DISQUS

Lynne d Johnson · 2 years ago

I'm thinking there are more Black folks in the industry. It's just that a lot of the Black folks work for themselves and not at the big agencies. I'm not saying that they don't work at the agencies, but I'm saying that more are self-employed -- from my experience of working with Black and Latino designers and looking at what I see out in the field. This survey was probably directed at the larger agencies and folks who belong to certain professional groups -- the places where not many of the of color are.

Now overall, the Black Web professionals are everywhere. I can't even think of how each time I go to a conference like SXSW, BlogHer, and the like, that the "of color" community attendance grows and I hear about sites for people of color and meet designers, developers, strategist, etc. of color, who I never heard of.

There are organizations for Black Web Professionals, but they are not as ubiquitous as the mainstream ones and often have outdated names. Take for instance the BDPA. Ok, though this organization is an umbrella for IT, Web, tech whatever -- it's still the only place a lot of Black Tech folks know they can go to network. BDPA (this term is a term that was cool in the 80s). For the youngn's it's the acronym for Black Data Processing Associates. When was the last time you saw a data processor?

Anyway, I'm running in all kinds of tangents because you've brought up a lot of issues that I see ever day, and at conferences, and in organizations.

I have more thoughts, but I'm going to trail off for now until I can be more cohesive...

Mark · 2 years ago

Co-workers, regardless of your skill, still downplay your abilities. Management second-guesses your input and ideas. And don’t even get me started on the freelance tip. These survey results spell out in hard data what Blacks in the web field are already cognizant about — we’re absent.

Very true.

Let me answer this question through my own experience.

If by chance, I get lucky and get an interview...several times it comes down to..."well, you probably wouldn't fit in here..."

Ultimately, as a Third Generation American, I'm still encountering a cultural challenge/barrier.

Or is my work simply not good enough? Who knows...

Thank goodness, the last company I worked for, was truly open to diversity and diversity of life-styles...

Good post!

Maurice Cherry · 2 years ago

@Lynne: I've run across BDPA. Similar to them are the African-American Web Designers Association and the Association of African-American Web Developers, but I can't really tell if either of these are active or just sitting dead on the Web. One thing I found odd about the survey was that while they released the raw data, they didn't really reveal their sampling methodology. I mean, that's Statistics 101 (or at least 102). I did take the survey, but then again, I subscribe to ALA's RSS feed. How did the other 30,000-odd something people find out about the survey and take it? Word of mouth? RSS subscriptions? It's an important question because if they only really asked a majority population for their feedback, then these survey findings would highly reflect that.

@Mark: I've gotten the "you wouldn't fit in" excuse also. But how would they really know that unless you got hired, you know? For the places who didn't say that, I'd go to work there and find out -- surprise -- I didn't fit in! But I can say this from my work experience - my government jobs were much more accepting and open to diversity in gender and race than my private sector jobs.

Lynne d Johnson · 2 years ago

Man, I keep revisiting this post. This is a deep topic. Because we all know it's not just the Web industry where this is an issue, but again, we don't have a real number on this bc we don't know the methodology.

I do realize also, that many people of color don't want to be singled out. Some who may have seen or heard of the test, might have opted out. These people are not interested in a Black Weblog Awards or AAWDA, or the like. So they're not interested in showing that there is or isn't a lack of diversity. My thought seems murky here, but I hope you get my drift.

For instance, I invited a black tech blogger, who has a high readership in the mainstream, to speak on a panel about black tech bloggers, and he completely ignored my requests. Meanwhile, any of those who were open to having this sort of dialogue and identifying as black -- and not just tech -- responded immediately.

This was a really good post. It's not just the study. It's the way you analyzed it all. Good read man. Good read/think.

J. Smith · 2 years ago

I commend ALA for taking on the challenge of conducting the survey; even though it's not the first survey of its kind; I participated in at least 2 others. I'm not surprised by the results either (us black folks rarely are) but it's good to have some sort of data to support concerns about diversity in web design/development.

That stated, I can name at least 10 black designers/developers who didn't fill out the survey because they didn't know about it. I missed it myself. I subscribe to ALA's feed but lately have been overwhelmed, marking a majority of feeds as read. So there is a need to cast a wider net next go 'round.

This touches on Lynne's point about black designers/developers inhabiting different spaces than the majority of the people who took this survey (I touched on some of that in Black Bloggers And Conference Diversity). However as web development matures we really need to be at the table more and it's that aspect of the survey that interests me most.

Also, as the world continues to get more brown it makes sense that the creators of these web spaces are more reflective of its users.

Samiya · 2 years ago

Hey Lynne,

I'm totally with you. I'm trying to think and pretty much EVERY black web person I know, and I know several, myself included, works for self.

Self employed is the name of the game for the folks I work with ... like you say, that doesn't mean we aren't repped in the firms, orgs, agencies, companies, but the freedom of working for self versus all of the drama already described here (and in bars, coffee shops, etc. amongst us all as we download our experiences in real time) is just way worth it.

I'm eager to see more of this convo.

Theo J. · 2 years ago

Great post. Where do you start on this issue. I personally think there are a lot of us out there, but we tend to stay behind the scenes for the most part. At the same time I feel a lot of us treat the IT industry as nothing more than a job. I can talk tech all day if you let me and it's a major part of what I do. It's a passion, not just a job. That may sound corny, but to be able to not get frustrated, you have to be dedicated to your profession. Most of us aren't interested in SXSW or CES and so we tend to get left out on the latest trends when it comes to technology.

Most of the people I interact with are programmers and there are very few black people that I know who spend time after work creating new projects/ideas. This is why I got exited when I saw a site like this. I don't know of a single spot (other than this site) where I can meet black people with the same passion as I have.

BTW, I'm self-employed also. It's the way to go. I'm not saying I wouldn't go W2 again, but for right now I'll stay on my own. And I have had to prove myself at my job and in college. People don't expect a lot from us, but I've been able to show them otherwise.

blackweb20 · 2 years ago

I agree with the findings of the survey, but also agree about how accurate it actually is, I didn't take the survey but am a fan of ALA. I also think that it does depend on the location, when I lived in the D.C. area there were many black web professionals most of which freelanced and worked FT. Most of those individuals also had aspirations of taking the jump into FT self-employment, so yeah the results are probably skewed. I personally don't know many black web professionals outside of the web, the city I live in now where they are far and few between.

On another point that was made about associations, AIGA started a Design Initiative a little while ago. I am not sure how successful it is since I don't really participate anymore (this whole initiative is absent in Charlotte's AIGA Chapter).

This is really a great post Maurice, it has gotten a lot of people thinking about the state of diversity in the web industry including our "friend" Loren Feldman.

Quizboy · 2 years ago

We Blacks are fighting against the curve in every industry, and the truth is, for Black Americans there is nothing holding us back from success anymore besides ourselves. The web is totally neutral, the barriers to entry are almost nil. (You can get webspace and a domain name for $20 bucks a year, so much of the software is open source, and tutorials on how to do anything web abound.) But success in the internet game takes a skillset that our community on average hasn't been trained to develop. Reading (and lots of it), discipline, the belief that shaping the world around us is 100% our own responsibility, the belief that we can shape the world around us into anything we can imagine. These are some basic character traits that not enough Black Americans command, and that's what we need to own up to and fix before any of these surveys in any industry will start coming out in our favor.

Herb · 2 years ago

Good points. But quite frankly, if the model doesn't change, we've gotta change the model. I'll start.

Cliff Samuels Jr · 2 years ago

The reality is that WE are on the net, in the IT field and blogging but there is no one place to locate the Black content. We will need to create a repository that will direct everyone to the ethnic content on the web. Also, we will need to create the equivalent of a Rev3 and C-NET to publish the video content that is created by us, Hispanics, and all people of color. The content is out there but you must do a deliberate search to retrieve the information. I will work with BDPA and make this on of our priorities to get the Black tech more visible on the web. And yes Maurice Cherry, BDPA is alive and working to wake our sleeping giant.

BDPA Foundation · 2 years ago

There are over 300,000 people of African descent in the IT industry according to recent Department of Labor statistics. I am executive director for a foundation that funds education & technology programs that advance the careers of African Americans from the classroom to the boardroom. There are many brothers and sisters out here.

I just celebrated my 1-year anniversary in the afrosphere. I've seen the development of Afroshere Bloggers Association and The AfroSpear.

I hope that you and other Black web professionals will make plans to be presenters at the Blogging While Brown conference in Atlanta in July 2008 *or* the National BDPA Technology Conference in Atlanta in August 2008.

Anyhow...great post!

peace, Villager

Jamel · 2 years ago

As a professional data analyst and a black man, there are many comments I’d like to make about this survey, but I’ll limit myself to two quick points:

1. Over half of the respondents were from non-US regions that effectively have no black populations, so it’s not surprising that the proportion of black respondents was so low. (If you look only at the U.S., the proportion of black respondents doubles. If you then add in the typical margin of error for a sample this size, you’ll find that black representation in the web design profession is only slightly less than our participation in the overall workforce. )

2. The results simply tabulated the responses. The authors made no attempt to infer conclusions about the population from the sample, which would require more sophisticated methods (and a representative sample—which this was not.)

On a personal note, I occasionally participate in the development of web applications and I echo what others have said about being the only black person in the room. Or the building.

Kristasphere · 2 years ago

Not sure how I missed this post, but let me raise my hand - present and accounted for!
Totally related to the 'only one in the room' sentiments above. What concerns me
more is not seeing any Web 2.0/social media/customer generated media "gurus" featured
on the conference/meet up scene. Lynn you are the first I think I've run across.

urbantech · 2 years ago

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to make a contribution to this discussion. I live in the Silicon Valley area of California, and I found the following statistics recently which actually surprised me:

African Americans are flourishing in the valley's tech industry. The number of black households in Santa Clara County with incomes of more than $150,000 a year increased substantially from 1999 to 2006, to about 1,200 households — a 29 percent increase.

The real decline has been among middle-class households: black families earning $50,000 to $150,000. Their numbers have declined by about 1,700 households, or about 20 percent, since 2000. Meanwhile, the number of black households with incomes less than $25,000 is up.


I currently work for my own company Blue Monitor offering managed IT services, and remote technical support for mostly small to medium businesses. I have been involved with several black owned and venture funded technology start ups. Most of which eventually have to take in outside money to survive and grow the business, so whats starts as an all black company, most of the time doesnt end of. That being said, what we need is access to capital. Any thought?? Any elders in here ready to step up?

Toby "URBANTECH" Morning

Richard Berry · 1 year ago

Hello! First of all I want to say that I never knew your site or blog existed until I was searching around for a black web designer pic. This was jst to gather some ideas while adding pics and updating content on my site (www.digitalev2000.com).

You have a big question at the top of this blog and my question to you is; do you want the red pill or the blue pill. In the rabbit hole I have to come to find a variety of conditions affecting the job security of the black male. Especially in a technical, brainy field like Web 2.0 and User friendly Design. Do they question your know how? Yes! Do you feel alienated, alone and out of the box? Hell Yeah!

I know I do on a few projects off and on site with project managers on my back while I sift through speggetti code. There is a lingering sense of unsure perception when I am assigned to certain projects around certain people. It may be all in my head, but then again why did I find yor blog?

You have enough courage and concern to step forward and ask these sensitive questions and you brought out the need for me to add to this question being in some of the same positions myself. So, here is how I see it.

We are not seen as critical thinkers, highly intellegent, or as technolgically driven as other races.

We have a lot of famous people, weak minded and cognitive misers to thank for it. You find them playing roles as Homosexuals, accepting a history of an opposing people, never anaylzing their true history or building any major corporations that support young black males. It's sad that 70% of the jail population is young black males in my city. Oh and Obama is chosen by an elite people and will show his loyalty for them, not us.

Reba Johnson · 1 year ago

I am not a web designer. I am a professional 50ish African-American, and I'm thankful for this Website. It's not just for the Hip-Hoppers. For a person like me this is so refreshing. Until today I didn't even know it existed. Thank you for giving me a chance to see what's in my world. A chance to communicate with other professionals who feel as I do, that we are worthy and a viable part of the world of the web.

Reba Johnson · 1 year ago

There are black web designers. Most are young and just getting to know the cyber world beyond. Some, like my neighbor are still in high school. The cyber world is just fun for them. We need to encourage them just a little more. Some of these kids are computer whizzes who just don't think of it as a job source.

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