Williams, a juvenile probation officer for the state Department of Juvenile Justice, started by sharing what he was learning with friends and neighbors. I don't charge or ask for anything . . . I'm just so fascinated by computers and what they can do. Now, Williams wants to go a step further by creating an African-American computer club in the Tampa Bay area. The idea sprouted over the summer, with eight or nine people initially getting together online, then meeting in person.
People also can sign up for the club on the site.
And since the World Wide Web is just getting into African-American kinds of issues, I think it's real important that we become knowledgeable about the opportunities and advantages that are out there. Williams got the idea for the club from a group in Orlando that meets to plan offline activities. Yet blacks are one of the fastest-growing online communities, according to Forrester Research, with an increase of 42 percent predicted for this year. That means 40 percent of African-American households will be online. Ekaterina Walsh, a Forrester analyst, said some African-Americans without access at home go online from school, library or work.