On Saturday June 17th, the RDS becomes stranger than science fiction when it is transformed into a wonderland of computerized creations and artificially intelligent innovations. Who are the tech geniuses behind these digital developments? Kids, of course. Maybe it'll make you think twice before telling them they're spending too much time in front of screens in future.
They didn't get there all by themselves though. CoderDojo is a free network of computer programming clubs for young people. With over a hundred dojos in Ireland, it's rapidly becoming a national obsession and its Coolest Project competition in the RDS is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work across the country.
Kathryn Thomas was joined on The Ray D'Arcy Show by one of CoderDojo's co-founders, Bill Liao, to talk about the phenomenal and ever-increasing success of the organization and the empowerment of its young members.
First things first though, what is coding?
"Coding is, very simply, a story. It's a story you tell a machine to get it to do a set of instructions… Really, coding is a language skill. To get good at it, you've got to combine creativity and economy of expression and that means a lot of work… What we seek is for them to become coder poets that play well with others."
CoderDojo not only demystifies computer programming Liao says, but it also provides an important social platform for creative collaboration that brings kids of all ages together to work for a common goal.
"It always delights me when I see a twelve year old girl instructing a fifteen year old boy on how to get some coding done. You just see that they all think differently, and when they bring that together, all the different ages, all the different backgrounds, you actually get more creativity".
All you need, Liao says, is a space, laptops and wifi access. If local web developers and mentors are happy to give their time for an hour a week, that's extremely helpful, but the ethos of CoderDojo is very laissez faire. All the instructions on how to open a dojo and learn to code are online and are easy to follow. He feels the most important thing is to allow it be a kid-led process.
"Let the kids figure it out as much as possible. Make it a social occasion. There is no place in this country where you could not have a CoderDojo tomorrow."
Go on, open your mind and treat the family to a free day out in the RDS. Check out coolestprojects.org for details and click here for the full interview.