As I mentioned on social media a few weeks ago, José and I, father and son, have joined La Jaquería, a HackSpace in Almería, to:

1. Surround ourselves with curious minds, people with a hacker and maker mindset.
2. Encourage ourselves to create more things together ☺️.

And the first thing we made, which we are going to talk about today, is this soda machine.

Although we are quite strict at home with YouTube usage... we have to thank the "The Q Español" channel for the inspiration for this project, as that’s where José found the video that guided us.

Here is the presentation video we made as a keepsake. And to make it more challenging for José...😂 we did it in English:

With that said, in this article, we will share: our experience, the materials and tools used, and the steps we followed, for those of you who want to recreate it at home.

Although initially, the idea was for José to learn basic concepts of electricity and physics, I must admit that I also refreshed and learned things I had forgotten.

What We Learned​

Through this project, we covered many concepts about:

• ⚡ Basic Electricity:

  • What electricity is and what it is used for.
  • Some ways to generate it.
  • Storage and transportation methods.
  • Types of electricity: static and dynamic.
  • What atoms are, positive charges (protons), and negative charges (electrons).
  • Electrical units: volts, amperes, ohms, and watts.
  • Differences between battery types: shapes, sizes, rechargeable vs. non-rechargeable.
  • What an electrical circuit is.
  • What a power source, supply, or battery is.
  • Conductive and insulating materials.
  • AC vs. DC current.
  • The purpose of chargers and transformers.
  • How to graphically represent an electrical circuit with basic components.
  • How to select the proper voltage and wire gauge for the circuit.
  • The difference between connecting batteries in series and parallel.
  • How to calculate the battery life of a power source.

• ⚙️ Basic Physics:

  • What a pneumatic pressure extraction system is.
  • Basic concepts of how pressure works.
  • How an air pump functions.

• 📦 Other Skills:

  • Learning the names of various materials.
  • Using different work tools.
  • The approximate price of various materials.
  • Basic notions of product design.

Before You Start​

Requirements​

Let's start by reviewing the knowledge, time, materials, and tools you will need.

Knowledge​

Do you need to be handy to follow this tutorial? Or particularly skilled with technology? Our goal is to make it accessible for any family, regardless of prior knowledge or experience.

That’s why we divided it into several sections, explaining each step in detail, including theoretical concepts to help understand how each part functions.

Time​

Is a lot of time required? Once you have all the materials, it took us about 6 hours to make our machine, but:

1. A lot of time was spent designing the cardboard templates. We are providing you with a template with measurements.
2. We wasted time making and remaking some electrical connections. By following this tutorial’s step-by-step process, you won’t have the same issue.

We estimate that it should take about 3 to 4 hours.

Materials​

Regarding materials, the ones we recommend here don’t match exactly with the machine we made (as seen in the photos).

Instead, this article suggests the materials we would buy today based on our lessons learned.

The estimated budget for materials is around €35. If you already have some of these, it may cost less.

Here is an image showing the required materials:

Here is a list of the materials with an approximate price:

• 3 x air pumps (6V): ~12€.
• PVC hoses.
  • 1 x inside-outside diameter (4mm-5mm) x 1 meter: 1€.
  • 2 x Inner-outer diameter (6mm-8mm) x 1 meter: 2,66€.
• Hot melt glue sticks (2): ~2€.
• 3 x Push buttons: ~3€.
• 4 x AAA batteries: 1,5€ or ~11€ rechargeable.
• 1 x Battery box (AAA): 0,20€.
• 1 x Insulating tape: ~1,5€.
• Paper fasteners (~20): ~2,5€ .
• 1 x Packing tape: ~$3.
• 3 x soft drink bottles (~1.25 liters each): ~$3.
• 1 x roll of electrical cable: ~$1.5 (~1.5 meters >=22/24 AWG).
• 1 cardboard box: free, if you take it from a recycling garbage can.

Tools​

• Hot glue gun: ~€13 (example).
• Needle-nose pliers.
• Cutter and/or scissors.
• 1 awl or knife.

Steps​

If you're like us, you like to do things first. That’s why we’ve included the steps to build the machine first, and along the process, we’ve added some references to theory that will help understand how everything works. But if you prefer, you can check them at the end.

1) Structure​

You will start by building the cardboard structure, which consists of three pieces.

MAIN PIECE

Start by taking a piece of cardboard that you can cut into a rectangular shape of 140cm x 60cm. Ideally without folds, but if it has them, draw the template on the cardboard and try to align the folds with those shown in the image:

The folds should be at the following distances from the origin: 30cm, 70cm, 85cm, 110cm, and 125cm.

Next, cut the cardboard with scissors or a cutter, and then make the folds. To ensure that the fold is perpendicular to the cardboard's edge, use any sturdy, straight object like a set square, a hardcover book, etc.

SIDE PANELS

Next, you will make the two side pieces that will help the structure maintain the desired shape.

Cut two pieces of cardboard with the shape and dimensions shown in the first image:

Once done, you need to make a small cut along the red dotted line and then fold the blue tabs (6cm) that will serve as reinforcements. To ensure straight folds, you can use a ruler or book.

Now, join the three pieces, placing the tabs inside the main piece, and secure them with packing tape to hold the shape.

To finish the structure, use the awl (or scissors) to make three small holes where the push buttons will be placed on the front panel.

If you want them to be evenly spaced and centered, they should be 15cm apart from each other and also from the sides.

Next, unscrew and place the three push buttons on the front panel, as shown in the image:

Similarly, on the bottom panel and at the same distance, make three holes where the thick flexible PVC tube will later be placed. But before doing so, I recommend covering that cardboard with packing tape to prevent it from getting wet when inserting and removing the PVC tubes.

Congratulations, with this, you have finished making the structure!

2) Circuit​

Next, you will assemble the electrical circuit that will activate a different air pump when each button is pressed.

Start by cutting the electrical wire into 9 pieces. The wire does not need to be black and red, but this is a good opportunity to explain that there is a convention where black represents the negative (-) pole and red represents the positive (+) pole in direct current circuits.

To avoid excess wire and keep the power source centered, the wire lengths should be approximately:

• 3 x 9cm (🔴 red)
• 2 x 20cm (🔴 red)
• 1 x 10cm (🔴 red)
• 2 x 15cm (⚫️ black)
• 1 x 20cm (⚫️ black)

Now strip about 1cm from each wire end to make the connections.

Since the push buttons are already installed in the structure, you will now work on the box. The first thing you need to do is place some counterweight inside, such as the beverage bottles themselves.

Everything is now ready to complete the circuit assembly.

The following image shows how to do it and where to place each wire:

• 🔴 Red: 9cm (1) (2) (3), 20cm (4) (5), and 10cm (6).
• ⚫️ Black: 15cm (7) (8), and 20cm (9).

The wires connected to the battery in the diagram should be connected to the battery holder.

Finally, we recommend applying electrical tape to any weak connections.

As you can see in the images above and below, we applied it to all the terminals of the push buttons and air pumps, as well as the connections with the battery connector:

3) Dispensers​

You're almost there! Only the beverage dispensers are left! 🥳.

Start by cutting the two large PVC tubes (6mm-8mm) in half so you have four parts of approximately 50cm each. These will be the tubes through which the beverage will flow.

Next, cut the small tube (4mm-5mm) into three 25cm pieces, which will be used to introduce air into the bottle.

Then, without removing the bottles from their place, unscrew the caps. Each cap will need two holes: one for the large tube and one for the small tube.

Our advice is to start by making a small hole with an awl, knife, small screwdriver, or something similar. Then gradually enlarge each hole until both tubes fit, ensuring there isn’t too much looseness.

We first tried using a drill, but it seemed dangerous, so we switched to an awl. Then, we carefully widened the holes using the tip of needle-nose pliers until each tube could fit through.

Finally, insert the tubes and screw the caps back onto the bottles. The thick tubes should reach the bottom of the bottles, while the thin ones should only pass through the caps.

Then, use the hot glue gun to seal the openings, preventing air from escaping through the cap holes, like this:

4) Assembly​

Everything is ready for the final connections.

Now, simply connect the thin PVC tubes to the air pump outlets as shown below:

Finally, place the end of the thicker PVC tube into the hole in the cardboard box.

As you can see in the following photo, we decided to secure the motors to the cardboard box with electrical tape to prevent them from moving due to vibration, resulting in this setup:

Congratulations! You’re now finished! If everything worked correctly, you should be able to place a glass under one of the tubes and dispense your drink just like this:

Theory​

In this section, you will find all the resources and explanations to understand how the soda machine works.

Circuit​

Here is the index for this section again:

• What is electricity?
• Measurement units: volts, amperes, ohms, and watts
• Differences between battery types
  • Alkaline vs rechargeable batteries
  • Battery shapes and sizes
• What is direct and alternating current?
• How is an electrical circuit graphically represented?
• What power source should be used?
• What thickness of electrical wire should be used?
• How to calculate the lifespan of the power source?
• How to determine how much energy a device consumes in an hour?

WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?​

This 13-minute video from "Smile and Learn" explains what electricity is, its uses, ways to generate it, how it is stored and transported, types of electricity (static and dynamic), what atoms are, positive charges (protons) and negative charges (electrons), etc.

MEASUREMENT UNITS: VOLTS, AMPERES, OHMS, AND WATTS​

Next, we will describe some important electrical units:

• 🔌 VOLTS (V) - Volts can be understood as the water pressure in a hose. If the pressure is high, the water comes out with more force. In electricity, volts represent the force pushing current through wires. A small battery has 1.5 volts (like a soft stream), while an outlet in Spain has 220 volts (like a strong jet).
• 💧 AMPERES (A) - Amperes measure how much water is flowing through the pipe. If the pipe is large and allows a lot of water through, there are many amperes. In electricity, more amperes mean more current flowing through the wire. For high-consumption appliances like an oven, proper wiring is essential to prevent overheating.
• 🚧 OHMS (Ω) - Ohms are like the resistance in a pipe. If the hose is very narrow, water struggles to pass through. In electricity, ohms indicate how difficult it is for current to pass through a material. A copper wire has low resistance (like a wide hose), whereas a poor conductor like plastic has high resistance.
• ⚡ WATTS (W) - Watts are like the strength of the water coming out of a hose. If you have high pressure (volts) and high flow (amperes), the stream will be strong and move more things. In electricity, watts indicate how much energy a device uses, such as a light bulb or motor. They are calculated by multiplying volts × amperes.

It’s good to know the following about these units:

• 🚨 If you connect a device designed to operate at a specific voltage to a power supply with a higher voltage, you could burn it out.
• 🔥 If a thin wire has to support a high current (high amperage), it will heat up a lot and may burn out.
• 🪫 When a battery gets depleted, its voltage drops until it can no longer properly power devices. For example, most devices stop working correctly if the battery drops below 1.1V or 1.0V. Some more demanding devices may need at least 1.2V to function correctly. So if a 1.5V battery:
  • Has more than 1.3V → It still has charge.
  • Is between 1.0V and 1.2V → It is nearly depleted.
  • Has less than 1.0V → It is dead.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TYPES OF BATTERIES​

Alkaline vs. Rechargeable Batteries​

Alkaline and rechargeable batteries both provide energy to toys, remotes, and other devices, but they function differently.

When we talk about energy, we refer to the amount of electricity required to operate over a given period. Energy is measured in watt-hours (Wh) and depends on the power of the device (W) and the time it is in use (h). For example, a remote control consumes very little energy since it only uses the battery for a few seconds when you press a button, whereas a battery-operated Scalextric track consumes much more energy because it is used more intensively.

Alkaline batteries are single-use: when they run out, they must be discarded and replaced. On the other hand, rechargeable batteries can be recharged many times with a special charger, reducing the need to buy new ones frequently.

An important difference is the voltage. Alkaline batteries usually have 1.5V, while most rechargeable batteries have 1.2V.

Although this may seem like a small difference, as we mentioned earlier, some devices need higher voltage to function properly, meaning alkaline batteries might last longer in those cases. However, rechargeable batteries can be better for frequently used items since they can be recharged and reused multiple times.

Thus, it’s better to use alkaline batteries in devices that are used infrequently or require more voltage (higher potential difference), whereas rechargeable batteries are ideal for daily-use devices that don’t require high voltages to function well, such as flashlights or remote controls. This way, you save money and help the environment by generating less waste.

Battery Shapes and Sizes​

Batteries come in different shapes and sizes because each is designed for various devices and needs. The difference is not just in shape but also in voltage, capacity, and intended use.

• Cylindrical Batteries (e.g., AA, AAA, AAAA, C, and D): These are the most common and have a voltage of 1.5V in alkaline versions and 1.2V in rechargeables. The difference between them lies in capacity, meaning how much energy they can store. For example, a D battery lasts much longer than a AAA because it is larger and has more capacity.

• Button Batteries (such as those in watches or hearing aids): These are tiny and have voltages ranging from 1.5V to 3V, depending on the type. They are used in devices that need little energy but for extended periods, such as clocks or calculators.

• Square and rectangular batteries: The most common is the 9V battery, used in devices like smoke detectors or wireless microphones. These batteries can provide higher voltage because they contain multiple smaller batteries inside the casing.

Here is an example of different battery shapes and sizes:

WHAT IS DIRECT AND ALTERNATING CURRENT?​

For electronic devices like the one we are going to build, we will use direct current, but what exactly is that? What other types of current exist, and what are they used for?

There are two types of electrical current: direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). Understanding the difference is important because each type is used in different devices and situations. Direct current is ideal for electronic devices like mobile phones, computers, and battery-powered toys, while alternating current is what powers our homes, supplying electricity for lights, appliances, and outlets.

Here’s a short but comprehensive video from "The Engineering Mindset" explaining it further:

Additionally, using the wrong type of current can damage devices or make them malfunction, so it’s crucial to understand which type is needed and how to convert one to the other if necessary.

HOW IS AN ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT GRAPHICALLY REPRESENTED?​

This short 3-minute video by Learn Science with B, although not featuring the same components as our circuit, will help explain the basic concepts of electrical circuit representation:

HOW TO CALCULATE THE POWER SOURCE'S LIFESPAN?​

Next, we will calculate the lifespan of our power source.

We need to consider that:

• Standard AAA alkaline batteries have an electrical charge capacity of ~1200 mAh.
  • If we use rechargeable NiMH batteries, they usually range between 800-1000 mAh.
• As we saw in the air pump specification sheet, our 6V air pump requires a maximum of 300 mA.

To estimate the duration, we simply divide the capacity by the consumption.

If using standard alkaline batteries (1200 mAh):

• Duration = Capacity (mAh) / Consumption (mA) = 1200/300 = 4 hours

If using NiMH rechargeable batteries (800-1000 mAh), the duration would be:

• Duration = 800/300 = 2.6 hours
• Duration = 1000/300 = 3.3 hours

HOW TO KNOW HOW MUCH ENERGY A DEVICE CONSUMES IN AN HOUR?​

To calculate energy consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is what the electricity bill measures:

kWh = (Watts × Hours of use) / 1000

Example: A 100W television turned on for 5 hours:

(100W × 5) / 1000 = 0.5 kWh

Dispensers​

HOW DOES THE AIR PUMP WORK?​

The mechanism is simple:

• The motor spins like a wheel. When you close the circuit and electricity flows, the motor starts spinning, just like when you pedal a bicycle and the wheels move.
• The motor moves a small "arm" that, in turn, moves flexible rubber pieces that go up and down each time the motor rotates. This part is called a diaphragm, as it functions similarly to the human body's diaphragm, which helps the lungs take in and expel air.
• Air enters on one side and exits on the other. When the rubber moves up, it draws air in through a small hole. When the rubber moves down, it pushes the air out.

This creates a continuous airflow. Since the motor never stops spinning, the air keeps entering and exiting continuously.

The following video shows the inside of one of the air pumps we used for this machine:

WHY DOES THE LIQUID COME OUT?​

Our system uses air pressure to force the liquid out of the bottle.

Technically, this is called a pressure extraction mechanism, and it works as follows:

• When the air pump is turned on, as we saw, it generates movement that allows air to enter through one nozzle and exit through another, to which a PVC tube is connected.
• The air flows through this tube and enters the top of the bottle through the cap.
• Since there is no way for the air to escape (because the cap is sealed), the pressure increases, pushing the liquid down.
• The only exit is through the other PVC tube (the thicker one). Since it is not sealed, the liquid is pushed out through it.

In short, it's like trying to inflate a balloon filled with water, and at the bottom of the balloon, there's a tiny hole through which the water exits when you blow into it.

Lessons Learned​

We wanted to summarize the things we would change if we had to do the project again:

• Be careful when folding the main box piece to ensure that no advertising is visible.
• Analyze the required wiring more thoroughly before purchasing.
• Use a AAA battery holder instead of a 9V battery.
• Use less packing tape and more paper fasteners.
• Ignore suggestions to use a drill and soldering iron (due to the potential risks).
• Purchase a fluid retention valve or consider adding something to catch annoying drips.

Next Steps​

This has been the first project we have documented, although we had done some smaller projects before.

Moreover, in this playlist, we keep saving some ideas, and we have already purchased materials for more projects, such as:

• Two Joysticks and a Raspberry Pi Zero W to create an arcade machine.
• Several items for learning to solder, like this beetle and this car.
• ELEGOO basic starter kit with Arduino.
• An LCD screen that we might use to build a mini console (we’ll see).

Besides printing models created by others with our new 3D printer, we also want to design and print our own creations...

So, in short... the future is uncertain 😂.

If any family follows this tutorial, please 🙏 let me know. You can contact me through any of my networks or by email (hhkaos@gmail.com).

Comments​

Are you reading about Artificial Intelligence again?? Seriously, wasn’t the 912,673,140 articles, news reports, podcasts, videos, or reels, and tiktoks out there enough? I love it, that means you're really into this topic 😜😂.

The root of everything I’m going to share started with a proposal I received at the beginning of the school year from the guidance counselor at my children's school. She suggested that the AMPA collaborate with the school to organize an activity to educate students on AI usage. And since I’m easy to convince… here I am, months later and many "brain cycles" later, sharing the progress.

In this article, I will talk about:

• Traditional AI vs. Generative AI: key differences.
• Generative AI: what makes it "special".
• AI in education: the current situation as I see it.
• My contribution: a new project I’ve embarked on.
• Protecting ourselves from the hype: my advice to avoid falling for misinformation.

Traditional vs. GenAI​

As we know, AI is not new^*. It has been used in search engines, recommendation engines (Netflix, social media, ...), virtual assistants (Google Home, Siri, Alexa, ...), automatic translators, facial recognition, spam filters, text predictors, CAPTCHAs, etc.

However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that generative AI has arrived with incredible momentum, and it’s now “everywhere.”

The following table summarizes some key differences:

Generative AI​

But why give it so much importance? What makes generative AI different from other disruptive technologies? Or as Bugs Bunny would say, What's up, doc?.

There have been many other technological advances that have had a radical impact on humanity and transformed us: the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, the Internet...

However, in recent years, we’ve seen an increase in the speed at which these changes occur, likely due to globalization and new communication technologies.

The following chart from Harvard Business Review illustrates how the time needed to adopt new technologies has decreased over the years, based on data from the United States:

Although I have not yet found highly reliable data on the adoption of generative AI tools, we’ve heard that ChatGPT (launched in 2022) has already reached an incredible 300 million weekly active users.

To put this number into context, here’s a comparison showing other well-known applications and how long they took to reach 100 million monthly active users:

For me, the importance isn’t just in the speed of adoption. What concerns me is that it is being used massively without a solid knowledge base, leading to content being generated and shared that appears to be high quality, but often are not.

Unlike widely used tools like Word or Excel, which require some training and come with an instruction manual, most AI tools do not provide clear guidelines.

Furthermore, they are so intuitive that anyone can enter a request and receive a response. However, what a new user might not realize is that if the request is not well defined, if they are unaware of the types of instructions AI can process, its limitations, biases, and other key characteristics, the chances of getting an inaccurate or misleading answer are significantly high.

And one of the biggest problems is that there are still aspects of generative AI that even its own creators don’t fully understand, such as how exactly prompts, meaning input instructions, influence responses.

Ultimately, this puts us in a situation where, as Ramón Besonías says:

• Everyone is a novice when it comes to using AI (even its creators), with some of us having a few more months of experience than others.
• There is still no clear methodology on how to teach AI.

This is why I believe it is especially important for adults to gain a basic understanding, experiment with AI, and do their best to stay up to date—understanding how it can be used and sharing both good and bad experiences with others.

AI in Education​

There are many debates around AI: intellectual property, ethics, regulation, job displacement... But what I take for granted is that this technology is here to stay, that it is already redefining education and learning, and that those who can use it correctly will have an advantage and stand out.

Did you know that according to a survey by Statista, the education sector could be the second most impacted by this technology? Below is an infographic with the results:

But it’s not just educators using it—students are also leveraging AI to do their work for them (surprise!! 😜).

But you know what? I don’t blame them. One of AI’s promises is that it helps us with tasks we don’t like or find less important. And I think that, deep down, even if we don’t admit it, many adults started using AI for the same reason.

The biggest issue I’ve encountered, however, is that even if you try to find it, there is no good content^* to guide how AI should be used for studying—meaning content that is accessible, comprehensive, structured, high-quality, and free.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that we will need to develop new skills.

Just as the advent of computing, the Internet, and search engines required us to develop new skills—such as knowing how to search online—now, it will be more important than ever to enhance other competencies, such as language skills and critical thinking, to make good use of generative AI.

For example, we will need to understand the differences between various AI tools and models at a high level or learn how to craft effective prompts to get useful results.

And while I hope this won’t happen, if we don’t develop these skills, I fear society could face a dystopian future where new generations are less prepared and surrounded by misinformation that is difficult to identify.

That’s why we must use this technology as just another tool to assist us in our work and skill development—not misuse it in a way that hinders our growth and intelligence.

Repeatedly, it’s clear that AI, like anything else, can do great things if used well, but it can also create problems if misused.

My Contribution​

You might be wondering, after all this discussion, what am I doing to address this issue?

Beyond doing my best to educate my children at home and support their school, I’ve embarked on a new documentation project in the section "My Digital Brain > Artificial Intelligence."

Since I’m neither a teacher nor an AI expert, I’ve reached out for help through interviews with teachers in Spain, AI specialists, and experts in related fields to gather information on this topic: ideas, experiences, resources, insights, etc.

The goal is to create educational material that fills the gap I found. Content on how to use AI (for students) with a holistic approach that is accessible, structured, comprehensive, high-quality, and free. I hope this resource will not only support the activities we are organizing at our Parents' Association but also be useful for other educational communities.

For now, just can find the working doc in Spanish: Using AI in Education, but I encourage you to check the following resource:

Protect Yourself from the "Hype"​

We can't deny that although AI has great potential, the "hype" surrounding it is overwhelming.

Every technological innovation brings this effect, as shown in the following graph, which you can find in all "Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies" reports:

But let’s not forget why this happens. It’s a mix of:

• The optimism and passion of some innovators.
• The eagerness of many people to believe in it.
• The vast media attention and publicity.
• The "hidden" (economic) interests of the companies behind these innovations, competing non-stop to lead these revolutions.

This often leads to inflated expectations, sometimes at the cost of spreading misleading information.

To protect yourself from manipulation and misinformation, not just about AI, I recommend:

1. Be wary of emotional language: Anything that sounds too good to be true, exaggerated promises, or alarmist headlines. These are usually signs of manipulation. By the way, this applies to everything.
2. Be critical: Evaluate the source of the information and check for economic interests.
3. Do your research: Look for expert opinions and reliable sources.
4. Diversify your sources: Consult multiple perspectives for a more complete view.

Well, what do you think? What do you disagree with? What am I missing? Or did you find it interesting?

Comments​

This is the second article in the series "History of Technical Communities," in which we are reviewing the history of technical communities in Spain. In this one, we will focus specifically on the era when the Internet became popular, reaching many households, and we will continue to get nostalgic with some of the innovations that were introduced.

We are in the years of:

• The Barcelona Olympic Games.
• The Seville Expo '92.
• The celebration of the first Meeting of Students of Technical and Higher Engineering in Computer Sciences (RITSI).
• The launch of Windows 3.1.

And a year before Intel Pentium began flooding the market (1993).

Linux and LUGs​

A year earlier, in 1991, the Linux operating system was created, which in 1992 adopted a GPL license. This technology not only transformed the Internet and many other things, but it was also the seed of many important communities of the time, such as the Linux user groups (LUGs). Among other things, they held “Linux install parties” to help install systems like SUSE (1992), Debian (1993), Red Hat (1993), Mandrake (1998), ... which were not easy to get working at that time.

Years later, in ~1997, the Association of Spanish Linux Users (Hispalinux) was formed in Spain, an important community whose goals can be read in their statutes. In 2024 it has more than 7,000 members.

Internet​

This is the era of the early days of the Internet in Spain (1996), when Web 1.0 arrives, static pages created with HTML 2.0, practically without user systems or comments, and which we browse with browsers like Netscape or Opera.

The first Spanish Internet Service Providers like Goya (1992) and InfoVía (1995) were born, charging for Internet (per minute connected) at the price of a local phone call. Yes, because at that time, you had to pay for local calls. That's when 28.8 kbps modems, the routers of that time, were more than a thousand times slower than today's.

With these connections, we could chat and browse Web. At that time, websites almost had no images, and of course, no multimedia files, because downloading a 4 MB file could take many hours, and if you were lucky that someone didn't cut off your connection by calling your house.

Also in 1992, party lines emerged, multi-conferences with strangers via telephone. Although personally, I wouldn't include this in the community initiatives.

In 1998, another community was born, the Association of Internauts, whose can be read here.

That same year, 1998, Netscape created the Mozilla organization, which led to the creation of the Mozilla Foundation in 2003.

And in 2000, the Spanish chapter of the Internet Society was founded.

Hosting and Search Engines​

When the Internet was arriving in Spain, the first web hosting providers, like GeoCities (1994), or later Galeon.com (1999), began offering free web hosting as well.

This greatly reduced the barrier to entry for communities that wanted to collaborate by creating and sharing tutorials, news, etc. Especially for those of us who were teenagers and couldn't afford a paid one.

It should also be noted that the first search engines did not appear until the mid-90s (e.g. Lycos ‘94, Yahoo! Search ‘95, AltaVista ‘95, Olé ‘96, Hispavista ‘96, Google ‘97…). Therefore, there were not only far fewer manuals and tutorials, but until then, it had been very difficult to find them.

As a result of some of these collaborations, older people will remember the famous Rincón del Vago (~1998), a website mainly used by students to share academic papers and notes. But to give an example of a technical community, I will leave one that I was lucky enough to be a part of, HackHispano (~1999).

IRC and Other Chats​

It was also when the IRC protocol became popular, and programs like mIRC (1995) allowed us to connect to public servers like IRC-Hispano, freenode, undernet, etc. For the first time in history, it allowed real-time chatting with people from other parts of the world, I repeat, at the cost of a local call, something totally disruptive.

There were many channels about #linux, #programming, #networks, ... but also #humor, #madrid, #manga, etc. However, it is true that many historic hacker communities like !Hispahack/#hispahack (~1996) also started to gather here. In this interview with Antonio Fernandes (in The Wild Project), you can hear about his beginnings in hacking at that time, and how he mentions other hacker communities/groups like Apóstols or La Vieja Guardia.

In 1996, the newsgroup es.comp.os.linux was born, dedicated to discussing the Linux operating system in Spain, and according to hackstory.net, one of the main initiatives of Spanish Linux hackers.

Conferences​

At that time, the main technological conferences in Spain were:

• SIMO TCI (1994).
• Computing Days of the Spanish Association of Computing and Automation (1995-1998).
• Hispalinux Congress (1998).

In the international scene, other popular conferences started:

• Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (1992).
• DEF CON (1993).
• Hackers on Planet Earth (1994).
• Linux Kongress (1994).
• JavaOne (1996).
• O’Reilly Conferences (1997).
• LinuxWorld (1998) (renamed to OpenSource World in 2009)
• FOSDEM (2001).
• etc.

Mailing Lists​

Also at that time, communities that gathered around mailing lists increased considerably:

• Hispalinux.
• Lists of Linux user groups.
• RedIRIS distribution lists.
• etc.

LAN Parties​

This is the era of the first LAN parties, groups of friends who gathered at someone's house to play network games and sometimes see things we shouldn't 🤣.

Also, macro gatherings like the Euskal Party (1993) or Campus Party (1996) began, where many of us took our desktop computers, got on a bus, and traveled across Spain to spend a few days surrounded by hundreds or thousands of technology enthusiasts playing games, burning CDs, etc.

A few years later, in 1998, the video game and multimedia developer community Stratos emerged.

Cybercafés​

With the arrival of ISDN, which significantly improved Internet connection speeds, the first Internet cafés (~1995) began to emerge. These became other meeting points where groups of friends would gather to play, talk, and share things they had discovered on the Internet, etc., and where some “hackers” 😜 took advantage of installing keyloggers and trojan horses for somewhat illicit purposes.

Bloggers​

At the end of the millennium, in 1999, blogs, formerly also called weblogs, began to gain popularity, perhaps triggered by the launch of Blogger.com.

In that same year, Barrapunto (1999) was born, a news website related to free software, technology, and digital rights. In 2001, it began offering a weblog system called MiBarrapunto.

A famous blog that started talking about free culture at that time was Ignacio Escolar's (~2001).

Then Blogalia (~2001/2002) was born, another weblog server in Spanish.

What I would like to comment on here is the fact that the comments on some blogs almost became community chats.

End of the Era​

According to the Scientific Computing Society of Spain, it is estimated that by the end of the century, a total of about 68,705 people had graduated in computing in Spain (~2450 per year).

It is also when the first Official Colleges of Computer Engineers (e.g. Murcia, Catalonia, Asturias, ...) (1998-2002) began to be formed, and when the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists (2001) emerged.

International Scene​

Now let's review other events that happened internationally and later had an impact on technical communities in Spain.

Hackerspaces​

Around 1992, hackerspaces began to emerge, physical spaces where people interested in new technologies, electronics, digital arts, etc. met, socialized, and collaborated.

I wrote about HackSpace / HackLab / MakerSpace / Fab Lab in this page.

Other Communities​

In 1993, the IBM community appears.

The same year the first version of Java was released (1995), one of the first Java Users Group (the Denver one) was formed.

Then in 2001, many things happened:

• Wikipedia was created, around which a vast community of contributors would emerge (including local communities).
• The Python Foundation was born, which would foster the creation of local user groups, now boasting over 1600 groups and more than 800,000 members.
• And the September 11 attacks occurred.

Recognitions​

I found that around 1993, Microsoft was already recognizing some developers' contributions, which could be considered the precursor to the Microsoft MVP program, and what in the future would likely lead to other programs of "champions", "ambassadors", etc.

Open Culture​

Twelve years after the founding of the Free Software Foundation (in 1997), developer Bruce Perens created The Open Source Definition, and a year later co-founded the Open Source Initiative, which popularized the term "open source" and advocated for open-source software from a pragmatic and business-friendly perspective.

Early initiatives focused on open-source hardware, such as the "Open Hardware Certification Program" and the "Open Hardware Specification Project" were also launched around that time.

In 1999, the Apache Software Foundation was created to support various open-source software projects. And one of the first websites offering free hosting for the developer community to share open-source projects, Sourceforge, was launched.

In 2000, the Open Source Development Labs was founded to promote Linux in enterprise computing, which years later (in 2007) would become the Linux Foundation.

It was also during this time (2001) that Lawrence Lessig, a lawyer and political activist, created Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to facilitating access to educational content and increasing the amount of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share.

Social Networks​

We could say that the beginnings of social networks also occurred at the end of this era with the birth of:

• SixDegrees.com (~1998)
• Last.fm (2002)
• Friendster (2003)
• MySpace (2003)
• LinkedIn (2003)
• Hi5 (2004)
• Etc.

Although out of all these, I would say the only well-known ones in Spain were MySpace and perhaps Last.fm, mainly for communities around music.

Conclusions​

In this era, we can undoubtedly say that online communities exploded, mainly with text interactions, mailing lists, and blog comments. Although voice calls (among gamers primarily) also began.

Professional associations and those around different technologies continued to be created, but now they were not necessarily local. Some new conferences emerged, but they were still not very common.

Some communities emerged around topics like Internet, Linux, hacking, game programming, women in technology, digital journalism, hardware (e.g. overclocking, open hardware, ...), etc.

Based on this information, I would say that at this time, a community was understood as: a group of people who gathered (online or in person), voluntarily and on their own initiative, sharing an interest in technology, to collaborate with each other.

And you, what do you think?

If you liked it, I will soon publish the next article in the series: “2004-2012: The emergence of modern conferences and tech meetups”

In this first article of the series "History of technical communities," we will review the history of technical communities in Spain, before the Internet, during the era when computing arrived and the revolution of personal computers began.

Previous context​

Let's review some facts from the national and international context to set the stage.

United States​

1975 is the year when the United States ended the Vietnam War.

IBM was already 64 years old, the giant and world leader in manufacturing computers (mainframes) used by companies, government institutions, and academia.

Another company, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which in 1998 would be acquired by Compaq, began marketing in 1960 what they called Programmed Data Processors (PDP) around which user groups would be created.

At that time Xerox held a dominant position in the photocopier market. It was one of its printers that in 1980 would give rise to the anecdote that would eventually lead Richard Stallman to the creation of the Free Software Foundation.

Until recently, software was not perceived as a product. It was when IBM decided to unbundle it from hardware (in 1969) that the independent software vendor industry (ISVs) was born, where companies such as Microsoft would soon play a fundamental role.

By this time, some of the first user groups or communities I could find were already a few years old, such as:

• TMRC, MIT students related to hacking culture (1946).
• SHARE, IBM mainframe user group (1955).
• GUIDE, an IBM systems user group (1956).
• DECUS, the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer user group (1961).

In 1963, the IEEE was created, a non-profit organization that would later create standards such as Ethernet (1983), Wi-Fi (1997), etc.

By then, some notable computing conferences that brought together technical profiles had already been held, such as the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (1954) and the Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (1967).

On the other hand, Intel, already 7 years old, launched the first microprocessor in 1971, the Intel 4004 (at a cost of $450, as of 2023), which would revolutionize the personal computer industry.

Spain​

Now let's review some important facts related to computing in Spain before the dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975 after 36 years in power.

Up to that date, the most notable figure in the sector I have found is José García Santesmases, a physicist and pioneer of computing in Spain who was 68 years old that year. He:

• Created the Institute of Electricity and Automation (1952).
• Organized an international automation congress (1958).
• Created the Spanish Association of Computing and Automation (AEIA) (1967).
• Organized the First National Congress of Automation (1970).

It was also before Franco's death that the Association of Computing Technicians (1967) and the Institute of Computing under the Ministry of Education and Science (1969) were created.

In 1971, an order (law) was approved in Spain, and that would establish the study plans for the different degrees, which shortly afterwards would give rise to the first Faculties of Computer Science.

The Spanish transition​

The same year Franco died, in the United States, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft and launched what is considered the first personal computer that was well-received by the market (in terms of performance/price ratio), the Altair 8800.

In this year (1975), the mythical Homebrew Computer Club was also founded, where Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs showed their Apple 1 in 1976, a moment “immortalized” in movies like Pirates of Silicon Valley (see sequence) or Jobs (2013).

In 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple, and launched the Apple-1. The same year Bill Gates wrote his famous letter “An Open Letter to Hobbyists”.

That year was when the first Computer Sciences Faculties were created in Spain at the Polytechnic Universities of Madrid and Barcelona, and the University of Valladolid (see more).

First associations​

On June 15, 1977, the first democratic elections were held in Spain.

Shortly after, the Constitution of Spain (1978) was approved, which among many other things includes the right to freedom of association, which would promote the formation of many associations in Spain from which articles, manuals, and case studies would be published.

Some of these associations are:

• 🇪🇸 Association of Graduates in Computing Engineering (1980).
• 🇪🇸 Spanish Association for Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (1982).
• 🇪🇸 Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence (1983).
• 🇪🇸 Spanish Society for Natural Language Processing (1984).
• 🇪🇸 Ada Spain Association (1987).
• 🇪🇸 Association for the Development of Educational Computing (1989).

In parallel, outside Spain, other notable groups were formed:

• 🇩🇪 Chaos Computer Club, a hackers association (1981).
• 🇺🇸 Macintosh User Group (1984).
• 🇺🇸 Apple User Group Connection (AUGC) (1985), promotional video from 1991.

First online communities​

Also, around this time (early 80s), the first online communities could be said to emerge, gathering around bulletin board systems (BBS), the precursors to today's forums.

Almost in parallel, Usenet emerged (~1980), another system for exchanging opinions and experiences. This is the system Richard Stallman used in 1983 to announce his plan for the GNU operating system. Two years later, in 1985, he founded the Free Software Foundation, whose philosophy would have a significant impact on the world of software and soon after on hardware, and of course around many technical communities.

Shortly after Usenet, in the year when Teletext was being experimented with in Spain and we could listen to Michael Jackson's recently released Thriller on the walkmans (1982), Telefónica began marketing Minitel, a system that could be used to access the phone book, retail shopping, access company information services, databases, forums, and messaging.

In that same year (1982), Sun Microsystems was founded, a company that would compete with DEC in the sale of servers and workstations, and where in 1991 they would start working on the project that would result in the Java language.

In 1984, FidoNet emerged, a popular network of BBS nodes that would gain traction in Spain and for the first time allow many strangers to communicate worldwide via computers over telephone lines. For example, the node "2:345/801" was the address of a board called “Atlantis” whose operator was Alfredo Sanchez, from Granada, and whose phone number was “958132748”. More information in "Traveling in time: SysOp of a BBS in 1997 and Fidonet in Spain". Here is another list of nodes from 1987, and here are other nodes from Spain.

Conferences​

In the national scene, most of the technical conferences and events held were more from the university sector:

• 🇪🇸 Automation Days of the Spanish Automation Committee (1977).
• 🇪🇸 IV National Congress of Computing and Automation (AEIA) (1979).
• 🇪🇸 V Congress of Computing and Automation (AEIA) (1982).
• 🇪🇸 Congress of the Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence (1985).
• 🇪🇸 VI Congress of Computing and Automation (AEIA) (1985).

And in the United States, here are some that seemed interesting to highlight:

• 🇺🇸 History of Programming Languages (1978)
• 🇺🇸 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (1980)
• 🇺🇸 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) (1983)

PCs and video games​

Throughout this decade (the 80s), 386 (1985) and 486 (1989) computers arrived in many Spanish homes, and video game consoles began to flood houses: Commodore 64 (1982), Nintendo NES (1983), Sega SG-1000 (1983) Amstrad CPC (1984), Amiga (1985), Atari 7800 (1986), Game Boy (1989), ... In this climate, the first meeting called the Game Developers Conference was organized in 1988, in California, with about 20 people that would grow to about 125 the following year, and today gathers nearly 28,000 people.

As can be read in the History of personal computers in Wikipedia page, by this time Texas Instruments was the largest chip manufacturer in the world, and one of the high-tech electronics companies that entered the home computer market in 1979.

The Compaq Computer Corporation founders worked there, until ~1978, when they founded Compaq and launched their first product, a portable personal computer (portable computer) inspired by Osborne 1 but compatible with IBM software, mainly oriented to professionals. If you want to know more, the documentary "Silicon Cowboys" tells the story of Compaq and its impact on the development of portable computers. You can watch the launch event here.

End of the era​

Other relevant events at the end of this era:

• RedIRIS (1988) emerged in Spain, the Interconnection Network of Computing Resources for universities and research centers.
• Guy Kawasaki created a team of evangelists at Apple.
• The popular Concurrent Versions System (CVS) was born (1990).
• Also in 1990, Open Design Circuits proposed the creation of a hardware design community with the spirit of free software (more).
• Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger introduced the concept of “Community of Practice” that accompanies us to this day and is defined as: “a group of people who share an interest, deepen their knowledge and experience in the area through continuous interaction that strengthens their relationships” (1991).

Finally, what would change society and the community ecosystem in the coming years was presented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991, the foundations of the World Wide Web.

Conclusions​

As we have observed, during this era, computing arrived in Spain, along with the constitution and the first associations, which emerged around the scientific and university community.

• The first computing, automation, and artificial intelligence conferences were held. At the same time, BBS and Usenet emerged, where the first more informal online communities began to form.
• Internationally, the first user groups and computer hobbyist clubs emerged around electronics, specific company systems, hacking... along with some conferences that were mainly face-to-face.

In summary, these groups and conferences talked about: operating systems, automation, robotics, circuits, programming languages, artificial intelligence, IBM systems, Apple, video games, networks, and security.

Based on this information, I would say that when we talked about community in Spain at this time, we mainly referred to: a group of people who meet in person on their own initiative and share an interest in software, whose goal is professional development. Mainly to publish articles, manuals, and case studies.

And you, what do you think?

If you liked it, you can continue reading in the following article of the saga: "1992-2003: The rise of online communities".

Following a series of reflections that led me to consider what a technical community is (for me), I decided to start this series of articles that compile the most relevant facts from the world of technology and communities, with a special focus on Spain.

The goal is to document the history and help us reflect on the past, understand how and why technological communities have evolved the way they have, and establish a common framework to help dispel some of the current controversies. This way, hopefully, we can focus on what I believe is important... collaborating.

The articles I plan to publish soon are:

• 1975-1991: First associations and online communities.
• 1992-2003: The rise of online communities.
• 2004-2012: The emergence of modern conferences and tech meetups (coming soon).
• 2013-2020: Professionalization of communities (coming soon).
• 2020-2022: Communities during the Pandemic (COVID-19) (coming soon).
• 2022-2024: The return to reality for communities (coming soon).

I’d like to remind you that all the content is on GitHub and under Creative Commons, and I would love to receive your contributions.

If possible, I will try to upload this information to Wikipedia in some way.

I hope you enjoy them 🙂

Today, I write this article motivated by a new community initiative that we are starting and still doesn’t have a name. It is mainly aimed at people with experience or the intention to create technical communities, with the purpose of helping to create healthier, more attractive, useful, and sustainable communities.

In this context, I find myself needing to define what a technical community is, at least for me.

An ambiguous term​

To begin with, I hope everyone agrees with me that the term community not only has many meanings and synonyms, but it has been used to refer to many things, sometimes more accurately and sometimes less so, making it very ambiguous.

For example, when we talk about a community, we could be referring to a multitude of things (at least in Spanish):

• A collective
• A guild
• A group (e.g., mutual aid group, group of users/customers, ...)
• A club (e.g., book discussion club, fan club
• A tribe
• A gang
• A sect, clan, or The Fellowship of the Ring 💍😂
• ...

In the tech world, the term has been used, and we could even say... abused or misused to the point where some of us feel that the romantic meaning of the word has been distorted.

Here are some illustrative examples in different contexts:

• The community of a technology
  (e.g., Python community, Java community, Android community, …)
• The community of a platform
  (e.g., GitHub community, Twitch community, Reddit community, Stack Overflow, Meetup…)
• The external community of a brand or organization
  (e.g., GDG community, GDE, Microsoft, Mozilla, Wikipedia, OSM, CodelyTV...)
• The internal community (of employees) of a brand or organization
  (e.g., SNGULAR, Izertis Community, Adevinta, ...)
• The community of an influencer
  (e.g., Midudev, mouredev, ...)
• The community of a movement, practice, or methodology
  (e.g., Open source community, Agile community, ...)
• The community of an event/conference
  (e.g., Codemotion, ...)
• The community of a field or guild
  (e.g., Frontend, Backend, DevOps, ...)
• ...

This often leads to debates about what we generally mean by community in the tech world.

Keep in mind that language evolves over time, and the use of words is closely linked to the context in which they are expressed. To dig a bit more into this, I’ve decided to start a series of articles on the History of technical communities (in Spain).

My definition​

Here’s what I understand by technical community, in the most traditional/romantic sense, heavily influenced by my own life experience, and clearly biased:

It is a group of people who:

• Emerge from their own initiative (grassroots movement).
• Share an interest in technology (software or hardware), for example: programming languages, methodologies, cybersecurity, data, or robotics.
• Are governed by a set of norms or rules, whether implicit or explicit (like a code of conduct, decalogue, nettiquete, ...) and defined by the community itself.
• Have a purpose or goal more focused on professional or personal development rather than pure entertainment.

Where all these people, both promoters and other participants, voluntarily decide to invest part of their free time (out of intrinsic motivation), and sometimes money, to interact regularly with each other. Sometimes without expecting anything more than the satisfaction of helping others, sharing knowledge, sharing experiences, learning from others, collaborating on projects, and ultimately enjoying with like-minded people their passion for technology in their free time.

Always altruistically, and even seeking the good of others at their own expense, often leading to the formation of strong bonds.

If I had to name some communities that I think would fit quite well, they would be:

• !Hispahack
• Hispalinux
• Local Python communities
• HOT communities
• etc.

That said, I must say that:

• This definition probably does not apply to more than 90% of the communities that exist today.
• Nor does it mean I do not appreciate or admire other types of communities.

The controversy​

The other day, thinking about some classic debates where people from the same generation discussed whether “X” was a community or not, I remembered when my father used to tell me: “what you’re listening to isn’t music, it’s noise!” Does that sound familiar? Personally, I think it’s natural that as we get older, we hang on to our memories and nostalgia for something, and it’s hard for us to accept that things change and evolve into something that we may or may not like.

And more often than I’d like, I find myself in similar debates: is an online community a real community? Is the community of a company a community? Is the community of X a community?, ...

What really matters​

But I wonder, how important is the label we put on it?

My opinion is quite firm on this. I say that, as always, the most important thing is to seek what unites us and not what separates us. We are already in a sufficiently divided, confrontational, and polarized society, to add more fuel to the fire over things that, in my opinion... are trivialities.

Just like people, communities are diverse; you may like them more or less, and everyone will judge which people and communities they like better, seem healthier, or toxic, but in any case, what I say is... let’s try to empathize, always act with respect, sincerity, honesty, and as far as possible... collaborate.

In my opinion, this is the antidote to most problems.

And you, what do you think?

Those who know me know that I am used to giving training and talks to adults, but helping a 7-year-old child learn to study... is something totally different, and it is proving to be quite a challenge 😅.

So today I want to talk about my experience trying to help my son José summarize books, how I have come to feel frustrated by setting my expectations too high, and the conclusions I have reached.

The context​

To give you some background:

• Every two weeks he brings a book from school home.
• These are books that himself and his classmates have brought to class, usually bought by the parents.
• They are asked to fill out a worksheet after reading where they have to make a summary of about half a page.
• These books are like Anna Kadabra, Pokémon, Marcus Pocus, Dog Man, ... which mostly have +100 pages.
• Lastly, they have the "reading challenge" (optional), where each month they are encouraged to choose another book that meets certain characteristics. For example:
  • In January, one with a beautiful cover
  • In February, one with illustrations
  • In March, another with a number in the title
  • In April, one turned into a movie
  • In May, one with an author from your country
  • In June, a graphic novel/comic.

Although most books are recommended for children his age, in some ways it surprises me:

• The length of the books, especially for the pace at which they have to read. Although I suppose it is good because it requires them to read almost daily a chapter, which will help them develop a reading habit.
• The vocabulary contained in the books, sometimes quite advanced, which is good, I suppose.

But I would like to know if I am the only one or if other families also have similar feelings. I encourage you to tell me in the comments 😜.

The frustration​

It all starts when after several weeks, after reading my son's summaries looking for spelling mistakes, I realize that I don't understand the summaries very well. So, with the idea of helping him improve them, I start asking him questions, to see if I can understand the plot better, but still I'm missing characters, or clarifications, or anything else that makes it hard for me to understand the story.

In the end, both his mother and I decided that the best thing would be for one of us to also read the book, so we could help him because otherwise, how would we know if he had missed something important or not?

Well... something that initially didn't seem complicated, I realized was more difficult than I thought 😅.

One of the things I have noticed while reading the books is that every one or two pages, there are words that I suspect he doesn't know, like exhalation, arrogant, seep, utopian, electoral campaign, ..., so every time I read one of his books, I ask him to verify.

Indeed, many he doesn't know, and I always tell him:

José, when you don't understand something...ask what it means! Because if you don't, you're probably not understanding the story well.

I always do it... even when I'm reading Mikecrack stories to him and his brother in bed before sleeping, but no matter how much I repeat it... there comes a time when he stops asking.

But well, once the entire book is read and all the vocabulary is reviewed, we move on to the summary. There, my method consists of reminding him that every story has:

• A beginning, where something usually happens that disrupts the order and:
  1. Creates a problem to solve.
  2. Is the trigger for an adventure.
• Then there's the development (or middle), which is what is told in most of the book.
• Then there's an end (or conclusion), where the situation is resolved, or the story ends, and everything returns to normal.
• And besides this, there are some characters more important than others, without whom the story could not be told well.

And then I ask him to, using those four elements, tell me what happens at the beginning, the most important things that happen before reaching the end, how everything is resolved and returns to normal, and while doing that, explain who each of the characters are.

Well, as you can imagine, despite all attempts and trying to give him hints, because to be honest, even I sometimes find it hard to summarize... I can't get the summary to meet my expectations 😅, which ends in my frustration 😡, for which I then have to apologize to him, explaining that it is not his fault but my own frustration for not being able to help him 😞.

Asking for help from the teacher​

So I said to myself, "OK Raúl, you're not doing it right, ask the teacher for help!" (and that's what I did).

After talking to her, she gave me some advice. Since the books are quite long, she told me to ask José to write down "the main ideas" of each chapter on a separate sheet, and then with all of them, make the summary.

Here are the notes we made from the book Anna Kadabra 13. Danger at the Mansion:

The problem is that when taking notes and making the summary, he sometimes missed important things, like the fact that the supposed villain of the book wasn't so bad (but had been deceived), or he focused on things that caught his attention but weren't relevant, like an anecdote about a secondary character.

But of course... he's a child, how do I explain to him what is a main character or event and what is a secondary one?

I tell him: "if you remove that part of the story or character, can you still understand the story? Is it still the same?" and he says something like... "dad, if you remove anything... the story is no longer the same", and he's not wrong 🤣. So in the end, on more than one occasion, I end up telling him what I THINK is important and why.

Asking for help from my mother​

In the end, I turned to my mother, because besides being my mother, she was my language teacher, and the teacher of many children in a school in Nerja.

She recommended a book that seemed promising: "In primary school, learn to learn - 6: Learn to summarize and take notes", and I, as an obedient son (sometimes 😜😜), bought it.

As you can see on Amazon, the book was published in 2001 (more than 20 years ago!), but what caught my attention was what I saw in the introduction:

Seeing that "in the past" it wasn't until the age of 10 that summaries were learned reassured me. This, along with the last meeting with my son's teacher, who again hinted that I shouldn't be so demanding with the summaries, I've decided to relax and see it from another perspective 🧘💆.

My conclusions​

I have to get used to the fact that the summary is not that important (for now). What is important is that my son:

• Keeps enjoying reading.
• Continues developing his reading speed and comprehension.
• Learns vocabulary.
• And above all, doesn't start disliking reading because after... there's going to be a time of "dad's anger" ;(.

So now what I've asked him to do is that when he reads a book:

• Have a blank sheet of paper at hand.
• Write down all the words he doesn't know.
• And ask Alexa (Echo Show) what they mean, and write them down. I was going to buy him a traditional dictionary... but honestly, I think this way will be faster and he will use it more.

Because from now on, when I read the book, I will see if he has done "his homework" and taken notes, because now instead of putting so much emphasis on the summary, we will try to get him into the habit of looking up what he doesn't understand, so he can learn vocabulary and better understand what he reads.

How do you see it? Any advice? 🙂.

Comments​

Today I am writing to announce that in 🧠 My digital brain I have added a new section to collect resources for people who energize 🌈 Tech communities in the hope that they will help create more sustainable communities over time.

New resources section​

Following the document I produced with help from several people⁽¹⁾ last year (🇪🇸) after the Open Space @ CommitConf 2023, I have published three resources:

• 📄 How to attract new people to our community
• 📄 How to keep people's interest
• 📄 How to encourage new people to give lectures

I have also created several "placeholders" on resources that I hope to develop based on input from the upcoming Open Space⁽²⁾:

• 📄 How to finance communities
• 📄 How do you encourage others to energize
• 📄 Tools to manage a community
• 📄 Other resources for *community leaders

(1) At the end I have added a list of people who have contributed to this work.

(2) Next week is CommitConf 2024, where the OpenSpace on "How to sustain technical communities" that Dani Rey, Oskar Calvo and I have proposed will take place, which will be "the continuation" of last year's Open Space where some of the challenges facing technical communities were discussed.

Communities in recess?​

Are the communities in recess?, are the communities having more problems now than before?

After talking to many people, and in different forums, such as the Open Space, my perception is that there is a general feeling about the drop of activity in many of the technology communities (both in Spain and abroad) in the last few years, especially since the pandemic.

By "drop of activity" I mean a mix of things, but mainly I mean a lower attendance to meetings (face-to-face and online), interactions in mailing lists/IMs, etc.

And this situation, worries those of us who energize communities.

One of the concerns that I have heard recurrently is that the average age of the people who are part of these communities is growing, or said with other words, that it is difficult to attract and engage the new generations.

Personally, I am reluctant to believe that this is because the experience offered by the communities no longer provides as much value to the new generations as other new formats, channels or "forums".

But before we continue... what is a community?

What is a community?​

Or rather, what do I mean by community, or technology community?

Perhaps it is good to start with this question, since for example, during the Open Space, in my opinion, there were times when the conversation revolved around different concepts of "community".

In my case, I talk about what is known as "communities of practice", which in short are groups of people(user groups, associations, meetups...) that:

• organize regular meetings (face-to-face and/or online).
• share a passion / profession / concerns, ... for technology (software, hardware, methodologies or best practices, ...).
• mainly, seek to collaborate with each other, voluntarily and altruistically.
• they seek the common benefit above the particular one (including the particular interest of the organizations that may support/sponsor them).
• are always open to new people.
• feel part of the group and identify with it.

So, I just wanted to clarify that:

1. All this is in my experience and is based primarily on the type of communities I just described.
2. I believe that most of the ideas and tips shared in the documents, can be applied to this type of communities, whether they are local (in small and in big cities), as much as online/virtual, regardless of the fact that each one has its peculiarities.

Having said all of the above, it does not detract from the fact that some of the tips can also be applied to people who are in the business of disseminating online content, or people who organize large conferences.

What has changed?​

Why do those of us who have been energizing communities have this feeling/perception?

To give some context, I started to get involved with this particular type of communities at the university (in ~2009), and since then I have participated, contributed, founded and co-organized quite a few communities, organizing hundreds of meetings (of all kinds).

Based on this experience, I would say that the feeling that activity is declining is mainly due to the fact that it is harder for us to provide value as we did before.

Now the offer is wider and the attention is diversifying with the increase of communities, channels/media (Discords, Slacks, social newtwords, ...), but also the rise of influencers.

Personally I also think that digital contact is eating more ground to the physical, just see that almost everything is done through apps: order food, a cab, talk / chat, procedures with the administration, ... even flirting! 😅 and I have no doubt that this also has consequences.

That is why I believe that it is not that communities do not provide value, but that they simply have to take into account this change of context and reinvent/modernize themselves. Remember, as Albert Einstein said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results."

I hope that sharing some of the advice I heard at the Open Space, and some of my own, will serve to help refloat some communities and help new ones to emerge.

A book I really like that talks about adapting to change is Who Moved My Cheese? 🧀🐁.

Anatomy of communities​

And before I finish, I wanted to share some ideas and resources to share my understanding of communities.

The most basic are the degrees of involvement. I used to explain them this way to my Esri colleagues several years ago (~2017):

After that, Jorge taught me several theories:

• The Orbit Model, which serves as a model to explain that to increase the feeling of belonging to a group, it is necessary to increase the number of interactions and positive impacts between people, and that bonds are forged.
• The 1% rule, which I use to adjust expectations that no more than ~1% will help to energize, nor ~10% participate, although really measuring this is often quite subjective, just like trying to measure a friendship (because at the end of the day, that's what they are).
• The Community Maturity Model, an interesting framework for classifying different types of communities.

Contributions​

I would like to start by thank Dani Rey (@kdarrey) from XantarDev and the Commit team, who made it possible for us to meet last year to share experiences and reflections about this very interesting topic and that has been the germ of these resources.

Below is a list of the names I was able to capture during the Open Space held in April 2023 at CommitConf.

• Attendees representing local communities and events:
  • Dani Rey / @kdarrey, from XantarDev (Santiago)
  • Óscar Calvo, representing Spanish Drupal Association and DrupalCamp (Madrid)
  • Pablo Castro, of the [Linux Programmers and Users Group].(https://twitter.com/gpul_?lang=en) (Coruña)
  • Juanma Ruiz, Roberto García Romero, Javier Pulido, Álvaro Barahona Sánchez, Francisco José Hermoso Baños, from DevopsDays Cáceres (Cáceres), CáceresTech and CáceresDevOps
  • Javier Gutiérrez Fernández, from Pamplona Software Crafters
  • Luis Mesa, from Databeers Sevilla
  • Soraya Muñoz, of The Spanish GNU/Linux Users Association Hispalinux and Machine Learning Spain.
  • Jesús, from Comunidad Python Coruña
  • Pablo, from Córdoba Free Software Classroom
• Content producers:
  • Noe Donato / @vamoacodear
  • Carmen Ansio
  • Martín (Disseminator since 2011)
• Other attendees representing members of the public from these communities:
  • Tomás Giménez from coches.com
  • Marta Rey, Inés Huertas, Gustavo Vargas, and others from Kairós
  • Kini Software from Criteo
  • Reinalia
  • Fabiola
  • Jordi
  • Santiago B. @santyx_error

Sorry for those people I left out!!!, if you read the article you can leave me a message in the comments to add you (or make a PR) 😜😂.

And I also want to explicitly thank: Soraya Muñoz, Juanma Ruiz, and Mariano Pérez Caro for their contributions and reviews to the papers I have shared.

Comments​

📄 Note: The interactive version of this article is available at Dev.to 🇺🇸🇬🇧 & Medium.com 🇪🇸.

If you want to know what the benefits of attending developer conferences like CommitConf and why you should consider submitting a proposal for a talk or workshop, keep reading! 😄.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend CommitConf. It is one of the largest events for developers that is held annually in Spain. It is well attended and draws strong participation from around 50 Spanish technical communities.

Why attend conferences like CommitConf?​

At the conference, developers were brought together to retrain, discover, and share new insight and knowledge about our profession. For example, attendees shared information about:

• New tools and languages.
• New capabilities for the tools and languages already used by the community.
• How companies solve different software development challenges.
• Best practices in accessibility, security, and design patterns.
• New trends.

Additionally, the conference provided a place to meet new people and reconnect with those already known. At events like this, it’s not uncommon to run into people you know! In my case, I bumped into some of my former colleagues, and some developers who use ArcGIS to create Location-Aware apps or map applications.

What made this conference special?​

This event, like many others, gives us, developers, the opportunity to present talks, workshops, and even Open Spaces.

For attendees, a unique factor that sets this event apart from others is the system used to create the event‘s agenda, allowing the communities themselves to be involved in the selection process of talks. This system is called Koliseo and is free for anyone to use.

Why submit a proposal?​

Going to an event like CommitConf is an opportunity to learn from and contribute to the developer community. And, there are many different motivations for a person to send a proposal.

• There are people who simply enjoy sharing knowledge and experiences.
• Other attendees want to increase the visibility of their company and to raise awareness of the cool work they do, with the hope of attracting new talent.
• Some attendees want to create a personal brand.
• While others want to discuss and find solutions to a problem with their colleagues.

And if you are lucky enough to have a proposal accepted, as in my case, you can attend the speakers’ dinner the day before the event, where you meet a lot of experts on different topics 😍.

What did Esri bring to the conference?​

From the company I work for (Esri), they have always encouraged me to attend to conferences and to send proposals that I thought might be relevant to other developers.

This time, I presented a variety of proposals:

• DataViz & Map Optimization
• Designing Beautiful and Intelligent Maps
• Using and Creating Collections in Postman Like a Pro
• 🔑🔒 OAuth, OpenID Connect and JWT for Dummies

I was lucky that the conference organizers accepted “OAuth, OpenID Connect, and JWT for Dummies” because it gave me the opportunity to share what these auth standards are and how they work. I showed practical examples based on some of the resources that we have created from Esri's Developer Experience team, like the Authentication workspace in Postman.

In case you want, you can check the slides out here. If you are interested in the topic and want me to repeat this talk online, just let me know in the comments!

What did I learn at the conference?​

Below are some of the takeaways from the sessions that I attended:

• Local Communities Outside Big Cities (Open Space): This session was super interesting. I had the opportunity to share tips and ideas to overcome challenges in creating and maintaining developer communities with approximately thirty other people. Among them were representatives from different communities about Python, Software Crafting, Data, Machine Learning, generalists’ communities, Free Software, GNU/Linux, DevOps, Drupal, and us representing the GeoDevelopers community.

Note: After the session, I decided to create a guide with what we learned and our own experience. If you are interested, save the article in favourites because we will add it [here] in a few weeks.

• Detecting Web Performance Issues with Chrome DevTools: @nucliweb gave an overview of the Chrome DevTools and showed us how they keep adding new tools like Recorder and Coverage to help evaluate your web performance and optimize it. Also, he showed us how the new AVIF image format improves WebP performance. More info at web.dev.

• Don’t Yell at Me, I Can’t See You: @javierabadia and @jameshedaweng explained to us how to divide the responsibilities between an Engineering Manager and a Product Manager to avoid failure when creating a product. In summary, a PM must be responsible for what features to add and why, and the EM in the how and the who. The when should be a shared responsibility.

• Why I Decided to Pursue the Developer Relations Path: @kinisoftware told us about his experience as a Staff Developer Relations Engineer, where he works to promote the expertise of Criteo’s technical team by facilitating participation in events and communities.

• Testing Web Accessibility: @bolonio showed us a multitude of tools and resources for testing web accessibility: axe-core, eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y, jest-axe, axe-core/cli, pa11y, pa11y-ci, axe chrome extension, arc toolkit, accessibilityinsights.io, wave.webaim.org, and more.

• The Mistake of Becoming a Manager: @npatarino explained to us that becoming a manager of people is not the only way to have leadership or increase your salary. He said that for those senior software engineers who want to continue growing, there are other positions such as Staff Software Engineer, Principal Software Engineer, Distinguished Software Engineer and Technical Fellow.

• Past, Present and Future of EducaMadrid: @asanzdiego talked to us about the educational platform of the Community of Madrid that he leads; he told us about the technical challenges they suffered during the pandemic, when the number of active users grew exponentially, along with the strengths and limitations of his team and his technological stack based on free software.

In summary, if you don't use to go to developer conferences, I hope my experience has encouraged you and given you arguments to attend in the future. I would say also to the Esri Developer Summit in the USA (or in Europe), although this rather applies if you are an Esri partner or customer 😉.

Remember, although much of the content of these conferences is then made available online, there are many other things that can only be achieved by attending.

If you want to leave comments, you can do it in the article published in Dev.to

I have shared a new document (not 100% polished) where I try to explain what problems anyone can better solve by learning new geospatial skills and tools, including spatial databases, spatial analysis techniques, web mapping frameworks, geospatial libraries and APIs, spatial data formats, and spatial data visualization tools, GIS software, etc.

I group them into five big categories:

• Geospatial algorithms.
  • How to do spatial queries or operations.
  • How to do spatial calculations.
  • How to do network and topological analysis.
  • Geostatistical analysis.
  • Data transformations.
  • Georeferenced Image analysis (aerial, ground, satellite, ...).
• Client-side development
  • Display 2D and 3D georeferenced data.
  • Create faster maps.
  • Customize / advance maps.
  • Interact with geospatial data.
  • Work with offline geospatial data.
  • Other.
• Server-side development
  • Design system architecture (how to store and access/integrate geospatial data).
  • Data capture/creation.
  • How to render 3D web animation as a video GPX track.
• Data gathering and geolocation
  • Data gathering.
  • Data geolocation (georeferencing).
• Map creation (not programmatically).

Do you want to help me increase the list? the document is on GitHub and published under CC.

If you have any comments 💬 please leave them on Medium / Twitter.