It is possible that you read this site from time to time and weren’t aware that we were in Boston running
Business of Software last week –
pictures. Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, Hipmunk and Breadpig amongst other things offered to give away a Macbook Air to the person who tweeted the best idea to make the world #suckless using software.
We had several hundred entries in less than 24 hours. The guy who was having a bad week and felt a Macbook Air would cheer him up didn’t win. The guy making Oracle databases talk to each other a bit faster didn’t win. The winning tweet didn’t want the Macbook Air and the second place didn’t want or need it either. That story here:
Alexis Ohanian’s #Suckless #BoS2011 challenge winnerI couldn’t have hoped or imagined for a better, more kick ass outcome. Here is the email I got today.
“Hello Mark & Alexis,
I spoke with Brent Conway the principal of the Melrose Lincoln School – he was very excited and supportive – the project is underway! We will run the Lincoln School Computer Club on Friday Mornings at 7:30am before school for ~20 weeks.
We’re offering the Programming Class to the Fifth Graders at the Lincoln School – we’re going to start with 8 kids. See the attached document which went home in backpacks & as an email to request student applications. We’re planning finalize the student list by November 15th – 2011.
I’m going to start the kids off with SCRATCH from MIT – http://scratch.mit.edu/ because it is easy for kids to see results and get engaged. Then move them over to simple iOS games iPhone & iPad.
We’ll be highlighting our accomplishments at the Lincoln School STEM Night (Science Technology Engineering & Math) at the End of the Year Assembly.
Thanks very much for your support! I’ll keep you updated on our progress.
Exclusive Opportunity for a small group of 5th Graders
When: Friday Mornings, starting December 2nd. Time: 7:30 AM-8:10 AM Where: Lincoln School Computer Lab Mr. Clarke is a Lincoln Parent who is interested in providing a unique opportunity to a group of 5thgrade students who are interested in learning about programming. The students will create a program and share it with their classmates at the end of the year, and will have a special display during our STEM night in the spring. If there are many students interested, the students will then be asked to submit a one page summary of “Why I want to learn about Computer Programming.” We will notify students & parents by Wednesday, November 9th of the status of the registration. Please complete this registration form and return it to the Lincoln School office by Monday, November 7, 2011. Please know that by signing this registration form, you are agreeing to have your child here promptly at 7:30AM on Fridays.
Anyone in the Boston area want to donate any equipment – get in touch but looks like all they need now is a bit of time to get started. Good luck!
On another note, our next BLN get together is a CEO Tales in London on 8th December in London from 6-9pm. Barry Houlihan, CEO and Founder of Mobile Interactive Group, and Peter Bauer, CEO and Founder of Mimecast will share some brief thoughts on their very different experiences of growing global platforms from the UK. There is a small charge to attend. As ever, we offer a no questions asked refund policy if you attend and feel it wasn’t worth it.
More info and to register: CEO Tales, 8th December
