With Maurita Coley, there is a special opportunity to look at a unique intersection of government policy and technology through a legal standpoint  that is quite sensitive to the demographic of color in the country. Coley, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC), knows that the fight for balance and justice, as it pertains to the tech space, is only just beginning.

Through the work at MMTC, you could end up with a more fair price in your phone data charges, make certain that your cousins in rural areas have Internet access and much more.  I’ve known Maurita for some time, but I’d like to now take you inside her world.

Current Occupation: Chief Operating Officer, Minority Media and Telecommunications Council

Favorite website: You mean next to mmtconline.org and BBSJ.org? Probably Amazon.com. I’m addicted to books, and I love the ability to read book samples, either online or on my Kindle.

Favorite read: This is harder than asking me my favorite film! Reading is my favorite thing to do next to writing, although I do not have much time to do either right now. But if I had to pick one, I’d say The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, a charming parable about life.

Recent read: I read multiple books at the same time. Right now I’m reading: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color-Blindness by Michelle Alexander; Blueprint for Black Economic Empowerment: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century, by Amos Wilson, Ph.D; Science of Being Great by Wallace D. Wattles; and The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson.

2013′s ultimate goal: Find the bend in the time continuum because there is so much I want to do.  I’d like to create jobs and business opportunities for at least 10 people or businesses, then another 10, and so on. In 2013, I’ll also dust off, finish, and sell my novel.

Quote Governing Your Mission or a Quote that Inspires You: I have both. My personal mission statement probably explains my somewhat diverse career (diverse for a lawyer):  “I initiate and promote ideas that snatch people out of darkness.”

As for a quote that inspires me… probably one of my favorite quotes by Charles Hamilton Houston, former dean of Howard University’s School of Law during the 1930s:  “A lawyer’s either a social engineer or … a parasite on society … A social engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive lawyer who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens.”

But recently I heard Dr. Maya Angelou say these amazing words on humanity and philanthropy: “In choosing how to live our lives, we must remember that some of us were born with a silver spoon, while others were born with a spoon with holes in it when it’s raining soup.”

Twitter handle: @MauritaColey

Madame Noire:   How did you select Georgetown and what led to your interest in law?

Maurita Coley: I have been in Washington on and off since 1978, but I am born and bred in Detroit. I came to Washington as a Michigan State University senior and did my final semester as an extern with The Washington Center. My assignment for the semester was a journalism externship with The Washington Monthly Magazine. Denise Barton, a Georgetown Law student and a dear friend and mentor from MSU, let me sleep on her sofa bed for the semester (the externship was unpaid). She and her law school study partners were often at the apartment studying, and they all took me under their collective wings.  But once they learned that I wanted to be a writer, they convinced me I should go to law school so I could get better writing assignments, such as the White House beat. I never went back to journalism, but at my core, I’m really a writer-advocate more than a traditional lawyer.

MN:  Loving that term, “writer-advocate”! So I know one of your first main gigs was working in legal at BET.  How did you get your position at the company?

MC: I was one of BET’s outside counsel – back then I was a young partner at the Cole Raywid & Braverman (now Davis Wright Tremaine) law firm, a prominent cable television boutique law firm. I was BET’s communications counsel, but whenever Debi Lee, BET’s then-General Counsel (now CEO) called me, I tried to help resolve whatever problems they threw my way – communications or not.  My partners at Cole Raywid were very entrepreneurial and even owned and built the cable system in Loudon County, VA.

Our clients were primarily small independent operators and programmers in the cable television and satellite communications businesses, giving us a lot of hands-on business experience in the industry. By working directly with entrepreneurs, I learned early in my career that legal problems usually have a business solution that’s better than the legal solution.

Bob Johnson, BET’s Founder and CEO, identified lawyers as either “deal-makers or deal-breakers,” so I’m happy that Bob and Debi apparently saw me as a deal-maker because, after two years in the legal department, they moved me to a business position – Senior VP of Network Operations and Programming – the number two person in charge of all BET’s production and programming operations. I had known both Bob and Debi before I joined them at BET. When BET went public, Debi Lee’s responsibilities as General Counsel increased exponentially, plus she was the publisher of BET’s magazines, Emerge, and YSB, so she needed help. I went in-house as her Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs.

I thought I was just going over to “help out” for a while, but I stayed on the BET management team for six years. BET was at once the most rewarding and probably the most challenging position of my career.  I’d never worked for a minority-owned and controlled company. It was a beautiful experience. I worked hard and was able to see the fruits of my labors on an almost instantaneous basis.

According to a recent study by UC Berkeley, African-Americans are more likely to blog than their white and Hispanic counterparts, which is an interesting finding since, as we know, the digital divide is still very real, even within our own communities where there is a marked difference along education and socio-economic lines. The study found that in 2008, an average of 17 percent of blacks were likely to blog, compared to 9 percent of whites. Says UC Berkeley doctoral candidate Jen Schradie—the study’s author and a researcher at the campus’s Berkeley Center for New Media: “While blacks are more likely to blog than whites, it doesn’t mean the digital divide is over. People with more income and education are still more likely to blog than those with just a high school education and Internet access.”

Read the rest at Black Enterprise

“I am just not technical.” I hear this quite often when I am trying to encourage people to embrace a digital lifestyle. It is interesting that most of society has somehow reserved the term technical for having a knowledge of computers.

This term is not reserved for those who possess a knowledge of computers. The definition of technical is: to be skilled in or familiar in a practical way with a particular art, trade, etc. The point is that everyone has technical knowledge in their chosen field or profession.

I am technical when it comes to computers. However, as it relates to cooking, baking, plumbing, or sculpting I am not very technical at all. But I do not berate myself because I lack technical knowledge in another subject matter.

The reason I bring this up is because I hear a lot of negative self talk around lacking technical ability. It does not mean it is beyond your comprehension. But if you could keep telling yourself that it is, then it will be. The lack of confidence produced by this negative self talk is something that we can’t afford. Today computing is ubiquitous. Technology is pervading all areas of society. Because of this our lack of technical knowledge as it relates to computers comes at a different cost than lacking technical knowledge in another area such as baking.

The stakes are higher. The penalty for lacking a basic knowledge of computing is severe. A lack of technical knowledge in some of the other areas mentioned above does not negatively impact your ability to navigate society or earn a high income in the 21st century.

As mentioned in the definition of technical, one has to be familiar with the art or trade. A big part of their familiarity is learning the technical terms or jargon of the field. This is probably the biggest barrier and the area that drives most to lament “I am not very technical”.

Again, the truth of the matter is anytime you are learning something new you have to come to grips with a new vocabulary. This is true of all professions. Doctors use a language of their own. Lawyers have their own language. Educators have their own language. Professionals of all walks of life have a language that they use to communicate with others in their trade or profession. And of course we are all aware of the jargon used by computing professionals.

If you are outside of the community you would not have an understanding of what any of these terms mean. But not knowing what the terms mean does not mean you don’t understand the concepts that are being discussed. You simply need to learn to decode or translate the language. The same way you did in 8th grade science. Anyone can be technical in any field they choose.

I was recently a guest on a radio program to discuss the topic of the digital divide. During the call-in portion of the show, a caller asked a question and her question was laced with technical jargon. After I answered the quest the host of the show remarked that he had no idea what we were discussing.

I immediately realized that what he really meant was that he was not familiar with the terms being used. I am not sure I agreed with his assessment. Is not being familiar with the jargon an indictment of one’s ability to understand? It would be the same as if someone had called the show and ask me a question speaking in Spanish. Both the host and I would be in the same boat.

I would have no idea what was being asked, that is different from not being able to understand and it would certainly not lead me to the conclusion that “I am just not good at Spanish”. If someone translated from Spanish to English my understanding would be fine. You should feel the same about technical jargon.

This is not unique to a conversation of computers. We could have been talking about automotive repair or any other profession in which he was not familiar with the jargon and he would have the same issue. As would I or anyone else unfamiliar with those terms.

There is nothing magical about technology terms. The concepts are based on science and math. The same science and math that you learned in high school. And certainly once you get past some the acronyms and abbreviations that are used when discussing technology this is easy to see.

Please do not let these terms intimidate you. Become your own technology translator. When you hear a term you are unfamiliar with look it up. Once you look up a few terms you will soon realize that what is being said it not very technical at all.

 Kai Dupé is a doctoral student at Pepperdine University where he is conducting research on Why African American Males Are Underrepresented in Computing. Kai can be reached by email at kai.dupe@kaidupe.com or by visiting his website at www.WhereAreBlacksInTechnology.com or follow him on twitter @KaiDupe

I have always been the kind of student who wanted to know why I had to learn a certain subject. When I was in middle school I remember asking my algebra teacher, “Why do I need to learn algebra?” ‘What will I need algebra for in my life?” It simply was not good enough to say to me: “Trust me You will need it one day.” My attitude was well when one day comes that is the day I will be interested in learning algebra!

My learning needed to have purpose. It still does. Even as an adult, there must be purpose and value in my learning. If I do not see the point or how acquiring a new skill will be useful in my life I simply will not be motivated to learn. And I am the same way when it comes to technology. My use of technology has to have purpose. It has to in some way enhance my life, allow me to be more productive, save time, or allow me to make money.

In other words it has to be relevant to my life and what is important to me. Many times when we want others to embrace a new technology we bombard them with new jargon and explain to them why our new device or software is cool to us. What we fail to realize is that if we wish for them to embrace the technology we should be spending our time explaining to them why the new piece of technology would be cool for them.

Recently, I was having breakfast at a Black-owned restaurant. After I finished my meal I wondered if the owner had thought about using social media for marketing his business. When I asked him about using Facebook as a marketing tool he told me “Facebook was more trouble that it is worth.”

I asked him how he arrived at that conclusion. He smiled and said he did not have any real evidence for the statement, he just did not see how using Facebook could help his business. I took that to mean he did not understand how Facebook could add value to his business.

Of course it could but the owner was asking me the same question I asked my algebra teacher: Why should I care about Facebook? How is it relevant to my life? What is in it for me? Granted. He was an older gentleman and a technology such as Facebook may have been new to him which may make embracing the new technology more challenging than it would be for a digital native.

However, this assessment of relevance takes place for the younger generation as well. It is one of the reasons the average age of users on LinkedIn is much higher than it is on Facebook. LinkedIn is not quite as relevant to those who are in college or younger since they are not part of the workforce and have yet to take cultivating business relationships as seriously.

The point is often times people need help seeing why a technology is relevant and it is up to those of us who are professional technologists to help them to see the light.

If we want to persuade our people to embrace technology we need to make technology relevant to them. At a recent engagement a young woman asked me how she could get her son to be more interested in technology. I asked her what was her son’s main interest?

She told me he was a football fanatic. I told her to show her son where football and technology intersect. If he loves football and he can see how his football activities can be enhanced via technology, it is game over (no pun intended).She would not be persuading him to embrace technology, she would be showing him how technology fits into what matters most to him, in this case football.

I use this same technique when teaching computer programming classes. I tap into an interest a student has and relate that interest to computer programming. As an instructor, I make sure my students never feel that they are starting from zero even though they we may be dealing with a new subject.

This is a common occurrence for me when I ask business owners in our communities why they are not using a certain technology to solve a problem with their business. I am slightly irritated when the other business in the same area that are not Black-owned has the “Like Us” Facebook sticker in their window.

In order to be more competitive we must do a better job of explaining to our people why embracing and learning a new technology can be valuable to their business and our communities. The next time I visit that restaurant I will be armed with the information I need to explain to the owner how Facebook and social media is not only worth the “trouble” but also how it can help him to better learn his existing customers as well as attract new ones.

 Kai Dupé is a doctoral student at Pepperdine University where he is conducting research on Why African American Males Are Underrepresented in Computing. Kai can be reached by email at kai.dupe@kaidupe.com or by visiting his website at www.WhereAreBlacksInTechnology.com or follow him on twitter @KaiDupe

(Reuters) — The rapid rise of e-books could lead to a “reading divide” as those unable to afford the new technology are left behind, even as U.S. reading and writing skills decline still further.  At particular threat are African-American communities where many students are already falling behind their majority peers in terms of literacy, said award-winning writer Marita Golden — and this despite the growing ranks of noted African-American writers, such as Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison.  ”My biggest concern is that the technology will continue to widen the gap,” she told Reuters. “It won’t just be the digital divide but also a reading divide if reading becomes an activity that’s now dependent on technology.  ”If reading becomes dependent on technology that must be purchased, then I think we may see the literacy divide persist and even widen.”

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(Wall Street Journal) — President Barack Obama is set to unveil Thursday a plan to boost broadband wireless coverage across the U.S. and create a nationwide, interoperable wireless network for public safety, White House officials said Wednesday.  Mr. Obama will lay out the initiative at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. It’s expected to reduce the country’s deficit by $10 billion through the sale of wireless spectrum to businesses, said Jason Furman, deputy director of the National Economic Council.  The plan is aimed at building on efforts in the private sector to expand wireless coverage. Mr. Obama said in his State of the Union address that he wanted to make available high-speed wireless services to at least 98% of Americans. Mr. Furman said the initiative would also help spur job growth because workers will be needed to build the wireless networks.  Sales of commercial spectrum are expected to generate about $28 billion, the White House said, and the Obama administration will re-invest that money to help pay for the wireless initiative.

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(CNET) — Almost a third (31 percent) of all mobile phone users in the United States own smartphones, but their adoption is higher among specific minority groups, says a report out today from Nielsen.  Based on a survey conducted in December, Nielsen found that 27 percent of white mobile phone users in the U.S. currently own smartphones. But that rate was lower than the 45 percent of Hispanics, 45 percent of Asians/Pacific Islanders, and 33 percent of African-American mobile users polled who said they have a smartphone.

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(BlackWeb2.0) — Yesterday’s announcement that the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice approved the merger to Comcast and NBC-Universal created a large amount of media scrutiny.  Most reports focused on size of the deal, and the merger is indeed a staggering one. The deal joins Comcast’s cable network and TV channels with NBC-Universal’s theme parks, affiliate stations, studios, TV channels, and stake in Hulu.  One of the most interesting aspects of the merger is the host of conditions placed on the combined company.  For example, Comcast must offer its television programming to competing online sites.

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(AP) — When the personal computer revolution began decades ago, Latinos and blacks were much less likely to use one of the marvelous new machines. Then, when the Internet began to change life as we know it, these groups had less access to the Web and slower online connections placing them on the wrong side of the “digital divide.”  Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, Latinos and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.  But now some see a new “digital divide” emerging with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology.

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(Chicago Tribune) — Although we are amid a digital revolution, digital connectedness is on the wish list of many residents inChicago’s low-income neighborhoods this holiday season.  Studies have shown that cost is a major barrier to Internet access, especially in the home. In Chicago, nearly 40 percent of residents do not have the broadband connections required to compete in the Digital Age.  ”This is typical of what we see in low-income communities,” said Karen Mossberger, professor of public administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who co-wrote the study “Digital Excellence in Chicago: A Citywide View of Technology Use.”

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