From Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m., there will be another Jugend hackt Lab in the twin city—now on the other side of the Danube. The first workshop is all about learning to solder, as this is the basis for many hardware projects. And by the way, you’ll have built something nice in the end!

Anyone between the ages of 12 and 18 can take part and choose a soldering kit, assemble it and take it home with them. From an axolotl to a space girl pendant to a “Jugend hackt” alpaca and beyond, we have a whole collection of different kits to choose from. Beginners who want to learn how to solder for the first time are just as welcome as advanced users. Participation is free of charge, but a registration email to jhlab ‘at’ temporaerhaus.de will help us a lot with the planning!

Youth work is practically in our DNA: there were already many overlaps with STEM youth work in the student open data group at the University of Ulm. In 2015, we brought the youth development program Jugend hackt, which had started two years earlier, to the south with a weekend event at the University of Ulm and that’s where the idea for a hacker and makerspace in the city that is self-determined and managed by the community was born.

In addition to the weekend events held from 2015 to 2019, we have always been keen to offer youth programs throughout the year. The Jugend hackt program found an answer to this with the Jugend hackt Labs, which started in 2019—and we were very pleased that our community, alongside Fürstenberg an der Havel became the host of one of the first two nationwide labs, which was followed by 18 other locations over the years.

We are therefore even more pleased that after the premature end of our activities in Ulm and a year-and-a-half-long forced break, the Jugend hackt Lab in Neu-Ulm will return starting 27 April 2024. Last year, a group of volunteer mentors formed, who would like to continue this valuable and multiple award-winning program in the SpoSo rooms.

In future, the Jugend hackt Lab will be held once a month, alternating with open meetings and workshops on different topics. It’s not just about technology and learning to program: we see technology as a means of societal change and would like to invite young people not just to consume, but to use these tools to actively participate in their own environment and explore the political dimensions of free software, free hardware, open data and transparency.

Photos: Axolotl Fanclub Badge, CC BY-SA 4.0 blinkyparts.com; Lunch outside at the first Jugend hackt in Ulm, CC BY 3.0 Eva-Maria Kühling/Peter Wozniak; Jugend hackt in Ulm 2019, CC BY 4.0 Holger Dorn (Jugend hackt)