{"id":960,"date":"2015-02-15T02:11:58","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T02:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/?p=960"},"modified":"2015-03-30T02:39:35","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T02:39:35","slug":"a-new-kind-of-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/2015\/02\/15\/a-new-kind-of-literacy\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Kind of Literacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was written by Megan Goldman ’15 and originally appeared on the Scripps College website. To view the original article, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and others produced a video<\/a> encouraging students to study computer science. Its message is both simple and profound: coding is the closest thing we have to a superpower. Scripps students agree, and some are working to make the complex field more accessible to the community.<\/p>\n

As demand skyrockets for coders, technical skills are no longer just for engineers. More and more jobs depend on technology, and candidates have a leg up if they have even a basic understanding of computer science. Coding not only increases a student\u2019s chance of getting hired, but also can enhance creative thinking skills.<\/p>\n

In light of these trends, four Scripps computer science majors created a space on campus to discuss and practice coding. The outcome is [CodeLiteracy]@Scripps<\/strong>, where Szyezin Lee \u201915<\/strong>, Kate Finlay \u201915<\/strong>, Shinjini Nunna \u201916<\/strong>, and Sneha Deo \u201917<\/strong> host biweekly forums where students can learn basic web design skills, hear from guest speakers, collaborate on creating an app, or\u00a0 discuss their CS classes at The Claremont Colleges. Topics are determined based on the interests of participants and are intended to provide a safe and comfortable environment for those who want to learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cCode literacy is important for many reasons, especially at an all women\u2019s college,\u201d says Lee. \u201cThe gender-ratio in the tech industry is a well-known issue; currently, only 12% of computing jobs in the U.S. are held by women. One implication of that is increasing economic power imbalance among gender groups, which leads to many other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being selected as one of Google\u2019s Anita Borg Scholars<\/a> for women in technology and attending a three-day retreat at the company\u2019s Mountain View campus, Lee decided that she wanted to do her part to share her experiences with the Scripps community.<\/p>\n

\u201cShinjini and I had the opportunity to attend a code camp<\/a> last summer at Square, a mobile payments company in San Francisco,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had so much fun and realized we wanted to bring the inspiration and support we received to Scripps. We hope to see even more Scrippsies at 5C coding events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finlay, who intended to study art and psychology, once thought computer science was not for her. With some guidance, she eventually tried a course in the field and is now pursuing a career in software engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of women don\u2019t realize how powerful coding can be in all facets of today\u2019s world,\u201d Finlay says. \u201cOr they think coding is just for hackers. I thought computer science was intimidating, but after my first CS class, I fell in love with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ultimate purpose of this club is to let Scripps students know coding is something they can<\/em> do,\u201d she adds. \u201cEvery time someone sees a flyer for one of our events, I want them to remember Scripps women are succeeding in all fields.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was written by Megan Goldman ’15 and originally appeared on the Scripps College website. To view the original article, click here. In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and others produced a video encouraging students to study computer science. Its message is both simple and profound: coding is the closest thing we have to … Continue reading A New Kind of Literacy<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,16],"tags":[30,50,29,31,49,33,48,47,32],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-codeliteracyscripps","category-spn-member-group","tag-coding","tag-community","tag-computer-science","tag-cs","tag-education","tag-gender","tag-learning","tag-scripps","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/spn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}