Heheh, I misread “prevent a Jam drought” as “prevent a Jam doughnut” ;-)

Your wish is my command – but I’m leaving your dangling tag in *this* post because I think it’s hilarious! :D

Rats – forgot to put the slash in the trailing tag after the words ” … they love to do it!” and the trailing tag. If a mod can help a brothuh out so he don’ look like such a fool … :lol:

I’ve run Jams at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, (home of Google, Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus, etc.) and the Monterey Bay area for about 18 months (since receiving my first Pi). Find a public space such as a library, museum, adult school, senior center, or anywhere else that’s already paid for by the taxpayers or public-minded non-profit organizations who are always looking for something new to bring in new potential members and contributors.

Even after two years, few in the general public have actually seen a Pi in operation, let alone gotten to try one out, although many have heard good things about it, so there is already built-in buzz and curiosity. Ask Rotary Club, Elks, Parent-Teacher Associations, Boy/Girl/Pioneer Scouts, 4-H, etc., for advice on where to meet and how to get sponsorship, emphasizing the education aspects of what you want to do.

Libraries are especially nice venues as they have plenty of tables/desks with keyboards and screens available with their computers, although don’t disconnect anything without first meeting with the admin and IT folks to show them exactly what you propose to do as far in advance as possible. If you’re polite, demonstrate expertise, etc., they will not only likely allow, but actively assist you – serving the public in access to info of all kinds is their job and they love to do it! If need be, start out by bringing your own equipment and show them that you can be responsible and neat. Once they see what you’re doing, they’re probably going to ask whether you can come every week or even day to teach kids of all ages (including seniors) how to use this wonderful new technology that has capabilities that can’t be accommodated easily on public systems that don’t allow installation or downloading of any executable software.

Schools would love for someone to establish an ongoing event that would serve as a local version of something like a Code Club, Coder Dojo, or Jam. They don’t have the expertise and have given up looking for it, and their IT departments have been doing their damnedest to lock down and keep anyone from doing anything interesting beyond white-listed-site web surfing with any of the computers they administer because that would require work on their part.

Alan Donohue, the Godfather of Jams, has demonstrated that people are willing to pay to attend well-organized and run events, and/or that sponsorship by commercial/non-profit entities can make available world-class venues in the larger cities. Notify your local TV, radio, and other news media that your Jam is coming to town and if you meet with them to demonstrate the Pi with as wide a variety of software and peripherals/accessories as possible, they will see something that they want to publicize, I guarantee you. Most media outlets offer free publicity to public events where they fill empty ad slots with public service announcements (they even get to write it off as a charitable deduction), and many have scheduled event calendars as part of their standard news programming. Invite them to cover the Jams and I guarantee you that they will be delighted to fill airtime/media space with happy faces encountering Scratch and friends for the first time.

Remember, if there’s no Jam in your area, only YOU can prevent a Jam drought. Get the word around about what you’re trying to do and you’ll be amazed what kind of help can materialize from the woodwork, from knowledgeable geeks to people with venues they’re looking to fill, even if it winds up being a tax writeoff – they can’t write off an empty space not serving the public. To paraphrase the Nike motto, “Just Jam It!”

Well, as usual, this post is turning into a book, so I guess I should get together with Alan and finish it off in at least e-book form, if not also a tree-pulp edition! :lol:

I`m a teacher from germany and I started working with the 美女高潮黄又色高清视频免费 Pi about a year ago. I publish all the materials I make on my blog medienistik.de. You can download them for free and edit them. But beware – they`re in german :)

There`s a RPi Jam in Trier/Germany called “Pi and More”. The next one takes place June 28th. Last year I gave a talk about using the Pi in schools and this time I`ll organize a workshop especialy for educators, but everybody`s welcome!

Needless to say that I`d also test-drive any new materials you make.

I`d also like to encourage teachers to use the Pi – especially here in germany – because I think it`s the most versatile, creative and affordable tool that I`ve ever used in school. Well, except for paper maybe…

I don`t write a lot of comments here, although I read this blog everyday. So I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who are part of the Pi-Community. One of the main reasons why working with the Pi is so much fun is that there are so many friendly and generous people out there spending their time showing others how things work and how to create awesome stuff!