There’s something about WordPress that I’ve always found moving: the first post the CMS publishes all by itself, like a newborn crying into the void, is called “Hello world!”.
It’s a nod to programmers—the tradition is that the first program you write in any programming language displays those exact two words. It’s a rite of passage. A declaration of existence. So I decided to keep that title. Because in a way, that’s exactly what this project is.
How it all started
I’m a communication designer, a UI/UX architect, and a teacher. I have a son. And like many parents of my generation, I found myself facing a question our own parents never had to ask: how do you teach a child to live in the digital world?
Not to protect themselves from it—that’s a battle lost from the start and honestly not the right one. But to live well in it. To create rather than consume. To choose rather than endure.
The obvious answer I had on hand: Minecraft.
Not because it’s “educational” in the way reassuring adults use that word. But because Minecraft is the only digital world where a 9-year-old can build something with their own hands, decide with their peers, manage a project, plant a seed and watch it grow. It’s real. It’s tangible.
So I set up a server. On Jelastic, hosted in Geneva, with Infomaniak. Renewable energy, data in Switzerland, zero ads, zero tracking. Because if we want to teach kids to choose ethical tools, we might as well start by giving them one.
La Piscine 42 for ages 8–15
The teaching idea that took shape pretty quickly: do for kids what École 42 does for young adults. No lectures. No teacher at the board. An environment, challenges, roles, cooperation. And a method—Play → Explore → Decide → Evaluate → Share—that looks strangely like what agile teams have been doing in tech companies for twenty years.
We added a layer of direct democracy (we’re in Switzerland, might as well make the most of it): players vote, decide together where to build, how to govern their village, who takes on which role.
The result? 10-year-olds running sprint meetings. It’s beautiful and slightly terrifying.
Where we are today
The server is running. The method is documented. Institutions have reached out—schools, foundations, Addiction Suisse. The site is under construction, but the foundations are solid.
So this first post is a worthy replacement for the original WordPress placeholder, which simply said: “Our website is under heavy development.”
That was true. It still is, a little.
But the digital world we’re trying to build here already exists.
Hello world.
Gad Lab · Minecraft · Lausanne · 2025 – ∞
