#hackidemia

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week (six days to be exact!) since I attended the Wearables Workshop sponsored by Women Who Code NYC. I pondered the possiblity of NOT blogging about it, but then again, I promised myself (and the two people who read this blog) that I WOULD blog about it. A promise is a promise, even to myself. 

I arrived at the event super-nervous. I had never been to a Women Who Code event (partially because, the RSVPs always fill so fast) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would people be nice? I had complete and utter impostor syndrome. I was just learning to code, not really a full-fledged developer like most of the other women in the room. Could they accept me for who I was?

Thankfully, all of my fears were unfounded (aren’t most fears unfounded though?!) All the women I met were friendly and professional. I couldn’t have felt more comfortable. It also helped that many of us were new to the hardware world, so we were all equally flustered and nervous--all in the same boat.

As for what we did in the workshop itself, I think it only solidified the fact that I want to learn MORE. One group worked with the Makey Makey, turning various items into music (such as glasses of water into a piano) or using the Makey Makey to turn pieces of aluminum foil into a game controller for the video game Dance, Dance Revolution. The group I worked with used construction paper and conductive tape along with the arduino and Processing (the software) to turn the conductive tape grid into a synth. You know, child’s play. (NOT!) It was probably one of the most confounding things I had ever worked with (we had a few code issues, and I got flashbacks of working on my own code at 2AM and wondering WHY IT ISN’T WORKING). In any case, it was super-reassuring to know that even industry professionals get bugs too. 

Images: makerfaire Africa, Lagos, atelier Hackidemia.

« Les mouvements d'ouverture qui ont caractérisé le web (open source, open innovation, open data, open science, open education) ne concernent plus seulement une avant-garde de programmeurs idéalistes. Ils ont donné naissance, notamment sur les campus américains, à une nouvelle culture de la transmission, de l'apprentissage et de l'innovation. Ils bouleversent aujourd'hui jusqu'aux organisations les plus rigoureuses, y compris la recherche scientifique. De nombreuses activités il y a peu très élitistes, doivent désormais apprendre à s'adresser au plus grand nombre et à puiser dans la force créatrice de ce grand nombre. » François Taddei

Hackidemia est un principe de « laboratoire mobile » conçu par Stefania Druga, qui a pour objectif de familiariser les jeunes enfants et les adolescents aux sciences et aux technologies numériques par l’appropriation directe et le jeu. Pour Stefania Druga, qui a été formée à l’ingénierie pédagogique au Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires de l’Université de Paris Descartes dirigé par François Taddei, il est important que les enfants mettent « la main à la pâte »,  expérimentent, créent des robots et des prototypes pour découvrir et comprendre comment ça marche. C’est le passage idéal pour pouvoir accéder par la suite à des technologies plus complexes. Savoirs-faire partagés, créativité, mutualisation, propagation virale sont les bases de son organisation.