01 Introduction to Jupyter Notebooks

The first part of the workshop is about language. This is the part where it is really important to make it clear that not everyone in the room will be comfortable with the language used by people who are used to working with software and computing.

The aim is to create awareness around the words that people do not instantly recognise. Lots of words used in computing have other meanings in other contexts.

Sometimes it is useful to talk about words and the way we make them mean something to us. For example, 'kernel' is a word used in computing that is also used in other ways. But if you think about a kernel being a 'core' or a 'seed' then its meaning might become clearer. In contrast, it might also be useful to create a concept around it that isn't related to the word itself but might be fun or easier to remember, such as 'Babel fish' or 'C3-PO' as a way to make it clear that the kernel is a kind of interpreter.

These are tricky for those without either strong English skills or the popular culture references so be open! Ask participants about how they think about the word and try to get them to come up with their own techniques to feel comfortable with new terminology.