Girls and Coding: Closing the Gap

Google has announced a $50 million initiative to teach girls to code and help close the gender gap in engineering and computer science. Google’s move follows recent reports that only 17% of Google's technology employees are women. The Made With Code campaign will include partnerships with various organizations and companies to help link families with programs and mentors. Check out the projects on the site.

Tech Diversity A Growing Issue

The New York Times Bits blog recently ran an entry with these opening lines – “In three states, not a single girl took the Advanced Placement exam in computer science last year. In eight states, no Hispanic students took it. And in 11 states, no black students took the test.” This certainly illustrates how shallow diversity runs in the tech industry and how rapidly the United States is falling behind in educating young people for computing jobs, which are growing more than twice as fast as the average for all occupations.

So, what is the story? Kids know that tech is where the money is, but most have no idea what you need to do to get into those kinds of careers. What is your school doing to help kids explore the range of careers open to them and the courses they will need to realize their goals?

Who Isn’t Online?

You probably can’t imagine not being online, but a new study recently released by

the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project found that some 15 percent of Americans — about 1 in 7 — don't use the Internet at all. Most of them prefer it that way although 32% of non-Internet users cite reasons tied to their sense that the Internet is not very easy to use. These non-users say it is difficult or frustrating to go online, they are physically unable, or they are worried about other issues such as spam, spyware, and hackers. This figure is considerably higher than in earlier surveys. The study also revealed that another 9 percent of U.S. adults only use the Internet when they are not at home. Adults with lower levels of income and education, as well as blacks and Hispanics, are significantly more likely to rely on Internet access outside of their home, in libraries, at work or elsewhere. Of the people who don't go online, only 8 percent want to. The rest said they are not interested. Nearly everyone who goes online has broadband access, the report found. Only 3 percent of people who use the Internet do so using a dial-up connection.

Facebook Pushes For Universal Internet Access

Facebook has teamed with six other tech companies to form Internet.org, whose mission will be to bring Internet access to the more than 4 billion people on the planet that aren't yet connected. "There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy," Zuckerberg says in his press release. Of course, all this altruism may lead to increased business for all these mobile companies. It also means that there will be that many more people online who may be interested in your private information.

Who is Not Using the Internet?

It might surprise you to know that nearly 20% of adults or 60 million people in the US don’t use the Internet. Most of them are elderly, poor and minorities, and have no access to the technology so many of us, especially young people, find vital to their everyday existence. There are two interesting aspects to these facts. First, this 60 million are shut out of jobs, government services, health care and education, and that the economic effects are looming larger. Second, it is important to look at where these 60 million predominately live. Non users tend to live in the southeast US and in rural areas. According to a 2011 study of this group, 48% say they are not interested in the Internet and don’t need it. Statistically, though, that just doesn’t add up. Per the Commerce Department, Internet use has a measurable impact on employment, income, consumer welfare, and civic engagement. So, closing the digital divide would not only benefit individuals on the wrong side of it, but also the economic and civic society as a whole.

Tech Gender Gap Addressed by the UN

The U.N. is calling on member states to eliminate gender disparities in access to broadband, with the goal of full parity by 2020. Women in the developing world are far less likely to have access to technology than men, says the Broadband Commission Working Group on Gender, and there remains a "measurable gap" even in the developed countries. Actor Geena Davis, who serves as the ITU’s Special Envoy on Women and Girls, launched the proposal last year.

Universal Access Isn’t Enough

In a blog entry, technology teacher Mary Beth Hertz makes the case that while universal Internet access is important, it is not enough to bridge the digital divide. She argues that while accessing online resources on a tablet is good for finding information, students need to learn how to use, analyze, and create using the information they find and, for that, they need a computer. She further argues that we need to “create environments in our schools that are rich with technology and time to tinker. Technology classes should be focused around creative, collaborative projects and exploration through which young people can build technological skills and share their work with a global audience.” We can’t agree more!

Kids Voice Concerns Over the Digital Divide

Students from some high schools in low-income areas of Los Angeles attended the recent Digital Media and Learning conference in San Francisco, where they called for policies to increase their access to technology in school. Many of the students described their frustration with current restrictive policies and a lack of adequate and up-to-date equipment, all of which they say are hampering their education and limiting their opportunities to compete against students from wealthier schools. “If our school has technology and equitable resources, our graduation rates and college attendance rates will increase,” a Morningside High student said. “This means we’ll have more prepared students for our democracy, and we’ll have more public conversations about equity.”

The App Gap

A recent study from Common Sense Media says that children are spending more time, and at a younger age, in front of screens of all kinds. That is no big surprise. One new thing, though, that the study pointed out is what some are calling the “app gap.” That is, that children of higher income families (those from families earning more than $75,000) are being introduced to mobile devices and the apps on them at a faster rate than lower income (families earning less than $30,000.) This just seems like a further extension of the digital divide that has been around for a long time, but since there is a rhyming quality to the “app gap”, chances are we will be hearing more about it in the media.

Microsoft and Best Buy Team to Offer Computer Training

A group of American companies led by Microsoft will offer free computer training to members of disadvantaged communities so they can compete in the global economy and benefit from a high-speed Internet project spearheaded by the Federal Communications Commission. Microsoft will provide basic computer literacy training, including how to do online job searches, in schools and libraries, and through service groups like Boys and Girls clubs and at Microsoft stores nationwide in 20 U.S. states. Only 68 percent of Americans with access to high-speed broadband Internet are using it, while in places like South Korea, the rate is 90 percent.