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1: 2: 3: The day my eight-year-old programmed a computer: Launched on a crowdfunding website, Project Kano raised $100,000 in 18 hours. Miranda Sawyer and her son Patrick went see what thousands of investors are so excited about: GET SMART More coding schemes for youngsters

January 5, 2014

Miranda Sawyer









"Can I have a go?" Patrick makes the Kano himself. He ignores the accompanying booklet and just plugs bits into the Pi, like he's building Lego - the SD card in first, then he clips the plug together. In a few minutes, he's done and we find ourselves gazing at a TV screen that fills with streams of code.


"Patrick", types Patrick.



Not that he cares (nor me). We're too busy discussing building a tower out of TNT and exploding it with lava. Then we make some synth music and have a go at Pong, changing the sizes of the paddles, making the ball big and orange. Pong is a big success with Patrick. I have to prise him away.



But there were those - and I am one of them - who found the Pi intimidating. To make it work, you had to do everything: locate a spare keyboard, plus all the right leads, work out the Wi-Fi, program the SD card. Still, the tech-literate loved the Pi, including Klein, who "hacked about with it". He showed it to his younger cousin (Micah, aged seven - he's in the Kickstarter film), but Micah found it too difficult.

Another story Klein covered was Occupy's Wall Street camp at Zuccotti Park. While sheltering from the rain in one of their tents, he asked the Occupy-ers why, if they hated big business, they all used iPhones and Samsungs.

"I said, 'Why don't you join the open source movement? Free software, protocols that allow for minimising government or institutional surveillance and maximising individual control over technology.' And they said, 'Yeah, that's fine - but these things aren't designed for us, they are designed by the Silicon Valley elite. The open source community are geeks and nerds and they created the current inequality in technology.' And when they hit me with that, I was like, 'OK, you're right.' "

Klein and Raz-Fridman, 30, an ex-intelligence officer for the Israel defence forces, thought they could use the Raspberry Pi's cheapness and open source software's flexibility to make computer coding easier. After all, if you're a non-tech person (and you can afford it), you are stuck with Apple, Sony, Nintendo, Samsung: slick, pretty, closed-off life accessories/computers that are far too expensive for you to risk prising the back off and having a look at what's inside. Klein thought about this. He had an advantage: his cousin Saul (father of Micah) is an entrepreneur who co-founded LoveFilm and was an executive at Skype. Saul knows how digital startups should run; he also understood that the Raspberry Pi wasn't quite as accessible as everyone had hoped. He was up for Klein and Raz-Fridman's idea.









There are teachers who are already coders (check out the inspirational Alan O'Donohoe, @teknoteacher on Twitter), but they are rare. They live different digital lives to their pupils. Some secondary schools send letters telling parents not to let their teenagers on to Facebook or Instagram. You might as well demand that they don't fiddle with their bits.



It's easy to be seduced by gadgets that help you live your life. But there's a whole world out there that isn't as shiny, isn't as owned by corporations. It's possible to like Beyonce and John Grant; to love your iPad and your notepad; to visit the Science Museum and go home and make a rocket out of Lego. Sometimes, my children spend hours playing computer games. Sometimes, they spend hours making homemade badges. They don't see the difference, really. If you allow kids in - to a museum, an institution, inside a closed world - they'll find a way to have fun.



Primo (right) is a physical game that aims to teach coding to four- to seven-year-olds without the need for literacy. Participants align colourful blocks to guide a robot on wheels to its destination.


A website that aims to teach its users coding, for free, to address a general lack of coding skills.

Computer Clubhouse

A network run by tech giant Intel, with 100 clubhouses in 20 countries that provide an environment where young people can explore technology.

Black Girls Code

BGC aims to increase the number of black women working in computing, technology etc by targeting African American girls aged from seven to 17 years old. Twitter is among the scheme's partners.

Young Rewired State

YRS introduces coding-literate kids to like-minded children their age. A division of the Rewired State company, the youth branch hosts numerous events, the biggest being the Festival of Code held at various venues across the country.

Thomas Rodgers





At the Kano office in east London, Miranda and Patrick examine a prototype of the DIY computer kit for children.

1 Patrick takes a look at Kano's various components, which include a distinctive orange keyboard.

2 Dispensing with the instructions, he gets down to work assembling the bits.

3 The Kano is set up, and Patrick can start computer coding.


Source: Observer (UK)

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