We’re all ears for the new Echoing STEM YouTube channel, which aims to encourage young people to learn more about technology and music.
When was the last time you listened to a piece of music? We tune in often, but how many of us think about the science and technology involved in making and delivering those melodies?
Dublin-based Vanessa Greene wants to connect music and technology and to encourage young people – and particularly young women – to develop an interest in science, technology engineering and maths (STEM).
The 19-year-old’s new YouTube channel, Echoing STEM, is set to launch this weekend and will build up interviews with musicians, bands and people who work in tech, as well as news about music and technology, and event listings.
Vlogging for music and STEM
Dublin-based Greene decided to go the YouTube route because of the popularity of vloggers among young people, especially girls. “From personal experience, and through having younger sisters, watching them grow up I can see YouTube is a big platform, and I think the influence of vloggers is taking over from other celebrities,” she said. “So I think it’s a good platform to use.”
She and her friend Catrina Carrigan, another STEM enthusiast, were talking about how kids and teenagers can have a particular devotion to following musicians and bands, and inspiration struck during a workshop at a Girls Hack Ireland event in DCU Alpha.
“We thought if we could tap into that interest, and show the close connection between music and STEM and STEAM [which adds Arts to STEM], we could experiment and try and bring a voice to YouTube, so that someone who is interested in STEM could go and find that content,” explained Greene.
Interviews will be a key part of the channel: “I want to find out from musicians what technology has done for them to help their career. And I would love to interview women in STEM at the start to bring that encouragement across, but also [to interview men in STEM].”
Tech work
Greene is no stranger to tech herself – a second-year student of creative computing at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, she and Carrigan are mentors at CoderDojo in Dublin City University with CoderDojo Girls and DCU Scratch Dojo.
They also both participated in the Stemettes’ Outbox Incubator in London in the summer, from where they reported for Siliconrepublic.com, while Greene was also a CoderDojo mentor at Inspirefest 2015.
Inspiring plans for Echoing STEM
Vanessa Greene with the Outbox Incubator gang in London during the summer. Photos via Vanessa Greene.
Greene now hopes to travel around Ireland and internationally to capture information from events and interviews to upload at Echoing STEM. And her hopes for the initiative? “If I hear even one person say I went into STEM, or I stuck with it because I was inspired by the channel, that to me is the ultimate goal.”
Are you a musician or do you work in STEM? Maybe even both? Do you have a gig or tech event coming up? Email echoingstem@gmail.com
Women Invent is Silicon Republic’s campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It has been running since March 2013, and is kindly supported by Intel, Open Eir (formerly Eircom Wholesale), Fidelity Investments, Accenture and CoderDojo.
