusrobinson

markusrobinson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:53:51 +0000

I doubt anyone who reads Black Web 2.0 is in the “hoods” that I believe that Angela's referring too in this post. Odds are, the “hoods” that need broadband the most aren't reading this article nor will they know about Google’s initiatives. The main reason is because they lack access to BROADBAND. It’s so easy to tell the community stand up…get involved… but how are they to get involved with something that they don’t know about? And how are they to fill out a form that they don’t have access too? And where do they find the time and know how to fill out this form appropriately?

Secondly, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why everyone thinks that Google is here to help. I volunteer in a community where the unemployment rate is nearly double that of the national average and the literacy rate is about half the national average. Do you honestly think that Google cares about them? If they did, this broadband initiative would be about putting more people online, not building better apps. The telecoms motives are clear, the more people that have broadband, the more money they make (no MBA need for that). Google on the other hand seems to be more interested in getting the people who are already online faster more robust apps and to help app builders build ad supported apps. Google could care less about broadband access for the poor.

By: Lauren DeLisa Coleman

Lauren DeLisa Coleman — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:49:59 +0000

Feeling you Mike, but I will always believe that the responsibility should be shared by the corporate world. As they say, to whom much is given… I would love to know the company's policy on scholarships, particularly those pegged for increase of Black American engineers. I honestly believe there is a lot more Google and other tech companies can do in terms of helping to balance out the disparities particularly since they make so much from people of color as avid consumers (as I'm sure you already even know, all stats show Blacks and Latinos access broadband more than any other demo in this country from their mobile phone, just for example) so…. But yes, everyone has to do his/her part. I'd love to see more integrated (as in corporate-community) efforts.

By: Angela Benton

Angela Benton — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:26:19 +0000

@lauren i got your number, I deleted so it won't be out in the open.

By: mikeydigital

mikeydigital — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:03:03 +0000

@Lauren - I agree perhaps a movement is needed, however we have to individually start in the communities we live in to see the change spread viral.

This discussion we’re having is really serious from an access to broadband and skill level standpoint because the competition for jobs in general and more specifically jobs in the technology space (even those with minimal tech skills needed), is really tough. And the young people (our age) from Asia, India, Russia, Brazil (hell even Africa) aren't playing with us when it comes to these jobs. Either the jobs are being outsourced to them (I saw a lot of that when I was in Brazil), or they're coming to the U.S and taking them from us. Read up on Google's push last year to get the U.S government to increase the number of H1-B visas they receive so they could hire more foreign students.

Can we blame Google? I'm not sure anymore, because these foreign students I'm referencing just recently mopped the floor with Americas elite universities (e.g. MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, etc) in Asia at the ACM ICPC programming competition. The first 12 or 13 spots (in terms of winners) went to all international universities. You didn’t see an America university until around spots 14 and 36. Mike Founder Noire Digerati & Digerati Labs www.blackdigerati.org

By: Lauren DeLisa Coleman

Lauren DeLisa Coleman — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:48:39 +0000

Any time! I'm at 646775 2898>>>>