Tag: g-hive

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Girls in ICT Day 2015

Imagine a world where you can attend your Economics class from the comfort of your own room, where your gerbil can send you a picture to say it’s hungry, or your dress can tell when you’ll need a rain coat….  If you think this is the World of Tomorrow, you’re in for a world of surprises!  This phenomenon is called the “Internet of Things”.  It’s a world where things connected to the Internet can “think” and “communicate” for themselves.  It’s a world where all the things mentioned here are already taking place.  It is the World of Today, and YOU are a part of it!

On 23 April, In celebration of International Girls in ICT Day 2015, Digital Muse and Cisco Belux presented “Girls & The Future Internet”:  A hands-on workshop – in English, Dutch, French & German – for girls ages 13-17, to promote active participation and leadership by girls in designing and building the Internet of tomorrow, for fun, safety and wellbeing.

During the workshop, participants learned about the Internet of Things, developed IoT projects with a focus on health, safety, entertainment, fashion, “smart” cities, etc.; and they were encouraged to participate in the global Cisco-sponsored contest for IoT projects by girls.

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Europe’s First Digital Innovation Centre for Girls and Women

On 9 March in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute and 150 of its closest friends and supporters celebrated International Women’s Day with the grand opening of DLI‘s Digital Innovation Centre for Girls & Women, a first of its kind in Europe! This very special occasion was marked with fun, hands-on digital activities for all ages, a high-level roundtable with Brussels, Belgian and European stakeholders, and a reception for all in attendance.

To kick off the evening, DLI volunteers and partners took over the entire, new 100m2 space to give young and young-at-heart members of the DLI family a try at hands-on digital activities with the following themes:

  • 3D Design & Printing
  • Digital Music & DJing
  • Bits, Bytes & Machine Code
  • Silly Robot Missions
  • Play Your Musical Fruit

In particular, the Bits, Bytes & Machine Code activity – a card game for all ages designed by Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI Digital Literacy Lead and g-Hive Community Manager – was a popular (and loud) crowd favorite. It required players to calculate in bits and bytes, and showcased the digital natives in the group, who nimbly trounced their analog ancestors to much vocal lamenting.

The Digital Activity Stations then gave way to an official DLI Opening Ceremony graced with a beautiful video message from Ms. Bianca Debaets, State Secretary of the Brussels Capital Region for Equal Opportunity and ICT, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony officiated by Miss Manon Van Hoorebeke, 2014 European Digital Girl of the Year, and Ms. Esther Roure Vila, 2014 European Digital Woman of the Year.

The evening’s activities were rounded out with a high-level discussion on the topic of “Women Driving Digital Innovation,” with unique and insightful interventions by the VIPs in attendance, all amazing role models for girls and women in technology:

As a magical closing to an exciting evening, Ms. Pascale Van Damme, Managing Director of Dell Belgium & Luxembourg and 2014 “ICT Woman of the Year”, surprised the convened guests with dedication of forty Dell laptops to DLI saying “this is a contribution to help ensure the DLI Centre gets off on the right foot and is able to achieve its mission which we support very much.”

Thank you, Dell! And thank you to all of our DLI community and supporters for such a wonderful and memorable DLI opening event!