Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Voices That Must Be Heard" Articles Description An account of the resource The Independent Press Association (IPA) translates articles from the ethnic press (when necessary) and distributes them via web and fax newsletter to mainstream and ethnic press, government offices, nonprofits, and interested individuals. Voices That Must be Heard was designed by the Independent Press Association staff in New York City in response to the horrifying events of September 11. After Sept. 11th, Voices focused on the South Asian, Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York. Since February 2002, the project has expanded, selecting articles from the broad range of ethnic and community newspapers throughout the city. Here, the Archive has preserved the Voices collection from its inception until November 2002. VTMBH Article VTMBH Article: Edition 36 VTMBH Article: Article Order 3 VTMBH Article: Title Chasm in cyberspace widens: Black entrepreneurs continue to fall behind technology curve VTMBH Article: Author Herb Boyd VTMBH Article: Publication Network Journal VTMBH Article: Original Language English VTMBH Article: Translator VTMBH Article: Section news VTMBH Article: Blurb Why are black businesses missing from the Internet? The reason is lack of awareness, said Don Rojas, CEO and founder of The Black World Today. Others discussed the difficulties of recouping ad losses, the economic slump, and strategies for gaining access to computers and e-commerce strategies at the Blacks in Technology summit. VTMBH Article: Keywords VTMBH Article: Body Steve Ballmer knows how to get an audiences attention. When Ballmer, CEO and president of Microsoft Corp., said that less than two percent of African-American entrepreneurs possessed an e-commerce strategy, a loud murmur rippled across the vast auditorium at New Yorks Jacob Javits Convention Center. With small business a key driver of American economic growth…ethnic small businesses must understand and embrace the new technology that can help them succeed in the digital decade ahead, he said. Ballmers message was not lost on those attending his keynote address at the two-day Blacks in Technology summit (www.blacksintechnology.com) at the Javits Center. He warned that too many black business people were falling behind the technology curve, thus widening the so-called digital divide in computer literacy and Internet access between whites and ethnic minorities. In an interview with The Network Journal after his address, Ballmer said Microsoft was working to improve the e-commerce capabilities of minority firms and the access African-Americans have to computers. Overall, we have dispensed some $30 million to minority banks across the nation, and the $9 million I mentioned during my speech is in addition to this sum, he explained. We must overcome the digital divide in which only 56 percent of African-Americans work on personal computers, compared to 70 percent for white Americans, he said. And our industry is not doing a good job of reaching people. Ballmers points were accented by a colleague at a workshop at the Blacks in Technology event. By 2004, all government procurement will occur online, noted Martin Taylor, director of business strategy at Microsoft. So its a matter of priorities, and if they dont get online, opportunities will be lost. According to several black technology experts, these online opportunities will provide an unprecedented amount of potential online sales revenue which is expected to spike at about $60 billion over the next couple of years. Why are black businesses missing from the Internet? The reason is lack of awareness, said Don Rojas, CEO and founder of The Black World Today (www.tbwt.com), an online news and information center. But the critical issue may be they are not convinced that money can be made on the Internet. They hear all the horror stories about the failure of dot-com companieseven the major onesand this news is obviously very discouraging, he said. Rojas, whose company has been on the Internet since 1996, spoke at length about the troubles a small, independent business faces trying to survive in cyberspace. And this situation, particularly in the realm of available advertising for minority-owned firms, has taken even a deeper turn for the worst since September 11th, he continued. Despite the gloomy picture, there are still more black businesses building websites and experimenting with this electronic medium, he said. Increasing awareness of the Internet and its fiscal possibilities were some of the goals of the Blacks in Technology summit, which also made stops in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. These urban areas were targeted by Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard Co. and other sponsors, who enlisted talk show host Tavis Smiley and his foundation to help spread the word. We cant be road kill on the information superhighway, Smiley asserted as he moderated a panel of leading African-American authorities on new technologies. He said that in order to close the increasing chasm between the haves and the have-nots, minority businesses cant afford to wait much longer to purchase the tools they need to get online. How does a business maintain itself once it has a presence on the Internet? Unless you have an inexhaustible amount of risk capital, promotional funds, with considerably endowed sponsors, running a business solely online will be difficult, said Victoria Jackson, an Internet consultant based in Detroit. Just getting the money owed to you by advertisers through electronic invoicing presents new problems, said Jackson. In short, it just takes you longer to get paid. During a recent forum sponsored by the National Association of Black Journalists, it was reported that less than half of black newspapers are online. And this figure may be a bit inflated. Id be surprised if a third of them have a presence online, Rojas observed. Part of the problem for new people on the Internet is fear of being lost in the shuffle or else they are bothered by what they feel is a complexity of technology. VTMBH Article: Line Breaks 1 VTMBH Article: Date 2002-09-01 VTMBH Article: Thumb VTMBH Article: Article File VTMBH Article: Hit Count 150 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Chasm in cyberspace widens: Black entrepreneurs continue to fall behind technology curve 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. article Original Name The original name of this item. Why are black businesses missing from the Internet? The reason is lack of awareness, said Don Rojas, Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-01