Communities around the country are beginning to recognize the importance of computer science education, but only one city is devoting an entire month to the cause. Chicago City of Learning's Sybil Madison-Boyd joins Cheddar to tell us all about the Windy City's Month of Code initiative. She explains how the program's activities are helping to close the education gap.
Madison-Boyd reveals how coding helps children discover new opportunities and open doors. She gives a rundown of some of the programs and activities keeping families entertained and informed as they learn what she calls, "the language of the future." The director stresses the importance of equal access to education and shares inspiring stories of how children are responding to the program.
It's not Chicago's first time encouraging its youth community to learn to code. Madison-Boyd discusses the decision to expand the week-long initiatives into an entire month. She also gives tips on how other communities can borrow from Chicago's lessons and promote computer science education in their own cities.
According to new research by Twitter, the social media platform algorithm amplifies content from the "political right" rather than those on the left. The company says this data comes as the platform has been taking the time to research the implications of its algorithm and whether or not it has caused any "unknown harm". President and CEO of Media Matters for America Angelo Carusone, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
The gaming industry is about to take center stage as the next dominant technology platform, according to a new report from the consulting firm Activate. The pandemic has accelerated gaming's popularity, with overall time spent gaming increasing by 29 percent. Michael J. Wolf, co-founder and CEO of Activate, joined Cheddar to discuss some of the key findings of the report and why he thinks video game platforms are the only ones that stand a chance of building the so-called metaverse.
Voyager, Nanoracks, and Lockheed Martin are all teaming up to develop the first-ever free-flying commercial space station with room for a crew of four astronauts. The private companies are joining forces as part of NASA’s greater mission to retire the International Space Station by the year 2030. The low-earth orbit space station will be called "Starlab," and is planned to achieve operational capability by 2027. Lisa Callahan, Vice President and General Manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin, and Matthew J. Kuta, President and Chief Operating Officer of Voyager Space, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments in the Alec Baldwin prop gun shooting, when vaccines for kids as young as 5 should be approved, new reporting on Facebook and more.
