Mentor Monday: Meet Elaine

A long-time Bold Idea volunteer, Elaine Torres is a mentor with a team of 7–10 year old ideaSpark students at the Frisco Athletic Center. She's also a member of the Bold Brigade (our brand ambassadors), lending her digital marketing talents.

Meet Elaine...

How did you become interested in programming?
I took the convoluted approach to tech and programming. Initially my interest was in art. Traditional art, you know paint, drawing, sketching...etc. It wasn't until I discovered that I could take my drawings and convert them into digital pieces that I began to discover my love of technology.

Enter the Emerging Media Program at UT Dallas. This was something that was life changing for me because I discovered that I could combine my love of the arts with digital design. I grew fascinated with the "how" and the "why" the digital programs I was using were doing what they were doing and this led me to discover my admiration of the programming side of things.

What did you study in college?
In college I majored in Liberal Arts, and then at UT Dallas, Emerging Media Arts & Communications.

What are you working on now?
Right now I help other businesses with their digital design and marketing needs.  Current projects include: A redesign of my current website, and assisting with the digital marketing for Bold Idea, and another technology group called Digital Dallas.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your favorite experience?
So much. I have always loved being a mentor. I have worked with children prior to my connecting with Bold Idea, and just love their energy and enthusiasm. I have taken that enthusiastic mindset into my own life and learned to "think like a kid" when it comes to entrepreneurial ventures. They are all in with everything they do, I try to do the same.

My most memorable moment ha ha...Has to be raining tacos. I worked with two little dudes (who shall remain nameless) to try to help them create an app or game that would bring awareness to recycling. That was the task, what they ended up with was creative, but didn't really bring awareness to recycling. One boy tried to stay on task, and the other well he had a desire to create a video with raining tacos everywhere and explosions, and space, and car crashes...and well I'll let you guess how their project ended up. While they didn't complete the assigned task, I noticed that they both had a creative streak that they might not have discovered were it not for this program. They worked together to create raining tacos, in space, with no car crashes caused because of the tacos everywhere. George Lucas would be proud.  

Is there anything you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
OH man so much. I was in a class in 7th grade that taught us DOS to create pictures on the computer...(totally just aged myself there) and I would tell myself to do MUCH better in that class than I did. Who knows what kind of 'THINGS' I could have created.

Is there anything about Bold Idea's mission that really connects with you?
The connection with the next generation of coders, designers, and technical minds connects with me. Children have so much potential and they are amazing little sponges. The more good stuff we put into them, the greater our world could be.

Mentor Monday: Meet Jennica

Jennica Drewe has served as a Bold Idea mentor since we started testing ideaSpark last year. She's also been a driving force on our Program Design Team and recently a mentor trainer. We're excited that she'll be mentoring ideaSpark students in 3rd – 5th grade at UT Dallas again this semester.

Meet Jennica 

How did you become interested in tech or programming?
I have always been interested in tech because my big brother is a gamer and always had a computer or console to play video games on. There is a 6 year age gap between us but video games were always something we could bond over. I became interested in programming when I became a technical writer at Texas Instruments. Programming basics are a big part of what I do on a day-to-day basis and learning some other languages has really helped me.

What did you study in college?
In college, I studied journalism with a concentration in public relations. I also studied Spanish and political science.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working at Texas Instruments as a technical writer, and I am the project lead for our team's staffing company, Brightwing.

I work on a lot of different projects. Everyday I work on the technical documents for about 7 different groups at TI. That includes editing, formatting and creating some graphics. I also work on our standards document, help test new software applications, and help train new team members.

What have you gained from being a mentor? What was your most memorable moment while mentoring?
I have enjoyed getting to see students grow during the semester. We really challenged our students at UTD to work with new people and it was amazing to see how surprised they were when they enjoyed working with someone new.  My most memorable mentoring  moment was watching my students present their projects in front of everyone at Demo Day and to see how far they got with their projects.

Is there anything that you wish you could tell your younger self about coding?
Think of coding like a puzzle, and it will be a lot more fun when you have to debug!

Is there anything about our mission that really connects with you?
I love that Bold Idea seeks to empower students through code. By being an ideaSpark mentor, we get to teach students so much more than code. It is quite an experience to see a shy student present their project in front of a huge group of people they haven't met before. That is pretty empowering.

How I Started Programming

By Krithika Suresh

I've never written an article before, but I wanted to share my experience with programming. I think it will show a different perspective on how people become involved in computer science. I was first introduced to the idea of coding when I was young, probably around twelve years old. I was playing online games, and I noticed that other "regular" people like me could make websites using programming. When I say regular people, I mean people who don't professionally program for a living. A friend of mine showed me a webpage that she made for a group she had in an online game, Neopets. It was simply made in HTML, but I was in awe that she made it. I wanted to make one myself.

Excited by the idea of making a webpage, I remember trying to learn, using resources like CodeAcademy. I ended up making a simple webpage in the beginning for my own group I decided to start - I don't remember now what it was about. I wasn't able to meet the high standards I had set for the way the webpage should look as I tried to improve. After confused attempts using CSS, I eventually moved on without looking back.

Fast forward several years to high school, I participated in a psychology research lab that required me to learn how to do some basic coding for the online questionnaire program. Even though the language was specific to the research and wouldn't be useful elsewhere, I didn't mind learning it. Then I realized that coding was something I enjoyed. I would be working on the research project for hours - changing the code, testing it, seeing how bad it was and fixing it again, and it would feel like no time at all.

It's important to know whether you enjoy programming when deciding whether or not you want to be in the computer science field. I think coding is fun whenever you know what you're doing. That's probably why I discarded the idea of it when I was younger, but I hope that other young ones have the support they need when they try coding out for the first time.

So now, as a freshman in college, I'm pursuing a degree in computer science. There is a learning curve, but this year I've become more familiar with all the different branches of computer science that one could go. I'm looking forward to exploring my options.

2015: A Year of Growth for Bold Idea

2015 has been a remarkable year for Bold Idea.

This time last year, our organization was just an idea to help a new generation learn how to build technology through code. Embodying the spirit of our mission statement, we spent most of 2015 building a team to make our own bold idea a reality. Support from our donors, partners, volunteers, family and friends this year has been invaluable. As the formative year of our organization, we needed people to not only believe in our mission statement but to also support and embody our values.

At Bold Idea, we are passionate about developing and empowering young minds toimpact their world together as builders of technology. That’s why our mentors work alongside them to develop their skills in coding, computer science, teamwork and problem solving. As a result, our most creative and passionate minds work as young coders today and become bold leaders tomorrow.

We strive to design programs that further this vision.

• Our collaboration with AT&T and Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas in 2015 allowed us to pilot our first multi-day workshop with a focus on web development for social good – Geek for Good.
• In January we launch a new Bold Idea program: ideaSpark, providing 1st-8th grade students education in computer science for community problem solving.

And we’re not doing it alone. Over 25 volunteers have signed on to mentor students and support program development. We also have support from tech companies like Bottle Rocket and VMware, community groups like the Frisco Parks & Recreation Department and Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas and university programs like UTD’s School of Arts, Technology and Emerging Communications.

We hope you will continue to support Bold Idea in 2016 - both as a financial partner and an advocate in the community. We are looking forward to another year of growth for Bold Idea, and another year of inspired code from our students.

On behalf of all of us on the Board of Directors, THANK YOU and best wishes in the new year!

- Ben

Expanding STEM: Why Language Arts Has a Place in Computer Science Education

By Kris MacKay

The original mantra of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic has become too limiting. Students need to expand their knowledge of science and apply it to the world around them. By expanding student lessons using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), basic facts about science and mathematics are reinforced with problem-based learning exercises, often in a team environment. Computer programming has been used to simulate planet orbits to illustrate Kepler’s law and create your own space program, for example.

However, coding projects that support teaching in fields of study are not limited to science and math. For example, a game from the 70’s, Oregon Trail, was designed by three people to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. The game combined computer programming and social science. In a similar fashion, history students can build components for different regions in time using computer applications such as web pages or MIT Scratch. Other projects might include A.P. World History students constructing lessons for chapters on the Persian Empires, the Silk Road trade routes or Sub-Saharan African societies. The hybrid solution of programming and social science adds “A” (Arts) into STEM to offer students STEAM as a method to reinforce learning.

This can also be used for English class to explore literary topics. Students have studied “Romeo and Juliet” by acting out scenes with original or altered endings. Rather than have students build projects and memorize lines, they can share their work and variations with others in digital formats. Imagine if Mercutio had avoided the fight in 'Romeo and Juliet.' What words would Mercutio have said instead of "Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough...No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough..A plague o' both your houses!"?

STEAM opens a world of possibilities - not only for students but also for technical and non-technical teachers to discover, explore and learn.

Check out:

• Planetary Orbit Simulator http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/renaissance/kepler.html
• Kerbal Space Program https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/en/
• Oregon Trail https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990
• Romeo and Juliet Scratch project https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/2657449/

My Programming Story

When I was a little kid, one of my favorite computer gam tha I played was Age of Empires. It’s a war strategy game based on events that happened in the ancien worl. Every country has a special arm, and you can be the king of the country you choose when you start the game. You will develop the country in any way you want. You can ally with other countries and trade with them. But the most fun part is starting a war. Because of Age of Empires, I became interested in the virtual world inside he omputer. I wanted to create one of my own games. Therefore, I chose Computer Engineering as my major in UTD.

About two years ago, I started to learn programming online by myself. Programming is a lot harder than I thought, and more boring than just playing the game. The computer is like a baby. You have to teach him everything you want him to know. What he will do is exactly what you tell him to do. Once I even hoped he would get smarter and be able to predict what I am going to tell him to do and the do it.

In the hope of making my games, I am still learning programming and have made many friends in this field. Although it’s a really small game, I still remember the excitement after I made the game tic-tac-toe by myself. I think there are infinite possibilities in programming, which makes it one of the easiest ways to create something. Programming is like solving math problems: here are many different ways to get to the final answer. With friends, I can always get different thoughts. And knowing what other peopl ar thinking ith the same question can really help me think n a different level.

I still have a long way to go, both in my degree plan and in my skill level of programming. Hope we get better every day!

ideaSpark Fall Preview

Bold Idea has been hard at work over the past five months building ideaSpark — our after-school program that combines education in computer science, coding and community impact.

This fall semester we're offering 1st – 8th grade students a preview of the program — for free. Parents are welcome to sign up their kids for one or multiple Saturdays. Learn more

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.