The Black Church in Cyberspace @SXSW

Historically, the “black church” was a physical place typically located within the confines of the black community, quite often in walking distance from the core membership. However, with the advent of the civil rights movement, integration, and gentrification, the locations of churches quite often may be miles and miles from the physical location of its members. Moreover, churches, like other not-for-profit organizations face the realities of economies of scale, operational and logistical expenses, as well as competing for other events in the lives, hearts, and giving (time, talent, and treasure) of congregants. This session explores how the digital landscape has impacted the nature of “The Black Church” making it possible to gain strength in numbers virtually as well inform others who may not typically fit within the historical definition of “The Black Church.”

Geraldine Rosa Henderson, Ph.D.

@Geraldine Rosa Henderson (Newark, NJ / Austin, TX / Chicago, IL) first moved to Austin, TX in 2004 when she joined the University of Texas at Austin as an Associate Professor of Advertising. Although she is now an Associate Professor of Marketing at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University Newark and New Brunswick, NJ, she still also lives in Austin, TX. Her primary areas of research include marketplace diversity, digital marketing, and consumer networks (cognitive and social).  In particula…

Panelist

Rev. Joan R. Harrell

@Rev. Joan R. Harrell (Chicago, IL) is the founder of RacismContradictsChristianity.com, an ordained American Baptist minister, and womanist public theologian. She is the Director of Public Communications at Trinity United Church of Christ, where she is responsible for creating, writing, and developing multimedia communications and was responsible for public relations and crisis communications for Trinity United Church of Christ during the 2008 Democratic Primary and Presidential Election and th…

Damon O’Brien

Host / Producer, 3rd Coast Fiyah / 3CF Productions

@Damon O’Brien (aka DJ D-Lite) (Austin, TX) has been a mobile and radio DJ since 1996. He is the administrative director of Kingdom Affiliates Record Pool (http://kingdomaffiliates.com/), one of the only existing record pools specializing in Christian hip hop / urban gospel music. Damon is also the founder of http://GroovSpot.com/, R&P’s Spot On The Web! GroovSpot is a website that focuses primarily on the urban side of gospel music. Since 2005, Damon has hosted & produced the award winning int…

Pam Perry

@Pam Perry (Detroit, MI) is a PR Coach and Social Media Strategist delivering online branding and marketing solutions for best-selling authors, nonprofits and entrepreneurs. She is the Chief Visionary of Ministry Marketing Solutions, Inc. and internet radio host of Chocolate Pages where she has interviewed authors such as Kirk Franklin, Rev. Run, Demond Wilson and Yolanda Adams. Her book, Synergy Energy, is also the name of her podcast show where she interviews experts in social media, marketing…

Jamye Wooten

@Jamye Wooten  is the founder and publisher of KineticsLive.com and CEO of Kinetics Communications, LLC. Jamye has organized and documented social movements from across the United States, United Kingdom and Africa.  He is the former program director of the Collective Banking Group, Inc. (CBG), a Christian ministry that draws together leaders from the faith, business, and public service sectors to develop and enhance economic empowerment strategies for the African American community. Jamye…

What is BiT?

 

Blacks In Tech (BiT) is a coalition of targeted technology organizations and industry thought leaders. Our primary objective is to to highlight the impact the African diaspora has in shaping innovation and growing technology-related industries, products and services.

We exist wherever creative disruption is taking place. Our marquee event takes place annually in Austin, Texas during SXSW Interactive Festival (deemed “the most important interactive in the world by CNET) where we reconnect and honor individual achievements in support of our collective advancement.