September 7 was the opening day of DevFest season II, which is officially held in Thessaloniki for the second time and exclusively for Playground participants.
The Google Developers Group (GDG Thessaloniki) this year, following Google's "guiding course", focused on 4 key axes that will bring the future in our hands:
• Wearable technology
• Cloud platforms
• Google Maps APIs
• Chrome extentions and their programming
During the first day of DevFest, guests and participants of the Playground had the opportunity to try out Google Glass and to solve their questions from Wiebe Elsinga, one Google Glass explorer. For this reason Google Developers Group programmed 3 workshops based on their technology and usefulness Google Glass. The locations of these workshops were filled immediately, and there were over 300 people who watched them or asked questions about Google Glass!
It was remarkable the presentation of an 12 chronos, who traveled from Athens to Thessaloniki exclusively for the Playground. The atmosphere was particularly warm as, as we all know, GDG Thessaloniki is thrilled when it comes to highlighting such young talents.
After the Google Glass sessions, we saw Wiebe Elsinga flooding the scene as he began collecting a UX prototyping tech speech and a related workshop where the participants had to create teams and start designing their application. The workshop lasted over 2 hours but neither the participants nor Wiebe himself understood how fast the time passed.
Παράλληλα στο συνεδριακό centre Αιμίλιος Ριάδης (πρώην Corona) πραγματοποιήθηκε η εκδήλωση Lady Geek Day για πρώτη φορά στη Θεσσαλονίκη, εμπνευσμένη από την πρωτοβουλία των Women Techmakers of Google. In the panel were 4 attending the top women in the field: Olga Stavropoulou, Marika Lambrou, Sandra Zafirakopoulou and Liana Gouta. They shared their experiences with the public and focused on the need to overcome stereotypes that prevent women from engaging in science, technology and entrepreneurship. Solving the problem according to them comes through changes in basic social structures, such as family, but also through the connection of the educational community to the labor market. One pleasant surprise was the presence of two young girls who announced their intention to create a women's technology information team in an attempt to bring the sex closer to the creation of code and more.
The event, after completing the break, was transferred to 14, in the venue where it is hosted Google Developers.
There the representative of Media Hackers, Mr. Yiannis Kotsifos, presented the actions of the group. The main goal of Media Hackers is to develop a flexible program basic training for journalists so that they are better equipped to deal with the new ones technologies. The consortium has been established specifically for the purpose of the project and includes eight experienced partners representing its venues journalisms, journalistic education, professional education and training, as well as advisory services, in six member states of the European Union.