Pupils enjoy festival preview
Six Riverside Primary pupils visited the Engine Shed last week for a preview of a‘digital-heritage’festival due to take place next month.
DigiFest , organised by Historic Environment Scotland, is taking place from October 8-20 at the venue. It hopes to highlight Scotland as a global leader in digital innovation in the heritage sector.
Aimed at schools, professionals, families and young people, it will feature a range of free events and activities allowing visitors to explore the latest technologies in areas including 3D modelling and printing, augmented reality, virtual reality, gaming, animation, robotics and coding.
Riverside pupil Jonah Bracciali, 11, said: “I love technology and have even designed my own computer game‘Ping’!
“It was great to try the VR headsets and I can’t wait to come back with my family to race the Sphero robots.”
Chrissie Gemmell, depute headteacher of Riverside Primary, added:“We’re surrounded by places of real historical interest in Stirling and we have a crop of young people who really love technology so DigiFest is an ideal way to link their passion with the environment around us.
“It was great to see the class testing out the VR headsets and robots and I look forward to visiting again next month.”
Engine Shed technical outreach and education manager Dorothy Hoskins said the support of schools had been key to the success of the Engine Shed.
“The festival will showcase new online platforms and developments in digital technologies which help us to explore and preserve historic sites and artefacts from across the globe,” said Dorothy.
DigiFest will offer a range of activities for visitors, including demos of action-adventure video game Assassin’s Creed and the chance to hear more about the technologies behind it from the game’s historical researcher, and robot races with Sphero SPRK, a robot toy which teaches children how to code.
There will also be a masterclass on the history of animation with leading animation and visual effects company Tippett Studio, whose credentials include sequences in the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Twilight franchises.
Visitors inspired by the talk can make their own Stop Motion animation films.
Also running as part of DigiFest, will be a two-day professional conference, DigiDoc on October 11-12 and a research and development day on October 13 which will see international experts highlight the latest trends in new technology.