Coding Is the New Literacy

Computer Science Deserves a Place in K-12 Education

If you were surfing the Internet in 2004, you wouldn’t have known that the sophisticated music hosting and stock graphics websites you stumbled upon were being run by a 12-year-old hobbyist.

I was that 12-year-old. After school, I’d prioritize building websites over doing my reading comprehension questions that were due the next day.

After being inspired by hobbyist-created music websites, I began teaching myself the coding languages HTML and CSS. Even then, I had no idea what “computer science” was. Because my middle school and high school in La Puente, a lower-income …

by Kristine Hoang | June 3, 2014

You, Too, Can Escape From Your Online Echo Chamber

Ethan Zuckerman, Winner of the Fourth Annual Zócalo Book Prize, On How We Can Use the Internet to Connect People Across Cultures and Work Together to Solve Tough Global Problems

by Sarah Rothbard | May 12, 2014

The Fourth Annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize was made possible by the generous support of the California Community Foundation.

We know globalization is happening. And we know we interact with …

Help, I’m Addicted to ‘Candy Crush Saga’!

We Can Shop, Game, and Ogle Vacation Pictures Online, But How Can the Internet Help Us Connect Better to Each Other?

May 9, 2014

The Internet has become a part of much of our daily lives—we can pay bills through online banking, comment on a friend’s vacation picture on Facebook, look at Google Maps’ …

The Mysteries of Our Connected Age

Rewire

by Ethan Zuckerman | May 8, 2014

The beginnings of the Iranian revolution in 1978 took Western intelligence forces by surprise. The CIA was watching palaces and barracks while unrest was brewing in mosques and homes that …

You Think No One Sees You Tinkering With Your Wikipedia Entry, Mr. Congressman?

I’m a Wikipedian. I Monitor, Write, and Edit Those Articles You Rely On. Shouldn’t You Know a Little More About What I Do and How I Do It?

by Pete Forsyth | April 1, 2014

Let me tell you a story about Ron. Well, his name isn’t Ron. But everything else in this story is true.

Ron and I arrived at a social function. Ron assigned …

BuzzFeed Quizzes Are Good for the Soul

Sure They’re Annoying and Occasionally Insulting. But the Possibilities for Self-Knowledge Are Endless.

February 20, 2014

Americans have gone quiz-crazy. People who wouldn’t have dared admit to reading BuzzFeed a few weeks ago are now trawling the site late at night to answer questions they’d find …

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