Bigger, better and just a little more Jammy

The second Ipswich Raspberry Jam took place on Saturday February 27th and the verdict was unanimous amongst visitors, organisers and speakers alike - more, please!

Suffolk can be sleepy at times but this was an event that showed how this part of the world has fully woken up to the power of the Raspberry Pi. After the success of their inaugural event last summer, organisers the Ipswich Makerspace found a bigger venue, the Waterfront Building, University Campus Suffolk, and were still able to sell it out, with over 140 people of all ages attending.

Mind Controlled Racing at the Ipswich Raspberry Jam

Guest speakers included Dave Roxburgh, who showed how to use the Raspberry Pi to write extensions for Minecraft and in-world Minecraft games; Matthew Applegate, founder of Suffolk's Creative Computing Club and an advocate in coding in education; and Jason Alexander, a wildlife and photography blogger who uses the Pi in nature projects such as bird-box webcams. One of the star attractions was the Mind Controlled Racing, a slot car racing track which uses the power of players' thoughts as the fuel to propel the cars.

"We expected a good mix of adults and children would attend so we put on something for everyone", said Stephen Chalkley of the Ipswich Makerspace. "There was a talk on coding with Minecraft and we had some Raspberry Pi’s they could practice on, which was very popular with the younger kids. We had a mini-careers session with three of our guest speakers motivating the older children to think technical. For adults, there was a great wildlife photography presentation and the opportunity to talk technical, something that probably bores their friends and family!"

@scipiguy @IPSRaspberryJam Its been fantastic so far. Had no time to tweet until now! UCS is such a great venue! pic.twitter.com/LAInCqMgI3

— Wildlife Gadget Man (@WildlifeGadgets) February 27, 2016

"We managed to pack a lot into the day but the highlights have to be the mind-controlled racing cars, the Minecraft talk, and robots, robots, robots. Another great day, and we will be doing it again. I have to thank University Campus Suffolk for the venue and support and Rapid for sponsoring us."

Dave Roxburgh during his talk on Minecraft

Chalkley himself gave a talk about the Ipswich Makerspace, which aims to help people get the most out of technology either as a career or as a hobby. "We are giving them a place to go with tools and equipment they couldn’t justify buying themselves, such as a 3D printer, or electronic test equipment." If you are interested in finding out more about the Makerspace you can join their mailing list.

Events like this show how the maker movement is spreading electronics skills to people who had never previously picked up a soldering iron. As Chalkley says: "There really has never been a better time to get involved with technology, whether you want to stream live video from a bird box in your garden, automate your home or simply have fun by building a robot or a quadcopter."

Rapid was delighted to sponsor the event, which took place in the midst of a rather busy period for the Raspberry Pi community. Two days later the Raspberry Pi 3 was released, and the following weekend saw the Pi Party, a two-day event celebrating the 4th birthday of the Raspberry Pi.  

http://www.ipswichraspberryjam.co.uk/