Virtual Communities - Web sites

Black Enterprise, Oct, 2000 by Jason Mckay

News/Culture

Africana.com is a jewel of a site that every African American family can treasure. This aesthetically appealing site, co-founded by Harvard University educator Henry Louis Gates, chronicles and provides content on the life, times, history, and future of people of African descent. "To some people we are the equivalent of a CNN International of the black world," says Darrol G. Roberts, Africana.com's president and CEO. Aside from its free e-mail and voice chat features, the site links users to about 85 different radio stations around the globe where people of African descent dwell, including Brazil, Morocco and the Dominican Republic. Africana.com keeps its finger on the pulse of black interests with an impressive stable of writers from around the globe, including the well-known physician Dr. Ben Carson and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. In addition to its news commentary, Africana.com features music, book, and movie reviews.

BlackWorldToday.com is visually a no-frills site, but it is exploding with content relevant to those of African descent. Run by a collective of journalists, writers, communicators, entrepreneurs, and artists, the site covers disparate black-related topics from business to health to youth. Text and voice chat rooms offer platforms for visitors from around the globe to share ideas, but one of the site's unique offerings is its own branded Instant Messenger software available for a free download. Black WorldToday supplies hefty links to radio and video content around the world. Its "Special Reports" section delves into issues that the contributors feel warrant further coverage than straight news.

The site's virtual mall has a wide selection of products, including kids' books, black art, DVDs, consumer electronics, and games. "The-BlackWorld Radio Network" offers a variety of music channels from hip-hop and jazz to gospel and reggae.

Search Engines

EverythingBlack.com helps Web surfers find content of specific interest to African Americans. While offering up a good volume of returns for many searches, one drawback is that other sites must register with it or their names will not pop up when Web-heads query the Net. This could eliminate noteworthy destinations. But EverythingBlack.com makes up for this with its "Metro" section, where visitors can view or enter details about happenings in their region, find a "Literature" area where self-published or published writers can hawk their wares, and surf through an interesting "History" section. The site also has an admirable and extensive "Music and Audio" section linking visitors to African American programming. Visiting here could also prove profitable. EverythingBlack.com intends to offer private stock to its members.

EverythingBlack.com features more than links to "cool" and "new" sites. It offers free e-mail, free Websites, discussion boards, personals, and stock quotes.

BlackWebPortal.com is a basic search engine that is on its way to becoming a portal for African American-related issues. The colorful pastel-colored site is pleasing to the eyes when calling up information, but input searches currently yield very little. Clicking on BlackWebPortal's categorical links, however, results in a more abundant list of avenues to pursue. One of the site's most appealing sections is its "BWP Black Pages," a brick-and-mortar business search, where, for example, a request for lawyers pulled up about 200 practitioners. For the college bound it offers an extensive, yet incomplete list of black colleges with descriptions and contact information. There is some news content and a section that lists "Cool New Sites."