>> Hello world, and welcome to Microsoft Unboxed.
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Every week, we share stories about
Microsoft technology and the people behind that technology.
Typically, Sonia and I each have a story to share,
underneath a broader theme.
But today we're going to do things a little bit differently.
We're dedicating our entire episode, to Code Jumper.
>> Code Jumper is a set of physical blocks that are
specifically designed to teach coding
to kids with visual impairment.
So it's just one of the many initiatives that Microsoft has been
focusing on when it comes to inclusivity and accessibility.
>> Code Jumper will present opportunities for students around
the world to explore careers in Computer Science.
>> So we transferred
the Code Jumper Research and Technology to the Louisville,
Kentucky based non-profit American Printing House
for the Blind or APH.
APH plans to make Code Jumper available in Australia,
Canada, India, and UK,
and US in 2019 with worldwide distribution by 2024.
Because Colleen and I are very jazzed about Code Jumper,
we wanted more of an insider's perspective,
on the project and how it came about.
So we actually invited Microsoft senior
researcher Dr. Nicolas Villar to the studio today.
So we're going to go jump into that little interview right now.
>> Nick, welcome to the studio.
>> Thank you. It's so nice to be here.
>> Nick, what is the origin story behind Code Jumper?
>> It's actually wonderful and colleague Cecily Morrison,
her son was born blind.
So she's been very involved in the AI community.
She identified earlier on that there is a difficulty for
children with blind or low vision to learn how to program.
The ways that children normally are introduced into programming,
are very hard for them to adapt.
That was really the inspiration.
>> Who specifically is Code Jumper for?
>> We designed it for children aged 7-11.
But really, we've seen it work with
anyone that is tactile learner,
is interested in learning how to program and
benefits from being able to play and touch.
I think I would have loved
to enhance program when I was growing up like that.
>> I'm very much a tactile learner.
>> Same.
>> So how did you become interested in this type of research?
>> I've always been really interested in using technology
to enable new forms of interaction,
new forms of play.
I was super excited straight away that
we could build something really special.
>> Some your research is really focused on this concept of play.
>> I think play is so important.
It's human thing to want to play.
We learn a lot through play.
We communicate through it.
So I just feel like the element of fun.
There's always a play for it.
>> Do you think that you could focus on
gamification of my e-mail inbox next?
>> I'm not sure.
>> So how's the project evolved over this time?
>> It looks completely different from
what you might have seen four years ago,
and what we built is completely different.
We work very closely with this group of kids that we called
the Torino Young Inventor Team.
As we would come up with ideas we would test them out.
We weren't even really using technology.
It was bits of clay and string.
Whatever we could use to promote ideas,
and let them play with it,
try things out, and we would observe them like Wizard of Oz.
Pretend that things are working.
The kids were as much part of
the invention process as we were under different process.
It's completely unexpected to me how I've ended up.
>> I remember reading that
one version of Project Torino, was blocks.
Because there was no differentiation in the blocks tactically,
that they're just stacking them up.
>> Code is sometimes represented as
blocks on the screen when you're trying to learn.
When you try to make a physical version of that,
the blocks just weren't particularly nice objects to manipulate.
Sometimes you would drop your program and this thing would just.
Your code would literally be scattered all over the floor.
So that's what led us
to really think about how we want
to represent the connection between things,
and down till the details about exactly what type of
connections we should use that were easy to
connect together and disconnect,
but also maintain structure even if you dropped
it or you passed your program to someone else across the table.
>> What do we have to gain by
enabling more people to learn how to code?
>> This concept of computational thinking,
and about how you would tackle problems.
It gives you really useful tools.
What we wanted to achieve was just to broaden
the base of people that can learn that way of thinking.
By addressing people that might have particular
needs I think we ended up with
something that is really easy to use.
A pleasure to learn for everyone.
>> You've created a form of self-expression?
>> That's a very nice way of putting it. Yeah.
>> Thank you so much for the work that you're doing.
>> Thank you so much for inviting me.
>> Yes. Very exciting.
>> Thanks.
>> So now, we're going to split off and go work on
our own Code Jumper projects.
>> Mine is totally going to better than Colleen's.
>> I'll bring it. So Nick was a great instructor,
and he taught me a little bit about the kit here.
So this is the hub.
There are four different inputs to the hub gear.
I had heard that you could make
animal noises or there are
different instruments that you can tap into.
But I was really fascinated by this potential to create a poem.
>> Simple sound, percussion.
Beethoven's 5th.
I'll do something I can get a little bit more familiar with.
Let's do row row row your boat, DJ version.
>> So each one of these pods is like a statement in your code.
It's a single line of code.
I'll plug in this first pod.
It has a sound knob and a duration knob on it.
Then I'm plugging that into the third input here.
I can see on this PC as well that it has registered my input.
Nick told me that that was so they could support
the teachers who were
teaching many different students how to use this.
They could quickly see what was going on.
>> All right. I'm going to.
Okay. We want row, how fast?
Row. While it lasts.
Okay. Chipmunk's version.
>> This is a British poems
about Doctor Foster who went to Gloucester.
>> Doctor Foster went to Gloucester.
>> Isn't that so cute?
>> Row.
>> Okay saying row once,
but I needed to do row row row.
So I need to loop it because I don't have
enough blocks to add three rows.
Handy-dandy yellow one is the loop.
I need to figure how many times I'm rowing.
>> Three.
>> Row, row, row, your boat.
Okay. I need to close the loop.
>> Your boat.
>> No. All right. Let's do it.
>> Row row row.
>> Music to my ears.
>> In a shower of rain.
>> Okay. So we have
some adjustments to make on the speed of sound.
>> A bit faster.
My life is but a dream.
>> You sing so high.
>> Gently down your row.
>> The octaves are.
>> Row.
>> Merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily, life is but a dream.
>> I wish I had those kid's pipes.
He can sing.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.
Four Merrillies.
He's very merry.
He's not very merry.
>> There we go.
>> Went to Gloucester.
>> Great, and then this third one.
>> He stepped in a puddle.
>> Yes. Okay, we're doing great now.
I'm finding the bugs in my code here.
>> This has a go.
How many loops?
>> Merrily.
>> I just want to hear that.
Could hear it, like dogs could hear that.
This is going to in the blue.
>> [inaudible].
>> Okay. Let's speed that up.
>> Never went there again.
>> All right. I think we're ready.
>> Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
right up to his middle,
and never went there again.
>> My first project to Toreno Code.
>> Row, row, row, row your boat gently down the stream,
merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.
>> I forgot a merrily.
>> Merrily, merrily, merrily merrily, life is but a dream.
>> Then I can do the remix,
and I can add in the other threads,
and we can have row, row.
You've seen Hocus Pocus.
They're all sitting in the cages at the end.
I think my memory way better than Kubernetes.
>> That was a blast.
>> Yeah. This is my first time really
pulling together a coding project.
I've ever done it. I know.
I've learned what it was like to use looping.
It was really interesting.
I even just thought the physical design
very kid-friendly, Sonia friendly.
>> Good for you.
>> Yeah. What did you do?
>> I thought that I wanted to do something musical as well.
>> DJ O'Brien.
>> I don't really have the vocabulary of music at my command.
I opted instead for a poem.
It was a great introduction to me,
to this concept of bugs and troubleshooting bugs.
At Microsoft, this focus on accessibility is a
very much woven into our ethos as a company.
So I have really high hopes about the potential
of this technology to empower a new generation of coders.
>> I love how they're inspiring
blind and low-vision children now
that they can code and they can do these.
It was really heartwarming.
>> Speaking of empowering everyone to achieve more.
>> That's a transition.
>> I'm going to let you achieve an answer to this question.
We're in the Outside the Box segment now.
Hello everyone. What is your favorite season, and why?
>> The reason why anyone stays in
Seattle is because there is summer.
I summer is by far my favorite season.
At first I thought first you were going to ask what
is your ideal date? It's April,13th.
>> Yeah. Is not too hot,
it's not too cold.
Just need a light solider light jacket.
>> Light jacket. I think that's fine.
You can ask me a question now.
>> Thank you for the permission.
>> Colleen, are you an early bird,
or a night owl?
>> I am 100 percent an early bird.
>> Yes, you are.
>> I love being in the world before everyone else's.
I love getting up bright and early, a nice meditation,
warm coffee, great breakfast before everyone is up,
and getting in my space.
>> It's usually my inbox is full like Colleen O'Brien before 7:05.
Okay, she is up and add them today.
>> If you have any questions that you'd like to ask us,
please be sure to e-mail them to the address below or comment.
>> Please remember to subscribe to
our channel if you haven't done so already.
We have a new episode dropping every Thursday at 9:00 AM Pacific.
Do you want to go build some more Code Jumper projects?
>> Yeah, absolutely.
>> I want to try another song.
We could totally DJ.
>> I'm going to do a joke at this time. Let's go.
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Women in Business and Technology available right here.
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