Young
Rewired
State_
Festival of
Code_
International Centres 2015
Summary_
Young Rewired State is looking to partner with in-country organisations to expand its annual flagship hack event,
the Festival of Code, internationally. International expansion will provide young coders in cities around the world
with the chance to take part in a global event, and join a thriving community of like-minded peers to further their
technology skills. Young Rewired State is looking for strategic support in the form of:
▪ a local volunteer/organisation to act as YRS Centre Lead
▪ a venue to host the local Festival of Code Europe centre with provision for 50 young coders
▪ volunteer support to mentor and further develop the skills of the young coders
Provision of these resources will enable Young Rewired State to extend its already considerable program
infrastructure to young technologists across the world, not just in the UK. The program also intends to leave a
sustainable legacy in every location through training and resources for every in-country partner, to ensure that the
Young Rewired State community continues to grow and strengthen after every interaction.
Contents_
Introduction to the Festival of Code
page 3
International centre partnership proposal
page 5
Introduction to Young Rewired State
page 8
Contact details
page 15
Festival
Of
Code_
The largest annual youth hack event in the world!
Taking place from 27th July – 2nd August 2015!
From Monday to Friday the young coders attend a volunteer local centre to:
● Team up and build digital solutions to real-world problems
● Learn to use open data
● Develop their skills with the assistance of expert mentors and their peers
● Connect with technologists and businesses in their local area
● Apply their digital skills to benefit their communities
All Festival participants then travel to the finale Festival weekend to:
● Present their projects to parents, mentors, press, industry and expert
judges
● Inspire the next generation of young technologists
● Discover people pushing the boundaries of digital making
● Gain access to new technologies
● Build new friendships
The
Winning
Hacks 2014
City Radar is a mobile app which allows
users to log complaints with their local
council
simply
by
photographing
problems with public services. The app
then detected the user’s location and
sent a report to the relevant council.
Winner: Code a Better Country
Miles Per Pound is a web app
The Hook is a programmable coat rack
which enables users to calculate
which enables users to delegate a
how much it costs to drive a
different weather condition to each
vehicle, simply by typing in the
hook and then be alerted, by the LED
number
plate.
interface, as to which hook to take
account
a
clothes from based on the Met Office
including
forecast.
depreciation
Winner: Best in Show (public vote)
insurance from a number of data
It
variety
fuel
and
takes
of
into
factors
consumption,
cost
sets
Winner: Should Exist Award
of
How_
The Festival of Code is facilitated by a network of volunteer ‘local centres’ who accommodate young technologists
from their communities for the week of the Festival (Monday to Friday). These centres range from small startups,
to schools, to co-working spaces, to large corporates, to charities and many more!
In order to participate as a Festival of Code centre, you’ll need:
● A centre lead: the centre lead will be responsible for organising the venue, liaising with the YRS team, and
assisting with recruitment of local mentors and young people in the run up to the Festival. They will also need
to communicate directly with the young people attending their centre in the weeks prior to the Festival about
centre arrangements (catering, centre opening hours etc.).
● A venue: all venues need to have good wifi and have insurance to cover the attendance of the participants.
Participants bring their own laptops so no further technical equipment is required. Opening hours, catering
arrangements and the number of participants to be accommodated are at the discretion of the centre.
Why_
By running a Festival of Code centre you will:
● Positively impact the lives of young people in your local community
● Demonstrate your commitment to the nurturing of digital skills and the
promotion of digital innovation
● Associate your organisation with a unique and innovative event, which is
fun and appealing to its young audience
● Be at the cutting edge of early skill development and application
● Interact with the digital influencers of the future
● Become part of supportive and influential global community
● Play a part in using technology and open data to build solutions which
benefit local communities
● Link young digital talent in your area with young digital talent around the
world
● Give the next generation of digital talent first hand experience of being
embedded in your organisation
● Provide rewarding mentoring opportunities for your local tech community
and your own organisation
So what are you waiting for?
It’s time to be a part of the YRS community!
Young Rewired State is a worldwide community of digital makers aged 18 and
under. We introduce young people to like-minded peers, and expert mentors, at
free events around the world, where they use freely available open data to build
apps, websites and algorithms to solve real world challenges.
Our aims are to:
●
foster a connected community of young coders and digital makers focused
on collaboration around using digital for social good.
●
provide the next step on from organisations like CoderDojo, Apps for Good
and CodeClub, skilling up the digital makers of tomorrow.
●
create a fun and supportive environment for all, aiming to further include
hard to reach groups.
●
run the largest annual hack event for young people in the world, the Festival
of Code, with participants taking part in the UK and abroad.
●
help young people grow their network younger, giving them a bigger head
start than ever before.
●
amplify and showcase the great work that technical young people create.
Realising
Their
Potential
discovering a whole
new community of
friends
who share common interests
learning from
successful technologists in
the community
IDEATION
to prototype
teamwork and
communication
thinking
ISOLATION
digital product from
critical
escaping
experiencing taking a
realising the
value and
POTENTIAL
of digital skills
improving confidence
and presentation skills
YRS Community
Development Model
Discovering the
Young Coders
Growing a Global
Community
Offering Them
Expert Support
Continuing Engagement
Through
Engaging them with
Festival of Code
YRS
Hyperlocal_
A network of sustained engagement
Through our network of committed volunteer venues and mentors we are able
to provide regular interaction for our YRS communities, ensuring they sustain
their efforts to grow their skills and remain connected to the support of experts
and peers. Hyperlocal provides:
▪ Monthly sessions in venues across the UK and Europe
▪ Links to the YRS community around the world
▪ Regular output of challenges to kick-start fresh projects and inspire young
people to push the boundaries of what they know
▪ Online platform consisting of data resources, development tools, tutorials,
forums and centre information
▪ Access to new technology through our corporate and charity partners
▪ Sustained outreach to local schools, libraries, businesses and other code clubs
The Hyperlocal groups we establish ensure that every interaction we have leaves
behind a legacy and sparks longer term ambition for digital skill development
and tech innovation in every community we reach.
What
People
Say
‘Thanks for a very memorable weekend. To say I was impressed by the
abilities of the participants would be an understatement!’ – Sathya Smith,
Google
‘On Sunday night I received a very tired, very dirty (and smelly) BUT very happy 14
year old… He's learned a great deal, spent valuable time out of his bedroom and
met like-minded peers which I know is at the heart of YRS.’ – Gary, parent
‘YRS has helped boost my confidence in coding and in presenting, introduced me
to new friends and given me memories I will treasure forever…’ – Chloe,
participant
‘One word comes to mind: humbled. So many talented youngsters with bright
futures ahead!’ – Siji Onabanjo, Judge
Meet
The
YRSers_
Neena_ first attended YRS in 2012 after teaching herself Scratch, HTML, CSS and
Python programming. At the moment she is working on developing two products.
The first is an app she prototyped at YRS which uses open data to help students her
age find out which university they’d suit. The second is a web system to automate
collection of vital signs data in hospitals. She currently has offers to study
engineering at MIT and Cambridge University. Neena said of her experiences at
YRS: “It’s broadened my whole knowledge base, introduced me to so many people,
and inspired me to create fun and world-changing projects”
Zak and Freddie_ prototyped their app ‘Votr’ at a YRS event in 2014
because they wanted to use their digital skills to engage young
people with the General Election using open-source data from
Twitter. They have now released their app for download on Android
and Apple devices and been profiled by local news and the BBC.
Young
Rewired
State_
for more information please contact
[email protected]
Thank you for your consideration.