
America's Growing Gap in Digital Job Skills - stevenmays
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/11/americas-digitalization-divide/546080/
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coliveira
The USA is trying to remain a leader in technology and science, while at the
same time it is debasing education at all levels and reducing research
expenditures. This sounds to me like a recipe for failure...

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corporateguy5
This isn't even close to being true. All the top innovation happens here. The
top 25% in American schools blow away the rest of the world, we just have a
lagging bottom 25%.

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PostOnce
This kind of apathy is how you end up 40 years down the road asking yourself
what happened to your country, where all the good jobs went, why your kids and
grandkids can't afford the things you remember having.

Because we led, doesn't mean we will lead. You get to be a leader by leading,
not by resting on your laurels while someone else becomes a leader.

~~~
PostOnce
A lot of people here are arguing with corporateguy5 (to whom i can't reply
directly on his dead comment) on the basis of his apparent racism, which is
bad, but no one has pointed out that he's just passing the buck, instead of
making an effort to improve the country, he can just blame the failure on
ethnicity xyz.

So, while I don't think I'll have an impact on corporateguy5's opinion, maybe
some other reader will keep this in mind and somehow benefit from the
awareness?

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thisisit
I wonder how much is this due to how software is being engineered and UI/UX
problem?

An example being software updates on phones. When I got my parents their first
android phone, the app drawer worked on swiping left/right. Then came the
change in orientation where the swipe went to up/down. My parents were
confused and routinely called me to ask how to make the phone work.

Just today I had an app which showed different categories on clicking tabs on
top changed to swipe up and down with a small button to choose categories at
the bottom.

These kind of changes leaves people more confused. They like to stick to older
versions and hence left behind on any thing new.

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gaius
_When I got my parents their first android phone, the app drawer worked on
swiping left /right. Then came the change in orientation where the swipe went
to up/down_

Someone on here, I don't remember who sorry, commented that Snapchat works by
deliberately breaking UI conventions that people have grown accustomed to who
have used computers for a while. That's the mechanism by which they exclude
older people and "lock in" people who have little pre-existing computing
experience. I strongly suspect this is exactly what the Android developers are
trying to do as well.

~~~
francisofascii
Interesting. You could make a similar argument that companies embrace the
latest, trendy software framework to weed out older experienced developers.

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gaius
_gender, race, and ethnicity_

All of which are insignificant compared to ageism. That's the telltale that
there is no genuine skills shortage; employers are happy to overlook a large
talent pool. The author of the piece even feels the need to mention both
"race" and "ethnicity" to pad out the words!

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BoiledCabbage
> The author of the piece even feels the need to mention both "race" and
> "ethnicity" to pad out the words

Do you understand the difference between the words? I can't figure out any
other context in which this comment makes sense.

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jdavis703
In case the OP is genuinely ignorant of the difference: race is a psuedo-
scientific category based on a person's skin color. For example a person could
belong to the Latino ethnic group and yet appear to be white or black. Another
case someone could be African American or Yoruba and yet both would be
considered black, despite the major cultural differences.

~~~
jonatron
Not according to the dictionary.

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yorwba
It would be helpful if you could specify which dictionary you used, which
definitions are given by that dictionary and why none of them match.

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vturner
Interesting article until one notices a couple points...theres the geographic
metro dot plot but there's also this statement early on?

"(The study notes some limitations to these O*NET data, which are reported as
aggregates, and not available on the micro level. This means that
digitalization scores are assigned nationally, without regard to location,
which could introduce potential inaccuracies at the local level.)"

Did I miss something, does the data have metro labeling or something?

And finally, that last graph I'm not sure is showing much correlation. R^2 of
~.26?

~~~
boomboomsubban
The graph says it also uses Occupational Employment Statistics data, which
tracks the number of people in those industries.

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Mz
Anyone know of any programs, tools, best practices, whatever for trying to
improve this in areas that are being left behind?

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crispyambulance
While it might be possible to see some small improvements with digital
literacy initiatives and "up-skilling", educators will tell you that there's a
much deeper, larger problem that is the root cause of all of this.

Literacy is paramount, NOT digital literacy, I mean the ability to read,
write, and perform basic mathematics. Public schools in America are
floundering when it comes to basic education. Students leave school without
the most fundamental skills required to do anything other than menial labor,
let alone author insipid React components.

That's a giant scary problem that is accelerating, and there will be a very
ugly comeuppance in the USA for neglecting education.

~~~
Mz
I am not looking to save all of America. I am just looking for actionable
advice pertinent to addressing some things in my tiny corner of the world.

I am speaking with literate, competent people. I recently spoke with a guy who
is wealthy and a co-owner of a local successful business that has been around
a long time. He is a local mover and shaker. He told me he does not own a
computer at all.

Meanwhile, the website for his company has one of the best local websites I
have tripped across, his business card lists his email address and he carries
a very nice smartphone. I imagine he can get online with his smartphone, yet
he apparently does not consider that to be a computer for purposes of viewing
my websites.

He didn't want my email. He wanted me to text message him my phone number. He
is a very intelligent man with a lot going on, but he straight up told me "I
am [x age], I am not going to learn this stuff." I know people about that same
age on Hacker News who program, etc.

Unemployment is high in this town. I would like to start hooking people up
with earning opportunities that already exist on the internet. I am facing a
lot of challenges in trying to connect to people. But I think there is a huge
opportunity here for making some headway against some of the local problems
via spreading the word that the internet is not just a place to watch YouTube
videos and hang out on Facebook. There is a lot more going on in cyberspace
than that and you can have a lot more going on in your life for the price of a
(free) library card and a little digital literacy.

I find it frustrating that every question I have posted so far on Hacker News
related to this desire of mine has been generally met with so little real
support, for example the utter lack of reply here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15729897](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15729897)

~~~
crispyambulance
I think you have a very valid and important concern for digital literacy among
the general population for the purpose of business and opportunity.

However, it happens to lie next to another concern with a much larger scope
and severity: the failure of the American educational system in general.
Compared to this, a few Luddites and facebook-only websurfers isn't such a big
deal.

