For all Brothers in Destee.com who are involved in the IT Field, this thread was created for us to talk about Projects with IT.

Here are some ideas:

IT Training facilities for youth

Networking with others in the IT field to create consulting opportunities and job opportunities for us.

And any other ideas that you would like to suggest.

Thank you!

I'm in. No matter what is decided count me in as a foot soldier.

Study:

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

Computer-Aided Graphics Design

Virtual Graphics

Online Shopping

Networking

HTML/Web Publishing

Computer Engineering

How WAN/LANs work

More to come...

KM

Indeed i'm in as a supporter and love of the outcome count me in too

this is an area that i am quite interested in, but from a hands-on do it yourself perspective. i'd like to offer/build/support/maintain community based technology demonstraton/"training" learning resource centers that allow for community members (the African Family Community, in whichever "hood" it is in!) to gain enough understanding and familiarity that they can put together the stuff that they need to do what they need to do, not what the $upremelunatic $y$tem limit$ them to.

if you would, oldsoul, you "heard" what i was offering in chat. (shoot, didn't have to be in chat to hear what was i saying since i have been saying the same thing ever since i got here.) as a "community" project, i'd love to build, manage and maintain the infrastructure to support the communication needs ... ... (if i said "systems administrator", "systems integrator", "systems designer" would that make more sense?) i'm a hardware guy; i'll keep the hardware running so everybody can do the consultancy/cad/whatever stuff. i ain't looking for the "chee$e", i'm looking for Progress for My Global African Family Community: ain't nobody gotta pay me to do that!

"where there is a will there is a way":

for educational/familiarization purposes there is a planet full of "dumpster/legacy technology" that is going into landfills. this hardware does work. fortunately, it won't do the "late$t and greate$t", so won't be as subjected to the "malware war", but can still be configured to do the basics of all the stuff. for basic learning, all the gimmick$ just get in the way, and is quite too much stuff to try to grasp all at once. once the basics are fully understood, folks can take that knowledge and teach themselves all of that other stuff ... if they think they want/need it. but at least they'll be ABLE and WILLING to THINK the thing through FOR THEMSELVES.



good luck, y'all, i hope your effort$ get $omeplace. sadly, when you get there, you'll have a $tructure that perpetuate$ all the crap that you are $creaming to get out from under! ain't no way to get out from under that crap$tructure a$ long a$ you are u$ing that crap$structure to get $omeplace that the crap$tructure you are implementing is expre$$ly de$igned to keep you from getting to!!

ah well. $ince i have long refu$ed to get jacked by working the $y$tem cha$ing that delu$ional dream, I can't $peak the language$ that are all that you can hear,

well, i've gotta go try to figure out how to save some of my lab: i have to move by the 15th and am still no closer to the pulmonary/physical therapy that would help me to do the work than i was when this mess jumped off in october. and, of cour$e, i don't have the dollar$ to do it. ah well; i guess if i my heart/lungs quit on me while trying to do this, i will have died trying! YES IT IS THAT BAD, but i don't have any choice. ("help"? "family"? "friends?" <sigh> well i guess that stuff works in theory, but it hasn't really worked for me when i need it.) the only "coin" that i can offer for "hands on, get this done NOW" quality "help/support" is my lab, my tech skills, my hardware/electronics knowledge and my "Unconditional Love" driven desire to build a telecommunications infrastructure in support of my African Family Community.

I am sorry to hear that you are going through some health issues, anything I or the group can do to help please let us know.

this is an area that i am quite interested in, but from a hands-on do it yourself perspective. i'd like to offer/build/support/maintain community based technology demonstraton/"training" learning resource centers that allow for community members (the African Family Community, in whichever "hood" it is in!) to gain enough understanding and familiarity that they can put together the stuff that they need to do what they need to do, not what the $upremelunatic $y$tem limit$ them to.

if you would, oldsoul, you "heard" what i was offering in chat. (shoot, didn't have to be in chat to hear what was i saying since i have been saying the same thing ever since i got here.) as a "community" project, i'd love to build, manage and maintain the infrastructure to support the communication needs ... ... (if i said "systems administrator", "systems integrator", "systems designer" would that make more sense?) i'm a hardware guy; i'll keep the hardware running so everybody can do the consultancy/cad/whatever stuff. i ain't looking for the "chee$e", i'm looking for Progress for My Global African Family Community: ain't nobody gotta pay me to do that!

"where there is a will there is a way":

for educational/familiarization purposes there is a planet full of "dumpster/legacy technology" that is going into landfills. this hardware does work. fortunately, it won't do the "late$t and greate$t", so won't be as subjected to the "malware war", but can still be configured to do the basics of all the stuff. for basic learning, all the gimmick$ just get in the way, and is quite too much stuff to try to grasp all at once. once the basics are fully understood, folks can take that knowledge and teach themselves all of that other stuff ... if they think they want/need it. but at least they'll be ABLE and WILLING to THINK the thing through FOR THEMSELVES.



good luck, y'all, i hope your effort$ get $omeplace. sadly, when you get there, you'll have a $tructure that perpetuate$ all the crap that you are $creaming to get out from under! ain't no way to get out from under that crap$tructure a$ long a$ you are u$ing that crap$structure to get $omeplace that the crap$tructure you are implementing is expre$$ly de$igned to keep you from getting to!!

ah well. $ince i have long refu$ed to get jacked by working the $y$tem cha$ing that delu$ional dream, I can't $peak the language$ that are all that you can hear,

well, i've gotta go try to figure out how to save some of my lab: i have to move by the 15th and am still no closer to the pulmonary/physical therapy that would help me to do the work than i was when this mess jumped off in october. and, of cour$e, i don't have the dollar$ to do it. ah well; i guess if i my heart/lungs quit on me while trying to do this, i will have died trying! YES IT IS THAT BAD, but i don't have any choice. ("help"? "family"? "friends?" <sigh> well i guess that stuff works in theory, but it hasn't really worked for me when i need it.) the only "coin" that i can offer for "hands on, get this done NOW" quality "help/support" is my lab, my tech skills, my hardware/electronics knowledge and my "Unconditional Love" driven desire to build a telecommunications infrastructure in support of my African Family Community.


AnAfrican, how can we help?

Setting up the infrastructure for community-based learning/training is definitely doable. We should collab on that. Maybe we can work out a structure where you can receive compensation which may help you towards your medical needs.

I will say we have to be willing to keep an open mind and not get caught up in the quasi-religious debates over competing technology.

If an open-source solution makes the most sense for a particular purpose then go for it. If a commercial vendor, even a microsoft, has a better overall package once you consider support, incentives, philanthropic opportunities...etc...then be willing to take advantage of it.

A lot of fanatical anti-microsoft/pro open-source developers don't understand that behind most all major open source initiatives are venture capitalists who are far more cut-throat and $$$ focused than microsoft.

At the end of the day everybody has to eat and be able to take care of their necessities and until a replacement system is devised that requires acknowledging that $ are required to do that.

realistically, i guess there isn't much that can be done other than some hands-on sort of stuff.

the fantasy/dream is that one of the African Governments, or even some of those billions that Africans give to everybody else, could be used to land a medium sized cargo aircraft, carrying a couple of trucks, at Paine Field, load me up, fill the rest of the plane with as much "dumpster tech" as it will hold and transport it to one of those former slave-processing centers. i think that it would be a very strong and very good thing to seek to "repurpose" those spaces into the export of African Brain Power for OUR benefit rather than the export of African bodies for everybody else's benefit.

<shrug> well, i can dream can't i? i know the reality of katrina, but i do keep hoping!

definitely: i have one right here that i am trying to save for usage somewhere. granted, it's a "napkin sketch" prototype, and it is all older than most would care to mess with. but the beauty of that is that it is all simple enough that it will serve admirably to introduce hardware components and subsystems.that's what i was thinking: "collab" on "a [physical] structure" to test out what we would then mirror/replicate into other community LRCs. store front, warehouse, house with basement or an apartment could serve both the need for that testing/incubating space to work out what the thing is as well as to provide me with a space to live and something to do that i could use to keep me enough occupied that i could dump these danged cigs.

medical needs are covered, but that'll be after i get this stuff moved into storage and then go find someplace to live.

the only drawback to the commercial solution is that the commercial solution is designed to disallow exactly what it is that i am suggesting. the way things have been going in this society, there is no longer any incentive to doing hands on stuff since one can always call a tech, or take it to the shop. learning/knowing how to DIY gives an internal "d4mn rights i can do this!" boost to those all important senses of SelfIndependence and SelfConfidence. and it cuts down on repair bills, maintenance contracts, vendor lock-in and waiting until a tech can get to the site. (some repairs can be done remotely, some require that the case be opened.)

my reason for the "quasi-religious debate" is that i am a fanatical fundamentalist true believer in the value of SelfThinking, SelfConfidence, SelfWorth. knowing enough about this technology (as a beginning) that one is no longer concerned about what hardware or software platform one is running on, one is able to do every bit of what ever that one needs to do. it is not so much about "fanatical anti-microsoft/pro open-source" as it is about "fanatical anti-'you don't have to worry, we'll do all the configuring/thinking for you(but we aren't gonna tell ya about any gotchas or hooks)' vs pro-'after you have sweated through configuring it all yourself, it runs the way YOU want it, YOU know about all of the hooks and gotchas, it fits YOUR hardware, and you have the confidence of knowing that you KNOW what is going on all the time'": knowing how to rig a fishing pole and getting your own, or going to the store and getting what they figure is going to give them the best "margins".

actually, behind most of the "open source initiatives" is a geek that had/has something that they want/need, so they built it. i guess you are seeing the bit after they've worked through the thing to where it is functional enough that someone wants to buy/market/squash it. you are correct in the sense that venture capitalists are cut-throat; but they didn't write the code, most may not even know how to code or care about the relative merits of this chip over that chip. nor care anymore about various PCB layout patterns.

again, i'm talking about being able to implement the layer of knowledge that must exist before there is something that business, venture capitalists or marketers will even pay attention to.

begging your pardon, but this sure sounds a lot like the justifications used ever since the first viking hit these shores! the only thing that these dollars are doing is messing up this planet, dividing communities into "gots to provide for my family vs sorry to see your family failing, but i gots to gets mines" and maintaining a "dog eat dog cut-throat" environment. an LRC of this nature is one of the first steps toward devising that replacement system.

dollars are required to keep everything just the way it is with all the environmental and human rights issues.

I'm with you in spirit but I guess I'm just more practical.

The way I see it the open source guru can't build the next widget if he/she can't keep the lights on.

The only people who can get by on this bandwagon talking about they don't care about $$ have somebody around them that has a whole bunch of them.

I do agree with you about needing to learn core skills so our people can build entirely new platforms, but I think using our creativity to build new models on existing platforms is EQUALLY important.

Maybe we can put our minor philosophical differences aside and figure out how to work together.

Maybe we should follow in the direction Kwabena was heading and have people list out their current skills and those they may want to learn in the future. Also indicate which skills you know well enough to be able to teach.


Current Proficiencies I could teach now:

Datawarehousing Methodologies (kimball/inmon)

Back-end Databases: (SQL 7/2000/2005, Oracle 8i/9i/10g,
Sybase 12...lil taste of db2)

Integration (SSIS, BizTalk, some webmethods, some informatica, some datastage)

Data Mining (clustering, market basket, decision trees, SPSS, SAS, SQL Server Analysis Services)

Modeling (Erwin/PowerDesigner)

Everything to do with Reporting, info delivery & Business Intelligence (won't list out all the reporting and analytics tools...they're all different flavors of the same nut anyway)


Languages:
T-SQL/PL-SQL, C#, VB.NET, heavy MDX

New Stuff I'm getting into that I'll be able to teach by year's end:

Performance Management and business process methodologies

enterprise content management & search (Sharepoint 2007 is HOT right now)

Starting to play with Ruby on Rails and some open-source BI (jaspersoft & pentaho)

Areas I'd like to bone up on if I had time:

service-oriented architectures...especially in the data integration space

networking & infrastructure stuff

Advanced security & risk mitigation stuff

The technical & business side of managed hosting

i don't think we are on the same page here.

when i think "IT Project", i'm thinking circuit/circuit board/software design on up. it seems to me that y'all are talking leveraging somebody else's applications/services on top of somebody else's hardware.

ok, yeah; there is gonna be a rent/mortgage cost, there are gonna be costs for power, plumping and [telecommunications]pipes. i got that covered (i "only" have to get the stuff from here to there, but it looks like when i get there, i may not have it anymore) enough for a space to house enough of the technology spectrum that enough folks can/might show enough interest to say "hey! we need a few more dollars to make this work because we have x amount of people that want to get up off the streets and/or out of that mess and are interested in learning more". this is what i mean by a pilot project.


AnAfrican what I was saying earlier is both aspects are equally important. Its good to be skilled enough and open-minded enough to be able to develop your platforms, or even your own hardware and circuit boards and what not. That's not my area of expertise so I'm not going to have much to contribute in that regard. That doesn't mean I don't see the value.

But I also know it would be difficult to build something new without first having knowledge or command of what's already been built.

I see cats all the time that take an existing platform and extend it to meet a hole in the market and make things happen for themselves.

So i'm heavily biased in that I see the biggest value in the ideas and what people are able to build rather than focusing on what technology platform they built it on.

So having said that let's talk about this project.

I'm on board with the concept of providing training for our community.

I'm on board with making sure we do MORE than just teaching how to use a few popular appilications...but I don't see anything wrong with doing that.

Not everyone wants to be visionaries, some people just want to pay the bills and buy the kids school clothes and support their families. A lot of the apps that are in demand now are not difficult to learn and are not difficult for people to create an experience record for themselves.

So I'd like to see us offer training via collective projects that allow people who are interested to not only learn but to come out of our training with tangible experience that enables them to get their foot in the door with existing companies or figure out a way to start their own.

So in addition to low-cost, throw-away hardware/platforms that you'd want AnAfrican to teach basics, we'd also need an up to date training platform that deals with the leading edge.

As for funds, I agree, no point in worrying about specific funding sources at this point, but we can start brainstorming about general approaches.

Maybe this can be organized as a non-profit....aren't there some Destee regulars that work for non-profits who could help us get started?

My Current Skill Set:

Unix and Linux Administration, Support and Training
Windows Support, Training and Administration
Project Management
Six Sigma
SDLC
PC Design, repair and troubleshoot
Buisness Process design and implementation
Non Profit Technology design and implementation
IT Business Analysis
IT Training
Basic HTML/C++/Java
Desktuop Publishing
Knowledge Management Administration
IT recruiting and IT Sales

Things I am currently learning:

C++ and Database design
Project Management (Imporving)
Six Sigma
Rational Unified Proces (RUP)
UML

Things I will have by the end of the year:

C++ and Database programming skills
Stronger Six Sigma knowledge
RUP
UML
Stronger Project Management Skills
Better IT Leadership Skills

when you read the "Originally posted by", or the beginning of my posts, what does it say? how is it spelled? that is the only correct spelling regardless of where it is in the sentence and what anybody else may say or feel: i chose my name and i chose the spelling of my name; where's any respect for what i have to say/be ... oh... right; how many posts is this so far?


It took me a second to figure out where you were coming from. Only thing I could come up with is you're upset that I typed a capital A with AnAfrican instead anAfrican?

If that's the case I'm going to chalk it up as you going through a rough patch right now and being more sensitive than normal. I meant no disrespect by capitalizing the first a in anAfrican. I do camelcase all the time by habit so it was just an innocent mistake.


In the rest of your post I detected so much animosity towards me that I don't plan on addressing it point by point.

I'm not one of those who thinks there is something wrong with debating. I love a good debate. But that wasn't the purpose of this thread.

The bottom line is I'm telling you that your infrastructure/hardware focus has value and is warranted, but I'm also telling you that other services/apps/languages focuses have equal value.

I'm suggesting there isn't a reason we have to choose one OVER the other, and that we should have enough soft skills to be creative and flexible enough to come up with an approach that meets both goals.

You're a brilliant brother anAfrican. I don't think there's any question about that. So hopefully we can set aside the trivialities and get about the business of planning/organizing and trying to get something done.

Peace.

if that is the only thing you could come up with then i guess we might as well not converse further. if you aren't willing to give me the respect of spelling my name as I require, and come with something that trivializes my making that point, then we are done.

Did I misspell your name somewhere? Why do you equate an unintentional capitalization error with disrespect?

I know you going through some thangs but dang...can you cut a brother some slack?

anAfrican no one is disagreeing with your ideas for giving technology to our people; however, I want to know why is it that both competing ideas can be merged together?

No one on this thread has stated, that we reject your ideas for educating our people with your ideals for technology, yet you consistently talk down about other ideas when no one talks like that about yours.

I do not see how me feeding my wife and child, via working for a corporation is delusional, but that is not the point.

I started this thread hoping that all the IT Brothers here could get together and agree to disagree, and come up great technology solutions for our people.

Let's move forward.

y'all go on ahead. i ain't about nothing that perpetuates this oppression of this environment; corporations are about nothing else since they are expressly designed for/about/by and of "people" who have not the sense to see/live/breath the Life that surrounds them. nor am i much interested in spinning wheels with those that seek to use these destructive tools to set up My People for a continuation of the mess.

y'all go on ahead. i left that idiocity 27 years ago and ain't going back to it now that it is obviously dieing off. i'd strongly suggest that others figure out how to live without those destructive crutches. <sigh> but when you don't and it does fall apart, i'll be out there doing the Job I Was Born To Do: cleaning up the trash that this structure made of this environment and get it ready for the next "man_animal-analogue" experiment. (i hope it's something better next time, though)

Good Luck, Brothers; I'm OUT!

(don't waste your time trying to "correct" or "convince" me. Please; "get on about your knittin!")

y'all go on ahead. i ain't about nothing that perpetuates this oppression of this environment; corporations are about nothing else since they are expressly designed for/about/by and of "people" who have not the sense to see/live/breath the Life that surrounds them. nor am i much interested in spinning wheels with those that seek to use these destructive tools to set up My People for a continuation of the mess.

y'all go on ahead. i left that idiocity 27 years ago and ain't going back to it now that it is obviously dieing off. i'd strongly suggest that others figure out how to live without those destructive crutches. <sigh> but when you don't and it does fall apart, i'll be out there doing the Job I Was Born To Do: cleaning up the trash that this structure made of this environment and get it ready for the next "man_animal-analogue" experiment. (i hope it's something better next time, though)

Good Luck, Brothers; I'm OUT!

(don't waste your time trying to "correct" or "convince" me. Please; "get on about your knittin!")

See the problem is you could've kept all your negativity and never entered the thread in the first place if you didn't plan on contributing.

I don't understand your position at all.

You want to teach black people tech but you don't expect they'll use that tech for anything having to do with business? You don't expect they'll use those tech skills to compete in a marketplace?

OK, so not everyone needs to run up in corporate America...cool...I agree...but what value do tech skills have outside of some type of marketplace?

Will a nicely configured ubuntu distro fill your stomach?

Na, you've got to sell that distro (app) or at least barter using the fact that you can build one (service).

Even if you're brilliant enough to come up with your own OS and resourceful enough to build a new hardware system to run it on from scratch, it is still not FOOD, CLOTHING or SHELTER so what value does it have unless somebody will give you something for it?

IMO, we need to be ready, willing and able to compete head up with anybody....in this system...on this earth...THEN worry about coming up with a new model once we've got a leg to stand on.

I said I didn't want to debate but you done got me riled up cause I swear it feel like you throwing nothing but salt in this thread.

y'all go on ahead. i ain't about nothing that perpetuates this oppression of this environment; corporations are about nothing else since they are expressly designed for/about/by and of "people" who have not the sense to see/live/breath the Life that surrounds them. nor am i much interested in spinning wheels with those that seek to use these destructive tools to set up My People for a continuation of the mess.

y'all go on ahead. i left that idiocity 27 years ago and ain't going back to it now that it is obviously dieing off. i'd strongly suggest that others figure out how to live without those destructive crutches. <sigh> but when you don't and it does fall apart, i'll be out there doing the Job I Was Born To Do: cleaning up the trash that this structure made of this environment and get it ready for the next "man_animal-analogue" experiment. (i hope it's something better next time, though)

Good Luck, Brothers; I'm OUT!

(don't waste your time trying to "correct" or "convince" me. Please; "get on about your knittin!")

Peace Brother anAfrican your ideas and contributions are still welcome, as long as they are not negative and dismantling to what little interest we have going so far.

Again no one disagrees with your ideas for education, but the idea that someone cannot work and make a living, and provide shelter for their families and community via the IT industry is a bit off base.

i think it's a grand idea & congrats 2 bro's Manasiac & Kemetkind for engaging n this project. it's potential is vast.

personally, i wish u bro's wld consider a class or discussion group meeting @ a minimum of every other wk to help those of us sorely lackiing n understanding & tech skilz (like urs truly) an opportunity 2 pic ur brains & tap n2 that rrecondrite knowledge u 2 hv accumulated. how about classes on:

1. the 10 most common pc problems & how 2 fix them urself

2. common upgrades u can do urself @ home & what tools 2 use.

3. what it takes 2 build ur own cutting edge pc (or budget pc)

4. software / shareware / freeware worth hving, y & where 2 get it

5. pc crashes; their common causes & how 2 prevent them


these r jus warm-ups 2 tap n2 u bro's knowledge a little. even q & a sessions wld b welcome imho.

anyway, i think it's a gr8 idea & the results cld b incandescent. count me in :welldone:

For all Brothers in Destee.com who are involved in the IT Field, this thread was created for us to talk about Projects with IT.

Here are some ideas:

IT Training facilities for youth

Networking with others in the IT field to create consulting opportunities and job opportunities for us.

And any other ideas that you would like to suggest.

Thank you!

This is the direction I am moving towards at the PRESENT moment but I also am having to make a living.

I am "designing" an "e-learning" community that will focus on tutoring, mentoring, college prep, alternative educational assessment, performance arts education, with an emphasis on closing the academic achievement gap.

My time here is becoming limited because I am now substitute teaching and applying/interviewing for full-time teaching in the fall, in addition to preparing for my own "continuing education".

From what I have read sofar I am a little confused as to what specific Instructional technology PROGRAMS you folks are utilizing/developing, while at the same time I am trying to also develop my own instructional media LIBRARY (i.e software, freeware, shareware).

As far as "consulting and job opportunities" this is an immediate NEED before I go broke as some of the virtual class environment/programs I want to development cost big $$$ and I am "going under" economically.

But I aint gone under yet....even though I am packing and may have to re-locate and try las vegas or atl this summer.....soon as school is out here in a few weeks.

OK so given what omowale is talking about maybe there is a way to dove-tail this IT project with the education focus many of us have talked about before.

An e-learning portal is a foundation, but the next step is to build a platform where instructors can teach classes online and get paid for doing so.

If all these other online schools can be accredited I don't see why we can't build our own.

We'd need some people with the technical background to build the platform and some people with the education platform to design the curriculum and some people with the non-profit background to manage the business structure.

We could start small by getting the platform up and hosting IT classes for adults, work the kinks out, and then work towards establishing an accredited online school that could serve home-schoolers and after-schoolers along with a separate curriculum delivering specialized/niche training for adults (could be IT/internet/media, could be general business, could be african history/philosophy/religion, could be anything).

Surely there has to be public funds that can help subsidize such an effort. We could also come up with creative private funding models to provide enough leverage ensuring our long-term control of the curriculum.

Any thoughts?

OK so given what omowale is talking about maybe there is a way to dove-tail this IT project with the education focus many of us have talked about before.

An e-learning portal is a foundation, but the next step is to build a platform where instructors can teach classes online and get paid for doing so.

If all these other online schools can be accredited I don't see why we can't build our own.

We'd need some people with the technical background to build the platform and some people with the education platform to design the curriculum and some people with the non-profit background to manage the business structure.

We could start small by getting the platform up and hosting IT classes for adults, work the kinks out, and then work towards establishing an accredited online school that could serve home-schoolers and after-schoolers along with a separate curriculum delivering specialized/niche training for adults (could be IT/internet/media, could be general business, could be african history/philosophy/religion, could be anything).

Surely there has to be public funds that can help subsidize such an effort. We could also come up with creative private funding models to provide enough leverage ensuring our long-term control of the curriculum.

Any thoughts?


Sounds good.

I would be interested in helping with curriculum development and providing support for home/after-school programming.

However, my particular focus, in terms of curriculum, would have to focus on test-taking strategies, diagnostic assesments, reading inventories, etc.

I have special ed and inst media skills that I need to develop with a focus on reading/literacy (in context of above strategies).

I am currently "networking" with some local educators (developing an Action Plan relative to educational standards) and this phase of activity is near a close. I am concerned primarily with "closing the achievement gap" so I am not interested in teaching social science/spirituality, etc. but hard-core language/literacy skills to improve performance of Black kids on standardized achievement tests. One of my reasons for moving to texas is because there has been recent improvement in this area where california schools were lagging behind. I am moving from 6th grade/middle school instruction to high school ap/pre-ap curriculum and utilizing my college board/"gear-up" training.

Its difficult as a "Black man in suburban texas trying to get this going cuz 80%+ of the public school teachers are white women, and even the few black teachers (virtually no administrators) are relatively invisible so thats why developing an on-line "community educational program" is viable, but this will also require a MARKETING STRATEGY to attract clientele/membership (I suggest a PAID membership site) and folks who are open to doing some ad work and promotion. On-line and off.

More thoughts later....but no time for debates...

:welldone

I don't think the marketing strategy would be difficult.

Black parents of all socioeconomic classes are starving for a way to provide positive environments for their children and a return to excellence in education.

In my circles many with young children are paying ridiculous $$$ to send their kids to montessouri schools and other private programs, but they still aren't happy with the way their kids are developing and the racist social interactions they are exposed to.

This concept has tremendous potential...we're marrying IT skills with educational focus for our children...I agree this is too important to get sidetracked in unproductive philosophical debates.

Surely there has to be public funds that can help subsidize such an effort.Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs (http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html)

:welldone

I don't think the marketing strategy would be difficult.

Black parents of all socioeconomic classes are starving for a way to provide positive environments for their children and a return to excellence in education.

In my circles many with young children are paying ridiculous $$$ to send their kids to montessouri schools and other private programs, but they still aren't happy with the way their kids are developing and the racist social interactions they are exposed to.

This concept has tremendous potential...we're marrying IT skills with educational focus for our children...I agree this is too important to get sidetracked in unproductive philosophical debates.


I would say that the potential is not only tremendous but virtually unlimited. I was substituting again today, in AP Math and English classes, along with 10th grade English lit. It dawned on me that some of these parents do spend upwards of 3-6,000 per year in after-school or home schooling programs, if not more, which includes service providers such as Sylvan.

However, which of these is focusing on the GENIUS of Black children. Virtually zero.

Back in my day (1972-75) there were early outreach and intervention programs, Special Action programs, such as UCLA's Student Educational Exposure Program (SEEP) which went into inner-city schools built partnership with local educational providers and recruited students ("minority"). Thes were systematically eliminated after the Bakke decision. Interestingly, after this it was the same period which witnessed and experienced the "tech boom and bust". Birth of internet. Birth of desktop publishing. Birth of mobile technology. Birth of Microsoft. Birth of e-bay. Birth of Google. Birth of digital media. Death of analog. Death of Atari computers. Death of Beta. And so on.

As one who was RAISED in a "Black/African conscious" family which also has a history of Black civic and business leaders dating back to Boley, Oklahoma and New Orleans 7th Ward, several educators and engineers in my family oriented me towards balancing tech/vocational ed with performing arts and business.

My daughter was raised the same way and my sister is raising my nieces the same way. The hardest part of teaching in the public system is witnessing the DESTRUCTION of vocational ed/ SHOP classes AND performing arts, areas in which BLACk kids have historically displayed enormous genius.

I SEE this and have experienced it from both all sides, student-parent-educator over the past 30+ years. In both predominanatly Black school districts, predominantly white, and "multicultural-integrated" schools as well.

I have also seen the lack of support for the same programs which me and my peers benefitted...the Watts Writer's Workshop. The Ebony Showcase Theatre. The Vision Theatre. Marla Gibb's Crossroads Academy.

Black actors and entertainers who were trained by these programs did not support them and keep them from going into bankruptcy, and I am speaking RECENT history.

Black folks "celebrate" Kwanzaa but dont PRACTICE Ujima or Ujamaa.

This is CRIMINAL considering how many of us have survived this period of technological innovation and REVOLUTION.

Thos Black parents paying ridiculous $$$ should be partnering and setting up their own CHARTER SCHOOLS with STATE OF THE ART "virtual classroom environment" with the latest educational games, simulations, assessments and diagnostics and VOCATIONALLY TRAINED in the same manner as were my Father and those before him such as Booker T, Benjamin Banneker, Ida B. Wells, Madame CJ Walker, Nathan Hale, et al.

If it were not for the education I got early on in DRAFTING, starting in the 7th grade, and re-inforced by working as an apprentice with my Dad on MAJOR engineering projects I would have had nothing to fall back on when my "baseball career" was short-circuted. Those electronics and advanced shop classes, such as printing, also gave me some knowledge to use later in desk-top publishing of Black student publications in college.

Excuse my ranting but I am really dead tired of talking....we need to be Marching....and beating the pavement before our kids get beat down any farther in this economy which is going "belly up".

Well lets start putting some substance to this by drafting a business plan / mission statement.

For sure I will have several hours this weekend to put towards it.

I'm going to check out anAfrican's link and make some calls to folks who may be able to help with the public money aspect of it.

Well lets start putting some substance to this by drafting a business plan / mission statement.

For sure I will have several hours this weekend to put towards it.

I'm going to check out anAfrican's link and make some calls to folks who may be able to help with the public money aspect of it.


I will have to get with you Brothers later.

Im off to ATL this weekend.

My daughter's college graduation and I dont know what's up from there.

Before putting a vision statement business statement together, there needs to be some formal discussion which includes a swot analysis and a list of goals that we wish to achieve.

It will be easier to draft a vision statement after doing that.

It is good to see the thread rolling along tho.

I think we should attempt to setup a time for us to voice chat about this issue, so that we can establish some action items.

What times are folks available. I am pretty flexible, because I have the 13 hour advantage bein across the IDL.

Manasiac, what do you think about this suggestion?

Everyone does as much research individually as they can, organizes their thoughts (putting them on paper if possible), and then we discuss goals again in brother's chat on Tue 05/15.

If we have the contributors emails we can go ahead and forward electronic copies of documents outlining our initial thoughts BEFORE we get to next Tue.

This way people have time to thoughtfully consider the proposals from others and we may have a more productive voice chat when we do meet.

Manasiac, what do you think about this suggestion?

Everyone does as much research individually as they can, organizes their thoughts (putting them on paper if possible), and then we discuss goals again in brother's chat on Tue 05/15.

If we have the contributors emails we can go ahead and forward electronic copies of documents outlining our initial thoughts BEFORE we get to next Tue.

This way people have time to thoughtfully consider the proposals from others and we may have a more productive voice chat when we do meet.

This is a very good idea, it will help folks to have some more stable ideas about their goals.

Hey bros.

I know this was formally directed towards the brothers but I also know you won't let my lack of a Y chromosome keep you from utilizing what I have to bring to the table.

Computer skills:
3-tier web applications development:
graphics design
website design
Powerpoint (I have to brush up my skills here since I haven't used this program in years but the first time it was introduced to me at Cal State LA I wound up showing my teacher how to do stuff with it he didn't know how to do)
audio editing
shockwave flash movies

Education skills:
lesson planning
composition
syllabus design

What really excites me is that for the last few weeks I have been contemplating building an education database for home schoolers. In fact, I have begun the design of the website and the homepage is finished. Give me a minute to make a few more tweaks to the stylesheet file and I will post the url for you guys to look at and see if you might want to incorporate it into your plans.

Thanks,
Da River

Ok here is the url
http://www.tecknowledgey.net/tecknow/

Just the homepage has been done but it is enough to show you what direction the other pages will go in. Feel free to make suggestions.

All graphics, including the background. are original creations of yours truly.

Ok here is the url
http://www.tecknowledgey.net/tecknow/

Just the homepage has been done but it is enough to show you what direction the other pages will go in. Feel free to make suggestions.

All graphics, including the background. are original creations of yours truly.

I am heading down a similar Path.

I am heading down a similar Path.
Yes, I know. Somehow all of this is going to come together. I know I can't come to the bros chat tonight. But since you guys will be discussing the IT project please keep me in mind and let me know how things go.

Sister River, thank for your interest and links. Please post this information in the IT Interest thread, this a results only thread of the IT Project which has yet to be determined.

Thank You

Sister River, thank for your interest and links. Please post this information in the IT Interest thread, this a results only thread of the IT Project which has yet to be determined.

Thank You

Brother MANASIAC ... Sister River ... i moved the posts for you.

:heart:

Destee

We are putting together a cyber eTech Team and invite Techies from HBCUS, Black Middle and High School students from inner-city public and Charter Schools that have tech/geek skills or are interested in building and improving their skills to let us know. Also teachers from these institutions that are serious about 'closing the digital divide' and bring tech skills to the students let us know.

Our objective is to provide a portal where our future tech leaders can begin exchanging knowledge, collaborating on projects and gettin on top of their game. We will also ge providing our Black Youth Entrepreneurs the tools to launch to participate in our project. We provide free webhosting and access to our web based groupware that will empower all participants to network 24/7 with each other from anyplace.

Minority owned Small Business Enterprises; individuals working to better the community; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Charter Schools; registered Minority Owned Not-for-Profit Corporations; and Social Activist Entrepreneurs

Registered Community Empowerment Program Members are provided free web hosting, access and use of the below listed free web-based tools and more:

* Free web-based e-mail with the address username
* Free personal webpage with the URL address
* Free personal Web Blog facility with the URL address
* Free personal web-based File Management facility
* Participation in the peacezone.net Biz and Education Forum
* To Do list
* Zone News Alerts
* Personal Calendar
* Personal Journal
* Facility to provide Free advertisement and announcement to other community users
* Ability to register and access available learning contents and courses when posted on the Education Portals
* Ability to access free seminars, pod casts and ‘how to information’ when posted by Registered Members


Just send a brief resume with your email address to planetaryperspectives@gmail.com and your login user name and password will be provided. A Black American Owned and Operated Project to empower our youth.

Ok here is the url
http://www.tecknowledgey.net/tecknow/

Just the homepage has been done but it is enough to show you what direction the other pages will go in. Feel free to make suggestions.

All graphics, including the background. are original creations of yours truly.

The first and foremost suggestion is to have someone edit your page for spelling and grammar. Too many misspellings and typos destroy credibility right off the bat.

The second suggestion is to spend a good deal more effort working on the visual presentation. Maybe work with someone skilled in design or pick up some design texts.

We have to set standards of excellence for ourselves if we intend on communicating standards of excellence to others.

The first and foremost suggestion is to have someone edit your page for spelling and grammar. Too many misspellings and typos destroy credibility right off the bat.

The second suggestion is to spend a good deal more effort working on the visual presentation. Maybe work with someone skilled in design or pick up some design texts.

We have to set standards of excellence for ourselves if we intend on communicating standards of excellence to others.
Thanks for the feedback. I am correcting the typos now.

Brotha Kem,

I corrected the typos and changed a few other things. Please take a look and let me know if I missed anything,

Thanks

http://www.tecknowledgey.net/tecknow/