Mozilla, Nesta and Nominet Trust have launched Digital Makers, a £225,000 fund and network for organisations to stimulate and promote digital skills in the UK. Mozilla Foundation executive director Mark Surman recently told .net that children and 'digital natives' more than ever have the skills to consume the web, but not actively create with it, which he likened to teaching a new generation how to read, but not how to write.
A Mozilla-commissioned YouGov survey strongly backed this line of thinking. Of the children surveyed, 75 per cent of those aged between eight and 15 said they were very or fairly interested in making their own online projects. Games to play with friends found most favour, followed by creating websites and editing videos. 67 per cent also indicated an interest in coding, but just three per cent said they knew how to. A majority of parents – 61 per cent – said they were "very or fairly interested in their children learning how to program or write computer code".