Author: Digital Leader

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Coding for Young People at Digital Festival 2016

On 21 June 2016, as an official side-event of the first Digital Festival in Brussels, the Digital Leadership Institute will carry out a best practices roundtable on Coding for Young People in Europe and an Android coding workshop for young people, on behalf of the ERASMUS+ Coding for Young People project.

At this event targeting students, educators, administrators and policy-makers, expert panelists will lead a roundtable discussion on best practices in coding initiatives for youth from across Europe. The roundtable will be followed by an Android smartphone coding workshop for young people which is also open to members of the public (details below).  Participation is free of charge but both a ticket to the Digital Festival as well as a booking for the current event is required.

Draft Agenda:
14:30-14:35:  Welcome by Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute
14:35-14:50:  Coding for Young People Project Overview by Valentina Platzgummer, Consulta Europa

14:50-16:00:  Expert-led Best Practices Roundtable:

Moderator:  Ms. Cheryl Miller, Cofounder, Digital Leadership Institute

15:45-17:30: Android Coding Workshop for Young People:
Following the best practices roundtable, Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, Digital Leadership Institute Cofounder, and Friedger Müffke of OpenIntents.org, will lead a hands-on Android Coding workshop with MIT App Inventor, targeting young people ages 11 and up.  Participation in the workshop is free but places are limited so reservation is required.  In addition, attendees should bring their own laptop or contact the organizers if they need to reserve one (limited supply).

Coding for Young People Project Partners

    

 

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Girl Tech Fest Brussels

On 30 April at European School IV in Brussels, 250 girls from thirty-three schools across Belgium celebrated International Girls in ICT Day 2016 by participating in Belgium’s first-ever Digital Muse “Girl Tech Fest,” an all-day event promoting digital and creative skills to girls aged 11 to 15. The first Girl Tech Fest was carried out in Dutch, French and English and organized by the Digital Leadership Institute with support from Google, IBM, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell and the ULB. The event involved over 100 volunteers who organised more than forty workshops and twenty Digital Muse Lab activities that showcased high-tech gadgets and activities like Cooking with Watson, Google Cardboard, and Smartgurlz Drones designed, powered and modeled after girls.

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Participants also took advantage of hands-on workshops teaching such skills as how to “Lead Like a Girl” and “Write in Wikipedia,” and they got to design and build their own gadgets like computer-powered legos and 3D holograms. The first-ever Girl Tech Fest also featured inspiring talks by role models from GTF partners, as well as former European Digital Girls of the Year, Miss Lune Van Ewijk and Miss Manon Van Hoorebeke. Ms. Lorena Boix Alonso of the European Commission and Ms. Saskia Van Uffelen, Digital Champion for Belgium were also guests of honour.

DM1 ArtOn the occasion of the first Girl Tech Fest, the Digital Leadership Institute also released its first music compilation, Digital Muse One – DM1, featuring top women electronic musicians from the past and present. Ms. Maya Postepski, aka Princess Century, who composed a DM1 track called “California,” also delivered an inspiring talk at the Girl Tech Fest, organized several workshops on “digital music composition” and had several girls to join her in DJ-ing at a GTF disco during the lunch break.

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The closing GTF plenary showcased amazing digital creations of the day for which the girls themselves were responsible, including an original Digital Muse letter font, digital music compositions, and high-tech fashion designs. Prizes were given to outstanding digital muses who inspired their fellow participants during the day with insight, helpfulness, and general enthusiasm about the event and their fellow digital muses.

By all measures, the inaugural Girl Tech Fest Brussels was an unqualified success, and DLI is grateful to all its partners, volunteers and sponsors for the hard work, commitment and love with which this amazing event was delivered. In the meantime, the feedback from the school was so great that we have already been invited back next year– but this time with twice as many participants! 😮

Better start getting ready for 29 April 2017 when we will kick off Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2017!!! 🙂

If you or or your organisation would like to support future editions of the Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest in Brussels or elsewhere — with expert-led workshops, sponsorship, promotional consideration, media coverage, technical infrastructure or onsite volunteers — please contact us.

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Brussels Girls Go Digital

On 30 April at European School IV in Brussels, 250 girls from thirty-three schools across Belgium celebrated International Girls in ICT Day 2016 by participating in Belgium’s first-ever Digital Muse “Girl Tech Fest,” an all-day event promoting digital and creative skills to girls aged 11 to 15.  The first Girl Tech Fest was carried out in Dutch, French and English and organized by the Digital Leadership Institute with support from Google, IBM, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell and the ULB.  The event involved over 100 volunteers who organised more than forty workshops and twenty Digital Muse Lab activities that showcased high-tech gadgets and activities like Cooking with Watson, Google Cardboard, and Smartgurlz Drones designed, powered and modeled after girls.

Participants also took advantage of hands-on workshops teaching such skills as how to “Lead Like a Girl” and “Write in Wikipedia,” and they got to design and build their own gadgets like computer-powered legos and 3D holograms.  The first-ever Girl Tech Fest also featured inspiring talks by role models from GTF partners, as well as former European Digital Girls of the Year, Miss Lune Van Ewijk and Miss Manon Van Hoorebeke.  Ms. Lorena Boix Alonso of the European Commission and Ms. Saskia Van Uffelen, Digital Champion for Belgium were also guests of honour.

On the occasion of the first Girl Tech Fest, the Digital Leadership Institute also released its first music compilation, Digital Muse One – DM1, featuring top women electronic musicians from the past and present. Ms. Maya Postepski, aka Princess Century, who composed a DM1 track called “California,” also delivered an inspiring talk at the Girl Tech Fest, organized several workshops on “digital music composition” and had several girls to join her in DJ-ing at a GTF disco during the lunch break.

The closing GTF plenary showcased amazing digital creations of the day for which the girls themselves were responsible, including an original Digital Muse letter font, digital music compositions, and high-tech fashion designs.  Prizes were given to outstanding digital muses who inspired their fellow participants during the day with insight, helpfulness, and general enthusiasm about the event and their fellow digital muses.

By all measures, the inaugural Girl Tech Fest Brussels was an unqualified success, and DLI is grateful to all its partners, volunteers and sponsors for the hard work, commitment and love with which this amazing event was delivered.  In the meantime, the feedback from the school was so great that we have already been invited back next year– but this time with twice as many participants! 😮

Better start getting ready for 29 April 2017 when we will kick off Girl Tech Fest Brussels 2017!!!  🙂

If you or or your organisation would like to support future editions of the Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest in Brussels or elsewhere — with expert-led workshops, sponsorship, promotional consideration, media coverage, technical infrastructure or onsite volunteers — please contact us.

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DLI Update – April 2016

April 2016 is one for the record books! In celebration of the sixth annual International Girls in ICT Day, DLI organised and collaborated on four events promoting greater participation of girls and women in technology sectors, including our very first Digital Muse Girl Tech Fest!  Across these events, DLI reached over 350 girls with hands-on workshops teaching ESTEAM* skills, and upwards of 700 adult women who were event participants, workshop leaders and inspiring role models from technology sectors.

The DLI Board and Executive Team are actively involved in initiatives with partners and stakeholders around the world that promote ESTEAM* leadership by girls and women. Find out below about our work in April 2016, learn here about future activities we are involved in, and visit our calendar for upcoming events that DLI is organising. *entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics

ACCELERATE_Logo8 April – Accelerate! Women in Media: Amplifying the Voice of Female Experts (Brussels): On behalf of GAMAG Europe, Ms. Cheryl Miller, DLI Founder, provided input to an expert panel on “Who Makes the News?” as part of the Accelerate! Women in Media conference taking place on 8 April in Brussels.

a4f973a5a7-logo-reunion_GAMAG15 April – GAMAG Europe Meeting at Gender in Journalism Conference (Barcelona):  On 15 April, on behalf of DLI–a founding member Global Alliance on Media and Gender European Chapter, Ms. Cheryl Miller contributed to the first-ever GAMAG Europe Meeting as part of the Gender in Journalism conference, a joint-collaboration of GAMAG Europe and the sixth annual meeting of International Network of Journalists with Gender Vision.

ECWC25 April – “Getting and Keeping Girls and Women in Digital Studies and Careers in Europe” Best Practices Session at European Celebration of Women in Computing (Brussels): On 25 April in Brussels, Ms. Cheryl Miller and Ms. Rosanna Kurrer, DLI cofounders, organised a best practices session on “increasing participation of girls and women in digital studies and careers in Europe” at the first-ever European Celebration of Women in Computing, which took place on 25-26 April in Brussels.  The DLI-led best practices session included the following:

  1. high-level “disruptive recruiting” panel on best practices for recruiting and retaining women in tech careers in Europe;
  2. lightening talks from European women in tech role models and Ada Award-winners;
  3. launch of the 2016-2017 European Ada Awards; and
  4. hands-on Android smartphone app workshop with MIT App Inventor with participation by the Royal Atheneum of Etterbeek.

Be sure to visit our Calendar, Upcoming Activities page, and sign up for the DLI Newsletter in order to keep up with DLI events and activities!

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Join Europe's Largest Women in Tech Event Ever

On 25-26 April in Brussels, in honour of 2016 International Girls in ICT Day, the Digital Leadership Institute is proud to partner with the European Centre for Women and Technology and others to organise the very first European Celebration of Women in Computing, Europe’s largest #WomenInTech event ever!  ECWC16 will take place at the Proximus Lounge in Brussels, and aims to bring together industry practitioners, policy-makers, digital society decision-makers and young and experienced women pursuing studies and careers in digital fields.

Digital Leadership:  As official partner to ECWC16, DLI will deliver several elements of the event, including:

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Digital Luminaries: With keynote presentations by global luminaries of digital transformation — including Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General, Mr. Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice President responsible for the Digital Single Market, and Ms. Terry Reintke, MEP and Rapporteur of the European Parliament Report on gender equality and empowering women in the digital age — ECWC16 provides attendees an exclusive opportunity to:

  • Meet and greet practitioners and decision-makers from leading tech, consulting and public policy organisations in Europe and the world;
  • Participate in a job fair just with hundreds of top university, masters and PhD candidates, and recruiters from Europe and beyond;
  • Network and connect with Europe’s largest community focused on building the digital future and guaranteeing the place of women in it.

Community-Building: In particular, ECWC16 seeks to ignite a pan-European community engaged in promoting European digital competitiveness who are:

  • Women*; and
  • European university bachelors, masters or PhD program students; and/or
  • in Computer Science or other study disciplines; and/or
  • Early, mid- or advanced-career professionals;

*anyone who identifies as a woman.

Partners and Participants:  If you would like to be involved as an organisation or individual in any of the DLI activities or in the wider ECWC16 event, please contact us!