On December 10, 2009 myself and Abi from Noire Digerati and nine of our DePaul University computer science classmates were at the Chamber of Commerce Brazil to meet the chamber president as well as hear presentations from members of their tech community/incubator ACATE. The first presenter was Rodrigo Lossio, a Technology Journalist who is also Executive Editor at TISC Technology and Santa Catarina who basically went over the history of CELTA and Brazil’s tech community. The second presenter was Ricardo Grassmann, the CEO of Way2technology, which develops technology for the energy sector.

While Ricardo presented, our third presenter, TalkAndWrite co-founder Bruna Rezende quietly slipped into the room. When her turn came to present, Bruna ran through several PowerPoint slides about TalkAndWrite, a technology startup she founded with her father. The company competes in the collaborative whiteboard space with the likes of Adobe, IBM, and Microsoft. Aside from having a female co-founder,  TalkAndWrite stands out as one of the only companies within the space with a product certified by Skype and made for use collaborative whiteboard space.

We quickly transitioned to a Q&A. Not surprisingly, one of the first questions asked of Bruna literally went like this: “OMG, you’re a female co-founder of a tech startup, what are your experiences with sexism or discrimination in the Brazil tech incubator?” And her answer was?! Check out the video footage we captured:

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

I can’t say enough about my boy Ejovi Nuwere, formally the CEO of startup SecurityLab Technologies. Ejovi Nuwere grew up impoverished in the Bed-Sty section of Brooklyn where he saw a close friend gunned down as a teenager and his mother succumb to drugs. Despite those obstacles, Ejovi went on to become a computer security professional at age 15 and went own to work for @stake (later acquired by Symantec), and ended up on the Businesweeks top 25 under 25 in 2005. Check out his PBS TV ‘Biz Kid’ video feature below:

Ejovi Nuwere on PBS TV’s Biz Kid from Mikey Digital on Vimeo.

(Courtesy of @BlackDigerati via BlackDigerati.org)

YouMedia Chicago is an innovative, 21st century learning space, housed at the Harold Washington Library, created to inspire collaboration and creativity among Chicago urban young adults as they work in groups on projects and learn vital digital media skills. I spent a brief moment in the YouMedia lab tonight, and let me tell you the design and setup of all the technology is really nice! And since Black Digerati is based in Chicago, we’re currently working on developing a relationship with the leadership at YouMedia to act as ‘technology mentors’ to some of the youth. More info on that to come, but in the meantime check out the video created by some of the youth as they tell the story of YouMedia:

World Habitat Day Presentation from YOUmedia on Vimeo.

(BlackDigerati by @BlackDigerati)

In this short video, fellow Black Digerati and Radio-Television-Film professor S. Craig Watkins talks about his new book ‘The Young and The Digital‘, which explores digital natives dynamic engagement with social media, online games, mobile phones, and communities like Facebook and MySpace. Check out the video below:

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

In this short video, Digital Sisters founder Shireen Mitchell is speaking on a panel about how to question designers on diversifying apps that can be valuable social software tools. In the video she gives an example of a question she posed to the developer of the ‘Are you safe?’ iPhone app. Check out the video below:

iphone app: Are You Safe? from digitalsista on Vimeo.

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

If you are a minority from an poor community with aspirations of one day working for technology giant Microsft, Ms. Andrea L. Taylor may be the catalyst behind that process. Check out the video below as she talks about everything from  “Closing the technology skills gap’, ‘applying for Microsoft training vouchers’ and their ‘job training program.’”

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

Recently we posted an article dispelling the myths the blacks aren’t represented in the gaming industry. At the end of the article we listed notable blacks such as Brian Jackson of Nerjyzed Game Studios that make up some of the 3% of blacks in the gaming industry. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Nerjyzed Game Studios is an African-American owned video game development company most known for developing the Black College Football (BCF) video game that hits stores September 29, 2009. Think of BCF as the black version of EASPORTS NCAA Football 10! This video goes behind the scenes at Nerjyzed Game Studios as they develop BCF. Check out the video below:

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

Here at Black Digerati we’re convinced that the Digital Divide (in terms of access to the Internet) among African-American digital natives is being bridged daily by that little device in our pocket or attached to our hip called the smartphone! To get an idea of what we’re talking about, check out digital native Nakia from the IS 339 school in the Bronx, NY talk about how she uses her T-Mobile Sidekick more than her computer to access social networking sites like twitter, facebook, and myspace. Check out the video below:

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)

This video from 2007 is an interview prominent researcher and Digital Divide expert Dr. Eszter Hargittai did on Chicago Tonight speaking on possible structure issues early on with social media. For example, why early on did more whites tend to use Facebook than minorities? She makes a good point that perhaps the reason why so many minorities were late to accessing social media sites like Facebook is because at one point Facebook was only open to certain majority white universities and colleges and was later opened up to everyone else. Check out the video below:

(via Black Digerati @BlackDigerati)