An international tech competition targets Silicon Valley’s diversity problem, aiming to inspire girls around the world into taking up — and sticking with — technology. READ MORE: For these girls, tech is a rewarding challenge | CNET.
Tag Archives: international
Cool Stuff Librarians Do: Librarians Without Borders | BOOK RIOT
When I was little I wanted to be a doctor, and imagined myself sweeping across continents providing invaluable medical assistance as part of Doctors Without Borders. I came to accept that I’m a writer, not a medical professional, but now I have an opportunity to realign those early dreams with my actual life: I’m interning with the coolest group I know of – Librarians Without Borders. Same basic concept, slightly different product.
READ MORE: Cool Stuff Librarians Do: Librarians Without Borders | BOOK RIOT
Museums And Heritage Sites In Syria Are Under Siege | Co.Design
The civil war devastating Syria and spilling into Iraq has claimed yet another casualty: museums and cultural heritage sites. As evidence of destruction mounts, the international community is moving to action…
…To minimize the damage, U.S. museums are partnering with the Syrian Interim Government’s Heritage Task Force to train local curators and civilians in emergency packing and other practices designed to safeguard cultural treasures.
READ MORE: Museums And Heritage Sites In Syria Are Under Siege | Co.Design | business + design.
Pakistani schools ban teenage activist Malala’s book from libraries | The Globe and Mail
Officials say they have banned teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai’s book from private schools across Pakistan, calling her a tool of the West.
Malala attracted global attention last year when the Taliban shot her in the head northwest Pakistan for criticizing the group. She released a memoir in October, “I Am Malala,” that was co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb.
Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said Sunday his group banned Malala’s book from the libraries of its 40,000 affiliated schools. He said Malala was representing the West, not Pakistan.
Malala has become an international hero for opposing the Taliban and standing up for girls’ education. But conspiracy theories have flourished in Pakistan that her shooting was staged to create a hero for the West.
via Pakistani schools ban teenage activist Malala’s book from libraries | The Globe and Mail.
The 15 Countries Where The Most Young People Are Online | Co.Exist
Full Article
What did children do before computers? If the future goes the way of babies with iPads, it’s a question we might be asking ourselves soon. But if you’re between 15 and 24 years old and live in the United States, there’s already a good chance you grew up playing around with MS Paint. According to a new report out from the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU), growing up with the Internet qualifies you as a “digital native,” and some countries have a far higher proportion of them than others.
The results, however, might surprise you.
Source: ITU
Out of a global population of 7 billion, 363 million of us have grown up “surrounded by and using tools and toys of the digital age.” China and India boast the largest number of these people, but digital natives only make up a relative minority of their respective populations. When it comes to countries with the highest percentages of digital natives, the United States actually comes in sixth place, below Lithuania and Malaysia.
Iceland, however, ranks number one in digital native penetration, with 14% of the Icelandic population having grown up on computers. That makes sense, given that Iceland has the highest percentage of young people in Europe (and a small population). New Zealand makes number two on the list for the same reason. South Korea, meanwhile, ranks third largely because of high Internet use among all youth and its government’s aggressive investment in educational technology: By 2015, all Korean schools will provide cloud-based learning services to students.
Malaysia comes in fourth place on the list, and for striking reasons. Unlike Iceland or New Zealand, Malaysia doesn’t have a particularly high concentration of 15-to-24 year-olds. But like South Korea, the young people who do live in Malaysia have spent more time with the Internet: By 2012, 74.4% of youths had at least five years of Internet experience under their belts. Much of that, explains the report, can be attributed to the fact that the Malaysia has brought so many of its schools online, and by 2000 had already stocked 31% of its primary schools and 54% of its secondary schools with computer facilities.
Absolute numbers of digital natives by country. Source: ITU
Starting in January of this year, Malaysian 21-to-30-year-olds have been able to score $65 rebates on certain smartphones, courtesy of government subsidies. The country’s National Broadband Initiative has set about dramatically lowering costs of accessing the Internet, including launching the 1 Million Netbooks program, which distributes netbooks to low-income families.
The report notes that proportions of digital natives largely stick to levels of economic development. In high-income, developed countries, digital natives with five years of Internet experience or more make up 86% of young Internet users, while in the developing world, digital natives only count as 47% of young Internet users. The global average comes to slightly more: Digital natives make up 56% of all young Internet users–more than 362 million people worldwide.
via The 15 Countries Where The Most Young People Are Online | Co.Exist | ideas + impact.
Which Governments Prioritize Privacy and Which Lay On the Spying? [Infographic] | Gizmodo
Privacy is on everyones’ minds in the U.S. since revelations about the NSA exploded. You can’t talk on the phone about some casual pot smoking anymore without your friend making the, “Hi NSA!” joke. And apparently for good reason.
So Backgroundchecks.org pulled together a bunch of sources to make a global privacy scoreboard and rank the top five best and top five worst countries in terms of government surveillance. It
‘s interesting to see how governments go about monitoring different media and why. Better luck next time Bahrain and Nigeria, but nicely done Spain.
via Which Governments Prioritize Privacy and Which Lay On the Spying?.
Skilled for Life – Key findings from the survey of adult skills | OECD Education
What the World Would Look Like If Countries Were As Big As Their Online Populations | The Atlantic
The map, created as part of the Information Geographies project at the Oxford Internet Institute, has two layers of information: the absolute size of the online population by country (rendered in geographical space) and the percent of the overall population that represents (rendered by color). Thus, Canada, with a relatively small number of people takes up little space, but is colored dark red, because more than 80 percent of people are online. China, by contrast, is huge, with more than half a billion people online, but relatively lightly shaded, since more than half the population is not online. Lightly colored countries that have large populations, such as China, India, and Indonesia, are where the Internet will grow the most in the years ahead. (The data come from the World Bank’s 2011 report, which defines Internet users as “people with access to the worldwide network.”)
The 10 Countries With the Most Internet Freedom | Mashable
Statista’s chart, below, shows the 10 countries with the highest degrees of Internet freedom, as measured by the Freedom House Index.
Read: The 10 Countries With the Most Internet Freedom | Mashable.
The Most Popular Websites in the World, Country-by-Country | Gizmodo
If you’ve ever wondered what the go-to web page was around the rest of planet, wonder no longer. This map shows the most visited websites around the world, broken down country-by-country.
Read: The Most Popular Websites in the World, Country-by-Country | Gizmodo.
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