COLUMBIA, 8/26/10 (Beat Byte)
-- Columbia has joined an elite group of cities as a growing
hub for
so-called "creative class" jobs, Richard Florida, author of The
Creative Class said in The Atlantic Monthly
yesterday.
"College towns stand out," Florida explained,
noting that
with a projected 16.4% increase in creative class jobs,
Columbia is number 8 out of 10, just above Durham, N.C.
Calling creative class jobs "higher-paying,
higher-skill
jobs for knowledge, professional, and creative workers," Florida
writes that "more than 35 million people are currently employed in
creative
class work in fields like science, technology, and engineering;
business,
finance, and management; law, health care, and education; and arts,
culture,
media, and entertainment."
Also good news: "Creative class employment has
seen
relatively low rates of unemployment during the course of the economic
crisis."
COLUMBIA BOOK BARON: Goes social media with new education service
COLUMBIA, 8/26/10 (Beat Byte) -- Former
Columbia Mayor Bob Pugh (below) -- a sometime guest of the Heart Beat's Readers
Write
section -- is doing some Xplana.
Pugh is taking his
Columbia-based academic book giant MBS Books into the social media age
with
Xplana, "a new student
learning
platform that bridges social networking and the traditional elements of
education to transform the way students manage their academic lives,"
according
to a company press release.
Also based in Columbia, Xplana "begins the student experience with a focus on the
individual and his
or her personal study needs." The platform also makes liberal use of
resources
"outside the book," explained Xplana Chief Executive Officer Dennis Flanagan.
As a social networking site, Xplana "enables students to create and participate in their own
study groups,
strengthening their interaction with other learners and helping focus
their
studies around a course, textbook, or assignment." Mobile applications
for
the iPhone and Android devices are also in the
works.
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