Dragons Out donation campaign press release

Testing books donated to schools: Republish of Knowit press release on the Dragons Out book donation campaign

Link to original press release in English at Knowit.eu corporate website.

Link to original press release in Finnish at Knowit.fi

Link to donation news in Finnish at Knowit.fi.

Link to Dragons Out donation campaign page https://www.dragonsout.com/p/donation-campaign.html

Supporting the future society’s needs: Knowit’s charity campaign donated hundreds of children's software testing books

Finnish ICT companies and associations have risen to the challenge issued by Knowit to donate software testing books to schools around Finland. The campaign aimed to better meet tomorrow’s ICT society’s needs by providing software education to developers and testers of the next generations. ICT sector’s effort towards the school world got official recognition when the donation campaign culminated by giving a Diploma of Donated Books to the Finnish Minister of Education, Li Andersson, in autumn 2021.

“We have a concern that coding schools and books alone aren’t enough. Therefore, we need to share the knowledge with the new generation in an early phase. Writing a book around interesting themes of testing and fantasy was already very inspiring. But the best part was to hear the praise from children, teachers and other adults who find the book inspiring and engaging”, comments Kari Kakkonen, Director, Quality and Competences at Knowit Solutions Oy.

Kari Kakkonen is the author of the Dragons Out! testing book for children. The book was published simultaneously in Finnish and in English. The book explains software testing in plain terms using an analogy to a full-blown fantasy story featuring dragons, knights and children who grow into knights. Knowit and over 20 other companies involved have donated hundreds of Dragons Out! books to Finnish schools. In addition, ICT companies and organizations that have pre-ordered the English version of the book have donated books for schools in the USA, China, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden during autumn 2021.

VALA Group was the first company that accepted the challenge and joined the campaign with Knowit. Teemu Pesonen, Head of Operations & QA Services at VALA Group: “We feel very deeply about software testing and were glad to be able to contribute to the donation campaign by buying books for schools but also the children of our employees”.

We at Knowit want to share and contribute with our knowledge and competence. Knowit has participated in charity campaigns yearly and now it’s our chance to make an impact with our actions.

“We have a clear view for the future needs of utilizing technology for building a humane and sustainable future. And we also have a strong belief that companies have to make an impact on our society to make it better. The Dragons Out! book is an excellent way to do this. We can combine benefits of children, society and the ICT sector”, says Markus Kääriäinen, Quality and Automation Business Unit Director, Knowit Solutions Oy.

 

For more information, please contact:

Kari Kakkonen, Lead Consultant & Director, Training and Competences, Knowit Solutions Oy, kari.kakkonen@knowit.fi +358 40 523 9004

Markus Kääriäinen, Quality and Automation Business Unit Director, Knowit Solutions Oy markus.kaariainen@knowit.fi +358 40 512 4755

Päivi Mönkkönen, Head of Communications and Brand, Knowit Solutions Oy, paivi.monkkonen@knowit.fi +358 50 363 2746

 

About the author

Mr Kari Kakkonen has over twenty-five years of experience in software testing. His company Dragons Out Oy promotes software testing for children. He works at Knowit as a trainer and consultant in software testing, agile, DevOps and Artificial Intelligence. Kari is on the Board of Directors of TMMi, and he was previously six years in the Executive Committee of ISTQB, the largest software testing organization globally. He is co-author of the Agile Testing Foundations book and an active conference speaker.

Kari Kakkonen received on September 30, 2021, the highest recognition about software testing world in Europe, the EuroSTAR Software Testing Excellence Award, mainly due to the great initiative and success of educating children about software testing through the Dragons Out! book project.

 

About Knowit

We are digitalization consultants and a Nordic powerhouse for the digital business models of the future. Our vision is to create a sustainable and humane society through digitalization and innovation. Knowit supports its clients in the digital transformation and stands out among other consultancy firms through its decentralized organization and agile work methods in client assignments. The operations are divided into four business areas – Solutions, Experience, Connectivity, and Insight – which offer services in bespoke system development, digital customer experiences, the internet of things, cloud, cybersecurity, and management consultancy. Competences from several business areas are often combined in client projects.

Knowit was founded in 1990 and, following the acquisition of Cybercom on July 1, 2021, has around 3,800 employees, mainly in the Nordic countries, but also in Germany and Poland. The merger with Cybercom has created new opportunities to take on larger and more complex assignments, primarily within the industry, tech, and telecom sectors. In addition, an even stronger platform is created, from which we offer digital solutions to the sustainability challenges of society.

Knowit AB (publ) has been listed on the stock market since 1997 and is currently listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Mid Cap. For more information on Knowit, please visit knowit.eu. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amazing feedback and school visits

Image
 I recently got some  amazing feedback  from a 9-year-old reader through his dad. The Dragons Out book was an exciting Christmas present that the boy started reading on his own. He did the exercises at the end of the chapters and was really thrilled about them ("I did all of those great exercises!"). Upon asking why the book was so thrilling, he answered, "It was a great book because it had true things and fantasy side by side, and the exercises were fun!". It feels so good to hear such feedback - keep it coming! The unique approach of fantasy coupled with testing works. Remember my school visits, earlier? It is  again time to have school visits in Finland , too. It is especially nice now that face-to-face meetings are possible, and I don't need to access the school class virtually over a Teams meeting. That works too, yes, with a teacher facilitating in the class, but it is so much nicer and more concrete to meet and teach children face-to-face. I asked for som...
Read more

Article in Dimensio-magazine

I recently had a chance to write in the magazine of math teachers. Mathematics is one of the natural stepping stones towards software development and software testing. The association of math teachers (MAOL) has been interested in cooperation with me. They considered software testing to be an interesting angle for anyone interested in mathematics. I wrote about my book writing project and how software testing can be taught to children via a fantasy book. The article is in Finnish here: https://www.dimensiolehti.fi/opetetaan-lapsille-ohjelmistotestausta-fantasiakirjan-avulla/
Read more

AI creating Dragons and testing stories

Image
In recent times, it seems like the whole world has gone crazy trying to use Generative AI (Artificial Intelligence). These LLMs (large language models) can create content based on user prompts.  Now I tried the LLM Brave Leo (Mixtral) to create a Dragons Out -like story for me. Although it was just experimental, the results are quite impressive. I used just three prompts. Finally, I tried to get a picture of all this - a fourth prompt. It didn't work, but I got a description, which I used in a prompt of a picture generation AI, Deep AI.  Did you learn something from the below? I think an LLM can help with quality like this. But the picture was quite disappointing to me. Anyway, I think I'll write my own stuff also in the future and ask Adri for more fantastic illustrations. Me: What is RPG? Brave Leo: RPG stands for "Role-Playing Game." It is a type of game where players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting and engage in activities to develop their ch...
Read more