The Information Society and the Black Community / Edition 1

by John T. Barber, Alice A. Tait

Overview

Does the Information Age promise egalitarianism and democracy, or will it simply reinforce long-standing social and economic inequalities? This collection of essays analyzes the emerging role of African-Americans in post-industrial society from a variety of communications research perspectives. Accepting W.J. Wilson's theory of a socially and economically isolated African-American underclass, Barber and Tait ask the logical question: what next? The Information Society and the Black Community is a critical examination of the prospects and pitfalls of a historically disadvantaged group in a period of rapid technological advances and economic growth.

Adopting Frank Websters theory of the Information Society as a framework for organization and development, the book is divided into five sections that look at technological, economic, occupational, spatial, and cultural aspects of the relationship between the African-American community and the Information Society. Part One analyzes data on African-American use of information technology, and examines how the new flow of information might effect African-American social and cultural images. Part Two focuses on African-American participation in the ownership and control of information industries. Part Three treats professional training and employment patterns affecting African-Americans in the Information Age. Part Four centers around the potential uses of information technology in solving social, political, and economic problems. Part Five addresses the growing connections of the African-American community to Africa and the rest of the world via information technology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275957247
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/30/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

JOHN T. BARBER is assistant Professor at Morgan State University./e He has taught at several universities and has written several reports, papers, and book chapters on the mass media and its impact on African Americans.

ALICE A. TAIT is an award-winning professor of jourbanalism at Central Michigan University./e

Table of Contents

Introduction by John T. Barber and Alice A. Tait
The Technological Dimension
More Than You Think: African Americans On The World Wide Web by John T. Barber and Stephen Jones
Blacks and Information Technology by John T. Barber and Willis G. Smith
African Americans and Privacy: Understanding the Black Perspective in the Emerging Policy Debate by Oscar H. Gandy, Jr.
The Economic Dimension
Technology and African American Newspapers: Implications for Survival and Change by George Sylvie
FCC Policy and the Underdevelopment of Black Entrepreneurship by G. Thomas Wilson, II
The New Model of Black Media Entrepreneurship: BET Holdings, Inc. by John T. Barber and Alice A. Tait
A New Spectrum of Business: African Americans and Wireless Telephony by John T. Barber
The Occupational Dimension
Telecommunications Training: An Academic Perspective by Gloria P. James
Information Labor and African Americans by John T. Barber
The Spatial Dimension
Race and the Information Superhighway: Implications for Participatory Democracy in the 21st Century by Joseph P. McCormick, II and Taft Broome
Race, Politics, and Pedagogy of New Media: from Civil Rights to Cyber Rights by Jabari Simama
The Cultural Dimension
Afrocentric Information Content: Historical Development and Economic Opportunities by Dhyana Ziegler
Old Voices, New Drums: Black News and Information On-line by Todd Steven Burroughs
Black Connections and Disconnections in the Global Information Supermarket by Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi
Is Black America an Information Community? by John T. Barber and Alice A. Tait

Editorial Reviews

Realizing that there were deep issues involved in analyzing Blacks and communications systems in the US, Barber (communications, Morgan State U., Maryland) and Tait (journalism, Central Michigan U.) conscripted scholars in their own field and others to explore the technological, economic, occupation, spatial, and cultural dimensions. Among specific topics are privacy, African American newspapers, information labor, implications for participatory democracy, and Afro-centric information content. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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