A data set released by the Pew Center in March examines Latino Internet usage. The report, entitled “Closing the Digital Divide: Latinos and Technology Adoption,” shows us a multitude of things. First, Hispanics are on par with blacks on Internet usage: 78% of both groups are using the Internet as of 2012. For Hispanics, this is a massive leap forward from 2009, where only 64% of Hispanics did so; meanwhile blacks experienced a dip during 2010. Interestingly enough, for both groups, the trend repeats for cellphone ownership: 76% of Hispanics and 84% of blacks owned a cell phone in 2009, now 86% of Hispanics and 90% of blacks use cell phones.… more

The National Science Foundation recently released a report titled, “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2013” with some interesting data about Latinos and Latinas in STEM fields. Data in the report covers the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science, engineering education and employment. Specifically: enrollment, field of degree, employment status, occupation, academic employment, and persons with disabilities.… more

There was an interesting piece recently that underscored how Tijuana, and the Mexican state of Baja California, is becoming a center for tech innovation. One very interesting nugget from the piece is that Mexico graduates double the number of engineers per capita every year as the U.S. According to the Voice of San Diego:

Many companies have already discovered Tijuana is a hotbed for innovation. Chris Anderson, the founder of TED and former editor of Wired magazine, located the manufacturing for 3D Robotics just a short walk from the BIT Center.

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A new report from The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project breaks down the demographics of social network users. Interestingly, for all social networks but Pinterest (Facebook data on race was not available), Latinos and blacks over-indexed as social network users. On Twitter the breakdown was:

• 14% White
• 26% Black
• 19% Latino

Pinterest:

• 18% White
• 8% Black
• 10% Latino

Instagram

• 11% White
• 23% Black
• 18% Latino

Tumblr

• 6% White
• 5% Black
• 8% Latino

Facebook, according to a study released in 2009 by the company, found that Facebook historically over-represented whites and Asians, but was changing to accomodate the U.S.’s actual population.… more

Latinos at South by Southwest’s Interactive conference are becoming a bigger part of the event this year as the second annual Social Revolución and associated Revolucionario Awards get underway. The event launched last year and included a blogging component that highlighted Latinos in technology at SXSW, as well as an awards show that honored several different Latinos and organizations for their contributions to the tech and social media space. This year organizers are hoping the event can bring in more people — last year there were 140 nominees from the U.S.… more

Teenage boys, especially low-income ones, are often typecast as problematic regardless of race. Although the problems facing low-income young men are great, Oscar Menjivar and the people at UrbanTxT are seeking to change this by teaching these young men how to code and work with technology. Rather than allowing these boys to fall for the temptation allure of gang life or an apathy toward education, Menjivar’s team has established a program which gives boys a chance to learn valuable technology skills and teamwork, while encouraging them to earn good grades in school, and to advance as strong, career-minded men with college aspirations in technology.… more

Emerson Collective, a group chaired by Laurene Powell Jobs, and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim launched a new platform for undocumented youth to tell their stories Tuesday. The Dream is Now provides these youth the opportunity to upload videos and tell their stories as undocumented Americans, view, listen to the stories of other undocumented Americans. It also provides an avenue to advocate for immigration reform like the DREAM Act, and to share links to these stories online through social media.… more

By Christie Thompson, ProPublica When Reddit co-founder and internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide last Friday, he was facing up to 13 felony counts, 50 years in prison, and millions of dollars in fines. His alleged crime? Pulling millions of academic articles from the digital archive JSTOR. Prosecutors allege that Swartz downloaded the articles because he intended to distribute them for free online, though Swartz was arrested before any articles were made public.… more

By Hope Gillette, Voxxi Economists agree – science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is critical to the future success of the United States. Yet even at the K-12 level, these subjects are not being given the emphasis they deserve. According to a Huffington Post blog by Stephen M. Coan, president of the Sea Research Foundation, early education has focused primarily on reading and basic math, ignoring the importance of advanced STEM education. “For those who stay in school, most flock to non-STEM tracks because these subjects turned them off at an early age.… more

Latinos and African Americans take more time to complete their graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields, according to a new study from the American Institutes for Research. This trend is affected by whether they had a Master’s degree, funding for their program, marital status and the educational attainment of their parents. The study looked at data from 1990 to 2009 and excluded international students, tracking data for U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.… more