Cybersoda

A CD ROM for young girls that explores IT

Exploring IT and IT jobs

Cybersoda raises awareness among young girls about IT and the jobs that are available in the sector and allows them to explore the subject. Cybersoda is a fun programme that allows girls to explore the different aspects of IT, from discovering and using the Internet to programming, graphic design, websites, and learning about hardware.

The aim of Cybersoda is straightforward

Cybersoda seeks to show adolescents that there is nothing inaccessible or mysterious about using a computer. Cybersoda gives them access to the knowledge they need to undertake activities they would perhaps not have attempted alone and to experiences they would consequently not have had. They learn through the practical application of methods and exercises we have developed. In other words, they acquire greater autonomy towards IT.

But that’s not all

If you want girls to realize they have a vocation for IT - or any other job - they need examples. Cybersoda gives them a taste of what jobs in IT are really like, with testimonials from women working in IT and from job sheets, thus opening up the opportunity to broaden their horizons.

Helping them venture into IT

Cybersoda workshops have been organized in schools across all the networks, extracurricular associations and on our own premises, allowing hundreds of adolescents to discover and experiment together under the guidance and support of women who were coming to the end of their training and for whom Cybersoda was an opportunity to put into practice what they had learnt.

And this experience at grassroots level gave rise to the development of a new tool : ‘La Mallette Cybersoda’, the Cybersoda schoolbag. On the basis of our activities and in the spirit of sharing skills and experiences, we have developed a ’multimedia educational schoolbag’, containing all the material needed to organize a Cybersoda workshop. The tool is designed for anyone who wants to run workshops for adolescent girls to raise their awareness and allow them to explore IT.

The Cybersoda schoolbag contains :

Teaching cards and methods for the workshop leader, lesson notes for the workshop leader and/or participants, exercises and examples, open software, meetings with women working in IT, thoughts on the representation of women and girls in technology. In order to retain the spirit of exchange and collaborative working of the Cybersoda schoolbag, we decided to adapt our tool to open software.

Cybersoda therefore offers a selection of open software programs, which can be used on any operating system and replace the usual programs efficiently. They will allow you to discover applications such as editing websites in html, processing images, programming, and so on. The Cybersoda tool comes in the form of a Live CD GNU/Linux, in other words a system that works on your PC without first having to install it. An opportunity to discover the world of open software at leisure.

Cybersoda – a must-have experience

In order to allow the largest possible number of workshop leaders to launch into the Cybersoda adventure, we have developed practical training modules on the contents of Cybersoda and on the use of open software for teachers. The Cybersoda schoolbag is an ideal educational tool to get young girls to discover the exciting world of IT and open software and to arouse a few wonderful vocations.