Digital Common Sense

This post is triggered by a series of catalysts that aren’t hitting me in the face for the first time. In the past I’ve taken a fairly open stance seeking out women in technology. Several months back I cross posted my search for Women in VoIP here and here. It isn’t that there’s a total absence of women in the unified communications field. I know many. But the ratio often seems out of whack to what I’d expect the demographics to be.

Every now and again I get smacked in the face with my own naivete. I like to think I’m an open-minded, thoughtful sort of guy. But I grew up in multi-racial Los Angeles stupidly believing for the most part that racism and such were things of the past. When taking college courses in the early 90’s one of my classmates was an Air Force MSG the same age as I. It shook my foundations to learn that he’d grown up working as child laborer picking cotton in Mississippi. I was blinded by my own ignorance. It’s a variation on the problematic theme of ethnocentricity we have here in the US. We too easily believe that we’re the center of the universe and that the rest of the world is just like our little ecosystem. And that’s bullshit.

One of the most thoughtful and insightful people I know in technology blogging is Thomas Anglero (see Telecom’s Tsunami). I know he’s in Oslo. I know I’ve been reading his work for as long as I can remember. I know I often feel challenged to bring the kind of expertise, knowledge and insight he brings to the communications industry. I’ve never met Thomas, but he’s some I hold in very high regard and respect enormously. I knew a small bit of his prior work at Vocaltec and Free World Dialup.

I’m using Thomas as an example here for a reason. Since my last week or so has been rather unusual, I’ve managed to tag several blog posts that I wanted to get back to. I felt compelled to comment. First this from my friend Alec Saunders:

Another newly discovered VoIP blog
Thomas Anglero has been writing Telecom’s Tsunami since 2003, and I’m embarrassed to say that I wasn’t aware of it. He complains that the VoIP blogging community is closed. I guess in his position you might think that. [read Alec's full post]

That got my attention and I went looking to make sure I didn’t miss what Thomas had to say. I actually found two posts. I’m not going to copy them in their entirety, but I encourage you to go read both.

Opening the VoIP community… to everyone
As I read through the VoIP blogs, it is clear that VoIP bloggers and the VoIP community itself, does not allow for just anyone to become a member. VoIP bloggers talk about each other (over-and-over), and the VoIP development community only respects those who have done something so glorious before in code. This mindset will kill our industry.

Now that VoIP is truly an application that can be written or created by anyone in any part of the world, the quantity of members of the VoIP community shall grow exponentially. The time of innovation is upon us with those who have no VoIP past entering the community and creating something that we could not have because our VoIP bloodline. [read Thomas' full post]

I join Thomas in noting that we bloggers aren’t the innovators. I may have an occasional innovative thought or idea, but that’s an accident. I find my niche in discovering, describing, and pointing to the real innovators in the tech sector, but I sure don’t claim to be one.

I’m not sure I agree entirely that the VoIP community is
closed, but it is very highly blog oriented. It’s not a closed circle,
but sometimes we don’t do the best job in the world of reaching out to
others. I try, but I’m as guilty of failure as any of us. We build
circles of trust that become stronger over time, hence a barrier to
entry, whether real or perceived. To Thomas, I’d say, point taken and I personally will strive for being
more open and inviting. That’s a behavioral shift that needs to be
learned and ingrained over time.

Then I read another post from Thomas and found myself dumbfounded and appalled. It’s an old one, from nearly a year ago, but somehow it appeared on my radar and left me shocked in some ways.

Why aren’t “Colored People” at IT/Telecom Events…Because They Can’t Get Through Customs!

I just arrived back from Cebit 2006 in Hannover, Germany a few days ago and it took me these many days to calm my thoughts and think through this posting. I will try to be brief and to the point. You can draw your own conclusions…

While in Germany, I was hosted so graciously by Deutsche Telekom and had the pleasure of spending time with one of their female Senior Directors. I do not speak German, so she uncomfortably had to translate many of the comments we received. In those tense moments, I knew something degrading had occurred because when a person makes a racial remark to you, it doesn’t matter what language they are speaking, their body language says the same thing…complete disgust! [read Thomas' full post]

I’m honestly not sure how I reacted at first. I honestly never gave a thought to the color of Thomas’ skin color and had no idea that a polished, well-spoken professional of any color would experience this kind of treatment today. And, as you read the post, you’ll see a behavior that’s repeated in more than one country.

I’m embarassed on behalf of thinking adults everywhere. Appalled. Ashamed. Pissed. At myself and at narrow-minded people too. How can we possibly behave this way?

I find I have so many thoughts and so much to say, yet, as an American white male, I don’t feel I’m entitled to an opinion. I feel too much like part of the problem and not enough like part of the cure. And it’s a cure for a greivous human condition I won’t ever even experience. I can try to empathize, but I can never truly understand. Hell, I can’t even understand it from my viewpoint. How could I understand Thomas’ feelings.

I’m lost for words beyond these few - while we’ve never met, I consider Thomas a friend and a trusted colleague. A colleague I’d welcome into my worklife. A friend I’d welcome into the guest room in my home (consider that a standing invitation if you ever come to Olympia, Thomas).

That this behavior still exists in our world speaks deplorable volumes about the state of humanity. That’s something we all have to change. Lost for words beyond these, I post for your own thinking.

Technorati Tags: VoIP industry, closed circles, Thomas Anglero, humanity

Filed by Ken at 8:02 pm under General