Adding Diversity to the Conference Circuit: Starting with SXSWi

For the last two years I have had the distinct honor and priviledge to be a panelist at SXSWi.  Unfortunately, I have been one of the only Latino panelists and potentially the only Latina panelist.

This is more often than not my experience on the conference circuit and one of the reasons that I joined with Ana Roca Castro and Louis Pagan in September of 2009, the original leaders of Latinos in Social Media to try and create a structure through which we could remedy this challenge. 

On the conference circuit, the response that I get often for this dearth of Latino and Latina panelists is: we don't have any other Latino/Latina panelists because there is no one else out there.  My experience has been that many of the conference organizers blame the digital divide.

However, although the digital divide is a very real problem that faces a certain part of our community the reality is that the Hispanic community is diverse and multi-faceted; and we have had some experts in technology, social media and new media for decades.  The opportunity is making sure that these folks are getting the exposure that they deserve. 

As it relates to SXSWi I first raised the issue with the conference organizers when I participated in their conference two years ago.  In response, last year we organized the first ever Latinos in Tech panel at SXSWi which we hope to do again in 2011.  This year, however, my objective is much more ambitious and I am partnering with the conference organizers at SXSW to make it real.  Given the fact that SXSW is in Texas which is heavily populated by Hispanics, our hope is to bring to the table dozens of panels enfused with Hispanics, Tejanos, Latinos, Mexican-Americans, Boricuas, Chapinos, Ticos, Guanacos, Pinoleros, Catrachos, etc.  This project has been two years in the works and I believe that now is the time for us to make it reality. 

To date, more than a dozen folks have responded to my call to bring more Hispanic/Latino panelists to SXSWi.  If you are interested in joining us or helping out, tweet me: @KetyE.

Is There Anybody Out There? Latino Digital Natives and Beyond

Are we out there?  Are we online?  Are we producing content?  Are we consuming content?  Are we influenced by the content that exists online?  What about the digital divide?  

These are some of the questions that folks in the private, non-profit and government sector have been asking themselves about the Latino community.  Over the next few days and weeks, I hope to provide some answers.

Let me start with this.  

#1- Hispanics are not a monolithic community.  

Just like we are not monolithic in our defining of ourselves, i.e., some of us call ourselves Latinos, others Hispanos, Chicanos, Mexicanos, Tejanos, Boricuas, Chapinos (you get the point).  So too we are a diverse community online with different levels of proficiency and acculturation.  We too have digital natives in our midst and phenomenal technologists that have been paving the way in the world of technology since the nineties, before social media was social media and before the term Web 2.0 was ever imagined let alone coined.

It is important for anyone interested in the aforementioned questions to take stock of the current state of reality and not just dismiss the Latino community online, based on the belief that there is this digital divide that keeps all Latinos out of the technology game.  

Let me be clear.  The digital divide exists and it is still affecting the Latino community in a devastating way.  However, that should not be collapsed with the understanding that the divide is present for all Hispanics.  For as my coming blog posts will show, there are many of us in fact thriving and innovating online inspired by the possibilities created in this new digital world.

Truth is the beginning of every good thing, both in heaven and on earth; and he who would be blessed and happy should be from the first a partaker of truth, for then he can be trusted.  -Plato