What’s a Raspberry Jam?
A Raspberry Jam is a meetup of like-minded people with a passion for open source technology! You don’t need a Raspberry Pi to come along to a Raspberry Jam, just bring yourself and your thirst for knowledge. The Southend Raspberry Jam welcomes all people of all ages, with workshops aimed at children as well as adults. But the best way to find out what Raspberry Jams are all about is to come along to one!
With talks, show and tells, workshops, videos, flashing LEDs and robots - you can’t get bored! You can come and go as you please, with no obligation to stay for the whole event. So if there’s something that you’re particularly interested in, why not just come along for that event? Who knows, you might end up staying a little longer than you thought.
Bring along your laptop, tablet, Raspberry Pi or smartphone if you want to get involved!
There will be a number of different talks and workshops aimed at different interests:
- David Whale will be promoting his new book “Adventures in Minecraft” and running Minecraft workshops teaching kids of all ages how to code using Minecraft!
- There will be a wearable technology / Electric Fashion workshop, where you can learn how to flash Neopixels different colours using the Gemma microcontroller that you can sew onto your clothes!
- Young coders (suitable for children aged 5 years and up) can learn to program using Scratch, a drag-and-drop application with a simple visual language. They can also use Scratch to learn to program and interface with real world electronics such as LEDs, switches, buzzers and robots. Not just things on the computer screen!
- Learn how to solder electronic components and wires, the perfect beginners’ introduction to electronics, where you can learn the basics like colour codes for different resistors.
Other Show and Tells include:
- AverageMan vs Raspberry Pi will be showing off his successful Kickstarter ProtoCam, 14 year old Zachary Igelman’s PiPiano and a host of Raspberry Pi addon boards and projects
- Emsity’s Robot Arm with a 3D printed gear to Maplin robot arm, connected to a 10 turn pot in order to determine base location through electrical feedback
- Learn to solder and program your own add on boards with MyPiFi
- SK Pang will be displaying his electronics, flashing LEDs and books - also available to buy at the Jam.
- The wonderfully clever Artificial Intelligence art installation, Pinnochion, exploring how people think computing works
- Controlling and programming your Raspberry Pi from a web browser with Wyliodrin
Southend Raspberry Jam Schedule:
- 10.45 - 11.45 : The History & Curriculum of Computing (Talk by Robin Knight)
- 10.55 - 11.40 : Open Systems Associations (Talk by Verena Hermann)
- 11.00 - 11.50 : Wearable Tech / Electronic Fashion Workshop
- 12.00 - 12.50 : Information Jam Workshop
- 12.15 - 13.00 : The Making of “Adventures in Minecraft” (Talk with David Whale)
- 13.00 - 14.00 : TeachMeet with Teachers’ Lightening Talks
- 14.30 - 15.30 : Sonic Pi 2 Workshop
- 14.45 - 15.30 : Teaching Through Open Source Robotics (Talk by Jon Bartlett)
- 16.00 - 16.45 : A Gentle Introduction to Computer Control (Talk with Ed Bye)
- 16.00 - 16.50 : Programming Minecraft Workshop
- All Day : Soldering Workshop
- All Day : Scratch & Scratch GPIO Workshop
Not sure if a Raspberry Jam is for you?
Love Southend firmly believe that Raspberry Jams are suitable for anyone and everyone. If you’re not sure, you can check out our photos write-ups of the previous Southend Raspberry Jams!