Guildford Makerspace

Do you know a young game maker?  Sign them up for the workshop in which they will learn about game design, story boarding, character creation, animation, sound effects and programming. Places can be booked at www.juniorgamecreators.co.uk

You can't open a newspaper these days without seeing something about the coding movement:  the desire to teach children not just to use computers, but to programme them.  Here is your opportunity to find out what this is all about. This session will take you through the very first simple project that the children do when they join a Code Club. You do not need to be a computer wizard. If you can use a mouse and a keyboard, those are the only skills you need in order to come to this event.   Cost: £3.30. Book a place #digifriday

We held our first successful Maker Day on Sat urday 23 February from 10am-3pm.   Over 100 people attended including family groups and individuals of all ages who had come to try something new or find out more about something they were interested in.   Some people dropped in for 30 minutes or so while others stayed for several hours to experience all the different gadgets.   The activities on offer were 3D printing, robotics, electronics, using a paper cutting lathe, watching maker videos and browsing maker books to gather information.   We received lots of positive comments about the session:  ‘A great day, my daughter is interested in Electronics and Robotics as a career.   This really gave her some inspiration, she and I built the Ohbot!   Great fun’.   ‘I loved talking to the technical librarian about code green initiatives for my young sons who are fascinated by technology. They loved playing with the electronics’. ‘Variety of new technolo...

  We are planning a week to celebrate all forms of geekery.  Events include:       Dungeons and Dragons A Raspberry Jam Digital Music Making A Tablet Tea and Teach Mobile Planetarium Robotics Programmable Lego    Find out more and book your place online. Applying gamification to reach your personal and professional goals   Surrey Libraries are pleased to be able to host this Digital Surrey event during Geek Week.  To find out more about Digital Surrey and book your place, visit  http://www.digitalsurrey.co.uk/ Innovate Guildford Geek Week also coincides with Guildford Borough Council's Science and Arts Festival, Innovate Guildford, see their programme at http://www.guildford.gov.uk/innovateguildford #digifriday

At Guildford Library on Friday 26 February from 10am to 12.30pm.   Are you are a creative writer who would like to try something new?  This session will focus on creating interactive fiction online using Inklewriter software .  Interactive fiction is a genre of writing that allows the writer and reader to branch off in different directions with the story, and can provide endless possibilities as to where that story ends up. This workshop session will include a brief introduction to interactive fiction, but the main focus will be a hands-on introduction to Inklewriter, with the aim of creating your own short piece of interactive fiction by the end of it.  Laptops will be provided for the session.   To book click here . This session is part of Surrey Libraries' Digital Friday programme, with new events held on the last Friday of every month at Guildford Library. #digifriday

Would you like to find out information about business services and business accounts? Have access to free online resources available to help you start up or run your small business? Advisors will be on hand to guide you through what is available.   Book your place online for Friday 12 February 10am-12 noon at Guildford Library This event is free but places are limited. #digifriday

Have you...   Had a light bulb moment? Got a great idea you could turn into cash? Are you a budding entrepreneur or inventor?   Find out what you can do to protect your idea with a free and confidential session with a patent lawyer at Guildford Library 2-4pm Friday 5 February.  No need to book, just drop in.   #digifriday           

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 lo...

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 a...

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? Severa...