Young & Black in the Third Wave [ages 5-18] Some Black parents got the jump on building computer savvy young membersof the household after How To Get There
this page was created in 1999
movies, music and software
"Jamaica Hires 13 Year Old Technology Consultant," was a lead story on the wires in December
1998. It might be surprisingto find a job like this filled by a young black kid. It isthese younger family
members blackSoftware.comproducers refer to as Black Digerati Version Three members,and we
induct them into the Third Wave of the American economy. Having masteredvideo game consoles at an
early age, we find them cruising through Microsoft Office, HTML and otherlanguages before graduating
high school . Ervin Magic Johnson would soon launch urbanmagic.comwith the help of ex Commerce
Department and expert on the "digital divide," Mr. Larry Irving.
This is a good thing. We are in the Third Wave. Missions seekingto educate "Blacks about
Cyberspace" are obsolete because everyonedoesn't need to be online and those that do will help
themselves to it -- "it" is here. Blacks don't have to be mentored about theinformation technology driven
economy any longer. Expertshave discovered that black kids in K-12 learn computer science at thesame
pace as their non-black peers. Today, and for the long future, information technology will drive the
economy, not agricultural workersor mass production firms. Knowledge is the "product" in vogue today
and Kids are intuitive enough to know that things are changing aroundthem.
These young upstarts are natural knowledge workers. Black ingenuity has always been there to improve
our developing economy, but many argue today that African Americans have been the last to embracethe
Third Wave digitally driven economy. Critics keep looking for a "BlackBill Gates" who is already here!
A few events have just recently occured that give us advance noticeon what to look for next. The first
African-American with to obtainthe Ph. D. in computer did so during the Industrial Age, also referredto
as the Second Wave, in the 1970's. In the early 90's African Americanclip art became availablefor
purchase. In 1998 and 1999 African Americans convinced Microsoft toform joint venture partnerships to
build web sites and software productsfor them. Led first by Black Entertainment Television, and laterby
Harvard's Henry Louis "Skip" Gates of Afropedia LLC, these partnershipare producing products and
multimedia content for Black consumption. The results of these ventures and others influenced by them
may be tooearly to tell right now.
Have you seen the multi-media reference software title, "Encarta Africana",on any television commercial
yet? It is there. And recently, Africana.comand AT&T teamed up to present the rich art holdings of the
nation's historically black colleges and universities, while bet.com,produced by Black Entertainment
Television, a new dot-com, is thriving to become a profitable IPO-boundBlack portal during a time when
Wall Street has taken a bath over launching new dot-com ideas.
Younger Black Digerati Version 3 members are depending less on television for entertainment. The
Digital Economy's Internetnow competes with offline arcade quality console games. These wellknown
gaming sites are connected by cable television servicesfound in most homes. And, PC-based 3D
adventure game software givesthem applications to customize and learn software programming skills at
levels not taught in K-12. The gaming industry is growing becauseyoung kids are developing customized
software add-ons to make these programsmore exciting. Advertising monguls add cultural idols to
batches of console and PC game software, while today's digital divide is aboutas close as being online
connected as a free Internet universe can be. The cable modem connected home computer is plays a big
role -- Micheal Jordon just opened his online sports store.
Software:Followthe Money
/font>After basketball, Michael Jordon could have a big future as a softwareproducer and his products have
already met with some success. The largest video game distributors in Japan today are Nintendo and Sony
with 32 percent of all titles sold are dispensed though in-store vending machinesowned and serviced by
Digicube or Sun Distributors. Video game vendinghasn't hit the shores of the Americas in a serious way
yet, but stay tunedbecause it's one of the least expensive ways to sell product to thosewith the money.
Also, the Nintendo 64 gaming console is headed downto a price point of $99 retail, sometime in 1999,
down from $199 at initiallaunch.
We predict you'll see convenience store PC game vendingmachine in densely populated American
neighborhoods with a certain incomeprofile in about a year. Sure to increase sales of products oriented
towardsentertainment and recreation, the computer superstores, with their large fleet of black checkout
clerks, sales reps, service and technical support personnel, won't like it but what can they do aboutit?
Then, parents will win because buying adventure game software form a vendingmachine that gives you
suggestions and recommendations from top software experts is a more convenientway to buy,
than traveling long distancesto the computer superstores. And they won't be bothered by commissioned
sales reps barking at them with the last promo deal they do not intendto purchase. To their credit,
computer superstores offer career training, digital-economy style, for employeesthat take advantage of it.
Employees receive discounted certification training courses and a bevy of freecomputer gear. These are
skills that cannot be taught in modern free high schools.
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meeting Santa Claus during Christmas or during the DreamCast launch. Ifyou believethese game console
computers are a waste of money - think again! The younger you are when you learnhow to control
joysticks, master keyboard layouts and make adjustments that keeps softwarerunning smooth on these
computers, builds useful computer operations skills needed in professionsthroughout the knowledge
economy.
Compared to television's Mr. Rodgers and Big Bird, NickOnline and Disney Radio have done more to
attract Black Digerati VersionIIIs into the mainstream of the connected Internet world morethan any
other element in their daily lives. American Onlinewas the stopping point for Nickelodeon and they have
some great games for kids to play. Lucas Arts startedworking on Black Digerati Version 2 members
(aged 18-35) with Star Warsand the Return of the Jedi. Now there are computer games and sequels.
Fromthe experience end, these hi-impact graphics-terrific products, to their credit, induced many BDV 2
members into programming and computer graphicdesign careers while multi-cultural software titles from
companies theseat that time were virtually non-existent. Who knows how many minoritiesjoined the Air
Force to fly a Stealth fighter Jet after getting hookedon Microsoft Flight Simulator. Who knows how
many have become Nascardrivers and Monster Truck enthusiasts.
Microsoft, The Leaning Company, Claris Software, and Broderbund helpedthem get knowledge
sophisticated and computer literate. BDV 2 members are the inventory for useful "knowledge adventure
utility organizations" such as Jillian type computer based amusementcenters, Museum of Sciences and
all types of localized Computer Museumsfor kids and adults, placed strategically throughout the states.
These adventure/education utility firms strive in political correctnessby including people of all stripes and
colors in their exhibits andliterature. And they are the right place for publicly supported taxdollars to go
in helping one overcome color barriers after schoolis out. However some would still argue that high-tech
provides limitedopportunities for Blacks and women to fully participate at the level oftheir non-black
peers because of cultural dissonance and simply just theway the job market works. Colleges and trade
institutes influence corporatehiring goals beginning with academic policies. More peopleof color are
stepping up career ladders of digital age driven companiesand that's what we all want. And some get
there after serving inpositions as sales reps, customer service counter personnel and techniciansin large
computer superstore chains, while others are self-taughtor educated at traditional four-year schools. There
are a lot of peopleof color working in Computer Superstore positions and the storesare raking in billions
of dollars.But, these corporations are being warned about letting go of Affirmative Action goals. Blacks
will loseout on three trillion dollars in income opportunities during the ThirdWave and this could make
race matters worse..
The long view is that because Affirmative Action is on the vergeof being dismantled in State led initiatives
beginning in California,home of the high-tech industry, the way for graduating BDV3s tojump into high
paying roles in the New Economy fast is to take charge ofyour own education. Do not leave it up to
Second Wave schools todo it for you. Invent something yourself without dependence on scoringhigh on
SATs and hopefully getting into the school of your own choice,but score high anyway! Bill Gates was a
Harvard dropout, yes?Parents: Get your kids to the local chapter meeting of the BlackData
Processing Association or an "organization of Black Engineers andScientists as fast as you can.
There are some terrific networkingopportunities there and networks work for you not against you.
Perhaps Jesse Jackson is right to focus on Silicon Valley after doingthe right thing on Wall Street.
Inclusion is a good thing. However,there are solid opportunities for venture capital return on
investmentwith young black owned and built upstarts if the venture people knew howto find them.
Run Jesse Run! Turn the lights on.
All bets are looking bood for Black Digerati Version III membersto make money doing computer
hacking and cracking between nowand the year 2050 when it's been predicted that Hispanics become
the ethnic group vith the highest population count in the UnitedStates. Prodigy Online Services knows
what's up with that. On April 7th, 1998, Prodigy introduceda new Internet service for Spanish speaking
Americans. The whole multiculturalcommunity is looking for productsthey have not seen yet, especially
those that make you feel as comfortableas your living room couch.
It's hard to find a young black kid today that isn't computerliterate - thanks to all the new money flowing
into public educationand and not for profit community computer learning labs. Thank Bill and Melinda
Gates for the $20 billion scholarship grants over 20 years. Thank youColin Powell, Dell, AT&T,
Ameritech US West and the rest for helping out when everybody starting gettingnervous over the "Digital
Divide of 1999."
Oh yes, we haveto thank the Taiwanese as well because if it wasn't for Asia's manufacturing capacity the
Apple MacIntosh would still cost about $2,000 and theIBM PC type units would be just below that.
Now we can buy great PCs forthe Black Digerati Version Three members for less than $500 and these
PCs can run the latest high impact PC game good enough to hold their attention. The software is that
good.
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