A Date with the News

 

Alex Goodison likes reading the news, but knows that many people find it tedious to sort through all the options.  What if there were a way to make finding a news story more engaging–more like dating?

The 14-year-old Cork student from Colaiste Iosaef in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, isn’t new to developing apps–Swiipe is his fifth.  His previous apps grew out of his personal interests. He likes to play tennis, so he developed a tennis scoring app. Heart disease runs in his family, so he devised a way to find defibrillators in Ireland.  All students appreciate help studying for exams; Goodison created “Pocket Know,” which does just that, has more than 2,000 users, and won the second prize at the 2017 Student Enterprise Awards. He also built a currency converter, just to round things out.

Alex wanted his latest app, Swiipe, to appeal to “the entire world.” Swiipe lets users select news stories from over 60 sources. From there, a full screen article loads.  Then, it’s tap to read immediately, swipe left to ignore, or swipe right to read later. The goal is to make reading the news more fun and interactive.

He’s been interested in tech since a young age, and credits his dad, who works as a computer programmer, with giving him both inspiration and guidance.  He taught himself to code by watching YouTube tutorials and taking a few paid courses from Udemy. Though computer classes are offered at his school, he preferred the business track.

Swiipe came about as a challenge to himself:  could he build what he had in mind over his 13 week summer holiday?  Alex estimates that he worked on the app for five hours a day over two or three weeks.  “I had plenty of time on my hands,” he said.   

 

 

Sources

 

[notepad]

Junior Cycle Business Studies Specifications

  • Strand two:  Enterprise
    • Element:  Managing my resources
      • 2.1 Identify different types of financial, cultural and social enterprise and appreciate the role each plays in society
      • 2.2 Describe the skills and characteristics of being enterprising and appreciate the role of an entrepreneur in an organisation, in society and to the economy

Curriculum Elements of the 8 Key Skills of the Junior Cycle

  • MANAGING MYSELF
    • Knowing myself
    • Making considered decisions
    • Setting and achieving personal goals
  • MANAGING INFORMATION & THINKING
    • Gathering, recording, organising and evaluating information and data
    • Thinking creatively and critically
    • Reflecting on and evaluating my learning
    • Using digital technology to access, manage and share content
  • BEING NUMERATE
    • Estimating, predicting and calculating
    • Developing a positive disposition towards investigating, reasoning and problem-solving
    • Seeing patterns, trends and relationships
  • BEING CREATIVE
    • Imagining
    • Exploring options and alternatives
    • Implementing ideas and taking action
    • Learning creatively
    • Stimulating creativity using digital technology