This semester, our Chinese class had a summative assessment where each of us wrote our own novel. For many of us, this was the first time we got to create our own original story. Strangely, there has been a push to circulate everyone’s novel.

I had an idea - why don’t we create an archive to document all the novels we wrote? I’ve always thought the word “archive” sounded cool. Archiving something means preserving it, especially if it’s important.

Archives allow people to retrieve all sorts of stored content. I’m reminded of GitHub - it’s like an archive that stores everything from scripts and programs to blogs and open-source projects. The amazing thing about GitHub is that the projects are all open-source.

In my opinion, the goal of programs should be to make people’s lives easier. Open-source programs are even better because anyone can use them for free.

This line of thinking really struck a chord with me. In the past, during grades 8 or 9, there were many student-initiated projects at our school that were looking for programmers to build apps or websites.

The problem is, there aren’t many tech-savvy students at our school, so I’m not sure if any of those apps or websites were ever actually created.

That said, we do have some tech-savvy students, just not enough to meet the demand. So why can’t we rally around the tech talent we have and find ways to make the process more accessible? You can’t expect someone passionate about literature or art to also learn Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, etc. Not everyone has the time or energy for that.

Therefore, why don’t we create something to make the process more accessible? The purpose of these programs should be to help people and increase accessibility, not limit horizons or benefit only a small group.