Web Summit

I was delighted to hear that the school had 50 tickets for the Dublin Web Summit 2014, prized as one of the worlds largest technology events.

I arrived back at school at 6pm on Tuesday, eager to see the wide range of guests at the conference. Following a 45 minute bus journey, we had reached the RDS. The event was held in a gigantic hall, with seating for around 1000 people. There was a large stage at the front of the auditorium, in front of two large screens. After a 10 minute wait, it was time to see the first guests.

 The audience was introduced to CoderDojo, an organisation that runs courses around the world teaching children how to create apps and websites. This Irish-born movement is currently spreading across the globe, and now has over 27,000 members internationally. It was something that I had heard about before, but unfortunately never had the chance to do. Onto the stage came the CEO of the organisation along with three kids who had attended the courses. One of whom, was only nine years old and had already created her own series of websites!

In my opinion, the last guests were by far the most impressive speakers on the night. We had a woman from Google and the founder of Indiegogo, the online fundraising site. Full of charisma and passion for their work, they told us about the future of technology.

The lady from Google (who's name escapes me), told us about the internet of things. This is a concept in which many of our devices are connected and in communication with each other. For example, the heating can be turned on by your mobile, and you can boil the kettle with an app! This is the future - and by that I mean the near future. In two or three years, we could be experiencing connected homes.






Danae Ringelmann is an American entrepreneur, and the founder of Indiegogo, the online fundraising site helping millions to raise cash for their causes. She discussed some of the success stories on the site, how groups of teenagers had raised over $100,000 to build a new library, American school kids had raised thousands to help the families of those affected by a recent school shooting.

Danae's ideas were about being a social entrepreneur. She talked about providing services to the world, creating solutions to the many problems we face today. It was this message that struck a cord with me. Business is as much about ethics and ethos as it is about profit.





 I thoroughly enjoyed the event. It got me thinking about how people my age were using technology to shape the world.