New Coder Dojo Hackers Club Reflects Galway’s Digital Vibrancy
Back to the Future!
Over the last few years, Galway has undergone a remarkable digital
renaissance that has brought back memories of the city in the 1980s when
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), then the world’s largest minicomputer
manufacturing corporation, was exporting computers all across Europe from its
factory in Ballybrit; when the first satellite link between Ireland and North
America was established at the state telephone company’s HQ in Mervue; when parents
were buying their first ever microcomputers such as the Sinclair ZX81 and
Commodore Vic 20 in computer retail outlets that were springing up across the
city so that their children could learn the new art of coding; when a few
visionary young mathematics, business and physics teachers were introducing
computers into the schools; when DEC had linked the city’s second level
colleges through a computer network system;
when recently qualified college
graduates were establishing ‘software houses’ in little backwater offices; when
small-to-medium companies en-masse were buying their first computers to run
their accounts and send out letters; when the Ireland’s first Internet
newsletter for worldwide
readership was being distributed by DEC’s Liam Ferrie; when electronic courses
at the Regional Technical College were filled to capacity; when Apple’s Macintosh
Destktop Publishing system let to the appearance of regular low cost community
newsletters across the suburbs; when
new programming courses could not keep up with the demand from enthusiasts of
all ages; and when students at Galway University (NUIG) were brought up before
the authorities for accessing the college computer
systems by circumventing its security system (what we now call ‘hacking’!).
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| Early 1980s: DEC Galway had computer links to 10 second-level schools |
12 yr old Harry Moran demonstrating his PizzaBot App to a spellbound audience during the
Galway Science & Technology Festival Exhibition
Once again a vibrant Digital ambiance
is starting to permeate the schools, colleges, workplaces and streets of the
city and county fueled by a volunteer army of largely young enthusiastic and
selfless Internet activists the like of which exists nowhere else in Ireland.
However as with the recent establishment of the Ballinfoile Mór Cumann na bhFear/Men's Shed, it is about Irish people recapturing the ability to use their hands and intellect to make things again rather than just be the passive recipients of items imported from overseas.
We are beginning to move away from being a nation of digital users to a nation of digital creators.
However as with the recent establishment of the Ballinfoile Mór Cumann na bhFear/Men's Shed, it is about Irish people recapturing the ability to use their hands and intellect to make things again rather than just be the passive recipients of items imported from overseas.
We are beginning to move away from being a nation of digital users to a nation of digital creators.
The increasing roll-out of coding classes to schools provided by volunteers from the corporate
sector, NUIG, GMIT and from concerned individuals; the annual hosting of a
national children’s Lego Robotics competition;
the IT summer camps at NUI Galway; the establishment of groups such as 091Labs, Camara and Coder Dojos; the
high uptake by older peoples and other communities of Web Awareness courses; the massive crowds that attended events held
during the Galway Science &
Technology Festival (24,000+ at the Sunday Fair on NUIG campus); the existence
at NUIG of world-renowned science
research institutes such as DERI; the establishment of Ireland’s only Computer and Communications Museum (at
DERI) and the presence of global
technology leaders in the city such as Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, EA,
Medtronic and IBM is radically changing the local landscape that in time could
metamorphose into an innovative sustainable Knowledge economy and society providing
a healthy future for Ireland that will benefit other countries across the
planet.
As Community/Education Outreach Officer at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) at NUI Galway, I am part of this process of change which involves some very exciting initiatives.
1. Launch of Galway City 'Coder Dojos' Club
Galway Coder Dojos first group of volunteers with founder Adrian Bannon on the extreme right
The city’s first Coder Dojo club will be launched next
Saturday in DERI. The engine behind this initiative is young local lawyer Adrian
Bannon supported by a merry band of enthusiasts including Padraic Hartley of
091Labs ‘hackerspace’ group and Michael Madden of IT NUI Galway. The new club will meet weekly in DERI
before transferring in early April to the College of Engineering & Informatics located on the main campus.
It will provide an opportunity for students, pupils, teachers and technology enthusiasts to meet like-minded peers in an informal social and learning environment
where they will be educated
in new skills particularly in
coding and generate interesting
ideas and discussions amongst themselves. It is anticipated that, over time,
this pioneering club will led to the setting up of Coder Dojo clubs in schools
across Galway city and county.
2. Scratch Programming
Courses in Galway Primary Schools
Children displaying their Scratch project to their fellow classmates
Computer Science is unfortunately not a subject in the Irish
schools system which is symptomatic of a systematic failure by successive governments
who have failed to grasp the serious damage that its absence from the
educational curricula is doing to the country’s future.
Since early 2011, I have campaigned and organised cross-sectoral
groups to lobby ministers on this issue and will soon be part of a delegation to meet Seán Sherlock T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for
Research and Innovation, on this issue.
Over the last year, I have enjoyed teaching Scratch
programming in primary schools in Galway and Mayo, complementing the excellent
work being spearheaded by LERO nationwide It has been personally very rewarding
for me to see the practical effects of this initiative through the creation of
an array of fascinating computer animation projects by the young participants.
DERI is now collaborating with Hewlett Packard, GMIT and the Galway Education Centre to ensure that
even more schools can benefit from
mentor-assisted classroom computer programming courses. The project will be
known as HP Headstart. On behalf of
DERI, I will be acting as project coordinator and over the next few weeks I will be
teaching Scratch to the DERI, HP and GMIT mentors. Tuition will be held in participating schools and consist of
one-hour classes over a period of six weeks.
3. Galway city’s only After-School
Computer Club
DERI's Michael Kerrin teaching Python at St. Mary's Computer Club
Last year, Laura Dragan
and Pierre Ludwick from DERI provided
an after-schools C++ programming course to students at St. Mary’s College. This
after-school club, the only one of its kind in Galway, was very well received
and it continues this year with DERI’s Michael
Kerrin teaching Python.
4. ‘Bullding a Mobile App’ Workshop
DERI’s Caoilfhionn Lane will provide a workshop on ‘How
to Build A Mobile App’ at 7pm on Tuesday February 28th in DERI. Open
to the general public, the aim of this workshop is to show beginner or non-programmers how to
create a simple phone app using Eclipse and the Android SDK. They would learn
how to install the Android SDK and the Android Phone Emulator and explore a
sample game, ’Lunar Landing’.
5. Retro Games Night, March
2nd, Computer Museum
SuperFrog on the Amiga (World's first multi-media computer)
A Retro Gaming Night will be held at 7pm on Friday March 2nd
in the DERI-based Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland.The event will allow visitors to play classic games such as Sonic the Hegehog, Donkey King, Pacman, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Super Frog on an array of vintage microcomputers & consoles (late 1970s-mid1990s) that include Atari, Sega Mega Drive, Playstation 1, Nintendo Gameboy, Amiga & Commodore 64.
6. Computer and
Communications Museum of Ireland
Visitors interacting with the Museum's artifacts
The facility, established by and presently housed in DERI, is
officially recognised as the Computer and Communications Museum of Ireland and
has become part of a Galway science trail.
It has a cross-sectoral Board that draws its membership from
HP, GMIT, NUIG, Engineers Ireland, small businesses as well as DERI (Mike Turley, Lukasz and myself).
Its primary aim is to introduce visitors to the rich
communications technology heritage of Ireland and of the world and to inspire
young people towards innovation, science and engineering.
For National Engineers Week (Feb 27 – March 2nd),
I am augmenting the present collection of artefacts with some exciting new additions
including one of the finger controlled keysets that was invented and used by Douglas Engelbart
in his legendary ‘Mother of all Demos’
(1968) that is on loan from Karl Flannery
of Storm Technology, as well as a
library of 1960s Science Fiction comics, films and toys
that inspired children of that era to create so many of the technologies we use
today.
7. Visits to Schools
& Student Tours of DERI
Post-primary students visiting the DERI science institute at Galway University (NUIG)
Second-level schools will visit our institute during National Engineers Week (Feb 27 – March 2 and DERI personnel will travel out to at least
one school during this period.
These tours and
visits will give students the opportunity to meet with DERI researchers and
find out about the work and the exciting leading edge products, processes and
services being created at DERI.
They are also
part of a larger network of tours that cover four other world-class science institute
specialsing in research varying from climate change, to biomedical to optics.
'Knitting in the Classroom' - Giving A New Lease of Life to a Traditional Craft
One of my personal highlights of 2011 was in convincing Lawrencestown National School to exhibit at the Galway Science and Technology Science Festival Exhibition. Nothing special about that one might say as I annually coordinate the involvement of schools into this one day fair that is the highlight of a 2 week festival which this year took place in Galway University (NUIG) attracting over 24,000 visitors representing the largest crowd ever to appear on campus.
But what was different about this school
was that they were demonstrating something that many people might feel has
absolutely nothing to do with science or technology, namely the ancient
handicraft of Knitting.
Yet this popular misconception could not be
further from the truth. For mathematics is at the core of this traditional
craft that produces fabric from a strand of yarn or thread.
Whilst working in the school during the
course of the year, teaching the basic concepts of engineering using K’NEX, I
noticed that the pupils of both sexes would sometimes take up knitting during
lunchtime if it was raining outside. The classrooms also a fine display
of woollen animals and objects.
I was intrigued!
The children told me that it was due to the pioneering
efforts of teacher Davina Daly that the children were learning the joys and
creativity of knitting. Rather than just buying ready-made toys, clothing and
gifts as most children have done for the last few decades, these boys and girls
were making their very own scarves, rockets and animals out of fabricating yarn
with each item that they produced stamped with their own unique style and
individuality.
Over the next few months, I noticed too that
a few other schools were also doing likewise, once again due to the initiative
of individual teachers.
Daire's window display of 'wooly monsters' at Halloween
'Knitting with Granny'
Then in September I found my own 11 year old son Dáire starting to
take up knitting with a passion as a result of a new national educational
scheme known as Knitting with Granny, whereby older women were being brought
into the classrooms to show young people how to knit. Dáire created an ever-growing menagerie of animals that began to
populate the whole house. I was hooked!
More Wooly Monsters!
Not only are primary schools reviving and
giving a whole new lease of life to a very important aspect of the country’s
heritage, stitching is introducing these young people to a practical understanding
and usage of mathematics via the counting of stitches, the calculation of gauge
(that is the number of stitches and rows required to knit a 10cm square for a
particular yarn), the creating of patterns and the quantification of yarn
required.
Some of Dáire's Christmas knitted Santa Claus and helpers
The Makers
As with my work in helping to introduce
computer programming into primary and post-primary education sector, Knitting
in schools is part of a vision of educating our people to once again become
designers and makers of practical things rather than just users and recipients
of items manufactured outside Ireland. It will help our national move from a having
a culture of dependency to a culture of creativity.
According to Davina, “The knitting
craze started in our school two years ago when Evelyn
Reidy a friend of my mother's dressmaking instructor Mary passed
away. Evelyn's daughter gave Mary all her knitting needles and wool. Mary
passed all the knitting materials on to my mum and then to me. I
didn't want the wool to go to waste so I brought it to school. The
children from second to sixth class took and used whatever wool they
needed.
Jean Greenhowe has a fabulous collection of knitting booklets for irresistible dolls and toys http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/booklets.html. I have bought a number of them - The Scarecrow Family, Little Gift Dolls, Knitted Clowns, Jiffyknits, Knitted Animals, Christmas Special and Christmas Treasures. The children have knitted various items from these booklets. Some of the children buy knitting magazines. Another mom gave her son a magazine that had knitting pattern for boys in it. There was a pattern of a rocket, a dinosaur and a turtle. Some of the children knitted them.
The first stitch the children learn is the Garter stitch (AKA plain stitch). Every row is knit. Once the children have mastered this stitch they learn how to cast on and off stitches. They knit simple hairbands (sweatbands for boys) and wrist bands to practise this stitch. Then they learn the Stocking stitch (aka purl stitch - knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side).
After this they learn how to read patterns. As the patterns get more and more complicated they learn more and more knitting techniques: inc = increase stitches, dec = decrease stitches, psso = pass slip stitch over and so on.
Jean Greenhowe has a fabulous collection of knitting booklets for irresistible dolls and toys http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/booklets.html. I have bought a number of them - The Scarecrow Family, Little Gift Dolls, Knitted Clowns, Jiffyknits, Knitted Animals, Christmas Special and Christmas Treasures. The children have knitted various items from these booklets. Some of the children buy knitting magazines. Another mom gave her son a magazine that had knitting pattern for boys in it. There was a pattern of a rocket, a dinosaur and a turtle. Some of the children knitted them.
The first stitch the children learn is the Garter stitch (AKA plain stitch). Every row is knit. Once the children have mastered this stitch they learn how to cast on and off stitches. They knit simple hairbands (sweatbands for boys) and wrist bands to practise this stitch. Then they learn the Stocking stitch (aka purl stitch - knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side).
After this they learn how to read patterns. As the patterns get more and more complicated they learn more and more knitting techniques: inc = increase stitches, dec = decrease stitches, psso = pass slip stitch over and so on.
They've knitted dogs, owls, turtles, bears,
scarves, penguins, santas and snowmen.
One boy knitted Mrs Claus for his grandmother (finished height 36 cm).
At Christmas the children knitted Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, candy canes, garland rings to hang on their Christmas trees. At Easter they knitted chickens. One girl knitted a rattler for her baby brother and another knitted Binky the Golfing Clown with the help of his Granny.”
One boy knitted Mrs Claus for his grandmother (finished height 36 cm).
At Christmas the children knitted Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, candy canes, garland rings to hang on their Christmas trees. At Easter they knitted chickens. One girl knitted a rattler for her baby brother and another knitted Binky the Golfing Clown with the help of his Granny.”
Wooly Science
The school exhibited their Knitting project during the Galway Science and Technology Festival
Fair that was held in NUI Galway on November 27th and was visited by over
24,000 people. With the theme of Wooly Science, their stand was one of the most
popular as visitors were enthralled to see a line of children knitting away
whilst explaining the mathematic basis of this ancient handcraft.
Christmas Truce 1914: A Flickering of Humanity in a Brutal Imperial War
I watched this thought-provoking and emotive French film Joyeux Noel (Merry Xmas) over Christmas. More than any other movie I have seen in recent times, it portrays the true message of Christmas, namely 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill To All Men'.
The Irish rebels were aware of this deception by the British. We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser was the motto of the Irish Citizens Army as they joined with the Irish Volunteers in Easter 1916 to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
Creative Communities in Ballinfoile Mór, Galway city
Residents from across the Ballinfoile Mór, Castlelawn,
Ballindooley and Bóthar na Choiste areas are asked to attend a Community Night
at 7pm on Thursday January 12th in the Menlo Park Hotel when a number of
grassroots organizations will be undertaking a recruitment drive as well as showcasing
services and projects provided by local volunteers.
Community & Environmental Volunteerism in Ballinfoile Mór
The Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden, Cumann na bhFear
(Men’s Shed) and the recently established Terryland Forest Conservation
Volunteers will be collectively promoting a wide array of skills that they
presently can offer residents as well as advertising others that they need
voluntary expertise on.
Over the last year, members have offered courses or
mentoring on metalwork, organic gardening, mural painting, cycle maintenance,
hedgerow planting, scarecrow construction, nature studies, heritage awareness,
computing, cooking, drystone walling and woodturning. But assistance is
required in other areas such as basket weaving, plumbing, orienteering and
wildlife pond construction.
The Makers - The (Almost) Lost Art of 'Making Things'
We are endeavouring to help people from all backgrounds and
of all ages to once again rediscover the ability and enjoyment of ‘making things’.
It is about moving away from being primarily a nation of consumers to being once
again creators of everyday items and produce.
Another fundamental principle of ours is that the skills taught or the expertise provided are feed into projects that directly benefit the wider local community.
Furniture Restoration
Another fundamental principle of ours is that the skills taught or the expertise provided are feed into projects that directly benefit the wider local community.
The contributions of these groups and that of others such as
the Castlegar Boreen Festival have breathed new life into the locality, tapped
into the often hidden talents of individuals, awakened interest in local heritage
and biodiversity and in the process imbued many inhabitants with a proud sense
of purpose and of place.
Drystone Walling in the Organic Garden
This type of creative community volunteerism is a modern urban version of the Irish rural tradition of ‘Meitheal’.
The herculean efforts of committed volunteers are helping to
transform Ballinfoile Mór and engendering a sense of neighbourliness.
Harvest Day in the Community Organic Garden
Ballinfoile Community Organic Garden: Local Food Produce & Wildlife-friendly
In the
organic garden, residents have built wooden hurdle fences, gravel paths, drystone
walls, native hedgerows, a large clay pizza oven, a ‘bug hotel’, a kitchen and
an outdoor stage; planted herbs, vegetables and fruit trees; organized
gardening courses and harvest festivals. Schools and youth groups have
undertaken art programmes such as making scarecrows, painting murals as well as
organising nature activities.
In the last year, the garden has been bestowed with the Galway City Mayoral Community Award and was runner up in the national Pride of Place Award.
Hand Prints of Children & Adults Painters Decorate the Door of the Garden's Kitchen
Men's Shed Movement Arrives in Galway city
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| Michael McDonnell welding at Cumann na bhFear, Ballinfoile |
The recently established Cumann na bhFear (Irish = Men's Club) Ballinfoile Mór is modeled on the international Men's Shed Movement that originated in Australia a number of years ago. Taking its name and theme from the idea of the male of the household working on his hobbies in the garden shed, the Ballinfoile branch provides a friendly meeting place for men of all ages to try out new things and work on meaningful tasks at their own pace. There is a strong emphasis on projects that have an environmental and social value and that keep alive traditional Irish crafts and skills from metalworking to woodturning.
Blacksmith's forge at Cumann na bhFear
The local members built a
blacksmith’s forge, purchased an array of tools including a wooden lathe, restored old furniture and farm equipment, provide classes in a range of skills from woodturning to
panel-beating, organise monthly cycle repair workshops for all ages and serve
as a venue for the manufacture of props and set designs for youth theatre
groups and facilitate rehearsals for young musicians.
Farming Implements: - Before Restoration
Farming Implements: - After Restoration
Galway City Council leased to the group an excellent two story premises (complete with workshops, meeting room, kitchen, toilets and offices) in the Sandy Road Business Park.
Community-planted Silver Birch trees in Terryland Forest
Conservation Volunteers for Terryland Forest Park
The new Conservation Volunteers group for the Terryland Forest Park
will be involved in tree planting, boundary structure repairs, path
maintenance, nature tours, biodiversity enhancement and community clean-ups.
The volunteers want to return the park to the principles of its founders when they established the park in the late 1990s in order to create a large urban woodland populated by native Irish trees that functions both as a Wildlife corridor and a People's Park. By creating a forest in an urban setting, it was to serve as the Lungs of the City, encourage citizens to reconnect to Nature and act as a sanctuary to indigenous flora and fauna at a time when across the planet, commercial farming, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, pollution, road construction, urban sprawl and the resulting global warming is leading to a mass extinction of species.
The volunteers want to return the park to the principles of its founders when they established the park in the late 1990s in order to create a large urban woodland populated by native Irish trees that functions both as a Wildlife corridor and a People's Park. By creating a forest in an urban setting, it was to serve as the Lungs of the City, encourage citizens to reconnect to Nature and act as a sanctuary to indigenous flora and fauna at a time when across the planet, commercial farming, habitat fragmentation, deforestation, pollution, road construction, urban sprawl and the resulting global warming is leading to a mass extinction of species.
Household Waste dumped in Forest Park
Community initiatives
in Castlegar include some wonderful heritage signage along the old rural
bótharin network.
Heritage Signage in Castlegar
Tracks 'n' Trails across rural Galway City
The Friends of the Galway Forest coordinate regular community clean-up of the city's parks, undertake heritage
cycle tours on the east side of the city and will be working with other NGOs such as Castlegar Connect to
develop a series of greenways linking the castles of Tirellan, Castlegar, Menlo and
Clooncauneen.
In September the group collaborated with Councillor Frank Fahy and local land-owners in starting the clean-up of an old bog road near Carrowbrowne that will act as a vital link in this pioneering trail. This particular botharín has been destroyed by organised criminal dumping of a vast quantity of fridges, cookers and furniture that has contaminated the environment and ecology of the area.
Constructing a Greenway near Carrowbrowne. Michael Tiernan holds a traditional 'grappler' used in times past to clear water-logged ditches of debris
At the Community event, Councillor Fahy will also outline proposals on heritage enhancement
whilst Rosie Webb, senior executive architect at Galway City Council, will showcase
a series of maps produced by the architectural students of the University of
Limerick that provide information, analysis, plans and guidelines on the regeneration
of the Terryland Forest Park as an important cultural and amenity facility as
well as a primary wildlife habitat.
Beautiful rural landscape of Castlegar
The current recession caused by the greed and gambling
antics of an oligarchy of bankers, property speculators and certain politicians
has dashed the dreams and expectations of so many ordinary people. It has led to
mass unemployment, high emigration, an increase in criminality, the closure of
many community partnerships and an upsurge of depression amongst so many.
Making a 'Bug Hotel' Ballinfoile Mór Community Garden
But becoming involved in pro-active neighbourhood schemes
can empower citizens and foster a sense of belonging and of personal value to
a community.
Volunteerism is the gel that binds people together in a
positive manner, particularly in times of economic and social stress.
You Can Make A Difference!
Together We Can Make Ballinfoile Mór A Wonderful Place to Live In!
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