Anderson@Large

African American Music Appreciation Month 2013

June is Black Music Month. In a White House proclamation, President Obama observed:

African Americans have always had a hand in shaping the American sound. From gospel and Motown to bebop and blues, their story is bound up in the music they made -- songs of hurt and hardship, yearning and hope, and struggle for a better day. Those feelings speak to something common in all of us. With passion and creativity, African-American performers have done more than reinvent the musical styles they helped define; they have channeled their music into making change and advancing justice, from radio booths to the stage to our city streets.

That story is still unfolding today. We see it in the young poet putting his words to a beat; the conservatory student perfecting her technique; the jazz musician making old melodies new again. During African-American Music Appreciation Month, let us celebrate these artists and the generations who inspired them, and let us reflect on our heritage as a Nation forever enriched by the power of song.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four girls. This incident inspired jazz legend John Coltrane to compose “Alabama,” a powerful tribute to the victims of an act of domestic terrorism.

STEM Takes Flight at International Rocketry Challenge

Make Music Philly

In celebration of Make Music Philly, a day of free live music, we launched All That Philly Jazz beta mobile web app powered by Lokadot.

All That Philly Jazz is a digital history project that is mapping Philadelphia’s rich jazz legacy. Most of Philly’s jazz places were lost to race riots, urban renewal and urban removal. So we are using digital platforms like Lokadot, a location-based audio platform, to bring Philly’s jazz history to life.

All That Philly Jazz is a digital history project that is mapping Philadelphia’s rich jazz legacy. Most of Philly’s jazz places were lost to race riots, urban renewal and urban removal. So we are using digital platforms like Lokadot, a location-based audio platform, to bring Philly’s jazz history to life. We begin our journey at the former home of Local 274 of the American Federation of Musicians, better known as the Clef Club.

We are harnessing technology and oral history to preserve Philly’s jazz heritage for future generations and new audiences. Jazz enthusiasts in Philly and anywhere in the world can go to http://bit.ly/MyPhillyJazz and share their stories about the jazz scene back in the day.

Happy Father's Day

 

STEM Everywhere

A new report by the Brookings Institution found that STEM is, well, everywhere. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Some key findings:

• Workers in STEM fields play a direct role in driving economic growth. And it’s not just jobs in the innovation economy. As of 2011, 26 million U.S. jobs require a high level of knowledge in any one STEM field. The “hidden” STEM economy represents 20 percent of all jobs.
• Half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree, and these jobs pay $53,000 on average.
• Half of all STEM jobs are in manufacturing, health care, or construction industries.
• Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations constitute 12 percent of all STEM jobs, one of the largest occupational categories. Other blue-collar or technical jobs in fields such as construction and production also frequently demand STEM knowledge.

Read more: The Hidden STEM Economy

‘What’s Going On’ Won 1st Place at National Day of Civic Hacking Philly

Last weekend was the National Day of Civic Hacking, a two-day event that brought together technologists and subject matter experts “to create tools that make our city better.” I participated in the hackathon organized by TechnicallyPhilly.com and the City of Philadelphia at Drexel’s ExCITe Center.

I worked on a Code for Philly project with Chris Alfano and Jim Connor. We addressed the problem of the lack of a central source for information about after school and summer programs. There are a number of databases that compile information about out-of-school-time (OST) programs, but the information is not current. The demand for such programs will increase in the wake of the “doomsday” school budget recently approved by the School Reform Commission.

There’s no money and in nearly half of Philly households, no Internet access. So many parents and students will try to find out what’s going on at their local library or Keyspot public computer center. While Internet access is free, users are not free to sit there as long as it takes to find a suitable program.

So we built a mobile web app that empowers parents and students to quickly access current information about after school and summer programs.

Users are able to search for programs by grade level, season (summer or year-round) and subject. What’s Going On is at the intersection of technology, education and civic engagement. The public is invited to submit a program. We will verify the information before adding the program to our community wiki, Wikidelphia.

An asset map of OST programs in Philadelphia, What’s Going On won first place. The project can serve as a national model for how developers, advocates, parents and community members can collaborate to expand access to programs that promote year-round learning and engagement.

For more info, contact us via email. You can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.