In a story published by the New York Times, writer Damiano Beltrami hits on the idea that “with more people revealing the details of their lives online, sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are providing evidence in legal battles.”

The story, “I’m Innocent. Just Check My Status on Facebook”, can be found on the New York Times website.

Can “evidence” from social networks be trusted?  What are your thoughts?

Read the following blurbs and articles for more evidence of how a degree in computer science truly matters.

“…computer science majors are critical for the U.S. economy because their training provides them with computational thinking and problem solving skills that they can deploy in any industry.”
-Peter Harsha, director of government affairs with the Computing Research Association. Article.

“The nation’s leading computer science programs say graduating seniors are still sought after by technology vendors and corporate shops, despite the globaleconomic slowdown and high-profile layoffs across the tech industry.”  Article.

“For our software engineering roles, we tend to look for people with a strong computer science background who have experience with programming.”
-Yvonne Agyei, director of Talent and Outreach Programs in Google’s People Operations Department. Article.

Read the entire article and watch a short video: Science Daily.

So, keep in mind how much you might contribute using the various skills you learn while studying computer science at the College of Charleston.  That game programming course (CSCI210) might get you farther than you think.

While many recent college graduates are having a difficult time finding jobs in the US, computer science grads have one up on those with other degrees.  Furthermore, the gaming industry wants to hire innovative, creative thinkers who are passionate about the industry – and who are of a younger crowd.

For those of you interested in gaming – or who have enjoyed the computer science department’s course “Building Virtual Worlds (CSCI120)” – perhaps a career in this field is the right fit for you.

For more info on this subject, read the #4 article on the following page: http://www.naceweb.org/spotlight/2009/c090209.htm.

For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics

One quote in the NYT article stands out:

“I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians,” said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. “And I’m not kidding.”

The statistics referred to by Varian his not just POS (plain old statistics). He is referring to inferential statistics, predictive modeling and machine learning algorithms. In computer science, these are referred to collectively as a branch of Artificial Intelligence.

Where can students go when the United States to understand how to position themselves to be competitive in a data-rich society?  They can come to the College of Charleston and major in Discovery Informatics or Computer Science. Discovery informatics includes the knowledge and skill set that that archaeologist, Carrie Grimes, needed to know to land that job at Google in Mountain View.

In addition, the computer science faculty at the College of Charleston continue to work on another, new and innovative degree program called Business Informatics. Business Informatics will emphasize business analytics, social network analysis and the technologies that support  these areas, which include XML technologies, scripting, Web services, service oriented architecture, and business process modeling.

So whoever your roommates are, clue them in before it’s too late! If they are creative, like to work with people and love to solve problems, then they can prepare themselves for an amazing career with an education in computing, computational thinking or discovery informatics at the College of Charleston.   And they can still call themselves an archaeologist for that matter, albeit a digital archaeologist.

I know not everyone is up to the challenge. Jumping into the dynamic and creative fields of computer science and discovery informatics takes energy, creativity and intelligence. So we don’t expect these high-power majors to be the largest on campus. But that’s okay. We will still need the service-class people, i.e., undergraduate majors who do not understand or use computational concepts and tools, to assist those of us in the creative class, so that we may enjoy the fruits of our labor in the conceptual age.

References:

Richard Florida (service class,  creative class concepts)

Daniel Pink (information age, conceptual age concepts)

For one example, read this blurb from a feature story in the latest College of Charleston Magazine:

“Though it’s one of the smaller departments at the College, with 15 to 30 graduates each year, and its cutting-edge culture may seem at odds with a campus that prides itself on history, it was a perfect fit for Nafees. The computer lab became a second home. There, the upperclassmen were inviting, and the professors friendly. Classes were small and intimate. ‘It was like getting coffee,’ Nafees says of lectures.”

As if you need another reason to see where a degree in computer science (and specifically one from the College of Charleston) can get you, check out this story on CS graduate Nafees Bin Zafar.

Is AP Computer Science (APCS) doing anything to broaden participation in computer science? I’ve been thinking about this question lately and even more after reading Mark Guzdial’s Amazon Blog on the topic < http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK1FSG5UQJ2R5MK >.

I used to think of APCS as the solution (in the 1990s) then as a benign anachronism (in the 2000s). I now believe that APCS unnecessarily constrains capable high school computer science teachers in order to prepare students for the exam. I also believe that students in APCS have already self-selected into the discipline thus APCS offers little power to broaden participation. So I respectfully disagree with Dr. Guzdial. Offering APCS in more high schools may only broaden participation linearly at best. 

As chair of a computer science department, I relish new freshmen with APCS coursework, don’t get me wrong, but the value is in the experience not the exam or the transfer credit. Engaging and motivating students in the 8th and 9th grades through computer science courses built around problem contexts, multiple disciplines and current technologies may do more to broaden participation than all of the APCS we could ever offer.

To that end, a group of computer scientists in South Carolina are working together to broaden computing experiences in public and private high schools. We aim to excite students about computer science through a more relevant and broader exposure to computing principles (Peter Denning) and computational thinking (Jeannette Wing). APCS will be promoted too, but without constraining resources or the political will to do so much more for our students than we are doing today with APC

Chris Starr

Also, the College’s Career Center has a few really great documents on how to search for jobs, prepare your resume and cover letter, and even tips on how to avoid your future employer finding anything… dissuasive… on your Facebook page.
Check it out.

May the force be with you.

-Kala