The live blog’s primary purpose is hear from readers who will not be able to attend and have ideas on what they would like to see in our coverage of the convention. The secondary purpose is to hear from bloggers -including other credentialed blogs- about technology that can be utilized to relay the sights and sounds of Denver to those who cannot be there.

Join us on August 12 @ 8PM Central for this live blogging event.

This weekend, 60 bloggers gathered in Atlanta for the inaugural Blogging While Brown International Conference of Bloggers of Color. The event was produced by Executive Director Gina McCauley who also publishes the blog What About Our Daughters.

There were established blogs represented, Black Web 2.0, Electronic Village, and Clutch. And there were new bloggers also in attendance, like LaQuitta Jones who started her Terrell Tax and Planning blog about a month ago.

The conference kicked off on Friday night with a meet and greet at Fox Sports Grill in the Atlantic Station District. There were many bloggers in the room who had known each other for years via the web, but it was the first time that they had the opportunity to lay eyes on one another.

As each person stood up giving their name and website, you could literally see people around the room shaking their heads and saying “Oh she’s the one who runs that blog.” It was a great atmosphere for folks to get to know one another before the more structured workshop format that was scheduled for the following day.

After the meet up, I hung out with a group of bloggers who were discussing the merits of CNN’s Black in American. As a matter of fact, Soledad O’Brien’s special report was a hot topic throughout the weekend.

Saturday Morning’s session started bright and early with a presentation from Black Web 2.0’s founder Angela-Conyers-Benton and general manager Markus Robinson. Their session was called The Ultimate Blog Experience. From the very beginning, I was struck by the two 20 somethings addressing the group who were at the top of the black blogging game.

Angela and Markus shared so much great information during their session. Many of us found out just how much blogging technology attendees were using that we had never even heard of. ELance, Meebo, Twiter Feed, MoFuse, Blog Burst, and Global Grind were offerings that I was unfamiliar with prior to Saturday. Even my tech saavy roommate for the weekend Theo Johnson from That’s What I’m Talking About was able to pick up lots of pointers.

Next we heard from representatives of the Republican and Libertarian parties. Each party that has a candidate in the general election was invited to participate, however these were the only two felt compelled to attend Blogging While Brown.

By this time the blogger energy really kicked in and the laptops started rolling. Many of the conference participants started Tweeting one another. ATLiens (Straight from the ‘A’) had me rolling so I’m sorry to any presenter who I laughed at…my bad. Theo even set up a live feed on UStream.

After lunch, there was a panel discussion about….well I’m still not sure what it was about. The panelist included Clarissa Goodlett from ColorofChange.org, Tamera Reynolds of Glam Media, and Necole Bitchie. The session was moderated by Kevin Ross of Three Brothers and a Sister.

A number of topics were touched on from activism, to civil rights to advertising. But many were left wanting to hear more from Necole, who in seven months (and some struggles prior to that) has created a couple of recognizable brands with both Necole Bitchie and The Urban Blogger. As a matter of fact, both Necole and Clarissa will be on Gina’s Blog Talk Radio Show this week.

Necole Bitchie

After that session was (finally) finished, Carmen (Carmen D.) Dixon from All About Race presented and informative session titled “Secrets from a Media Insider”. Carmen shared some of 10 plus years of experience in the television industry with attendees. She broke down the make up of a news room, how to pitch yourself to news directors, and creating the ins and outs of a media kit. Not only did the bloggers in attendees appreciate Carmen’s content, but people I talked to also appreciated Carmen’s energy and passion.

Finally AfroSpear member Wayne Hicks (Electronic Village) lead and Umoja session that focused on blogger unity and sustainability. As a matter of fact, AfroSpear members Villager, Carmen D., Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend (ranked #1 in latest Black Blogger Rankings) and I all ended up sitting together on the front row all day. The AfroSpear’s Bruce Dixon from Black Agenda Report was also represented.

There were also a podcast session lead by Mixed Chicks and a legal session lead by Attorney Mom that I missed.

In summary, this was a very well organized, informing and inspiring conference. Gina must be commended for stepping out on faith and making it happen. When we were taking the group photo, I was reminded of the picture from the Niagara Movement in 1905. One day far in the future -which means 2010 in internet years-we’ll look back at the photo and think that a new movement took root, or was furthered in Atlanta in July of 2008. But for now, I’m looking forward to BWB 2009.

Though NetRoots Nation was covered heavily last weekend in Austin, there’s been hardly a peep about BWB. In fairness, Blogging While Brown was held on the same weekend as Unity (conference of minority journalists) in Chicago. I’m sure next year’s event will be held at a time when journalists can be part of the mix. But this time I think it was best for bloggers -many whom have little or no journalistic training- to come together and make their own way. There will be plenty of time for media exposure.

Sponsors for this historic conference included BlogHer, Service Employees Industry Union, Daily Kos, Glam Media, and Common Sense Media.

Read “Geek” girl helps keep Mozilla safe in scary times

Snyder serves as Chief of Security for Mozilla, though her official title is chief security something-or-other which is displayed on her business card. Here are some highlights from the USA Today article:

• In setting out to elevate Firefox’s basic security, Snyder is also compelling Microsoft and Apple, maker of the Safari browser, to follow her lead — or get out of the way.

• “The fun is in deconstructing where the security holes are,” Snyder, 32, says with a wry smile and knowing laugh.

  But don’t let her youthful facade fool you. Snyder’s career path includes co-founding a security company and consultant work at At Stake, which was sold to Symantec for $49 million in 2004.

• Dave Goldsmith, who as president of Matasano Security has worked with Snyder in various capacities, calls her an “online security rock star.”

  Adds Eva Chen, CEO and co-founder of security company Trend Micro: “It’s gratifying to see other women in prominent roles in tech security. For so long, men have dominated the field. Women didn’t have an old boy’s network.”

• A self-avowed “geek girl” and daughter of software engineers, Snyder says her mom taught her to program Basic, an early computer programming language, on a Texas Instruments PC when she was 5 years old.

Big ups to Window Snyder, doing it big at the world of internet security.  I guess I’ve got to get my son some computer programming classes, he’s (6) behind.

WHERE: Cornerstone Baptist Church; 5415 Matlock Road

Arlington, TX (817) 468-0083

WHO: Michael Williams, Chairman, Texas Railroad Commission

WHAT: “Williams Innovators” Summer Camp Graduation

WHY: “William Innovators” is a summer camp that promotes young people’s interest in math and science through the teaching of designing computer games. Sponsored by Friends of Michael Williams, Be The Game and The Institute of Urban Game Design, “Williams Innovators” learn how to design a video game with an energy exploration theme. There are 42 students participating in this inaugural summer camp.

This innovative program started in Washington, D.C. and had fantastic results. Campers had fun, played games, and in the process, learned about math, science and technology. Williams hopes this will spur an interest in young people to go to college and study engineering, science and mathematics. More than half of Texas energy professionals are eligible to retire within the next ten years, many as early as five years. Texas needs a whole new generation of energy innovators. For more information, log on to http://www.BTheGame.com.

Chairman Williams will present certificates of graduation and awards to the top male and female students. Media availability will immediately follow.

Electronic Village

June Black Blog Rankings

Below are the Top 10 Black Blogs ranked by Villager as well as honorable mentions. Currently, Villager uses Technorati authority to compile the list.  Thanks Villager for all the work you put into this list.

1. Bossip.com Gossip for the Hardcore

2. Pam’s House Blend

3. Concrete Loop

4. Nah Right

5. Oliver Willis

6. Young, Black & Fabulous

7. SandraRose.com

8.  Crunk & Disorderly

9.  Jack and Jill Politics

10. Angry Black Woman

La Shawn Barber’s Corner, Real Talk NY Provides The Latest Hip Hop News, The Field Negro*, Love B. Scott, Afro Bella, What About Our Daughters*, How To Split An Atom, Entre mes Lignes, Angry Black Bitch, Keith Boykin, Ill Doctrine, Necole Bitchie, A Hot Mess! and Clutch Magazine

In the past when I wanted to surf the web, I’d hit my favorite websites like Electronic Village, or CNN Politics, or Dallas Progress, but I could never get to all of them in one sitting. Once I started using a feed reader, I was able to find out when ALL of my favorite websites update their content.

This is much better than using bookmarks because you may or may not get new information when you go to a bookmarked page.  When you visit your feed reader, you don’t have to worry about revisiting old data, unless you want to.  It also keeps you from missing anything if you don’t get around to visiting your favorite site for a while.

I use Bloglines to aggregate my feeds. That means Bloglines keeps a log of my favorite websites and tells me when they are updated. It’s not just blogs, but mainstreams sites like CNN, USA Today, and Politico as well.

There are plenty of other good feed readers including Google Reader, Pageflakes, and more. I’ve found Bloglines to be very easy for me so I stick with it. Now I’m tracking 50 websites at the same time and the reader compiles (aggregates) all of them in one place and only shows me the updates since I last viewed them.

So check out Bloglines or any other reader, but make sure to subscribe to my feed (http://dallassouthblog.com/feed) when you do.

I didn’t really say all that I wanted to on the NAACP tip, but since the tone was set early for a Benjamin Jealous love fest, I let it ride (this time).   Props also go to fellow AfroSpear Blogger Amani Channel and Shaun King who were also on the Bloggers Roundtable with me today.

I suggest anyone who can read this message who can download the Firefox web browser to do so now.  Here’s the link to the Mozilla Firefox download page.  It’s a much better way to surf the web and my mom recently expressed to me how much faster her Firefox browser is compared to Explorer.

Until then I’ll try to see what I can do for those who are locked in to Explorer.

This month Dallas South has made a move up the black blog rankings, coming in at #86.  This months rankings compiled by Electronic Village tracked 1,173 sites.    Last month Dallas South ranked #105 of 1,046.

May Black Blog Rankings

Below are the Top 10 Black Blogs ranked by Villager as well as honorable mentions. Currently, Villager uses Technorati authority to compile the list. The number in parenthesis is the authority or number of websites that refer to a given blog. Thanks Villager for all the work you put into this list.

1. Bossip.com: Gossip for the Hardcore (1153)
2. Pam’s House Blend (1098)
3. Concrete Loop (1009)
4. Nah Right (804)
5. Crunk & Disorderly (696)
6. Oliver Willis (617)
7. Young, Black & Fabulous (597)
8. Jack and Jill Politics* (460)
9.  La Shawn Barber’s Corner (428)
10. SandraRose.com (410)

HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): Real Talk NY Provides The Latest Hip Hop News, What About Our Daughters*, The Field Negro*, Afro Bella, The Angry Black Woman, Entre mes Lignes, Angry Black Bitch, Keith Boykin, Ill Doctrine, How To Split An Atom, Love B. Scott, A Hot Mess!, Clutch Magazine, Kenyan Pundit and QuestLove MySpace Blog

Some local blogs of note:

43.  Mrs. Grapevine

196.  Eddie G. Griffin

272. Dallas Progress

656. Bloggers 4 Obama

709.  Parenting Toys

You can click here to nominate your favorite blog (including this one) for a Black Web Award. Finalists will be announced July 14th.

Villager also hipped me to Clutch Magazine’s Summer Blog Academy.  This is from the Clutch site:

The ladies behind Clutch are partnering with Black Web 2.0 and other social media experts to bring you the most current information on how to succeed online. Get ready for two months full of how-to’s and advice from the best. So vote to let us know what you want to learn more about. And…it’s free!

It’s going to be a hot summer for bloggers.