The COVID-19 pandemic, having disrupted many elements of society, also helped to further expose problems affecting students and educators, including the digital divide and struggles to grow the educational workforce pipeline. Experts addressed these and other issues at South by Southwest (SXSW) EDU, the education-centric portion of the annual Austin-based SXSW festival The pandemic’s emergence last spring caused the abrupt cancellation of all SXSW activities in 2020. This year, SXSW EDU and main SXSW occurred completely online, March 9-11.

By Edmond Ortiz Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro was among a handful of presidential candidates and other politicians taking part in Conversations About America’s Future, a collaborative series devised by the Texas Tribune and CNN at the South by Southwest festival (SXSW). Castro told his interviewer, Huffington Post news editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen, that his time as mayor of one of the nation’s biggest cities and his tenure as President Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Department  prepared him for a White House run.

By Edmond Ortiz San Antonians will be speaking up and representing their communities on key issues from March 9 to March 18 at the 2018 South by Southwest, the annual Austin festival that celebrates convergence of technology, music and cinema. Individuals from San Antonio nonprofits, businesses and academia are scheduled to talk about topics including diversity, health care, community organization, empowering women, minority communities, aging and entrepreneurship.

REPLAY VIDEO: The webcast of Civic Life in the Cyber Age, brought to you by the Annette Strauss Center for Civic Life on Oct. 22, 2016 at the University of Texas at Austin Belo Center for New Media. The conference is focused on how technology is being leveraged to enhance civic participation. Click here to see the agenda. Watch the video:

Two job fairs are taking place within a week, one focusing on San Antonio's growing information technology sector. Workforce Solutions Alamo will have a career fair for youths 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Education Service Center Region 20. Organizations say there are positions available in an increasing number of specific fields. The job fairs are happening after the announcement that U.S. jobless claims fell last week to their lowest level since July. 

Goodwill Industries of San Antonio has opened its Computer Works store at 13311 San Pedro Ave. at Highway 281 and Bitters Road.

The San Antonio Public Library will host the first-ever Mini Maker Faire on Saturday, Oct.17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Central Library. Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, the faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors.

Replay video of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Information Technology field briefing on “The State of the Cloud” on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 

Announcing the fifth annual TEDxSanAntonio “Ideas in Action” Speakers World-changing conversations about the most innovative, creative, intriguing, and sometimes disruptive, ideas alive in our city on the rise.  Speaker topics range from art, science, education and health, to technology, social justice, and the environment.  They include:

OpenEdJam is a three-day international event that brings together activists, developers, educators, engineers, librarians and makers from all fields. It provides a hands-on environment where participants collaborate on innovative creations and uses of free and open education resources. The event will take place at Rackspace Headquarters, 1 Fanatical Place, on July 25 and 26 and continue at Central Library, 600 Soledad, on Sunday, July 27.