How Black communities shaped the internet An interview with Charlton McIlwain, author of Black Software Share this story As we’ve gone through the pandemic, I’ve been thinking about how much of our lives happen on screens and through software. We use software to connect with our friends, to play games, to move markets, and to catch criminals. Software isn’t eating the world; it’s eaten it. Today on Decoder, I’m talking to Charlton McIlwain, a professor of media, culture, and communications at NYU and the author of Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter. The book takes a hard look at the long relationship between the Black community in America and software — including the early pioneers who built online communities in the dial-up era; the relationship between software, the civil rights movement, and policing; and today’s social platforms, which amplify and distribute everything from TikTok dances to the Black Lives Matter movement.