The Technological Divide

This came across my desk over the weekend so I thought I would share it with everyone.

It is sometimes easy to forget that there is still a stark technological divide in our community – between each other and the majority population.  As someone who uses the internet and computer for much of my lifestyle and living, it is easy to forget that there are those in my community who don’t even have access to a computer or internet except in public places or on their jobs.

Florida A&M has been granted a grant to fund Black women specifically who are interested in pursuing information technology and computer science.  While I think we are WAY too plugged in these days, some of us need to be at the table when decision and policy making happen.

According to the press release, of all the entering freshmen declaring a major in Computer Science, 3.3% are African American women.  What the “norm” is one can’t tell from just statistics.  I will say, as someone who majored in a technical field at a predominately white university, you look to your left….you look to your right….and you hope to see at least someone in the room who looks like you.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Jason T. Black, Ph. D., assistant professor in CIS. “The fact is that women are not choosing technology, and this is a dangerous predicament. When you couple that with the fact that it is estimated that 75 percent of all jobs by the year 2020 will require a technology background, it becomes a crisis call.”

In case you haven’t heard, everything in our community is a crisis……I don’t know about you, but I’m in crisis fatigue!!!!!

Nonetheless, we do need more folks going into scientific fields so that we continue to have a voice as decisions are made about policy and change.  We also have to remember that just because there’s a shortage or dearth of us in a particular field, doesn’t mean we necessarily need to be there or engaging (e.g. mercenaries, slaughter house laborers, etc.)  In this case, however, I think we have to be there.

Okay, I’ve belabored the point enough.  Go out and get some kids interested in science and math.  We need them.  For more information contact FAMU directly.