Powering up!

Talented people don't wait for the "lucky break".They get out there and get the Internet information, ideas and skills they need to make a difference in the competitive world of tomorrow.

The Chronicle salutes black participants at the NetMedia98 conference organised by Jamaican-born Milverton Wallace, lecturer in journalism at City University, London.

Yomi Ayeni, BBC producer is interested in cyberlaw and interactive media and says: "This new technology can be turned to the empowerment of the individual. It gives unlimited access to main areas of public debate. Ignoring it is perilous".

Natalie Williams, a post graduate student will use her newly acquired skills as a TV journalist back home in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Roy J. Edwards, a freelance journalist and writer in London says: "'the new technology will shape the way we work, live and play".

Talented black students and journalists know that being "hip to the 'Net" can help you":

• to explore your cultural heritage
• to express your right to free speech
• to open democracy's doors a little wider
• to demand appropriate public serevices
• to promote freedom of information
• to combat social exclusion
• to share ideas with people all over the Black World.