This morning completed my writings based on chapter 1 of Technology and the African American Experience. I think this book, at least the first chapter, has produced gold in terms of contributing to my chapter one and describing the problem of Why There Are So Few African Americans in Information Technology. This chapter lays the foundation for the historic origins of the attitude that black people are technologically inferior. This is important because we see these attitudes prevailing in several of the studies i have examined thus far in 2009. What has to change is the eradication of these attitudes by those who have been conditioned and those who are doing the conditioning. I hope to finish the book this week before returning to Technology and Social Inclusion. After that I should have enough to craft my chapter 1. It should be rich. However, I will need to arrange and wordsmith. I am really looking forward to finally submitting a first draft of my chapter 1 to Dr. Riel. I really feel that I am gaining momentum, learning a great deal, and truly enjoying the journey. I also discovered several resources, scholars such as Ron Takaki, Robert Rydell, and Michael Adams, as well as Technology and Culture, which is a magazine that examines the history of technology. I need to figure out how to get access or a subscription.

Stay Tuned,
Kai

This morning I progressed through chapter 1 of Technology and the African-American Experience. It is a collection of essays edited by Bruce Sinclair. I purchased this book because before becoming a doctoral student, much of the improvement in my life has been born out of reading of Africans in America. This book examines the intersection of race and technology and it is mind-blowing. Here is a quote from page 1


White Americans, including those as committed to Enlightenment ideals as Thomas Jefferson—even as he corresponded with Benjamin Banneker, the African American astronomer and almanac maker—believed that black people among them were mentally inferior, and by that they didn’t just mean a capacity for advanced intellectual accomplishment. What good would freedom be, one southerner put it, to a field hand whose highest faculties were taxed “to discriminate between cotton and crop-grass, and to strike one with a hoe without hitting the other? (Sinclair 2004, p.1).

Now we are getting somewhere. This document the origins of the concept that African Americans do not have the ingenuity to invent and that technological innovation to be left to those of a lighter hue. Was Thomas Jefferson a white supremacist. I like that term better than racist because it is more precise. After reading the chapter I wrote 2 pages in my chapter 1. Again this is zero-draft stuff. This book has me very excited about how I will fit this historical viewpoint into my chapter 1,so I am going to take it to work and read another chapter. I would like to get through the book and capture my thoughts for the weekend. My goal is to craft first draft and send it to Margaret on November 1.

No work yesterday. There are simply no opportunities for me to work when I am home on the weekends. Focus should be better next week if work allows. Last week was brutal.

Nothing to report. I am simply too mentally tired from the work week. I must get some writing done over the weekend.

No work last night. I worked a 12-hour day and I was back at work at 7:30. I was simply too tired. I am hoping to do a couple of pages tonight as well as on Friday morning.

I was not able to do any writing on Monday night. This is my travel day and I am usually too tired to even think by the time I arrive at my hotel. However, I am ready to complete my research so I have decided that no matter what I will write for at least an hour, even on Monday evenings. Last night I forgot the book I am reviewing so I did some work from Technology and the African American Experience. This book does a nice job at looking at the intersection of race and technology in America. I did some writing after reading the first chapter.

This morning and last night I completed my review and zero draft of Stuck in the Shallow End. This work yielded 43 pages of zero draft. Next I am on to Technology and Social Inclusion. It should not take as long as I have learned how to be more effective at doing this. Probably, over the weekend, I will take a break from this work, and get back to some reading. It is easier for me to read on the weeks as opposed to write since I am back home. My plan is to make significance progress in the reading of Grown Up Digital. I also wanted to place the link here for the software used by the Margolis team: http://www.atlasti.com/

More of the same. Almost done reviewing and writing about Stuck in the Shallow End. The last chapter is providing content for the kind of information that is suited for chapter 2, meaning approaches that have been attempted to solve the problem I am describing in chapter 1. My goal for Wednesday is to finish this book and move on to Warschauer. But I must say Margolis is a gold mine of information and ideas.

Tonight I continued going over Margolis. It is very promising but it is slow going. I think once I have done my review I will have plenty to do a rough draft of chapter 1. However, so far I do not have much for a chapter 2.

For the last 2 days I have continued my work on going back over my readings (name stuck in the shallow end) and doing zero drafts of my chapters 1 and 2 as suggested earlier. One conclusion that I have come to since my starting this research is that the dearth of African Americans and Latino students in this field has nothing to do with the field or anything to do with access and it all has to do with race and social conditioning and how expectations shape these communities beliefs about themselves and their identity as it relates to this field. When I began I felt something interesting was going on between African Americans and this particular field. I do not believe that anymore.

Last week I continued to go back over my reading and write from what I have read thus far determining what would be suited for chapter 1 and chapter 2. I should complete that exercise this week and get back to writing as I think and read. When I feel pretty good about how much of the literature I have covered I plan to actually go back and rewrite the drafts. Also, this week, one of my co-workers had a copy of "Growing Up Digital" on his desk. I borrowed the copy and I will read it next week and incorporate it into my chapters. I decided to get a copy since Margaret mentioned it may be a good study to model.

Kai

No writing over the weekend. I will hit hard again on Monday.

Last night I began my new writing strategy after reading from "Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day" by Joan Bolker. The idea is to write something every day, however you define everyday and also to make thinking and writing the first thing you do each. I am going to try for my everyday, Monday thru Friday since my weekends belong to my family. So, this morning I rose. Washed my face and headed to my computer and start to write my ideas and thoughts about my dissertation. It seemed to work well. Now this does not mean I may not write at other times, but for certain I will write each day as my first task of the day. Afterword, I worked out and took a shower and had breakfast before leaving for the office. What a great start to the day!

Title

Black Like Me? The Missing Faces in Technology and Innovation: Why Are So Few African Americans Pursuing Careers in Information Technology?

Tonight I continued to review my notes from my reading of "Stuck in the Shallow End" by Jane Margolis. I hope to complete this review in the next couple of days and then move on to Technology and Social Inclusion by Warshchauer. From there, I will review several of the articles that I have read and include them in my chapter. When I feel good about this, I will start reading again my next set of articles that will hopefully complete my chapter 1 and build my chapter 2. I would like to have chapters 1, 2 and 3 done by December. I still need a title. Although, I am very clear that I would like to look at the problem of the underrepresentation of African Americans in Information Technology, as of yet I still do not have a title for my dissertation. Here is on that I am thinking about:


Cracking the Code: Why Are So Few African Americans Pursuing Careers in Information Technology?

Today I went back over my notes from "Stuck in the Shallow End". This is my favorite piece of reading thus far on my topic. As i was reviewing and adding content and notes to my chapter 1, something I read made me think. Although I am not interested in doing my study in schools, I am interested in knowing why so few African Americans pursue careers in Information Technology. On page 9 of the book I read this:

Margolis committed her next research project to understanding what was happening at the high school level for students of color because African American and Latino majoring in computer science remained extremely low. She went on to write: It is during high school when students make academic decisions that have the most serious implications for their college and/or career opportunities.


I am definitely going to have to think about this. It makes sense that this would be a good place to look and I definitely interested in understanding this problem. I am just not excited about the idea of conducting my research in a school.

I could interview some of the student participants of BDPA. What is it about BPDA that encourages them to pursue careers in information technology that is missing from school.

A Case Study of Black Data Processing Associates:Closing the computer science gap in America.

Maybe I can do a case study of BDPA? I do not want to deal with schools. Here is a organization devoted to bridging the digital divide and getting young African Americans involved in technology. I need to think about this more....

http://www.betf.org/index.html

check this link. let me know what you think.

Or maybe I can write a paper or culturally relevant pedagogy as it pertains to computer science or information technology. Of course this approach places me back in schools where I do not wish to be.

Last night I spent time reviewing my readings and my blog posts and adding them to my actual draft of my paper. I did finish reviewing them all but I should have that done by the weekend. My plan is to complete that activity before I start reading again then I will continue to aggregate my readings into the appropriate chapter. I think from the reading my topic and study will become more defined. I understand that now.

Working on my dissertation tonight. I am going back over my blog notes. I was taking notes while I was reading. This is helping me to form my chapter 1 and chapter 2. I came across a potential study.

Maybe I could do a case study of a school where African Americans are excelling in Computer Science?

In other words, it is known that African Americans are not doing well in Math or Computer Science. Suppose I located a school where African Americans are excelling. And study it. Do a case study and relate the success stories in my dissertation. What are they doing at this school they can be replicated at other schools across the country.

Let me know what you think

Potential Title:

The Next Generation of The Black Digerati: Success Stories of African American Student Exemplars of Computer Science