We, African Americans, must assume responsibility for how our communities will be affected by the internet, now. The internet is the future of communication. The reality that our television systems will come with keyboards for accessing the internet and other on-line services is visible. Large and small companies are positioning themselves on the web now, to receive the windfall of revenues industry analysts are forecasting. The internet influences all areas of interest from raising children to art and politics. We must be present in this technology's infancy, and be dominant in its maturity.

On Saturday September 13, 1997 at the School of Engineering on the Howard University campus, the students of the Institute of Multimedia Applications (IMA) in conjunction with MBA Interactive of Los Angeles, CA., held a conference to discuss and impress upon Howard University and the community an understanding that the internet must be mastered by African Americans as a tool to be used in the solutions we are developing for our empowerment. The first annual conference "The Hookup, Seeking Internet Solutions for the African American Community" featured nine panelists and a keynote speaker, that volunteered their time at the requests of the student organizers. The students of IMA, motivated by Dr. Todd Shurn, Assoc. Director of Computer Applications of IMA, brought together African American Leaders of the internet community to discuss the role of African Americans now and in the future of the internet. The panelists and keynote speaker represented the opinions of users, contributors, and builders of internet technology.

The panel topics were African American content development for the web, future trends in internet business (e.g. marketing, and product development for retail), internet technology educational strategies, and using the internet to get afrocentric and/or unbiased news and information. In addition to the discussion topics, each panelists presented how they got involved in the internet and web development. The participants were Jaymes Hines, MBA Interactive of Los Angeles, CA.; Phillip Emeagwali, award-winning Nigerian computer scientist; Anita Brown, founder of Black Geeks On-line, Washington, DC; Daryl Acumen, Skunk Technologies, Santa Monica, CA.; Clarence Wooten Jr., Metamorphosis Studios, Inc., Arlington, VA.; Dr. James Jones, BrownFox Productions; Joseph Mouzon, NetNoir, San Franciso, CA.; James DiPina, New Perspective Technologies Co., and Janice Bryant-Howroyd, Act*1 Personnel Services, Los Angeles, CA. Janice Bryant-Howroyd, the keynote speaker, presented an example of how she won a significant contract by using the internet to give her company an advantage over the competition and her company's future plans to use the internet to expand the business services.

For conference attendees, the hot topics were how to learn the skills to use internet and develop websites, how to market their services and products on the web (e.g. getting their website links on popular websites, and associated with popular search engines), and where to find African American websites. The attendees were provided a wealth of information by the panelists. Daryl Acumen discussed how he uses the internet in place of television news to get unbiased news and information. Anita Brown discussed her efforts to educate the community at large by taking computers with internet access directly to the streets of predominantly African American neighborhoods to teach adults and children. James Jones, discussed his inspirational efforts to produce an interactive CD on African American history. His story emphasized the message that ignorance should never be a deterrent to accomplishment, because when he came up with the idea for his CD he knew nothing about developing an interactive multimedia CD. In addition to these discussions and presentations, all the panelists demonstrated their websites and others during their introductions; and the newsletter, "The Conduit, The definitive Technological guide for the African in America", was distributed to conference attendees. "The Conduit" is a newsletter that features celebrity users and industry builders of technology, has reviews of the latest technologies, and definitions of all technical terms used in the articles.

Most of the attendees were engineering students and professionals in the computer industry, which limited the scope of the discussions. So, the goal of the student conference organizers has not been met. In order for the conference to be effective, the conference must be expanded to include students and professionals in business, medicine, fine arts, law, the physical sciences, and other disciplines.

Expanding this conference and establishing other avenues to increase the skills of our masses, must be the agenda for those of us that already understand the importance and urgency. We must organize discussions and workshops on designing graphics for the web, developing web-based businesses, disseminating information on the web, developing web applications, generating web advertising revenue, and teaching internet and computer skills. It is a powerful medium, that must be fully utilized in our efforts to enhance the quality of life in our communities.

For information about "The Hookup, Seeking Internet Solutions for the African American Community" conference please visit www.imappl.org/hookup.