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Info-City Black Britain:
Blacks Lead Quest for Digital Equality in the Information Age Romaine, aged 36, is a hard working, proud, family man of Caribbean background. He promotes the St Paul's Carnival Project in a city where local blacks fight back against a legacy of 18th century slave-trading and race discrimination. "The new electronic media helps us to represent ourselves and highlight the best of our cultural heritage," says Romaine. As proof he displays his multi-media CD ROM showcasing the life and struggles of African Caribbean people. Working with local photographs, stories, interviews and songs, Romaine and his helpers at the Kuumba Centre learned their new age skills as they went along. Now, he says, the city's 8,000-strong black population want to access mainstream opportunities for secure employment and housing as well as cultural purposes. Digital City Bristol, the council's information network of public kiosks and Internet web sites, is one means to relieving information poverty, Carlton believes. Other voices Bristol's digital city project is a unique exchange of information between town hall officials, business and the public using computer-driven online facilities. But, with remarkable historical symmetry, the information equality gap dividing black and white in Britain is most evident in the nation's former chief slave ports: Bristol, London and Liverpool. 
Hence, dependency on city-run networks is not good enough, say some media activists. "Community broadcasting will play a key role in our future," says Donald McTernan, the black London regional manager of the Community Media Association. "London's African Caribbeans, Somalis and others are gearing up to provide media services to their communities," he says. Scores of groups are on cable, satellite radio and the Internet. Many run professional media companies involved in all aspects of broadcasting. Community-run projects fill a vital need, according to McTernan, who is in daily contact with new groups around the country. The First Love Radio and Media Training company offers digital production and radio skills to students and residents in Deptford, an important black district in south London. The Community Radio Project in Stratford, east London, trains young people aged 16-24 years old. Further media enterprises are planned for Bristol, Leeds, Sunderland and Birmingham. These efforts show that "Commercial radio will never be able to properly represent, educate, entertain and inform London's many diverse cultures," according to McTernan's association newsletter. Empowerment 
Owning and controlling black cultural expression is an increasingly important issue for black media groups. BLINK, the Black Information Link web site, coordinated by John Adams, has established an important black political presence on the internet. HomeBeats CD-ROM and web site, run by Arun Kundnani of the Institute of Race Relations, puts the power of new media technologies into the hands of young black people in their communities. Broader issues of information freedom have not escaped the new black Internet generation. Don McTernan believes that "communication is a basic human right." He supports young broadcast journalists networking with others in Europe, sharing views and uniting their voices in support of social justice. What does the future hold? Digital Cities with community web sites, like Bristol, Cardiff, and Liverpool, will need to expand public access to the new technologies, according to Linda Skinner, researcher at the University of West of England. At the current snail-like pace, the needs of many disadvantaged black people may not be met for decades. They seem fated to be among the excluded 20-30 per cent of Europe's new age Information Society predicted by social scientist Jan Van Dijk of the University of Utrecht. However, hopeful signs are emerging. Calls for equal access grow louder. At the local level, Carlton says, "We need web-walkers to go around to community groups and train them in the new technologies. We need the tools for entry to the Information Age: computers, Internet and e-mail facilities. Cheaper telephone costs are essential. We ask why aren't there local lap-top libraries where you can borrow a computer to use at home or in school". What's being done? Eric Geelhoed of Hewlett-Packard Research Labs is experimenting with user-friendly information systems for Digital City Bristol. Ros Mitchell, councillor and head of the IT and the Community office in Bristol, says the city's attempts at "Electronic Government" through public kiosks and learning centres must be expanded. But, with a restlessness born of frustration, Carlton wants community groups to have a place at the information decision making table. "We seem to be always on the outside looking in at other people talking about us," he says. "In much of what is done for us, we don't see ourselves -- the black youths, the mums, and the elders -- nor our African Caribbean culture. We say give us the access tools to make our contributions". When pressed for examples he says without hesitation "I would like Digital City Bristol and the Millennium Commission to support an interactive live and Internet Carnival and Festival of the Black Arts linked to web sites around the world." Issues to be resolved at city, national and European levels Black people, with their scarce resources but abundant hopes, are among the early explorers of the information superhighways of Britain. Whether they gain a secure base in cyberspace is still a potent question. For many of them, and other excluded and disadvantaged people of Britain and Europe, the banner on the Black Information Link web site sums up their rallying cry:
Further information available at: InfoCity@Bristol.98, Exploring Access to Information Digital City Bristol http://www.bristol.digitalcity.org For more discussion of the prospects and limitations of the Information Society, click the following:
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These sentiments are echoed by Jamaican-born Pauline Reynolds, guidance officer at the St. Paul's Centre for Employment and Enterprise Development (CEED). The centre is one of two-dozen sites having public information points provided under the Digital City Bristol initiative. "Our electronic kiosk makes a crucial addition to our services," says Reynolds. Clients seeking jobs or advice on immigration and business matters, can also access council information and get technology training, she reports.