Divided Revolution

By Dr. Mark E. Dean
February 2000

We are in the midst of an information revolution that will allow individual access to new cultures, new ideas, and new businesses, and enable new opportunities for all who are interested in participating. These opportunities are world-wide, blind to old constraints of market entry and open to new means of cooperation between nations, institutions, and cultures.

The Internet, a key part of this revolution, is one of the great equalizers of our time and levels the playing field for participating in the world economy. The Internet is blind to race, gender, religion, ethnicity, social status, nationality, and political beliefs. This medium for accessing and distributing information, products, and services can help eliminate many old barriers to individual opportunity. African Americans must learn to leverage this technology and participate in these economic growth opportunities or be left behind as the world economy moves forward.

Sustained expansion of local and global economies require our nation's citizens to have broad access to computers, the Internet, and the information, products, and services available online. There is evidence that African Americans have limited access to the tools required to participate in this information revolution. African-American students are also not graduating with the necessary degrees or in sufficient numbers to leverage the huge job opportunities in the IT industry. The gap associated with this lack of participation represents a "Digital Divide" between underrepresented minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans) and others. This gap must be closed through increased understanding, awareness, education, and leadership. Here are some facts:

-- Less than 33 percent of all African-American households own a personal computer, while 75 percent of the White community owns computers. And these percentages are generally independent of income and geographic location.
-- Only six percent of American Internet users are African American.
-- Approximately 350,000 IT jobs go unfilled, while less than 4,000 African Americans graduate each year with degrees in engineering, computer science, or information technology.
-- Some 92 percent of college students have access to the Internet. But African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans continue to be underrepresented in our colleges and universities, receiving less than 10 percent of the undergraduate engineering and computer science degrees and less than 2.5 percent of the doctorate degrees in these disciplines. African-American enrollment continues to decline.

So who is responsible for closing this Digital Divide? We all must take responsibility for increasing African-American involvement in the IT industry and for compressing the gap separating our students, families, communities, and businesses from access to computers, the Internet, and the opportunities created by the information revolution.

Information technology amplifies our ability, increases our knowledge, and enables us to participate in a commercial environment void of ethnic stereotypes and discrimination. We must join the rest of the country and leverage our nation's diversity as the world undergoes a transformation more profound than the Industrial Revolution.

One of the keys to success in the next millennium will be the ability to thrive in a diverse environment. The IT industry must embrace diversity in the work force and encourage employment that mirrors our nation's ethnic mix. Diversity helps companies produce products and services with broad appeal and increases awareness of cultural issues and preferences. Each of us must view diversity as a means to move our nation forward.

Success in closing the Digital Divide will depend on several key actions: Educating our young people in math, science, information technology, and the opportunities available to individuals with this knowledge; accepting information technology in our homes, community centers, churches, and businesses; and implementation of a diverse IT work force that mirrors our nation's cultural landscape. We must act now. All the benefits of the information revolution await.

Dr. Mark E. Dean is an IBM Fellow, IBM's director of Advanced Systems Development, and the 2000 Black Engineer of the Year.