KnowledgeBase Consulting Services - Public Speaking and Freelance Writing:Writing:A Perspective on the Digital Divide

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From:        Derrick Brown <dbrown@inetnow.net>
Subject:     Re: A perspective on the Digital Divide
Date:         January 18, 2000
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This is a letter I sent this morning in response to a private discussion among my colleagues nationwide who work to resolve the Digital Divide. It is long, so read it when you have time to digest it all.

You are absolutely right - our energies are better spent in other ways than reading and reacting to think tank rhetoric on Benton's email list. However, through monitoring this list I am convinced that this (i.e., Digital Divide hype and hysteria) has escalated into a war of mindsets, and rhetoric has always the weapon of choice in battles where victory is achieved only through transformation by renewing peoples' minds. Dr. Martin Luther King changed the minds of legions of people through what he *said*, because what he *said* was what he believed, saw, and lived.

I believe that Benton's Digital Divide discussion list is POWERFUL, but only because it SHOWS US WHAT PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE CHOIR ARE PREACHING (or, at least what they are willing to say about what they think). We can only change people by first meeting them where they are, then moving them (in love) to where they should be.

I would wager that I am the youngest person on this list, but I would count myself to be among the oldest in terms of Internet experience. I'm not crazy enough, though, to think that what I understand about the Internet even remotely compares to what all of you know about our mission to advance as a people, and how that mission has seemingly suffered from multiple false starts. Perhaps - just perhaps - we have never maintained momentum in our moves because we fight the wrong battle with the wrong strategy. This fight is not about collaboration, Internet access, access to capital markets, or viable content (though these are integral by-products). This fight is about CHANGING WHAT PEOPLE THINK, and we will only do that by CONFRONTING THEM IN LOVE.

I do not have ultimate answers to anything, but I do have an approach to a solution that is based on what I believe, see, and live. I am preparing to step out now and *say* these things behind "enemy lines", because I know that this is the only way to challenge the establishment's mindset. We have to confront that mindset with truth-based approaches, ideas, and missions that force people to evolve their perspectives, then challenge and engage these folks to come "see where we live". No one has *ever* left the environment I have built for KnowledgeBase at Georgia Tech lacking true perspective about our mission or their own - but I had to INVITE THEM FIRST, then I had to GIVE THEM A COMPELLING REASON TO ACCEPT THE INVITATION. That is what I will now attempt to do on a larger scale.

I have accepted invitations to lecture over the next several months in front of wildly diverse audiences: research scientists at Sandia National Labs, a diversity conference in Aiken, SC; a student-organized Digital Divide conference at the University of Virginia; and a regional gathering of Black Dta Processing Association members in Augusta, GA. I will speak to each audience about the four-point investment strategy that guides KnowledgeBase's work:

Our initial investment must be to foster a stronger sense of community and collaboration amongst the leaders of this movement - i.e., we must all see the same end, and channel our collective efforts towards that end.
Our next investment must focus on building infrastructure (creating technology centers in churches, schools, and community centers) that grants access to disparate populations, and training that makes this access meaningful.
Further investment must be made to open access to capital markets that will allow our leadership to build the capacity necessary to make significant impact. We must teach each other the leadership and entrepreneurial skills necessary to gain access to these markets.
All subsequent investments must be made to continue developing compelling content targeted at these disparate groups. This content must be produced by companies that we collaborate to build.

I share these strategies with you all in hopes that you see something in some (or all) of the points that applies to your work, your vision, or your life (for me, these three are one in the same). My life, beliefs, and experiences have given me the perspective that I will lend to these strategies. Your life and experiences endow you with perhaps a different, yet synergistic perspective. You should be sharing this perspective with people who may not see what you see, and not grow weary in your well doing. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry (Habbakuk 2:2).