News

  • No Boys Allowed: Four Coding Schools Just For Girls

    from ReadWrite.com

    "Programming has always been a bit of a boy’s club. Now four startups are turning the tables.

    As the coding education bubble swells, there’s room for some companies to target more specific audiences, including women exclusively. Fifty percent of the female population isn’t exactly a niche group, but it’s not a frequently targeted market in the technology industry, either.

    Even in the year 2013, we seem stuck on the stereotype of the typical “brogrammer.” Women and girls have always been some of technology’s most influential users (remember who fueled the rapid rise of Pinterest, anyone?) but they’re woefully underrepresented in professional tech jobs."

  • Image Credit: Jeff Chiu

    Coding boot camps promise to launch tech careers

    from Yahoo News

    "Dev Bootcamp, which calls itself an "apprenticeship on steroids," is one of a new breed of computer-programming school that's proliferating in San Francisco and other U.S. tech hubs. These "hacker boot camps" promise to teach students how to write code in two or three months and help them get hired as web developers, with starting salaries between $80,000 and $100,000, often within days or weeks of graduation."

  • An Incubator Changed My Career: How Young Techies Sparked Innovation in the UK

    from Black Enterprise

    "Abs Farah and Kahin Farah were inspired to convert HTML/CSS coding into compliant designs that render the same across all major e-mail clients, after struggling to create their own designs. This British-based brothers had a desire to make things simpler, and decided to found Fractal, which provides a Web-based service to create and design emails with ease."

  • 10 black child geniuses you should know

    from RollingOut.com

    "If you only watched the evening news or depended on pop culture to paint a picture of young blacks, you would probably think that the majority of black youngsters were only ambitious about sports and music, or caught up in crime and debauchery.

    However, the face of black success isn’t limited to the fields that are occupied by Jay-Z, Beyonce and LeBron James. There are a multitude of young blacks who are achieving at a high level in science, math, classical music, chess and other knowledge-based areas and preparing to change society."

  • (FOOD JUSTICE) End the Corporate Exploitation of ‘Food Deserts’

    from Ebony.com

    "There is no doubt that many impoverished communities need access to healthy, quality, culturally relevant food. But it ought to be fresh food that will support our local farmers who are also suffering from a broken food system and nourish the bellies of our babies while simultaneously stimulating economic and community development. We need food to go back to being a tool for change and culture. We must get beyond “food deserts” and eventually beyond food justice and get to food sovereignty.

    Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/wellness-empowerment/food-justice-end-the-corporate-exploitation-of-food-deserts#ixzz2Q3zZxopn Follow us: @EbonyMag on Twitter | EbonyMag on Facebook"

  • Hackathon’ Comes to Morgan State University

    from Afro.com

    "Nearly three dozen college students will channel their inner geek at Morgan State University’s engineering library on April 5 and 6, refining and developing technology skills –and maybe even producing the next world-changing, computer-driven idea or product--during a hackathon, a marathon for computer science engineers.

    ...

    The event is engineered by Black Founders, a San Francisco-based organization of African American high tech advocates who are trying to spur African American involvement in the cyber community, along with DiversiTech, a components manufacturer, and three Morgan graduates."

  • Chicago’s Urban Prep Sends Every Grad to College

    from JetMag.com

    "For the fourth year in a row, Chicago’s Urban Prep Academy is sending all of its graduating class to college (from their Englewood and University Village campuses). That’s right, every single student in the school’s class of 2013 is headed to a four-year university."

  • Brittney Exline Becomes Nation’s Youngest African-American Engineer

    from Ebony.com

    "Being a standout is nothing new for Brittney Exline. The Colorado Springs, Colo., native made history in 2007 at the age of 15 when she became the youngest African-American female accepted into an Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

    Exline has made history once again as the school’s youngest engineer and the nation’s youngest African-American engineer. The 19-year-old recently graduated cum laude, earning her bachelor’s degree in computer science. Already, she’s landed a job with a software company outside of Boston."

  • 11-year-old Child Prodigy Wows Others With His Intelligence and Musical Talent

    from BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com

    "He is just 11 years old. He is a “child prodigy” and a “musical genius.” Malik Kofi is a cellist in the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and an inspiration to children and adults. Kofi’s story isn’t one of privilege but of perseverance. His mother was a teenager and his grandmother was the one who raised him. In addition to the cello Malik plays the piano, drums, and guitar. While his teacher says that he has “advanced technological and interpretative abilities as a child” he also works very hard to develop his talents."

  • Little Known Black History Fact: The Smartest Family in Britain

    from BlackAmericaWeb.com

    "Twelve year-old twins, Peter and Paula Imafidon, are black children from Waltham Forest in northeast London. Nicknamed “the Wonder Twins,” Peter and Paula are Great Britain’s current highest achievers. At 9-years-old they made history as the youngest children in British history to attend high school. They are now in their third year. The children became the youngest to ever pass the University of Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam after participating in the Excellence in Education program."

  • African Americans Fly High With Math And Science

    from NPR.org

    "Today, Barrington Irving shares how his sky high dreams became a reality. A chance encounter in his parents' bookstore put him on a path that would make him the youngest person and first African American to fly solo around the world.

    Barrington Irving remembers a man walking into the store dressed in a pilot's uniform. The man asked whether Irving might consider a future in aviation. "I immediately just said to him, I don't think I'm smart enough to do it," Irving remembers/ "Then I asked him how much money he made and after he answered that question, I took an interest in aviation.""

  • Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

    from NPR.org

    "When a collective of female computer programmers in Kenya needed a name for their ladies-only club, they took their inspiration from the Japanese cult film Akira.

    "So akira is a Japanese word. It means energy and intelligence. And we are energetic and intelligent chicks," says Judith Owigar, the president of Akirachix."

  • 7-Year-Old Zora Ball Is the World’s Youngest Game Programmer

    from Jezebel.com

    "Pint-sized programming wizard Zora Ball is now the youngest person to create a full version of a mobile application video game. A first grader at Philadelphia's Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School, she's already more accomplished than everyone you know. "

  • A Story of Intimacy: Wangechi Mutu and Pegasus Warning ‘Try So Hard

    from Afrolicious.com

    "...the exclusive okayafrica interview with Kenyan visual artist Wangechi Mutu. She is credited as the artistic director for Pegasus Warning’s ‘Try So Hard’ video, which you can see below. The effect of their collaboration is a gorgeous visual and auditory exploration. Careful! This is one hot video."

  • Black Family Awareness Week celebrates STEM achievement and interests during Bla

    from ScientificAmerican.com blog

    "Black Family Technology Awareness Week (BFTAW) is a national public awareness campaign designed to encourage more African Americans to incorporate technology into their daily lives. It is a nationwide program to educate and empower families – multiple generations, not just youth – through technology. Partners include community, corporate, and professional supporters who host ..."

  • How Comics Help Students Retain Knowledge is a Growing Field of Study

    from PublishersWeekly.com

    "Coupled with the rise of graphic novels in libraries and increased use as an aid to lure reluctant readers, it’s given comics much more academic respect. But a new study out of the University of Oklahoma showing how students retain knowledge presented in graphic novel format may have even more implications for the educational use of comics..."

  • Janet Mock Talks Preferred Gender Pronouns on ‘The Colbert Report’

    from Color Lines

    "Janet Mock was on “The Colbert Report” last night, and neither she nor Stephen Colbert tried to shy away from her recent controversey with CNN’s Piers Morgan. The two do spend a good amount of time talking about preferred gender pronouns, and it’s an instructive exchange. "

  • Image Credit: Martin Crook/Comedy Central

    The Daily Show's Jessica Williams on Race, Comedy, and Her Role in "Girls."

    from Mother Jones

    "WHEN NICKELODEON canceled Just for Kicks, a 2006 dramedy about a girls' high school soccer team, Jessica Williams, one of its stars, decided she was through with acting and went back to being a student in real life. It didn't last. Before long she was juggling classes at Cal State Long Beach with auditions and sketch-comedy performances. Then, in January 2012, Williams was tapped to play a correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, the first black woman ever in that role. (Saturday Night Live made news this past week by hiring a black female troupe member for the first time in years.)"

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