Bold Idea Granted 501(c)(3) Status

We are happy to announce that Bold Idea is now officially a public charity with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

What does this mean? Contributions donated to Bold Idea, both financial and in-kind, are fully tax deductible, retroactive to the organization establishment date of April 13, 2015. Your employer may also having a matching program for contributions or volunteer time.

Above all, this designation will further our ability to deliver on the Bold Idea mission: to develop and empower young minds to execute bold ideas as a team through the power of coding.

Technology innovation is critical to enabling social good for our communities. Our mentors work alongside students to build their skills in coding, computer science, creative confidence, teambuilding, problem solving and social entrepreneurship. As a result, we can put our most creative and passionate minds to work as young change agents today and bold leaders tomorrow.

With your help, we are making that vision a reality — starting with students here in the Dallas area. Thank you for your continued support.

Sleepover 2.0

By Tina Le

I'll start with explaining how this idea came to my mind. It happened when I first heard about hack-a-thons, I thought: “Super cool!” The first image that came to my mind was an intense environment of people working together to for a common cause, as fast as they could, camping together in sleeping bags, eating free food, and exchanging good humor. In addition, athletes, musicians and actors can get their shared cause, intense teamwork, and pressure to perform on the field, in concerts, or on stage. Techies can get theirs through hack-a-thons.

What about for kids? Maybe Sleepover 2.0!

A kids party version of hack-a-thons.sleepover20 Sleepover 2.0, as I envisioned the idea, is a social event where kids stay up late, munching yummy food and drink, while doing techie-inspired activities.

Activity Ideas

• Play coding board games like Robot Turtles  or 404: Law not found
• Build small robots, like bristlebots! or Quirkbots!
• Arduino has a variety of kits for kids. For example, kids can make a glowing house or flashing greeting cards.
• Maybe present teenagers with a problem, or have them choose a problem. Then during the 2 day sleepover, they would try to solve it. For example, how to make the window curtains open when the alarm goes off, or make a website to help a nonprofit. No grades, no anxiety about failure.

There's just the thrill of a time limit, and the opportunity to apply their imagination and problem solving abilities. This would require more planning, but I imagine it’s worth the fun!

Dallas Tech Startups Design for First Responders

Innovators have made huge strides in recent years with technology that helps people in need, for example — an app that guides the blind in unfamiliar buildings and one that helps people with memory loss.

But what about technology that helps the person providing aid? Entrepreneurs and developers participating in a new Dallas innovation program believe their devices, built for first responders, can help save lives.

The program is called EMERGE, and it operates as a seed accelerator for consumer wearable technology with first responder application. First of its kind, EMERGE is a collaboration between Dallas' Tech Wildcatters, the Department of Homeland Security and the Center for Innovative Technology.

The five startups in EMERGE's first class spent the summer working from Tech Wildcatters and recently held their first demo day in Dallas. The second will be in San Francisco later this month.

Thomas Hobohm of Dashin

From apps that help first responders overcome language barriers to a mouthguard that picks up on radio communication - here's a roundup of this first class' innovations:

1. CyberTimez creates innovative products using the latest wearable and Internet of Things technologies to make a real difference in people’s lives. Guided by the motto “Always in the service of others”, the team develops products that provide the physically disabled more independence, hearing impaired environmental awareness and better enable blind users to function in a sighted world.
2. Dashin is an open dashboard platform that aggregates data from its own line of wearable sensors, as well as other data gathering devices worn or used by first responders. The team includes 14 year-old Thomas Hobohm of Southlake, TX. The ninth grader includes programming, software development and reading in his list of hobbies.
3. LanguageMAPS has created the 1stMinute mobile app which improves the communications capabilities of first responders when they're assisting a foreign language speaker. With millions of non-English speaking visitors and residents in the US, language barriers happen more frequently at the scene of a medical emergency. The app provides translation capability and access to critical information in under 60 seconds.
4. MindTalk uses patent pending bone conduction technology in mouthguards to allow athletes to listen to MP3s and receive radio communication. The team will be applying this technology to first responder equipment to allow firefighters, S.W.A.T. teams, the Coast Guard and others to be able to use a two-way communication system in extreme, loud environments where headphones won't work and outer ear protection is necessary.
5. SensorSphere is working on an Environmental Monitoring Robotic Ball for first responder use. First responders may be able to throw in or drive the ball into an emergency site to gather environmental data and HD videos, all while operating from a safe distance.

At Bold Idea, we're encouraged to find examples of technology innovation designed for social impact here in Dallas.

Photo credits:

• Vigili del fuoco 3, by Roberto Taddeo
• The Dallas Morning News, G.J. McCarthy, Staff Photographer

Me and My Community: A Learning Opportunity for Younger Students

At what age can students start to understand their role in community and challenges the community may face? For teacher Emily Mitchell from The Nueva School in Hillsborough, California, the connection can be made as early as 1st grade. Each year her class engages in a project to learn about the larger community and adopt a community subject to study in depth.

Using the principles of human-centered design, the class this past school year used their study on Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new workspace for their subjects (leaders in The Nueva School). Emily’s students discussed:

• How does my subject fit into the larger Nueva community?
• How does their job affect me in first grade?

They first used their observation skills in the subjects’ workspace unobtrusively. They took notes and pictures from all angles and even gathered some stories through interviews. After much idea generation and prototyping, the students zeroed in on possible design solutions. What did the 1st graders gain from this process? Building empathy, listening, asking great questions, creating, iterating and testing — and more.

Community engagement is an ongoing process of discovery and action that students from a young age can embark on. While 7 year-olds may not be feeding meals to the homeless or building apps for the visually impaired, they can start to reach into their communities. As a result, they begin to feel genuinely engaged, know their ideas to have value and believe what they do does matter — even at a young age.

Below are additional activities that can build an understanding of community and our roles within them.

Community layers

There are multiple layers that comprise a community — from immediate circles like family and classrooms to broader networks like our country and the planet.

Circles are a good metaphor to convey ever-widening forms of community to kids. Here is one visual project that teaches them how they fit into the larger community and the world, appropriate for pre-K – elementary ages. Project instructions are included here on KidsWorldCitizen.org.

In our ideaSpark™ program, community starts with learning teams that include trusted peers with a diverse skillset, backgrounds and insights, as well as team mentors. Teams are then supported by a resource network that includes universities, leaders in the community, entrepreneurs and local companies. Community is also place - from a neighborhood and city to schools and extended family groups.

Like Emily at Nueva, it may be best to first explore the communities younger students can most closely identify with. Rather than starting with the plight of Syrian refugees, take a step outside the classroom and meet school leaders. Then, explore the neighborhood where the school resides and where students live.

Community needs

Younger students can understand that we all enjoy things like swimming pools, amusement parks, chocolate chip cookies and fancy new clothes, but these things aren’t actually needs. By knowing what they personally need, the students can better understand what everyone needs.

The following activities will help them discover ‘needs’ versus ‘wants’:

Make a list

• Carry a notebook for a three days, and write down everything you use — from water in the shower and the clothes you wear to things like TV and video games. Then, divide up the list into two columns: “What I want” and “What I need.” Ask family members or your learning team what they think people in your community need to live.
• Create a poster. With the learning team, create a single poster or two about our wants and needs. Cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to the right poster. Then, share the posters with another group and explain what you believe everyone needs.
• Investigate basic needs. Food, water and shelter are a few of our basic needs as humans, though sadly many people lack these resources. Research why that is and find groups in your city and the world that help people meet these needs.

During the research or ideation phase of their project, the 1st graders in Emily Mitchell’s class filled out a needs profile on their individual subject. For example:

User: Megan
Needs: Better way for people to know where her office is
So as to or because: So that people know how to find her

This helped the first graders put themselves in someone else’s shoes and design solutions that met their specific needs.

Dreams for my community

Younger students especially have more creativity and ingenuity than we often give them credit for. As we get older, our new ideas are often blocked mentally by doubt and the roadblocks we’ve often encountered in the past. I believe we can tap in to the power of younger minds to gain a new way of looking at our communities and generating innovative ideas. Seriously!

Design Thinking

How do you start to get their minds churning? After leading them through a discussion and activities on community like the ones above, invite them to dream big. Ask open-ended questions that encourage them to use their imaginations and engage with one another. Tools like mind-mapping, sketching with crayons on canvas paper and colorful Post-Its will help capture ideas.

Questions may include:

• Imagine you could make the perfect community. What would it have in it?
• What would NOT be in your perfect community?
• Sometimes communities have problems that affect the people who live there. Are you aware of any of the following problems? (Share some examples to get students going – for example: hunger, poverty, pollution, bullying, water waste, etc.)
• Which of the problems you just shared do you personally care about?
• Imagine if you had all the help and resources in the world. Even the President of the United States said he would help you. What problem would you fix and how would you do it? Be creative!

Students should understand that ideation is all about throwing any and every idea out there — even if you don’t act on it later. Therefore, it’s important not to validate or criticize ideas during their dreaming. Just like in play, there are no wrong moves.

Creative confidence

Identity within communities can change a young person’s belief about their abilities. Specifically, that the future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so. They can also trust that there are people in their community like mentors who serve as guides to support them and their learning teams through that process.

I love this example from People Serving People, a homeless shelter in Minneapolis for children and families. Local design firms and educators in the area worked together to show the kids how design thinking can help them make a difference in their neighborhoods. Although the success story centers are teenagers, it’s a great example of giving students learning opportunities that are relevant to their lives and their community, especially when they may feel like most of life happens to them.

At People Serving People, a homeless shelter in Minneapolis, local design firms and educators work together to show kids how design thinking can help them make a difference in their neighborhoods. More resources at: http://www.edutopia.org/is-school-enough-design-thinking-video

Resources
I used insight from the following organizations in this article:

• Edutopia, How Design Thinking Can Empower Young People
• Ideo, video on Creative Confidence
• Finally on First, Me on the Map Activity
• Girl Scouts of the USA, Brownie Philanthropist badge
• The Nueva School, Community and Sustainability in the 1st Grade
• Unsplash.com, header image

Your Community and How You Can Help

What Is Community?

My community video contest entry for Manitobacreditunions. This video captures some short discussion with elementary school students on "community" questions. What is a community? What's your favorite things to do in your community? What the most important part (thing, person, place, job, etc...) in your community

Community is an important part of human life. Your community includes your parents, siblings, cousins, classmates at school, teachers, friends, neighbors, teammates, and even the lady at the checkout counter at your local grocery store. Everyone you encounter is a part of a community to which you belong.

Even people you may not know or see on a daily basis are a part of your community. You may not know the girl who lives a few houses away from you, but you both live on the same street, may go to the same school, and are residents of the same city. This makes that young lady a part of your community. Likewise, the Governor of Texas and the mayor of San Antonio, like you, are fellow Texans--another element to your community. Similarly, a student living in Chicago, Illinois is a fellow American. If you continuously extend your focus outward, you will notice that your community involves all of humanity from the Chancellor of Germany to fellow students in Mumbai, India and Maai Mahiu, Kenya.

How can you help your community?

Sometimes we discover that a person or people in our community need help solving problems. As much as we might want to help, we are not always sure what we can do to help those in our community.

It’s important to first know that Everyone has the Power to Improve their Community! You might think, “I’m a kid, what can I do?” Well. . .

1. Ask questions. The best way to combat an issue hurting those in your community is to ask questions and learn about the issue and the community members it affects. Your parents, teachers, friends, and those hurt by the problem can all help you learn. You should never be afraid to ask questions and learn!
2. Act. Ask those requesting help, how you can help. Even if the problem affects you directly, there are likely others just like you looking to find a solution. You may find that these community members have an opportunity for you to get involved and help solve the problem.
3. Think Creatively. If those you speak to are not sure how you could contribute to solving a community issue, think about what skills you have and how your skills might benefit your community.

For example, you might find that your love of playing soccer can help fellow world-citizens access electricity.

Or you may discover that your thirst for lemonade can help find a solution to the unexplained widespread death of the American bee population.

Chirag Dedicates His Birthday to Bold Idea

One of the greatest benefits of community is support when you need it. Bold Idea friend Chirag Gupta recently dedicated his 26th birthday to our organization in a highly successful crowdfunding campaign. Run through Dallas-based NachoBirthday.com, Chirag spent a month actively sharing the fundraising plea and details on Bold Idea through his social media network. Word spread and after 30 days Chirag hit his $1,000 goal.

The director of North Dallas Coworking (NoD) and serial entrepreneur was influential in the early days of Bold Idea and continues to drum up support as we grow. We’re incredibly humbled and thankful to Chirag for asking his family, friends and professional network to support Bold Idea.

We also want to offer a huge ‘thank you’ to the 80+ people who donated to the campaign. Every donation will go a long way in helping us put Dallas’ most creative and passionate young minds to work as change agents today and bold leaders tomorrow.

Want to continue supporting Bold Idea?

• Host your own NachoBirthday campaign on your birthday. Connect with the founder Ryan to get started: ryan@nachobirthday.com.
• Donate directly to Bold Idea online through DonorBox.
• Volunteer! We’re currently needing mentors for ideaSpark teams and developers to join our Program Design Team. Learn more here.

Coding the Museum Experience

By Matt Sutton

I love museums. They are places where you can experience some of the world's greatest artifacts and stories! All over the world, museums are using emerging technology as new exhibits and to enhance the museum-goers experience. Since, this week at Bold Idea, we are celebrating coding used for and in art, I wanted to show great examples of how art museums are using and embracing coding and UI to improve their museums!

The Museum Companion

One of the earliest tech trends adopted by museums was the use of tablets and mobile devices as companions. Many, like the MoMA in New York City, use iPod Touches with a unique OS as a travel companion. It includes a comprehensive audio tour as well as search capabilities for additional content on individual pieces, information about museum hours and exhibit scheduling. The app, like many others today, also has sharing capabilities to major social media platforms integrated into the program. For a continued experience, the MoMA offers the whole software as a free app available to anyone on both the Apple and Android app stores.

Some museums have even taken this one step further. The Cleveland Museum of Art uses a downloadable program called 'ArtLens' that uses image recognition software to tells you detailed information about the piece of art you are looking at by simply pointing the camera at it. The software also using localizing RFID technology to give you real-time directions around the museum, "expanded interpretive content" like video and articles, and can lead you on specialized tours throughout the galleries thanks to RFID beacons placed all around the building. Also like the MoMA app, the Cleveland Museum of Art also allows you to store favorites in the app for now or later discussion.

Other institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City are using iBeacons and other RFID software, like the one shown below, to beam content straight to your mobile device. It is a very passive technology that can be used in leading tours and more. Similar technology that is small and designed in a way that is not intrusive has been used in fashion retailers, theme parks, and more to better cater and personalize a visitor's experience all while utilizing an individual's exisiting technology.

Members of the MediaLab (at the Met) explore the galleries of Egyptian art using beacon technology. Photo by Don Undeen

The software is a huge hit among kids and in the interactive children's exhibits where bits of trivia and reminders throughout the toured experience keeps kids talking and thinking about the artwork that they will see next or at the end of the day! Technology like this has been embraced instead of being discouraged in recent years since the public's view on social media and technology has changed.

The Interactive Playmate

Museums like the Louvre in Paris and the Smithsonians in Washington, DC used to have signs banning the use of cell phones in galleries but instead use technology to create a more immersive experience. Instead, simply allowing guards and museum staff to simply alert visitors when a piece is off limits for photography.

Museum officials recognize that in today's world that people have phones so instead having been learning to adapt the experience they offer recognizing that technology is a part of life. The senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, Paola Antonelli, put it nicely. “We live not in the digital, not in the physical, but in the kind of minestrone that our mind makes of the two,” she said.

When the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum reopened its doors after a significant remodel last year, it unveiled an amazingly unique interactive experience integrated throughout the whole museum. Led by the concept of a digital pen that is given to you upon entry, the pen experience allows uses to quick literally touch, explore and interact with the exhibits and design in an interesting way. You can can save information about an artifact on the pen by simply touching the special icon on the piece's placard. You can also use it to play games and interact with the information later at any one of the many touch screens tabletops throughout the museum.

The Artist's Agenda

Potentially the greatest way that coding and technology has influenced museums is through the artists themselves. Art museums with contemporary and digital art collections have been encouraged by artists to explore emerging technologies as a way of both integrating incoming art installations and preserving current and future possessions.

The National Portrait Gallery, a Smithsonian institution in Washington, D.C., used 3D printing to replicate Abraham Lincoln's "death mask" and uses 3D modeling to, with incredible detail, conduct analysis on preserved pieces of art. The last surviving canon-bearing vessel from the Revolutionary War, built in 1776, the gunboat Philadelphia is on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. Thanks to 3D scanning, the Philadelphia is also rendered online where interested viewers can admire it wherever they are and museum goers can see spots not viewable from where it's displayed in the great hall.

3D printing, data mapping and laser technologies have become a staple in a number of museums and art restoration programs around the world to conduct testing, restore artifacts and, even, detect forgeries.

Digital artist, R. Luke DuBois has described his work as “using the tools of our time — digital media, computing and data”. When commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to do a portrait of Google's founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, DuBois created a portrait on two digital screens. The left screen displays a series of video interviews of the two men on Youtube, Google's ever present video site, while the right screen was coded to take use of the Google's speech recognition software to displays a cascade of words from the interviews in clusters and mesmerizing patterns. It is a beautiful piece of self-referential digital art.

Museum and art institutions all over the globe are realizing that technology is here to help and not destroy mediums of ol'. I hope by reading this you realize that your love of art and history does not have to go away because you love coding. In fact, your inspired code could really change the art world some day.

Code that Lights Up Your Favorite Animated Film

Many of my favorite movies — as a kid and now as an adult — are animated. Over the past few years the visual effects in these movies are increasingly more sophisticated, including the lighting in Brave, photo realism of a city in Big Hero 6, and the immersive world and aerial stunts in How to Train Your Dragon 2.

Often, I can get so wrapped up in the story and the visuals that I overlook the massive amount of work that goes into making each one. For filmmakers, that’s probably the point. Consider though that a typical Pixar animation takes four to five years to complete, dozens of specialized teams and numerous lines of code.

Where does the code come into play for a computer-animated film? According to Danielle Feinberg at Pixar Animation Studios, there are actually millions of things you can do with code in animation. You could use code to make a leaf flutter, to make schools of fish, and to make a giant head of red curly hair (like Merida’s!) that moves appropriately with the character.

Animation programmers and engineers write the code that makes what is artificial seem real. Highly skilled engineers also design the tools that animators use to do the designing. Pixar actually built its own in-house rendering software called RenderMan that its teams use for all Pixar films.

RenderMan fleshes out animation to make it more realistic with interactive lighting and shading. Other computer graphic-heavy movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Solider also used RenderMan, now considered the industry standard for special effects.

Lighting in "Brave"

Lighting is crucial in animation. It brings things to life – from background scenes to a character’s face. Danielle worked on one of my favorite Pixar films – Brave. As the director of Photography for Lighting, she works to determine the look and feel of an animated scene using lighting, but underneath all the lights that she places in a scene are thousands of lines of code.

At the launch party last year for Made with Code, a Google initiative to encourage interest in computer science, Danielle shares the story of her experience lighting Brave. One day the computer “choked” on her during the development of the lighting style, however she ended up loving the end result — a dark forest — anyway and sold the idea to the director. A reminder that sometimes a flub can work out for the best.

Danielle Feinberg inspires girls to follow their own voice.

Software pushes what’s possible

Pixar is not the only animation house to design its own tools for lighting effects. Disney Animation, which released last year’s Big Hero 6, developed Hyperion, software that simulates the physics of light. It all sprang up from a desire to make the film’s futuristic city San Fransokyo as realistic as possible. With a shimmering bay, towering skyscrapers and pulsing neon lights, the Hyperion effects paid off.

The inception of Hyperion by Disney software engineer Brent Burley and its 2.5-year development is detailed in an LA Times story on Big Hero 6.

For Disney Animation, the process of rendering light was tedious before Hyperion because each ray of light’s trajectory had to be individually tracked. A single frame of animation could contain several light sources, and each ray of light could bounce off multiple surfaces, making the calculation of those individual pathways a computational challenge.

Burley posited that organizing large groups of light rays into bundles would allow a computer system to more efficiently handle calculations of their trajectories. By doing this, a film could feature more lighting sources and add nuance to their depiction. He presented his theory to Disney Animation executives in November 2011, and they were encouraged.

In today’s animated films, math, precise engineering and code come together to create characters and worlds that enchant us. So, the next time you see a family of dragons fly over the ocean on film, like in the upcoming How to Train Your Dragon 3!, consider the advancements programming is taking 3D animation.

Image sources: Disney

Programming the Future of Music

When you think of the purpose of coding, what comes to mind? Most people think of coding as a means for building programs that other people can use on their computers or, perhaps, even their tablet or mobile devices. They would be correct. However, the power of coding can be used for so much more than just to create the programs and apps people use every day. Code has the potential for building anything you can imagine. In fact, you can use code to both make art and change the way in which people experience it. Here's how code is changing the music industry.

Make Music

The music industry is inundated with code that builds everything from the music we listen to, the platforms we use to listen to music from our devices, and the concerts we attend. Sure, everyone knows that they can listen to music using platforms such as iTunes, Pandora, and Spotify, but what if you are interested in making your own music?

Join master beatmaker Justen Williams as he walks us through his way of laying down beats in Reason.

You can not only access programs that contain pre-coded tools to help you create songs right from your computer, but some programs actually allow musicians to program their own instruments and sounds. Software like Ableton, Pro Tools, and Reason provide users not only the ability to produce masterpieces from their laptops, but also allow coding composers to import their own program tools and even sounds that can be created using audio code languages such as C Sound and Supercollider.

Learn more about Dubspot's Sound Design Program: http://www.dubspot.com/sound-design/ Last year Dubspot presented a special sound design workshop with electronic producer and software programmer BT. Check out part one of a two-part video recap. Head over to our blog for more info: http://blog.dubspot.com/?p=63756 Check out our channel page for more tutorials, reviews, recaps, interviews, see what our partners are up to and more!

Already play an instrument and need something to help you put your music to paper? Programs like Vexflow and LilyPond are free open-source programs that use coding languages such as JavaScript, Python, and HTML 5 to help young musicians notate the music they create or build out the software to better suit their musical needs.

See Music

Even the concert and music festival experiences are changing at the hands of those who code. Companies like Xylobands and Pixmob program RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in the form of arm bands and other handheld devices to create innovative light displays for music festivals and performances by some of the industry’s top artists including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Black Keys, Arcade Fire, and Tiësto.

80000 live spectators were incorporated into Bruno Mars’ performance through a debut presentation of PixMob VIDEO interactive LED technology. Check out the website to see more projects : http://pixmob.com/project/

Other artists have built apps written in Java and Cocoa to innovate the concert and festival experience. For example, EDM musician Dan Deacon released a free app in 2012 for iPhone and Android that turned the mobile devices of his concert-goers into part of the show. Rather than use RFID, WiFi or the phones’ cell phone connections to interact, the app intuitively responded to audio “calibration tones” from the artist’s set. The result was a way in which Dan Deacon’s fans could truly interact with the lights and sounds of his concerts.

Download the Dan Deacon app for free from: iTunes App Store: http://smarturl.it/dandeaconapp Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dandeacon Find out more information at: http:///www.dominorecordco.com/dandeaconapp Powered by Wham City Lights http://whamcitylights.com

Perhaps you are more interested in classical music. Apps like Octava are striving to enhance the classical concert-going experience by delivering real-time annotations straight to your smart-device informing app users of the piece’s background and facts regarding performance.

This video showcases the core features of utilizing the Octava tablet app during live musical performances.

No matter your artistic interest or musical taste, code is not just for the computer programmer; it can also be used to compose the musical experience you want to share with the world.

Celebrate Coding for Art

Each week we will be celebrating how a Bold Idea in coding can inspire those in their respective fields. This week we are putting focus on Art! Stay tuned to see content from the Bold Idea staff on how coding and art inspire each other.

Happy Birthday, Alan Turing!

“Every time you use a phone or a computer, you use the ideas that Alan Turing invented. Alan discovered intelligence in computers, and today he surrounds us. A true hero of mankind.”

— Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google

We owe a lot to Alan Turing, who would have celebrated his 103rd birthday today. Hired by the U.K. government’s intelligence agency during WWII, the cryptanalyst pioneered computer programming and helped the Allies win the war by cracking the enigma code. He highly influenced the development of computer science by formalizing the concepts of algorithms and computation with the Turing machine — what would pave the way for modern personal computers.

In honor of his contributions, here are 5 ways you can celebrate the computer pioneer and code breaker’s birthday.

1. Learn cryptography from Khan Academy

The online learning platform now offers a ‘Journey into Cryptography’ lesson as part of its computer science curriculum. With a combination of videos and short challenges, the engaging lesson spans ancient to modern cryptography, randomized algorithms and codes vs. cyphers.

(Image source: Khan Academy)

2. Watch the Alan Turing biopic "The Imitation Game"

The 2014 film starring Benedict Cumberbatch helped to elevate Turing into the spotlight and gain the recognition he so long deserved. Leaders in the fields of technology, military, academia and LGBTQ groups worked to promote the film and Turing’s legacy. The list included Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Google’s Eric Schmidt.

(Image source: Studiocanal)

3. Read Andrew Hodges’ biography of Alan Turing: The Enigma

Both the Imitation Game and the 1996 film Breaking the Code were adapted from the book, which explores his incredible achievements and the terrible injustice that was done to him. The bio centers on three periods in Turing’s life: his childhood friendship with Christopher Morcom, his work at Bletchley Park on cracking the Nazi Enigma code and his arrest and prosecution for homosexuality.

(Image source: Amazon.com)

4. Borrow from Turing's own reading list

Brain Pickings includes a few highlights from a recently uncovered list of books that Turing borrowed from his school library. Many are heavy on the sciences, including Sidelights on Relativity by Einstein and The Universe Around Us by astrophysicist Sir James Jeans. Others though, like Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, show a more whimsical side of the well-read genius.

(Image source: Amazon.com)

5. Go for a run

No, I’m serious. Turing was an active runner and enjoyed exercise. In fact, he made it a part of his daily routine to take his mind off complex tasks. “I asked him one day why he punished himself so much in training. He told me, ‘I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard,’” commented J.F. Peter Harding, who recorded activities from the Walton Athletic Club where Turing trained.

Take a chance on a misunderstood kid.

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.”

— Alan Turing (a Cumberbatch line in The Imitation Game)

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Geek for Good 2015

At Geek for Good 2015, 24 Girl Scout Cadettes from the Dallas area built websites about issues in their community and the world. The three-day coding camp was a months-long collaboration between Bold Idea, AT&T and Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas.

Our goal was to help the girls, ages 11 – 13, learn how technology can address social issues and then give them the coding basics to do just that. After some hands-on experience with front-end web development, including HTML and CSS, girls worked in teams of three or four to build a website about a social issue, including bullying and world hunger.

Each girl was responsible for building one page for the team website. With a little HTML code and CSS, they created a menu that linked each of their pages to one another. This is the sixth web development workshop we’ve organized (though the longest), and each time the girls continue to amaze us with how much they’re able to learn and accomplish in such a short amount of time.

The girls connected to their team members quickly. Although teambuilding games and grouped tables helped, it was the goal of building something about a shared passion that brought the girls together. “I love my team and our work. We did an amazing job and worked hard!” said 6th-grader Caris.

Other girls like 8th-grader Hope enjoyed the hands-on coding and fully understanding “what happens to make a website.” We’re encouraged that most want to keep learning web development and to stay challenged with more CSS and JavaScript.

Teams worked alongside mentors, including web developers, professionals at AT&T and even computer science students at the University of Texas at Dallas. A few even represented local chapters of Women Who Code and Girl Develop It.

On the final day, the teams presented what they learned about their cause and how they shared that message through their website. Day 3 also included a tour of the AT&T Foundry in Plano and a panel presentation with AT&T women leaders.

Geek for Good represents what is fundamental to our mission. Rather than prepare young people for their future, we want give them the coding skills and confidence to be young innovators now.

These days, pre-teen and teen girls are embracing the name "geek girl," and we’re excited to help encourage that movement. Geeks are tech-savvy. Not just active users of technology, they are also builders of that technology. When girls realize they can build a website, mobile app or video game to make the world a better place, they are motivated to learn and wear the ‘geek’ name proudly.

Huge shout out to the following people who collaboratively made Geek for Good 2015 possible:

• Our event sponsor AT&T Women of Technology and our project collaborators, Kelly Chrietzberg, Lisa Hood and Yvette Caudle
• Stacy Cushing and Karlynda Poage from Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas
• Team mentors Justin Noel, Desiree’ Bryant, Carole Bennett, Barbara Theulen, Abby Miller, Aidan Dewar, Marta Soncodi, Amelia Moore, Kris MacKay, Poornima Bynagari, Matt Sutton and Julie Rauer
• Guest speakers Representative Linda Koop, Candy Conway, Marachel Knight, Evie McGerr and Sandy Hall

Realizing a Bold Idea Is Never Done Alone

By Jenn Beecham

Becoming an Engineer

When I became an engineer I faced the most adversity from older women in the community who were engineers as well. They told me the environment was tough, and I would have to work with mostly guys. Nonetheless, I was determined. At the University of Pennsylvania, I was fortunate to find an amazing community that supported women in engineering — the Society of Women Engineers. Later when I entered the working world as a developer my company had an active program that facilitated a community of women in senior roles to develop and shape the careers of fresh college graduates like me. My own enjoyment of engineering has largely been impacted through multi-year relationships and mentorships by men and women who have been in the field.

Women comprise more than 20% of engineering school graduates, but only 11% of practicing engineers are women, according to a 2011 study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. When I look at these numbers, I know that I got lucky. Many women report leaving Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields due to a lack of support, community and encouragement. As a result, I volunteered with organizations to mentor younger children in engineering and often specifically in coding both during college and my first job. I knew the reason I was able to develop all these skills was because someone was there to help grow my spark of a desire to learn into an actual flame. And the best way to keep that fire going was to spread it to those younger than me.

Moving to Texas

My move to Texas over a year ago was sudden. I was pulled out of environment with the friends and community I knew and placed into a new one. It’s always intimidating to go somewhere and build a community from scratch, but I relied on my passion to continue developing skills to find my new tribe. That’s when I first met Robyn Brown at Code Collective. We were a group of men and women who had coding projects and met on Saturday mornings to discuss our project progress and any new technology out there. I came in with a desire to start a Girls Who Code chapter in Dallas, a group my prior company had worked with. When I spoke of that idea, I learned the group was already involved in volunteering through Girl Scouts and a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Public Charter School to teach coding. It was a natural place to start.

The Primordial Soup of Thoughts

When I first spoke with Robyn about the program I wanted to kick off in Dallas, we realized that not only did we share a similar passion but the goal was much bigger. For one, we did not want to teach only girls to break the gender gap in the field. We wanted to accustom children from a young age to work with not only the opposite gender but those of different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. And two, rather than just teach coding, we wanted to change children’s mentality about coding completely. Coding should be like English, a language they all know. It’s not a language for those who are “smart” enough to learn. It’s the language of tomorrow, and it’s a universal language that can be spoken across the world.

We were reaffirmed in our passion at a Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas program fair when a 3rd grader named Lily visited our booth. She told us that of course she wanted to learn how to code. She wanted to be a veterinarian when she grows up. But first, she wanted to make a website to teach others how to take care of animals. And just like that we knew that these young minds had a natural tendency to want to help and were not yet bound by the traditional thoughts of what coding should be and who should learn it.

Becoming Bold Idea

When Robyn approached us about turning our passion project into its own separate non-profit organization, I knew she had the right idea. In order to ensure that the future of the technology industry is well balanced in gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds, we must train the generation of today. While we know we cannot impact the problem on a large global or even national scale, we wanted to start with our own community in Dallas.

To me, Bold Idea is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to my mentors. It’s recognizing that what brought me closer to coding wasn’t single one-off workshops; it was multi-year training and bonding with a community. It is realizing that my skills as a coder has made me feel empowered and confident. While those feelings cannot be directly passed on, learning how to code can be. Why am I a part of Bold Idea? Because I want to love our community in the best way I know how: To prepare a younger generation for the future and make them feel empowered to pursue their own passions.

The Path to Bold Idea

By Robyn Brown

I often get asked about the origin story for Bold Idea. To be honest, I struggle to provide an answer — mostly because it was not a simple, one-time "aha" moment, but rather a long series of events and serendipitous conversations. Even today, the organization has evolved from my original idea, and it's my hope that it will continue to evolve for the better as we expand our leadership team and test the program.

Rather than provide a linear timeline of events, I'll touch on the foundational elements of our organization and why I believe so strongly in them.

Mentoring

Often what we create and become as an adult is what we wish we had as a young person. For me, it was a mentor. I wish, as a teen, that I had an older sister or a young woman to encourage me, to show me that there was more to life after High School. I had no clue what opportunities were possible for me and little confidence in my abilities.

Could I be that mentor to a younger person, maybe a 16-year-old with unlimited creativity and courage, who just needs encouragement? And that’s what I did. For the past ten years, I've served as a mentor to dozens of teen and college-age girls as a Girl Scout troop leader. We go on college tours, tent camp, out to dinner or simply meet at Starbucks to talk about life and school. We even went on a dinosaur dig once — how cool is that?! They know I have their back and would go out of my way for them.

It’s my firm belief that any student — girl or boy — deserves a chance. Their ideas should be nurtured and taken seriously. I've worked with girls who other adults wrote off and are now thriving young women. Computer science is a challenging subject for any new learner that demands creativity, critical thinking and problem solving – skills not exactly honed well in today's standardized-testing education environment. Let’s sit alongside students as they learn to code – believe in them, encourage them and challenge them.

Community

Anything worth doing should be done together. There's a reason I mentor teams of girls rather than just individuals, as in similar youth organizations. The girls need support from each other and not just their mentor. I've enjoyed watching them build strong friendships and collaborate on service projects. We sit around a campfire, talk or laugh — you can feel that there’s a real bond.

Relationships are critical in life. I could not have gotten this far in the organization without the people on my team who validate my ideas and build on them. There’s a mentality that we're all in this together — we build together, we learn together and we see the outcomes together. From trivia night to bowling and numerous shared meals, we also play well together!

Our team also wants to dispel the notion that coding is a loner activity done in a windowless room with zero social interaction. Rather, it's team-based and collaborative in well-lit, open environments. Coding education should reflect that. We are building a program with small teams of students and mentors who learn together and complete projects together. Experience leads me to believe that the outcomes of this model will be stronger than individual learning.

Social impact

It was never our intention to teach students to code for the sake of coding or even to feed the computer science pipeline at universities. Computer science is — and has always been — about helping people, making their lives easier and the world better for all of us. There's a great phrase by Bill Ferriter, a "radical" educator, that conveys this idea the best: Technology is a tool, not a learning outcome. For us, coding is the tool for students to build technology solutions to social issues.

I remember social impact always being a part of the idea for our program — though now it's central to our purpose. I owe a lot of that to The Grove, the West End neighborhood-based co-working space where Bold Idea was born. There, I met people like Chirag Gupta who sparked the original idea and Ben Davis and Chelsea Masters who would eventually join the founding team, plus the numerous people who have contributed advice. The Grove is unique, encouraging its members to pursue ideas that support a social mission. I think that's what drove many of us to join in the first place and connect so well together.

I am blessed that I was raised by parents who so easily help those around them. Not because we should "do our part to make the world a better place" or to feel good about ourselves — it’s just what you do. When your elderly neighbor's washing machine breaks down, you fix it. When a single mom needs a break, you step in to watch her kids. My dad serves lunches in the summer at a mobile home park in our town for kids on the school lunch program. Because of their influence, I don't have to consider how or if I serve others. It's ingrained in me. Well, obviously you help your community!

Why me?

I am not a coder by profession, though I’m learning. I've spent the past ten years of my professional life writing marketing content for software companies and technology startups. I loved working in the technology space, lending my writing talents to engineer and developer teams. These were (mostly) brilliant and kind people, who were building awesome things — whether 4D subsurface modeling using an Xbox or DAS antennas in sports stadiums so fans could share photos over a reliable network. I geeked out over what they built, and they loved including me on their teams, and explaining features and use cases to me.

From that experience, I came to understand how much we rely on technology every day without even realizing it. The world is changing rapidly, and we have a greater need for technology solutions that will propel us forward as a society — from curing disease and meeting energy demand to feeding growing populations and democratizing knowledge. And the role of builder is no longer relegated to career technologists. Professions as diverse as doctors, marketing directors, teachers and accountants must become proficient in coding. It's not a future outlook, it's happening now. And really — why prepare kids for their future when we can prepare them to be builders now?

This hasn't answered the question, "why me?" Maybe I'm bold enough to want to do something about it. Maybe the past 10+ years has just been a buildup to this point so I could gain the communication and organizing skills, plus the connections, to make this a reality. And again, I can’t do this alone. It takes a team of passionate people who work together to make this outreach possible. I love working with my passionate team members because together we create something that didn't exist before we got connected.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

— Margaret Mead

Inspiring Young Minds: A Developer's Responsibility

I was about 17 when I had my first "aha" moment as a new coder. A talented friend in my journalism class showed me something I never thought possible for a high schooler, let alone someone several years younger than me. He built his own website and published it on the world wide web. Driven by the (somewhat misguided) desire to share mp3 files with friends, he inspired me to build my own website. He showed me the magic of HTML and Macromedia Flash, and how to host it on geocities.com for the world to see. Before long, I had my creation. Picture this: A main navigation designed like a car stereo knob, which scrolled through a list of links as you turn a knob. Animated GIFs of hula girls and tiki torches decorated the margins. And, of course, let's not forget the ubiquitous “under construction” sign. To be honest, it was bad… but it was a lot of fun.

In that moment I realized the raw potential of this new tool I had at my disposal. I felt like I had discovered a new superpower. Using nothing but the family computer, I could make virtually anything. I became obsessed with building things in my new digital sandbox. Every problem seemed to have a solution — all I had to do was make it. The ideas really started flowing then, and they haven't stopped since.

The turning point

“I needed to do something different. I needed to use my superpowers to make that ‘dent in the universe’ everyone keeps talking about.”

Now at 36, I code for a living, and I absolutely love what I do — though it's hard at times to see that. Looking back over the years, I've created a lot: An online learning platform for medical students, a full-featured content management system and even a website that housed half a billion cup codes letting you redeem your empty Slurpee for some serious swag.

Yet somehow the more I built, the less I cared about what I was building. Coding became just a way to earn a paycheck. Eventually that original spark, that sheer pleasure of creating something from nothing, was all but gone. Only recently did it dawn on me that I needed to do something different. I needed to use my superpowers to make that “dent in the universe” everyone keeps talking about.

How did I get to that point? I realized what it really means to be a developer. Through technology, developers accelerate the rate of change and progress in everything around us. And maybe it's so ubiquitous in all of our lives that we fail to notice it — or even appreciate it. Think about it: we have robots that can vacuum our floors. Nearly everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket. People are increasingly substituting a university education for a web-based one at a fraction of the cost.

Powered by code

When Twitter first debuted in 2006, I thought it was just a silly Internet fad. But it didn’t take long for Twitter and other social media platforms to be the vehicle that sparked an entire country’s revolution. In 2011 the hashtag #Jan25th was used to mobilize protesters to join the demonstration at Tahrir Square. Though the outcome was unintended, it was developers who enabled that. As a developer, that makes me bust my buttons with pride. You see, we are not just users of technology — we are the builders. Developers are the primary movers in the biggest social revolution since the invention of the printing press.

I couldn't help but ask myself, what have I been doing? As adults, we tend to reflect on our years and consider everything we might have done differently, if only we knew then what we know now. We wonder how many years might have been wasted along the way trying to find the right path. For many of us, that need fuels our desire to teach younger generations so they don’t repeat our mistakes.

A couple years ago, while visiting family, I was sitting on the couch hammering out some code for a client’s website. Sammy, my 10-year-old nephew, sat down next to me to see what I was doing. With big eyes he looked at my screen as if I was decoding The Matrix.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I'm hacking the government mainframe,” I said with a straight face. “Sssh, don't tell anybody.”

“No, seriously, what is all that on your screen?”

“Ok, you got me. Well, this is called code. It's what I use to build websites.”

I went on to show him how every website is made of code, and how everything I need to make a full website is right here on this laptop.

“Wow, is that like, your job?” he asked.

“Yep. Believe it or not people actually pay me to make things on the computer!”

Of course, I did my best to seize that opportunity, as he was brimming with curiosity. I showed him how we can even make simple video games just by writing code in a text file. I asked Sammy if he wanted me to teach him, and his face lit up with excitement. Moments later two more of my nephews walked in, along with my niece, Brooke.

“Hey what are you guys doing?” they asked.

“We're learning to code video games,” I said. “You guys wanna learn too?”

“Sure!” said Brooke, without hesitation.

One nephew objected. “No, Brookie, girls don't do programming stuff.”

Woah, I thought. They're not even teenagers, and yet they've already adopted this gender stereotype. I need to nip this in the bud.

“Hey guys, that's not true at all. In fact, I actually work with a girl coder, and she's one of the most clever web developers I've ever met. You never know, Brooke could come up with the next billion-dollar idea. You should be a lot nicer to her.”

The look on Brooke’s face was priceless.

I realized something that day. Not only did I have the opportunity to share the world of coding with these kids — it was my responsibility. At that point it was no longer just about coding, it was about teaching them that they can do anything they wanted, girl or boy. A few days later I found myself teaching an impromptu Python class to seven of my nephews and nieces. It was by far the most rewarding thing I’d done in a long time.

The spark rekindled

Later that year I met Robyn Brown, a freelancer working out of a co-working space called The Grove. I'd heard that she was starting a program to teach kids coding, and we became quick friends. I immediately jumped on the chance to participate in a workshop she organized to teach web development to 25 pre-teen Girl Scouts. At that workshop, I witnessed an “aha” moment in a girl who suddenly realized what she could now do. Her mom told me later that her daughter came in thinking that "coding wasn't for me.” By the end of the workshop she was talking about all sorts of ideas for her new website.

“I’m all in. Let’s do this.”

The following week over some gourmet pizza, Robyn shared with me her bold idea. She understood that it wasn't enough to conduct one-off workshops that taught coding for the sake of coding. For years Robyn has been mentoring Girl Scouts and helping them work as a team to make a big impact in their communities. She wants to build that same foundation of mentoring and teamwork into a long-term program that would empower our community's youth to be builders of technology. I didn't need much convincing before I said: “I'm all in. Let's do this.”

In less than a year I went from serving as a one-time volunteer, to a co-founder of Bold Idea, inc, and eventually accepting the role of Board Chair. I have made a commitment to our organization and the values it stands for, including community, inspiration and discovery. I believe wholeheartedly in our mission: To develop and empower young minds to execute bold ideas as a team through the power of coding.

This year, I’ve been mentoring several students in our Open Coding Hours program. One of those students, Bryan, is a smart and goofy High School sophomore. I sit alongside him and offer guidance as he learns Python. I share with him my love for a programming language that I use daily, and I beam with pride when a new coding concept sinks into his head. We talk about the projects he can build with Python, HTML and Javascript. I share with him my own experiences and the lessons I’ve learned throughout my Web development career.

I believe that as developers, it's our responsibility to pass the torch to the next generation of technology builders. In doing so, we have the opportunity to influence them in a positive way inspire them to think big and make their own dent in the universe.

At Bold Idea, we are looking for developers who are passionate about what they do and want to help foster the next generation of technology builders. Interested? Contact me at ben@boldidea.org and let's talk.

Game Review: Scratch

This game review is part of our "Game of Code Week" series.

By Kristin MacKay

Scratch is a good computer language program to use if you want to be a programmer. What I liked about Scratch was that you have a collection of sprites to choose from and you can change the background (scene) of the sprite. Also, you can make a program to change the color as they move. You can make the sprite talk as they move or have other actions. You can also add new sprites and join them in the same show but each sprite will have different functions. You can also create games on the website. Here's mine: "Dance Show on Scratch."

What I didn’t like was that you have a limited amount of things to do and a limited amount of colors to choose from for your sprite. In addition, it seemed like there was a limited amount of instructions they had on there for your sprite character.

The Scratch computer language taught me how to use computer language to tell a computer what I want it to do or design a game anyone can play.

What I wished the Scratch program did was make it so the characters legs were actually moving and the mouths would move so it could like the sprites were actually talking. For example, if you only had to make the mouth move instead of having to draw a new costume for the sprite to do animation.

What I would do to make the Scratch program better is make the program challenging with each age; the older you are the more difficult it will become.

About Scratch

Scratch is a free desktop and online multimedia authoring tool. It can be used to create games and be a stepping stone into computer programming. Scratch can also be used for educational or entertainment purposes for math and science. Scratch uses event driven programming with multiple active objects called “Sprites” (can be drawn as bitmap or vector graphics). Scratch was designed by Michael Resnick and first appeared in 2006. MIT Media Lab Lifelong Kindergarten group is the developer.

Kristin is a Bold Idea student.

Game Review: Greenfoot

This game review is part of our ‘Game of Code Week’ series.

By Kris M.

What is Java?

There’s a common misconception that Java is related to JavaScript - like a parent or cousin. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. The numerous web-based tools, games, and programming learning environments that exist for JavaScript don’t exist for Java.

Java language is very much a workhorse and can run in web browsers, stand alone on PCs and Macs, or packaged as part of an Android application or Minecraft modification. Its versatility has a big drawback: Often, rather large software development environments must first be configured in order to run Java, using Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as NetBeans, Eclipse, or IntelliJ IDEA. Environments like web-based ideone are already configured to compile and run Java code, but aren’t designed specifically for game play.

Typically, Java is used to teach Object Oriented Programming (OOP) techniques such as classes, methods and instances. The concepts can be rather abstract for new programmers. For example, both motorcycles and cars are both vehicles (classes). Cars can turn left or right but they can’t do wheelies like a motorcycle (methods). Specific vehicles can be a red Ford Fusion car and a black Harley Sportster motorcycle (instances). See it’s not hard to discuss these ideas - but it’s not easy either.

Play and learn Java with Greenfoot

Greenfoot is an interactive Java environment designed primarily for educational purposes at the high school and undergraduate levels. Its graphical nature makes it good for interactive games and simulations in a 2-D cartoon type format. Greenfoot was developed and is maintained at the University of Kent with support from Oracle.

Greenfoot’s environment allows people to experiment with Java concepts without the need for extensive configuration. In addition, instead of relating these concepts to something that cannot interact or change, complex concepts are done and shown using common items such as an animal eating an apple for food (cartoon images) to illustrate classes, inheritance, and methods.

Classes are shown by building items from different components (hedgehog and apples are built from actor). When more animals are made or apples disappear, instances are then created and destroyed. Methods are used to interact with the world to move around or see how many apples have been eaten.

My thoughts

With Greenfoot, students can bring to life what can be difficult and complex. I thought that made learning fun. Sample projects are available for illustration and modification. I was disappointed that there weren’t several examples included with the installation. However with a little exploration, you can find several examples on the site.

To extend and fully understand the Greenfoot environment, it is better to purchase the book. I was disappointed to find that it was so expensive (nearly $100). I expect college level technical books to be around this price, yet this is quite expensive for someone at the high school level. True, a high school class might be able to get by with the teacher having a book, but extended learning with Greenfoot is difficult without it. On the other hand, Greenfoot is a companion tool for learning Java and cannot be the sole resource.

For Java students, I’d recommend Greenfoot for reinforcing skills. It is still necessary to have main books for learning language syntax and design patterns.

• Greenfoot: http://www.greenfoot.org/download
• Textbook: Introduction to Programming with Greenfoot: Object-Oriented Programming in Java with Games and Simulations (2nd Edition) by Michael Kölling

Game Review: CodeCombat

This game review is part of our ‘Game of Code Week’ series.

Like most 4th grade boys, Ethan and Josh love online games — the more destructive, the better. Recently the two took a break from Minecraft to try CodeCombat, a web fantasy game that teaches players the basics of computer science. And they couldn’t get enough.

In fact, Ethan’s older sister Ashly, also Josh’s after-school babysitter, commented: “They really had a lot of fun playing the game. Josh now doesn’t want to play Minecraft when I come over to watch him. He and Ethan just want to play CodeCombat and learn how to make their characters stronger.”

In their own words, here are Ethan and Josh describing why they get so excited about CodeCombat and why they’d recommend the game to other kids:

Ethan and Josh review Code Combat.

In CodeCombat, players don’t learn to be engineers by playing the game – they learn the more important foundational skills like formal syntax, conditional logic and variables. The game itself is set in a fantasy realm in which the player must code to defeat the forces of the marauding ogre hordes.

The story behind CodeCombat

George Saines, Nick Winter, and Scott Erickson founded CodeCombat in 2013. The founders met each other ten years ago at Oberlin College in Ohio, where they were roommates. The three of them graduated in 2008 with degrees in computer science (Nick and Scott) and Economics (George).

From 2008–13, the three worked on their first startup Skritter, which teaches Chinese and Japanese characters. Nick and Scott handle all things technical, George handles all things related to the operation of the company.

At Skritter, George was constantly frustrated by his inability to contribute to the development process. He tried most of the existing learn-to-code resources and found them to be boring. At the same time, Nick and Scott realized that the core of George’s problem was something they had already solved at Skritter: people failing to learn a difficult skill through intensive learning when they should be learning through extensive practice.

For those that haven’t run an EdTech startup, the difference between extensive and intensive is simple. Reading textbooks and listening to lectures typify intensive learning; intensive learning is didactic and concentrated.

Extensive learning, by contrast, is the sort that occurs without specific intent. A child learning hand-eye coordination while playing Nintendo is an example of extensive learning.

As gamers and computer nerds, it seemed obvious to Nick, Scott, and George: what learners needed was a computer game that teaches programming. (Story from CodeCombat).

Game Review: Lightbot

This game review is part of our ‘Game of Code Week’ series.

by Robyn Brown

In Lightbot, players move the lightbot robot through a variety of puzzles, light up blue tiles and solve levels. They do this by creating their own mini-programs. If your kids have played Code.org games, this will look familiar. Drag-and-drop blocks come ready with actions like move forward, turn right and light up that users move to the coding screen on the right. A green play button then runs the program, while a pulsing techno sound keeps the beat in the background.

The challenges get harder as you progress through multiple levels – each one teaching a new coding concept, including procedures (similar to functions), overloading, loops and conditionals. The app features an impressive 50 levels and 20 challenge stars to collect.

My take

Lightbot is an effective education tool that helps kids build critical thinking skills and learn to think like a coder. Rather than control the robot with arrow keys, users must thoughtfully plan the commands they want lightbot to take, and then debug their commands if he makes a misstep. As a game, it’s visually appealing and challenging enough to keep kids engaged. Once you’ve played through the game, you’ll have an easier time jumping to similar programs like MIT’s Scratch.

I’d recommend Lightbot for ages 8 and up. Some reading comprehension is required to understand the instructions in each level. Higher up levels get more challenging, and I can definitely see adults enjoying the game as much as kids. I did!

An easier version — Lightbot Jr — is also available for younger ages. Both versions can be downloaded for iPhone, iPad, Android and Kindle devices, as well as for Windows and Mac computers for Lightbot — all at varying prices.

Want to try it before you buy it? A few short puzzles are up on the Lightbot website (https://lightbot.com/hoc2014.html).

Game Review: Erase All Kittens

This is the first of many game reviews in our ‘Game of Code’ Week.

Review by Jenn

“Long long ago, in the times of the ancient Internet, humans lived in a world without kitten GIFs…” Thus begins the HTML/CSS learning game of Erase All Kittens. The game has a creative premise that all the cute things on the Internet have banded together to eliminate the kitten GIFs which had gained domination in the hearts of Internet users. You play as Arca, a little cat-like creature who has been rejected by all the Internet objects, and kittens are your only friends.

You are Arca, and you want to save your only friends, the kittens.

As Arca you journey through different levels to save kitten GIFs. The only way to complete each level is using HTML or CSS to manipulate the objects on the screen. The narration is calm, the tutorials are easy to follow and overall game play is non-intimidating. Best of all, completing a level rewards you with a kitten GIF!

This game could be recommended for any beginner of HTML, no matter what age. Its ease of play could be comprehended by early elementary age students, and its cuteness and quirkiness would be appreciated even by an older generation.

Sample level of Erase All Kittens, try to get Arca to the other side by editing the length of custom HTML class “ledge.”

Erase All Kittens is created by Drum Roll. Their aim is to provide kids with their first steps towards digital literacy in the most entertaining way possible. At Bold Idea, Inc., we’re all about using the power of coding for good. What is better good than getting kids excited to become HTML experts and saving kittens?

Drum Roll is still developing the game and looking for help to code, translate and even provide voice overs. The first couple of levels are available for demo on their site — https://eraseallkittens.com/. These levels feature learning on basic HTML topics of classes, headers, divs and an introduction to style sheets.

Play Erase All Kittens with your kids, play it with your friends, play it by yourself! Just remember, in this game of code, you either win or the kitten GIFs die.