From June 27th – 28th 2025, the 100xDigital Community Barcamp, organized by the Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt (DSEE), brought together around 100 diverse organizations in Berlin. Black Academy’s participation in this 100xDigital Community Barcamp is part of the “FolloWorld” project, which aims to promote digital education and networking through the targeted use of social media and digital tools with the financial support of DSEE. 

For two days, participants engaged in exchange, collaboration, and co-creation around the central question of how digital transformation can strengthen civic engagement. The open Barcamp format allowed organizations to both share their own experiences and learn from others. For the Black Academy, participating in the 100xDigital Community Barcamp reaffirmed the urgency of centering Black voices in digital spaces. Digital tools, when used thoughtfully and ethically, can serve as living archives of resistance, empowerment, and memory.

It aimed to answer the question: How can we digitize Black knowledge in ways that preserve its richness and complexity without reproducing bias, exclusion, or forgetting? 

Drawing from the Black Academy’s projects, it was demonstrated how digital resources can make marginalized knowledge visible and accessible. For example, the online Quiz of project Flinmi documented the histories of marginalized groups during the Nazi era, including Black people, Roma, and Sinti, while combining online and in-person activities. With free educational tools such as video interviews, interactive quizzes, and knowledge boxes, the project made overlooked histories available in German, English, and French. 

Another important project example was the Mínɔ̀ Program, a training initiative designed for African women. It provides courses in entrepreneurship, project management, German and English language learning, and personal branding. Women from across Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and other countries come together to foster transnational exchange and empowerment through digital tools. 

The multilingual and intercultural approach of the Black Academy was also emphasized, highlighting workshops with simultaneous translation, the integration of sign language, and content with non-Western perspectives from Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, and more. This reflects the Black Academy’s commitment to resisting linguistic hierarchies and ensuring accessibility across communities and geographies.

While digital tools open up unprecedented opportunities for accessibility, they are not neutral. In the Black Academy’s session, structural challenges such as algorithmic bias were also discussed. Platforms and digital tools often deprioritize or misrepresent content that centres African perspectives or uses African languages. Additionally, online content does not always reach those with limited internet access, digital literacy, or time. This leads to resource and access gaps. Furthermore, when preserving community knowledge one must be mindful of doing so ethically, avoiding extractive or performative uses. These challenges underlined the importance of approaching digital transformation critically, ensuring that marginalized communities remain curator of their own histories. 

The interactive part of the Black Academy’s session invited participants to reflect on the question: “How do you decide what to make visible online while balancing safety, care and reach?”. This exchange allowed for a rich dialogue, as organizations from diverse fields, such as LGBT+ advocacy, community-oriented media, and children’s and youth work, shared both strategies and challenges. Their approaches included using accessible language, centering community interests, applying intersectional perspectives, committing to continuous learning, and ensuring relevance. At the same time, participants reflected on difficulties such as navigating algorithms, balancing privacy with visibility, and considering long-term impacts of their digital practices.