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Coming from the network meeting we held as part of Codeweek 2014 in October, we have started loosely organizing an informal community and forum for people with an interest in teaching others to code. We call it 'Kodespejder', which translates into something along the lines of "Coding scout" (in the girl/boy-scout meaning of the word). The community gathers mostly through the #kodespejder hashtag on Twitter, and via a newly set up public mailing list (to join, send an email to list+subscribe@kodespejder.dk). In other words there is no official organization at present. The plan however is to create a more conventional structure (a Danish 'forening' - association) in the beginning of 2015 by inviting the general public to a general assembly and hopefully build a structure and more formalized goals.
Why is it important for us all, and our kids in particular, to learn how to code? I'll refer to an explanation we've put together in the Open Knowledge Denmark group, which I believe reflect quite well how the Kodespejder-community sees this issue:
We see coding as a central means to an end: Technology enables us to create a better society, if we do things right: It's not enough to be savvy computer consumers, we need deeper knowledge of the digital tools that we build society with (and on) - otherwise we cannot control them and build on them. We need a society in which citizens are informed and knowledgeable. To be that we not only need access to information (data), but also the skills to process that data (by building the code and programming computers). Openness and giving access to public data is a big and complex step for a society, but the biggest challenge is actually converting that data and information to become usable knowledge and concrete solutions. We want citizens to be able to take an active role, act proactively and to work together to dig into data and find solutions to societal challenges. We need strong, active and competent citizens. Citizens that knows and masters the technological fabric that surrounds us. One step forward towards this is strengthening ordinary citizen's basic IT-skill set.
Technology should not be a tool reserved for a small, powerful elite. Technology should be a tool to strengthen civil society as a whole and be a tool that allow citizens to take control over their own lives and contribute to society as a democratic community. Read more about these thoughts in this blog post on the Open Knowledge Denmark website.
Tune in and/or to join Kodespejder by getting in touch, liking the Facebook page and following a long on the blog we've set up. Let's makes sure Denmark learns how to code!
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[…] POST-SCRIPT: During the Codeweek more than 3,000 events (!) took place across Europe, including 12 in Denmark - I've done a write-up on the official Codeweek blog to summarize the main Danish activities. At the network meeting we furthermore booted "Kodespejder", a new forum and community around this topic that will hopefully grow over the coming months. Read more about that here. […]