Daniela Capistrano

www.autostraddle.com — Inspired by this year's International Zine Month activities and Allied Media Conference, POC Zine Project founder Daniela Capistrano collaborated with artist/activist Nia King, Queer Zine Archive Project and Barnard Zine Library to curate a list of 50 zines made by QTPOC (Queer and/or Trans-Identified People of Color). As QZAP notes on their website, "people of color started the radical queer revolution and kick started the queer zine scene."

current.com — By Daniela Capistrano / current.com / @dcap At this year's Games for Change Festival, industry leaders in game design, ed-tech and more came together to discuss how gaming can be an effective tool to change the world. One of the dominant themes expressed at the festival and by those following along on Twitter was lowering the bar to coding literacy. With the war on women, our failing educational systems, the economy and immigration occupying much of news coverage today, coding literacy may seem like a topic reserved for the privileged elite.

current.com — By Daniela Capistrano / current.com / @dcap What if by modifying your gaming routine you could help solve real world problems - while building marketable skills? This isn't a theory; people are transforming their lives through gameplay all over the world and you can be a part of the movement. At this year's Games for Change Festival, a public event that brings the digital games industry together with a broader community of government agencies, foundations, educators, corporate entities and more, industry thought leaders discussed the many ways that games can be a catalyst for social change.

current.com — By Daniela Capistrano / current.com / @dcap Digital literacy is no longer optional. Many entry-level positions require a basic understanding of how computers work, which is often a barrier to employment for low-income people and within communities of color. "Offline Americans are missing out on education opportunities, health care opportunities and, yes, job opportunities," said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski during this week's announcement about new digital literacy training services. "In today's world, you need broadband to find a job, apply for a job, and you need digital skills to keep most of today's jobs.

current.com — By Daniela Capistrano / current.com / @dcap So you're a girl and you love video games: 20 years ago this would have been unusual, but today almost everyone in the U.S. is a gamer. A 2011 survey indicated that 72 percent of households play video games - and the number is growing. Unfortunately, the video game industry is remarkably less diverse - men historically have had more influence within the industry. Even though 42 percent of all game players are female, less than 10 percent of the gaming workforce is female. But the culture is changing.

current.com — 2007's "Grindhouse" turned into a feature film -- is the gory, dystopian tale of a homeless man (played by "Blade Runner" icon "Hobo with a Shotgun" -- a fake trailer seen in the Canadian version of Rutger Hauer) who finds himself the sole voice of reason in a town ruled by a madman and his sinister sons. The Hobo takes law and order into his own hands the only way he can think to -- with a shotgun. Current's Daniela Capistrano spoke to Rutger Hauer about playing the Hobo, violence in the media, his upcoming projects, and what it was really like to kill William Sanderson in "Blade Runner."

MTV News — NEW YORK - As she took the stage at the start of BET's "Black Girls Rock!" event, host Nia Long announced, "The golden rule for this evening is to believe in yourself fearlessly." Her smile seemed to invite the audience to give it a try. Anchored by stellar performances from Jill Scott, Keri Hilson, Ciara and other heavy hitters, the program's 11 honorees - including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Missy Elliot - carried a message of empowerment. "Black Girls Rock!" is a tribute devoted to honoring African-American "Icons, Moguls and Sheroes" and will be televised for the first time on BET Sunday (November 7) at 8 p.m.

MTV News — James Spooner, like a lot of kids growing up in Southern California in the 1990s, was into punk rock. But unlike most of the kids in the scene, he's black. Sometimes, this posed a problem. "I was in this tiny desert town that was pretty much all white, and the punk scene was very racist," he recalled. "You would go to shows and it was blatantly white power, swastikas, all of that." But when he moved to New York during high school, Spooner found "a gang of black kids" just like him.

current.com — Are status updates award-worthy? After accidentally live-tweeting Osama Bin Laden's death, @ReallyVirtual's followers may think so. Conveniently, there is an emerging platform where fans can nominate intrepid Tweeps just like him. The folks behind the the Shorty Awards -- the first and only ceremony honoring short-form content -- spotlight the faces behind the tweets, Facebook updates and Foursquare statuses that are literally changing the world -- one tiny update at a time. After this year's 3rd annual gala at the posh Times Center in the New York Times building, I sat down with co-founder Greg Galant (@gregory) recently to discuss what's next for the Shorty Awards brand and just how people are using Twitter to empower themselves and others.