Guildford Makerspace

Barclays Bank have a number of staff who are Digital Eagles - staff who help people to get more out of being online - and it turns out we have a flock of them in Guildford. They are coming to Guildford Library on 20 January from 10.00 - 12.30 and say: "Have you been wondering how to use or get more out of your smartphone or tablet?  If so, please join us for a morning of 'Tea and Teach', an event aimed at the over 55s where you can better learn how to use your device. Bring it in to the library where we can show you how to; setup and send emails, use Skype to make calls to family and friends around the world and use Google Maps to find directions to places or just to explore your favourite streets and countryside. We can also introduce you to the digital library services you can access online.  Tea and cakes will be provided so you only need to bring yourselves, your device and a curious mind and we can provide a safe environment for you to learn and ask quest

Join us on Saturday 23 January, 2016 at Guildford Library for the chance to try out 3D printing, robotics, electronics and other creative, interesting and fun technologies. Have you ever wondered what 3D printing is? Or wanted to put together and control your own robot? Or maybe even wondered if you can make a banana sound like a piano? Then come along and find out during our first digital Day of Making. This day of interactive activities will run from 10am to 3pm, is free and we welcome anyone of any age to come along and try out new technologies that will turn you from a technology user into a creator. In the long-term, Surrey Library Service has an ambition to host a makerspace: a place where people can meet to collaborate, create, learn, and innovate, using similar technologies to those available during our Day of Making.  It is a project that would help young people, small businesses, and the local creative economy. We are also interested in making contacts within relevant local

For November's Digital Friday morning event we combined creative writing with technology, and introduced a group of Surrey writers to interactive fiction and more specifically Inklewriter http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/ . The session received very positive feedback from those who attended. If you'd like to find out more about interactive fiction and Inklewriter please read on. Interactive fiction  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction   is a genre of writing that allows the writer and reader to branch off in different directions with a story, rather than keeping to a single path. Inklewriter is a free story writing software tool allowing anyone to write and publish interactive stories. It is ideal for anyone wishing to combine creative writing with computer skills or those who wish to try more interactivity with their writing. Once written, you can share your stories with the world as each story is given its own webpage.  Inklewriter help pages and tutorial

What is a  Minecraft Party you are probably wondering?   Redhill Library  has run two very successful Minecraft Parties, one in the summer holidays and the latest in October half term. They both took place on Wednesday afternoons from 2.00 – 5.00. Ten computers were made available exclusively for children to play Minecraft on, some children had pre-booked, some came along on the day. On both sessions, 20 children came over the course of the afternoon, most were boys but there were some girls as well. Their ages were between 7 and 11. A Minecraft server was set up beforehand and if children had their own Minecraft PC account log in they were able to connect to the server. This meant they could build and create in the same world as other children who had also joined the server. In practice most of the children who came used the library Minecraft account log in and played in their own individual world.  Why were the children coming to the Minecraft Party? Several didn’t have access to