Praxis

Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practiced, embodied, or realised. In other words.....Theory is 'real' knowledge while practice is the application of that knowledge to solve problems.

In school you are learning all sorts of things (knowledge) but, if you are like me when I was in high school, you question why you have to learn it and how you'll use it in the real world. How will you apply it in your day-to-day life?

There's a group called Code for America that provides programmers and other technology people the opportunity to volunteer with local governments in building web-based tools and resources in order to make their cities run better and more efficiently.What they do changes the way governments works!

Sophia Parafina is a Fellow at Code for America. Here's why she is doing it. And she doesn't have a degree in Computer Science! Her degrees are actually in History and Geography. I'm guessing that she taught herself how to code by utilizing online resources and user forums.

So now she's using those skills to make a difference. She's applying the knowledge she's acquired to change the way government works. That is just so cool!!

Here is her blog if you're interested in some of the projects she has worked on. I particularly liked her post from September 10, 2012 titled Code for America Austin Hackathon: Buses and fun with GTFS