Book Giveaway

Maine Students:  Win a free book for yourself and a package of books for your public or school library by telling us what you think is the most intriguing application of computer programming in Maine.  Is it building databases about salamanders that can regenerate their organs in order to learn about potential for human healing?  Is it analyzing satellite data about ocean color to reveal clues to the health of the Gulf of Maine?  Is it creating apps that connect farmers to grocers or connect testing labs to veterinarians?  Check out the the video above for more ideas.

The Maine State Library and Gizmo Garden are sponsoring this giveaway spotlighting the diversity of computing careers in Maine, and encouraging a variety of students to study the field.  

How it Works

Watch the video above and then send an email to christina.dorman@maine.gov with the following information:

  • Maine student’s name and grade.
  • Name and town of your public or school library.
  • One or two sentences about which Computer Science application in the video looks most intriguing to the student and why.  (You can also tell us about a Maine application not in the video.)
  • A sentence from a parent/guardian consenting to the entry and possible publicity.
  • Deadline for entries is October 19.

Entries will be placed in a lottery.  Several winners will be chosen (the exact number depending on the number of entries.)  

Prizes

Winners choose a biography of a computer scientist to keep, and also win six biographies to be chosen by their library for the library’s use.  Choose from these or suggest others:

Sample Youth Choices

Sample Adult Choices:

Winners choose a biography of a computer scientist to keep, and also win six biographies to be chosen by their library for the library’s use.  Choose from this list or suggest others:

    • Accidental Billionaires:  The Founding of Facebook by Ben Mezrich
    • Broad Band:  The Untold Story of the Women who Made the Internet by Claire L. Evans
    • Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini (a biographical novel)
    • Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age  by Kurt Beyer 
    • Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly 
    • Imitation Game:  Alan Turing Decoded (a graphic book for grades 9+)
    • Jeff Bezos:  The Force Behind the Brand 
    • Spare Parts:  Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream by Joshua Davis 
    • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 
    • Steve Jobs: the Man Who Thought Different by Karen Blumenthal 
    • Supermen:  The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards behind the SuperComputer 
    • Turing’s Cathedral by George Dyson 

This giveaway celebrates Ada, Countess of Lovelace, generally thought of as the first person to recognize the full potential of a computing machine.  She wrote the first algorithm, or method, to be used by such a machine and sometimes is called the first computer programmer. Each October we celebrate Ada , one of the founding mothers of computer science, as encouragement for a diverse array of students to study STEM fields.