Wikimedia receives Hewlett Foundation grant

The non-profit organisation that operates Wikipedia has received a $500 000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to expand its effort to make educational information freely accessible, reports CNET News.

"The enormous popularity of Wikipedia and its collaborative premise make the Wikimedia Foundation an ideal vehicle for spreading the open educational resources movement," Barbara Chow, director of the education programme at Hewlett, said in a statement.

"We've just begun the planning that will help us identify how to maximise our impact around the world," Sue Gardner, the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in the statement. "This support will help us to execute our priorities for the current year, and enable us to plan for the future."

People with social sciences skills will soon be used to fill technology jobs to enable businesses to keep pace with consumer technology preferences, according to analyst firm Gartner, states Computing.co.uk.

Consumer technology growth has gained speed in recent years, and is now setting the agenda for forward thinking business IT departments that focus on the opportunities it presents.

"To succeed in 'consumerising' corporate technology, organisations will need new talent and skills that blend a deep understanding of the business, artistic talents in visual and social schemes that induce the desired behaviours and reactions from consumers, and expansive knowledge of how to invoke and leverage the power of Web technology and models," said Gartner analyst Kathy Harris.

There will be no female A-level computing students by 2014 if the subject continues its current slide in popularity, says PC Pro.

Only 454 girls took the computing A-level exam in the whole of the UK this year, according to figures released by the Joint Council for Qualifications.

Female student numbers have fallen by more than 50% over the past five years, with 816 female students sitting the exam in 2005. If the slide continues at its current rate, there will be no female computing students in only five years' time.