​So what are your New Year's resolutions?

Of course, health also includes food ... but I do attempt to eat pretty healthily (except for the holidays, that would be too much to ask) however I think that if I tried to hammer down on that aspect of my health, I might be asking too much.

As for my work resolution I had many things that I wanted to do, like get more organized, come up with new program ideas, do those new program ideas, encourage people with interesting experiences/knowledge in life to share them with the library ... however one really stood out. Keeping a blog. 
I would really love to stick with the blog and write at least every Thursday. Coming up with interesting thoughts may be difficult at times, but I really want to do this. I've attempted keeping blogs throughout the past and in many different aspects of my life, but unfortunately, they always fall to the wayside. This time I will not allow it. And should I start to fall apart, I really hope that someone yells at me. I guess, even if its just my reminder calendar. :) 

So once again, what are your resolutions? Have you kept your resolutions in the past? I know that mine usually fall apart too soon, but it is always nice to hope it will follow through.

So here we go ...

I decided that we needed to do a Girls Who Code club.
 
There are tons of articles in which they describe how there are far fewer women getting computer science degrees vs men, even though the need for people with those degrees has gone up. In this NPR article, Colleges Have Increased Women Computer Science Majors: What Can Google Learn?​  they discuss how one college changed things around to make women feel more comfortable in the program. So now, that one college is at about 50/50 with women/men, unlike many other colleges which are 20/80 women/men. With increasing job needs, we need more people, and women have lots to offer.

Then I listened to this episode of the NPR podcast Hidden Brain. The Edge of Gender. In it there was an interesting discussion based on a personal memo sent out by a Google employee on how women and men are inherently different and therefor it makes sense that there are so much less women in computer science.

How does that make you feel ladies? I know that there are differences between men and women and how they react to different situations, but each person could be useful no matter their gender.

This is a VERY long-winded way of saying that we really need to find a place where girls are comfortable coding and using computers without feeling insecure around the guys. Which is why I am doing this program.

I will let you know that my knowledge of coding is very limited. I know bits and pieces, but that's it. Plus I'm making Miss Jill and her daughter Laura participate in this (I know, you're surprised, aren't you?) and they claim to know even less.

This is my way of saying that we will learn together. We can teach each other together and become stronger people because of it.

So, if you are a girl between 10-16 and are available the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 6pm. I expect to see you there. There's a ton we can learn together. I just know it.

I feel bad sometimes because I find these crazy things that I want us to do at the library and I manage to make Miss Jill's hair stand up on end. I really do have the best of intentions, but sometimes ... well I get started and then I just the temptation gets too great.
This is how I'm feeling right now with podcasting and video storytelling. I went to a library conference where librarians are sharing all of the things they are doing at their own libraries ... and there were two that I KNEW I wanted us to do.
This video below is the first of what I want to do.

I would love to have kids or teens come up with either book that they would like to recreate, or their own original piece of work. Then I would love it if they created the artwork and narrated their stories using the equipment that would also be used for podcasting.
Lots of learning would be required, from learning to use image editing software, powerpoint, voice over software, and an assortment of other things, however, I think this could be a great experiment for all of us ... including Miss Jill. :)