Two weeks ago IT-oLogy hosted our first annual Connections 2013 event. We had presenters from all areas of technology come and discuss the latest in hardware, software, infrastructure, and processes across a variety of industries including art, health, manufacturing, and social strategies.
Connections 2013 showcased the the tech community in South Carolina and gathered local and state leaders, technology champions, and state educators. Check out the full livestream of Connections 2013.
Registration is open for Cyber Saturday programs in Columbia AND Greenville. Yes, you heard us right – GREENVILLE! We’re kicking off our first Cyber Saturday at IT-oLogy @ University Center of Greenville on Saturday, November 10 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cyber Saturday is a hands-on program where middle school students can learn about IT.
Cyber Saturday – IT-oLogy @ Innovista
1301 Gervais Street, Suite 200 | Columbia, SC
Saturday, October 13 | 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
We are excited to announce that Cyber Saturdays at IT-oLogy @ Innovista are made possible by Connect a Million Minds.
Cyber Saturday – IT-oLogy @ University Center of Greenville
225 S. Pleasantburg Drive | Greenville, SC
Saturday, November 10 | 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Dr. Eben Upton, the creator of the Raspberry Pi, will be visiting South Carolina next week as part of a hackerspace tour. Eben, who lives in Cambridge, England, is in the United States this week to speak at World Maker Faire New York about the first six months after launching the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi is a $35 credit-card-sized microcomputer that Eben created to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The Raspberry Pi’s launch was so hotly anticipated by open hardware enthusiasts that the websites of the two licensed UK vendors crashed due to extremely high traffic. Over 500,000 of these computers have already been sold.
Eben will tour IT-oLogy and the Open IT Lab at 1 pm on Thursday, October 4. He will then speak in Dr. Karen Patten’s ITEC 564 “Project Management for Information Systems” course at 2 pm at IT-oLogy. ITEC 564 is one of several University of South Carolina courses being taught at IT-oLogy this semester. The public is welcome to attend the free 2 pm lecture; please register on our website if you plan to attend.
If you are not able to be here for this special event, we encourage you to contact us to arrange a tour to see our Lab and our copy of the Raspberry Pi.
Cross-posted from the Open IT Lab News
The Open IT Lab joined nearly 300 other teams from over 60 countries around the world in celebrating this year’s Software Freedom Day last Saturday. Software Freedom Day is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source Software that takes place on the third Saturday in September.
The Open IT Lab offered our flagship “Open Source 101″ workshop. Jarrell Waggoner led our guests on an engaging overview of what it means for software, hardware, and content to be open. Attendees learned how open source has already changed our world and some everyday examples of this “innovation based on sharing” development strategy. We saw how open source software is becoming more and more important to how businesses operate. Finally, attendees were encouraged to participate by either contributing to open projects or starting their own.
After the lecture, we did a drawing and three lucky participants won commemorative t-shirts. The t-shirts, stickers, and balloons were generously supplied by sponsors of Software Freedom Day.
Attendees then were led on a tour of our state- of-the-art Open IT Lab, featuring open software, open content, and open hardware.
Come join us next year for Software Freedom Day! We plan to offer our Open Source 101 workshop again in January.
Would you like to share your typical work day with students and others interested in learning about your job? We invite you to be “shadowed” at work by our students for a “virtual job shadowing” project using Twitter. On November 15, (and again on March 7) IT professionals like you can send tweets throughout the day about your job duties for the day (meetings you attend, special projects you are working on, etc.). Students will be able to respond to tweets with real-time questions and participate in supplemental activities in the classroom as they learn about the jobs.
This unique virtual job shadowing opportunity allows you to
• share career information, casually, with little interruption to your business day
• have significant interaction with future workers
• use social media to market your profession
And, students will be able to
• broaden their knowledge of the World of Work without having to leave campus.
• have the knowledge to make an informed career decision
Make an impact in a student’s career decision-making process by sharing your job. Who knows, you could be tweeting with a future co-worker!
Want to know more or get involved? Contact Allison Rosemond, Career Specialist at Greer Middle School today! Allison’s contact information is arosemond@greenville.k12.sc.us.
“I’m a 7th grader. Who would have thought a 7th grader could do this!”
The smile on my face just got bigger when I heard one sweet 7th grader say this today at Summer Split. It was one of those programs we do where I could not stop smiling. There were laughing children, smiling faces, excited eyes. This was a group of 23 middle school students who were so into the IT activities that it was hard to break them away for pizza and banana splits! These students learned how to make their own ethernet cables and program video games. They talked nonstop – asking questions, giving ideas, helping each other.
Today would not have been possible without a few folks I have to mention. First, our volunteers. Without a volunteer army, we cannot run programs. I applaud some key volunteers from SCANA, Pandoodle, USC and JCCT for making today happen.
As much as I want to write about today, though, I should let these awesome kids speak for themselves!
We took some pictures and video on the iPad, and quickly using iMovie, we created a short video highlighting Summer Split. Enjoy!
Pictures: check out the Summer Split 2012 Set on Flickr!
High School students will demonstrate their STEM skills at Greater Columbia 2012 BDPA Southeast Regional High School Computer and IT Showcase Competition. The competition will be held on Saturday, June 23rd, at IT-oLogy, a local sponsor of the event. BDPA Greater Columbia chapter will host the event, with participants arriving in South Carolina from as far away as Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Washington, DC. The regional competition is a warm-up for the national HSCC and IT Showcase championships held August 1-4, 2012 at the National BDPA Technology Conference in Baltimore, MD.
BDPA (Black Data Processing Associates) is an internationally recognized organization of IT professionals whose goals include preparing young people who are interested in becoming the next generation of ‘Information Technology Thought Leaders’ in academia and corporate America. The regional and national HSCC championships are part of the BDPA science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pipeline summarized in its motto, ‘From the Classroom to the Boardroom’.
At the national level, BDPA hosts a computer competition at its annual conference and each chapter is invited to bring a five-member team to compete. Winners at the national level are rewarded with scholarships and sponsor-donated items, up to and including laptop computers. www.bdpa.org
Schedule
9:00- 9:30 Opening Ceremony ( IT- oLogy theatre – 1st floor)
Proceed to 2nd floor for competitions
9:30 – 11:00 IT Showcase Competitions
HSCC Oral and Written Competitions
11:00 – 12:00 Lunch
12:00 - 1:00 IT Showcase Awards Presentation
12:00– 4:00 HSCC Programming Competition
4:00 - 5:00 HSCC Presentations
5:00 – 5:45 HSCC Awards Presentation
5:45 – 6:00 Closing remarks
From the inception of the IT-oLogy vision, one key message has remained constant over the last three years. Our epidemic around the shortage of IT talent must certainly address one key fallacy. Mainframes are not dead. Every one of the most important industries in this country rely on enterprise servers to manage large, integrated, high volume business.
As a founding partner in IT-oLogy, IBM contributed hardware and software to help launch computing environments to help grow IT talent with real hands-on learning. Most importantly though, IBM has offered the IBM Mainframe Academic Initiative free to universities and tech colleges. This full suite of curriculum and applied industry examples is being delivered by many of the IT-oLogy academic partners.
Still, we need more higher education partners to join this program. Take a look at the following videos and see WHY.
Register for any of the June Open IT Lab opportunities by emailing todd@palmettocomputerlabs.com!
Note: Open IT Lab workshops are located at 1301 Gervais St., Suite 200, Columbia, SC.
