My first talk at a tech conference
After three years attending MozFest, I decided that I wanted to give back to the conference and I facilitated a session in the Youth Zone on how to program in Minecraft. In this video you can watch one of the organisers talking about my talk. At the time I didn’t want anyone to take videos or pictures of me and that is why you won’t see me in the video.
Inspired by IDEO Human-Centered Design
My Design Process
The design process for my MozFest session came very natural to me, but now in retrospect I realised it follows IDEO’s Human-Centred Design Process.
Tools
My first laptop
On my 7th birthday which happened to be on Christmas day 2017, my sister and I got our first laptop. It was a really cool laptop because I got to build it myself. It was a Kano computer.
Inspiration
Minecraft and my Kano computer were my favourite things
I loved how Kano let me not only run Minecraft but also allowed me to programmed buildings insead of having to building them block by block. I felt strong that other children had access to the schools to do so
Ideation
I design a simple lesson to help other children create their own hut
Implementation
Running a pilot session with my neighbours
Just to make sure I have the best session ready for MozFest I ask my neighbourhood friends to come over to my house and follow my instructions to see if they struggled with anything. I learned a few things and made changes after this pilot session
MozFest 2018
How to create your own simple Minecraft Hut
✉️ Message from MozFest organisers
“Hey Alexander Gonzalez,
Yes, you read that right. I’m excited to congratulate you on an amazing session proposal – one that we believe will captivate and inspire those who aim to make a difference in the fight for a healthy internet.
Your presence in London on the 26th-28th October as a MozFest facilitator is paramount to moving the Mozilla community forward in our work.“
MozFest feels like home
I attended Mozfest for the first time when I was four years old. By now, MozFest felt like a big party at home.
My slide Deck
I made sure that my session had some solid geometry backing the coding part of the creation
Running the session
I was invited to run two sessions one on Saturday and the other one on Sunday. Both session had makers older than me, and everyone had a good time.
The team
My mum
My sister
Au-pair
My neighbours (usability testing)
Research & Development
This is the first time I follow a end-to-end design process. This process emerged naturally with the support of my mother along the way.
More Design Process Focused
Case Studies
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Drawstring Bag
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Geometry Dash Level Creation
This article will overview the main parts of the process of creation. And it might inspired or motivate you to make your own level. You can also see the full level in a video to get a feel for it.