Some time ago, I talked about Google’s lack of employee diversity and what’s being done about it. There’s another Internet company facing the same dilemma.
According to Linkedin’s own reports, their diversity report card is probably worse than Google’s. Less than 40% of their employees are women. As far as ethnic breakdown is concerned, just two percent of it’s employees are African Americans and four percent are Hispanic. The only up side is 38% of their labor force is Asian. The gender component is global, from California to Brazil. The racial/ethnic component is limited to the US. Admittance to this problem is the first step. What are they going to do about it?
Like Google, they’re combating this lack on many fronts. They’ve partnered with Year Up, a wonderful organization that helps young, talented, people from underprivileged neighborhoods reach their dream profession, including computer technology and Internet/social media. They’ve also partnered with the Anita Borg Institute. They’re known for getting women into computing fields. They’ve teamed up with other organizations as well. But I still say it’s not jut Linkedin’s problem, but it’s America. These are great steps to take. But we need everyone, from schools to community activists to parents to employers to equip this next generation for an ever increasing technological world, especially in African-American and Latino neighborhoods. What are your suggestions?
Do you own a You Tube channel? Are you stuck with with subscribers that no longer tune in? We’ve got good news for you.
Effective June 16, 2014, You Tube will remove suspended accounts from all channels’ counts. You will probably see a decline, a slight one or even a moderate one, it’s nothing to panic about. They’re not active users anyway. They expect to have an automatic system to remove the suspended accounts from active subscriber accounts. If an error or mistake happens, the system is reversible to rectify the mistake.? The overall goal is to prevent spam, hacking, cyber theft and other abuses coming through this medium.
I think this is a wonderful step to prevent abuse through You Tube. But I do have a few questions. What if someone’s account isn’t suspended, but just hasn’t uploaded a video on a channel in a long time and never unsubscribed to that channel? And what about channels that no longer exist? I know of some channels that are no longer active, but yet are still floating around. Can’t a spammer, hacker or someone else with bad intentions take advantage of unused channels? I’ve always been a huge You Tube fan and always will be. Often times, I consider it a refuge from some of this madness that passes for pop culture today. But does more need to done to stop potential You Tube abuse?
China is preparing for an anniversary, and this is by no means a celebratory one. But how is the Chinese government marking the event?
For the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protest turned massacre, online censorship in China will intensify.? There’s already been reports of increased blockage on Google services like search, Gmail, You Tube and translation. Linkldin also walks a fine line. They set up a Chinese professional network, but yet they’ve been venerable to this new censorship.? The Tiananmen Square march started when university students demonstrated against the communist party. This June 3-4, 1989 protest lead to the massacre of hundreds. Who can forget the man standing in front of the tanks? So they chose this sensitive date do further limit international online influence. Now add a slowing economy, ethnic tensions, and international tensions with nations like Japan and Vietnam. I don’t see China’s censorship of media going down, not even after this anniversary is over.
But is this the message China wants to send, especially at this time? It seems to me the 25th anniversary would be a time where you loosen censorship, not intensify it. If they take down these barriers and create an open and free Internet, that would say, “Look at how far we’ve come since this tragedy.” But to increase censorship during a time this only reminds us the more things change, the more they remain the same. What do you think companies like Google or Linkldin should do in this case?
It’s something that is difficult for many to talk about: race/ethnic/gender diversity. Google, the world’s leading Internet corporation, is tackling the issue within it’s own company.
And according to their own blog, the diversity numbers are lacking. Only 30% of Google employees are women. African-Americans make up 2% of Google’s work force; Hispanics make up 3%, while Asian-Americans make up 30%, Whites, over 60%. Google itself admit they have to do a better job with improving diversity. They have taken steps to bridge the gap, like donate tens of millions to women’s organizations and historically black universities to bring computer science to women and minorities. That’s scratching the surface.
Statistics say that in 2011, of all the B.S. computer science graduates, 17.6% were women. In previous decades, those numbers have been in the 20-37 percentile range. Among African-Americans and Hispanics, it’s around five percent. I respect Google’s financial contribution to increase diversity. But we don’t just need short term solutions that start at colleges. Google needs to start at the elementary school level, and I mean in Kindergarten and First Grade, if not sooner. Get young children interested in computer science early, especially in Black and Latino communities. So when the next generation comes around, they will be ready. Since Google can afford to, send Google employees to elementary, jr. high, high schools, and universities to lecture to kids about the importance of computer science. Tell them the rich opportunities they will have. I’d encourage schools to incorporate computer science education as early as they can. The younger they start, the less intimidating it will be. What else can bring these diversity numbers up?
For around a decade, Skype has brought people globally via computer technology. What would it look like if we could understand every language through Skype?
Microsoft is having a conference to enable technology to bring language barriers down the world over. That’s where Skype Translator comes in. At the conference, they showed audio translation between English and German, using a combination of Skype voice, IM technologies, Microsoft Translator and other aspects of network speech recognition. This may sound new, but Microsoft has been working on this is for around a decade. If all goes well, Skype Translator should be available on Windows 8 as an app sometime late in 2014.
If Skype Translator goes well, imagine how easier international Skype conferences will be. I was at a conference where Skype was used recently. We talked with people in an underdeveloped country and thank goodness there was a translator to mediate between us and them. But that brings another issue. There are many, many languages out there. Then add that to the many, many dialects. So will just the most spoken languages be used or will most or all languages be included? More and more businesses are using Skype. More people are personally using Skype. And more and more people are connecting internationally. So this sounds like a good and sensible move by Microsoft. How else would the world benefit from Skype Translator?
Google plays an epic part of daily life, from maps to You Tube. Google wants to enter other areas of life, like wearable technology, driveless cars, and more.
Google is seriously considering acquiring Dropcam, one of the top camera makers. Dropcam makes cameras that stream photos to smartphones and computers. You can get one of these for around $150. Google wants to enter the thermostats and home detector (like fire and carbon monoxide) market as well. Google isn’t the only ones trying to enter the home security business. Rivals like Apple are venturing in online connected household appliances. In fact, next week Apple is planning a conference talking about how to run your household with an iPhone.
This sounds more than just another acquisition. This sounds like the next big technological revolution.? Surely you’ve seen commercials where the parents are checking on their kids in the house through a laptop. But the question is will Dropcom accept Google’s offer? What will Google’s offer be? So far, nobody’s saying anything. But if Dropcom and Google do get together, and Apple’s venture is successful, then imagine a world where detectors and all things appliances, from your lights, TV, even your blender, will be controlled by a computer or camera. If this is the next step, then what will be next?
