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| | This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>) | | This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>) |
| | | | |
| − | ==Sugar Digest== | + | == Sugar Digest == |
| | | | |
| − | 1. I have fallen a bit behind in my writing because I had an unfortunate mishap while I was in Brussels last week: my laptop was stolen. My old laptop, which had been on life support before I had left for Europe was completely dead when I returned, so I am using my old old laptop, which works great as long as I apply pressure to the lower-right corner of the keyboard. Looking forward to getting a replacement machine at the end of the week. | + | 1. I have been struggling with my end-of-the-year summary; I have |
| | + | always been more interested in looking forward than looking |
| | + | backward. Nonetheless: |
| | | | |
| − | 2. Plan Ceibal, the one-laptop-per-child program in Uruguay, held an international conference in Montevideo on 30 November - 1 December. It was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends from across the region (Gonzalo, Cecilia, Antonio, Laura, Patricia, et al.) and to spend time with many of the teachers and volunteers who have been participating in the program. I finally met [http://www.blogedu-rosamel.blogspot.com/ Rosamel!!] And I got reacquainted with the [http://ceibaljam.org/ Ceibal Jam] team; the students and faculty at [http://www.ucu.edu.uy Universidad Católica del Uruguay], where I gave a [http://www.fedaro.info/audios/ConfWalterBender.ogg talk]; and the [http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/ Butiá] project team, who uses a combination of Turtle Blocks and an Arduino board to turn the XO laptop into a robot -- very cool. (A favorite demo was when they used one laptop to control the robot, one to be the robot, and one to display the video from the robot's webcam -- a great use of the network and the plurality of laptops in Uruguay.) It is also worth noting that a number of commercial software companies are now participating in the project, offering Sugar activities (under FOSS licenses) to the children.
| + | The numbers tell some of the story of 2010: we have almost 2-million |
| | + | users, including 100% of the children of Uruguay; we had almost |
| | + | 5-million downloads from our Activity portal; we released Sugar |
| | + | versions 0.88 and 0.90. The most telling number is 12, the |
| | + | age of our youngest contributor. |
| | | | |
| − | I spent some time at Ceibal discussing Sugar and future directions for the project. Emiliano Pastorino showed me an activity he is developing that uses an RFID-tag reader to help children use their laptops to inventory cattle. I was so intrigued that I decided to add an RFID block to Turtle Blocks so that the children can use RFID in their programs. (The code is in git and will be part of Release 105.)
| + | As Sugar matures, we are entering a new phase, where more of the |
| | + | activity is in the hands of our user community. While we debated how |
| | + | best to get teachers engaged, the teachers themselves have started |
| | + | reaching out to each other and to us. While we debated how best to |
| | + | mesh our development cycle with the needs of OLPC and the distros, the |
| | + | deployments put together their own builds, meeting their own needs. |
| | | | |
| − | One mission I had for my trip to Uruguay was to bring an 'unlocked' laptop to ChristoferR, a twelve-year-old, who has been writing [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/user/1862 Sugar activities]. He was at the point where he needed root access in order to dig deeper into Sugar and the system. Thanks to Gabriel, Christofer now has a laptop that can be used for experimentation outside of the context of his school work. I discussed with Miguel Brechner the need to provide a scalable mechanism for unlocking machines in Uruguay -- today there are perhaps one dozen "Christofers" in Uruguay. Next year, there will be 100; in two years, 1000. Fiorella Haim, the technical lead for Ceibal, assured me that they have a plan in place to address this issue as part of the Sugar refresh scheduled for this summer.
| + | As with any project, we have had some churn. Tomeu Vizoso and |
| | + | Sebastian Dziallas have moved on to other projects; others are |
| | + | increasing their engagement: Marco Pesenti Gritti is back. Simon |
| | + | Schampijer and Sascha Silbe are taking over responsibility for |
| | + | Glucose; Peter Robinson is the new Sugar-on-a-Stick lead; Tom Gilliard |
| | + | is advancing our efforts around virtual machine support. We have a |
| | + | renewed engagement with the OLPC association in Miami, a group |
| | + | dedicated to the original vision of the project. Activity Central and |
| | + | Seeta are among the commercial enterprises offering Sugar support. We |
| | + | have some prolific new activity developers, notably ChristferR and |
| | + | Mulawa. I would be remiss in not mentioning the on-going contributions |
| | + | of Aleksey Lim, who is touching every corner of the project. The Sur |
| | + | community has increased its activity and presence in global |
| | + | community. We have a board member from the South, weekly debates on |
| | + | pedagogy in Spanish, led by Claudia Urrea, keep us focuses on our |
| | + | mission. Meanwhile, Gary Martin has taken on the bulk of the design |
| | + | burden. We'd be no where without the time spent by Daniel Drake and |
| | + | Bernie Innocenti efforts at deployments. And Bernie and Dogi keep our |
| | + | infrastructure running. Of course, there are literally 1000s of others |
| | + | contributing to Sugar development and Sugar deployments. Your efforts |
| | + | are making a difference. |
| | | | |
| − | After our discussion, Miguel happened to have a conversation with President José Mujica. He mentioned Christofer to the president, who in reply, smiled and said with pride in his voice, "We have hackers." Congratulations Uruguay.
| + | Other 2010 events of note: |
| | | | |
| − | 3. I went from Uruguay to Brussels to give a talk at TEDx. Before my laptop was stolen, I had a chance to use it to make my presentation -- a 10-minute mini-talk (using, of course, Turtle Art). I started my talk off with a picture of Bernie at my mother's house, surrounded by pies I had baked for Thanksgiving. I remarked that it is important to feed the hackers, but my real point was to argue that we make a distinction between the every day (low shelf) and the occasional (high shelf): my special recipes for Thanksgiving that I have to 'reach' for; my daily coffee is right at hand. The remainder of my talk was an argument for making computation be on the low shelf of every child. (I'll post a link to the video as soon as it is available.)
| + | The first Sugar twins: The Sugar community just got larger: Pablo |
| | + | Flores and Micaela Acosta had twins, Nacieron Facundo and Sasha, born |
| | + | on 27 December. |
| | | | |
| − | ===In the community===
| + | The first Sugar couple: Sebastian Silva and Laura Vargas met as |
| | + | volunteers and were married this fall. |
| | | | |
| − | 4. We have a new Sugar oversight board: welcome to our new members, Sebastian Silva and Aleksey Lim. Also, welcome back Chris Ball and Adam Holt. It is a great group and we have already had some heated discussions (See [[Oversight_Board/Minutes]]). We meet on most Thursdays at 15:00 EST (20:00 UTC) in #sugar-meeting on irc.freenode.net. Please join us.
| + | I'll do the "leadership thing" and blog about ‘Here’s what we’re going |
| − | | + | to do. Here’s how we’re going to do it. Here’s why we’re going to do |
| − | 5. Sebastian Dziallas, the project leader for Sugar on a Stick, has [http://sdziallas.com/blog/sebastian/2010/12/moving-on.html bid us farewell]. It is not a surprise that the transition from secondary school to university has consumed him. Hopefully we will see more of him after he settles into his new routine. In the meanwhile, Peter Robinson has taken the lead. Best wishes to SDZ and many thanks for your contributions to the project.
| + | it.’ some time in January. Meanwhile, thank you for the great effort |
| − | | + | and great accomplishments of 2010. |
| − | ===Tech Talk===
| |
| − | | |
| − | 6. Tom (satellit_) Gilliard has been making rapid progress on the Virtual Box version of Sugar on a Stick. It seems to be emerging as the most robust and facile way to get Sugar running on a wide variety of platforms, including the various Apple products. You can follow his work [[Downloads#Virtual_Machines_on_all_platforms|here]].
| |
| | | | |
| | ===Sugar Labs=== | | ===Sugar Labs=== |
| | | | |
| − | As always, Gary Martin has created some SOM diagrams of the discussions on the IAEP list.
| + | Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion |
| | + | on the IAEP mailing list. |
| | | | |
| | <gallery> | | <gallery> |
| − | File:2010-Dec-4-10-som.jpg|2010 Dec 4th-10th (37 emails) | + | File:2010-Dec-24-Jan-01-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 24th-Jan 1st (37 emails) |
| − | File:2010-Nov-27-Dec-3-som.jpg|2010 Nov 27th-Dec 3rd (42 emails) | + | File:2010-Dec-18-24-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 18th-24th (16 emails) |
| | + | File:2010-Dec-11-17-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 11th-17th (46 emails) |
| | </gallery> | | </gallery> |
| | | | |
| − | Visit our [http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet] for more news from the Sugar Community. | + | Visit our [http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet] for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments. |
| | | | |
| | == Community News archive == | | == Community News archive == |
What's new
This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at walterbender.org, and archived here.) If you would like to contribute, please send email to walter at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit planet.sugarlabs.org.)
Sugar Digest
1. I have been struggling with my end-of-the-year summary; I have
always been more interested in looking forward than looking
backward. Nonetheless:
The numbers tell some of the story of 2010: we have almost 2-million
users, including 100% of the children of Uruguay; we had almost
5-million downloads from our Activity portal; we released Sugar
versions 0.88 and 0.90. The most telling number is 12, the
age of our youngest contributor.
As Sugar matures, we are entering a new phase, where more of the
activity is in the hands of our user community. While we debated how
best to get teachers engaged, the teachers themselves have started
reaching out to each other and to us. While we debated how best to
mesh our development cycle with the needs of OLPC and the distros, the
deployments put together their own builds, meeting their own needs.
As with any project, we have had some churn. Tomeu Vizoso and
Sebastian Dziallas have moved on to other projects; others are
increasing their engagement: Marco Pesenti Gritti is back. Simon
Schampijer and Sascha Silbe are taking over responsibility for
Glucose; Peter Robinson is the new Sugar-on-a-Stick lead; Tom Gilliard
is advancing our efforts around virtual machine support. We have a
renewed engagement with the OLPC association in Miami, a group
dedicated to the original vision of the project. Activity Central and
Seeta are among the commercial enterprises offering Sugar support. We
have some prolific new activity developers, notably ChristferR and
Mulawa. I would be remiss in not mentioning the on-going contributions
of Aleksey Lim, who is touching every corner of the project. The Sur
community has increased its activity and presence in global
community. We have a board member from the South, weekly debates on
pedagogy in Spanish, led by Claudia Urrea, keep us focuses on our
mission. Meanwhile, Gary Martin has taken on the bulk of the design
burden. We'd be no where without the time spent by Daniel Drake and
Bernie Innocenti efforts at deployments. And Bernie and Dogi keep our
infrastructure running. Of course, there are literally 1000s of others
contributing to Sugar development and Sugar deployments. Your efforts
are making a difference.
Other 2010 events of note:
The first Sugar twins: The Sugar community just got larger: Pablo
Flores and Micaela Acosta had twins, Nacieron Facundo and Sasha, born
on 27 December.
The first Sugar couple: Sebastian Silva and Laura Vargas met as
volunteers and were married this fall.
I'll do the "leadership thing" and blog about ‘Here’s what we’re going
to do. Here’s how we’re going to do it. Here’s why we’re going to do
it.’ some time in January. Meanwhile, thank you for the great effort
and great accomplishments of 2010.
Sugar Labs
Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion
on the IAEP mailing list.
2010-Dec-24-Jan-01-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 24th-Jan 1st (37 emails)
2010-Dec-18-24-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 18th-24th (16 emails)
2010-Dec-11-17-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 11th-17th (46 emails)
Visit our planet for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments.
An archive of this digest is available.
Planet
The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.
Sugar in the news
| 01 Dec 2010 |
velonation – Sugar Labs to back Garmin-Cervelo’s development team in unique arrangement
|
| 28 Oct 2010 |
UCR – Nuevas tecnologías deben estar al alcance de todos los niños y niñas
|
| 05 Oct 2010 |
xconomy – One Ecosystem per Child
|
| 08 Sep 2010 |
FLOSS Weekly – Sugar Labs
|
| 09 Aug 2010 |
ABC digital – Indicadores constatan el impacto positivo en el aprendizaje de niños
|
| 23 Jun 2010 |
ABC digital – Xo para todas las escuelas de Caacupé
|
| 21 Jun 2010 |
La Nacion – “Buscamos que los niños no solo usen softwares, sino que puedan crear uno”
|
| 20 Jun 2010 |
UltimaHora.com – La laptop une a padres, alumnos y docentes
|
| 15 Jun 2010 |
The H – OLPC XO-1.5 software updated
|
| 10 Jun 2010 |
engadget – Sugar on a Stick hits 3.0, teaches us about a new kind of fruit
|
| 27 May 2010 |
Pro Linux DE – Sugar on a Stick v3 freigegeben (German)
|
| 27 May 2010 |
NY Times – One Laptop Per Child Project Works With Marvell to Produce a $100 Tablet
|
| 27 May 2010 |
PC World – OLPC Rules out Windows for XO-3
|
| 03 May 2010 |
WXXI: Mixed Media – Interview with Walter Bender (audio)
|
| 03 May 2010 |
Linux Magazine – OLPC Computers for Palestinian Refugee Children
|
| 14 Apr 2010 |
National Science Foundation – XO Laptops Inspire Learning In Birmingham, Alabama (video)
|
| 02 Apr 2010 |
|
| 15 Mar 2010 |
nbc13.com – Birmingham City students opt to spend spring break in class, XO computer camps (video)
|
| 18 Feb 2010 |
LWN – Karma targets easier creation of educational software
|
| 05 Feb 2010 |
iprofesional – La PC barata de Negroponte desembarca en la Argentina para pelear contra Intel
|
| 14 Jan 2010 |
AALF – Open Systems for Broader Change
|
| 03 Jan 2010 |
Educacion 2.0 – PLAN CEIBAL, El Libro
|
| 14 Dec 2009 |
xconomy – Sugar gets sweeter
|
| 10 Dec 2009 |
Ars Technica – Sugar software environment gets sweeter with version 2
|
| 09 Dec 2009 |
Wired – New Sugar on a Stick Brings Much Needed Improvements
|
| 08 Dec 2009 |
engadget – Sugar on a Stick OS goes to 2.0, gets Blueberry coating and creamy Fedora 12 center (video)
|
| 07 Dec 2009 |
Teleread.org – Sugar on a Stick: What it means for e-books and education
|
| 27 Nov 2009 |
CNET Japan – 「コードを見せて、もっと良くなるよ」と言える子どもが生まれる--Sugar Labsが描く未来
|
| 16 Nov 2009 |
zanichelli – software libero a scuola
|
| 12 Nov 2009 |
opensuse.org – openSUSE 11.2 Released
|
| 07 Nov 2009 |
My Broadband News – Mandriva 2010 packs a punch [and Sugar]
|
| 06 Nov 2009 |
GhanaWeb – Open education and an IT-enabled economic growth in Ghana: Musings of a dutiful citizen
|
| 26 Oct 2009 |
Linux Magazine ES – Software Libre como apoyo al aprendizaje
|
| 09 Oct 2009 |
interdisciplines – OLPC and Sugar: mobility through the community
|
| 08 Oct 2009 |
IBM developerWorks – 10 important Linux developments everyone should know about
|
| 01 Oct 2009 |
OLPC France – Interview Walter Bender au SugarCamp
|
| 25 Sep 2009 |
The Inquirer – One Laptop per Child marches on
|
| 18 Sep 2009 |
Groklaw – The Role of Free Software in Education
|
| 18 Sep 2009 |
Reuters – Sugar Labs and Free Software Foundation Celebrate Software Freedom Day
|
| 17 Sep 2009 |
ICTDev.org – Dream Again with One Laptop per Child
|
| 26 Aug 2009 |
Latinux – Azúcar en una memoria USB
|
| 03 Aug 2009 |
Wired: Geek Dad – Inventing a New Paradigm: SugarLabs and the Sugar UI
|
| 30 Jul 2009 |
Zanichelli – Sugar on a Stick: imparare insieme
|
| 23 Jul 2009 |
Everything USB – RecycleUSB.com - Donate your Flash Drives for a Good Cause
|
| 22 Jul 2009 |
OLPC France – Sugar : mauvaise presse et mise au point
|
| 13 Jul 2009 |
Spiegel Online – Das zuckersüße Leichtbau-Linux
|
| 07 Jul 2009 |
ComputerWorldUK – Gran Canaria Desktop Summit: a Study in Contrasts
|
| 06 Jul 2009 |
Windows Forest – USBメモリなどから“OLPC”用のOSを利用できる「Sugar on a Stick」が無償公開
|
| 02 Jul 2009 |
Howard County Library – Sugar on a Stick
|
| 27 Jun 2009 |
Deutschlandfunk – Süßes für die Kleinen: Sugar ist Linux speziell für Kinder (in Deutsch)
|
| 26 Jun 2009 |
EduTech – Sugar on a stick, and other delectables (praise for the lowly USB drive)
|
| 26 Jun 2009 |
Ars Technica – Sugar on a Stick brings sweet taste of Linux to classrooms
|
| 24 Jun 2009 |
BBC – OLPC software to power aging PCs
|
| 24 Jun 2009 |
Technology Review – $100 Laptop Becomes a $5 PC
|
| 15 Jun 2009 |
TechSavvyKids – Episode 10 FOSSVT: Sugar on a Stick (audio)
|
| 10 Jun 2009 |
LWN.net – Sugar moves from the shadow of OLPC
|
| 27 May 2009 |
LWN.net – Activities and the move to context-oriented desktops (subscriber link)
|
| 27 May 2009 |
Business Wire – Dailymotion Launches Support for Open Video Formats and Video HTML Tag
|
| 01 May 2009 |
Guysoft – Nokia N810 Running OLPC Sugar
|
| 29 Apr 2009 |
El Mercurio – Así se vivió la fiesta del software libre
|
| 27 Apr 2009 |
ostatic – Sugar on a Stick: Good for Kids' Minds (and School Budgets)
|
| 25 Apr 2009 |
Free Software Magazine – The Bittersweet Facts about OLPC and Sugar
|
| 24 Apr 2009 |
Ars Technica – First taste: Sugar on a Stick learning platform
|
| 22 Apr 2009 |
Betanews – Beta of Live USB Sugar OS opens
|
| 27 Mar 2009 |
Mass High Tech – Google promotes summer open-source internships
|
| 18 Mar 2009 |
Metropolis – A Good Argument
|
| 16 Mar 2009 |
Laptop Magazine – Sugar Labs’ New Version of Sugar Learning Platform Is Netbook and PC Ready
|
| 16 Mar 2009 |
Market Watch – Sugar Labs Nonprofit Announces New Version of Sugar Learning Platform for Children, Runs on Netbooks and PCs
|
| 14 Feb 2009 |
OLPC Learning Club – DC – Learning Learning on a Stick
|
| 05 Feb 2009 |
xconomy – Sugar Beyond the XO Laptop: Walter Bender on OLPC, Sucrose 0.84, and “Sugar on a Stick”
|
| 26 Jan 2009 |
Linus Magazine – Sugar Defies OLPC Cutbacks
|
| 19 Jan 2009 |
Feeding the Penguins – The status of Sugar, post-OLPC
|
| 16 Jan 2009 |
OLPC News – Sugar on Acer Aspire One & Thin Client via LTSP
|
| 12 Jan 2009 |
Bill Kerr – thoughts about olpc cutbacks
|
| 07 Jan 2009 |
Ars Technica – OLPC downsizes half of its staff, cuts Sugar development
|
| 06 Jan 2009 |
OLPC News – An Inside Look at how Microsoft got XP on the XO
|
| 30 Dec 2008 |
OLPC News – Sugar Labs Status at Six Months
|
| 22 Dec 2008 |
The GNOME Project – Sugar Labs, the nonprofit behind the OLPC software, is joining the GNOME Foundation
|
| 16 Dec 2008 |
Feeding the Penguins – Sugar git repository change
|
| 14 Dec 2008 |
NPR – Laptop Deal Links Rural Peru To Opportunity, Risk (Part 2)
|
| 13 Dec 2008 |
NPR – Laptops May Change The Way Rural Peru Learns (Part 1)
|
| 09 Dec 2008 |
SFC – Sugar Labs joins Conservancy
|
| 31 Oct 2008 |
Linux Devices – An OLPC dilemma: Linux or Windows?
|
| 10 Oct 2008 |
Feeding the Penguin – Sugar on Ubuntu
|
| 21 Sep 2008 |
Groklaw – Interview with Walter Bender of Sugar Labs
|
| 17 Sep 2008 |
Bill Kerr – Sugar Labs
|
| 16 Sep 2008 |
Open Source – Sugar everywhere
|
| 28 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – An answer to Walter Bender's question 22
|
| 20 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – Sugarize it: Intel Classmate 2
|
| 08 Aug 2008 |
Investor's Business Daily – 'Learning' Vs. Laptop Was Issue
|
| 06 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – Twenty-three Questions on Technology and Education
|
| 18 Jul 2008 |
Bill Kerr – evaluating Sugar in the developed world
|
| 28 Jun 2008 |
OLPC News – A Cutting Edge Sugar User Interface Demo
|
| 18 Jun 2008 |
PC World – OLPC Spin-off Developing UI for Intel's Classmate PC
|
| 17 Jun 2008 |
Datamation – If Business Succeeds with GNU/Linux, Why Not OLPC?
|
| 11 Jun 2008 |
LinuxInsider – The Sweetness of Collaborative Learning
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
Bill Kerr – untangling Free, Sugar, and Constructionism
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
Open Education – Walter Bender Discusses Sugar Labs Foundation
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
BusinessWeek – OLPC: The Educational Philosophy Controversy
|
| 05 Jun 2008 |
Code Culture – The Distraction Machine
|
| 05 Jun 2008 |
BusinessWeek – OLPC: The Open-Source Controversy
|
| 27 May 2008 |
The New York Times – Why Walter Bender Left One Laptop Per Child
|
| 26 May 2008 |
Ars Technica – OLPC software maker splits from X0 hardware, goes solo
|
| 22 May 2008 |
BetaNews – Linux start-up Sugar Labs in informal talks with four laptop makers
|
| 16 May 2008 |
OSTATIC – OLPC's Open Source Sugar Platform Aims for New Hardware
|
| 16 May 2008 |
PCWorld – Bender Forms Group to Promote OLPC's Sugar UI
|
| 16 May 2008 |
MHT – Bender jumps from OLPC, founds Sugar Labs
|
| 16 May 2008 |
News.com – Sugar Labs will make OLPC interface available for Eee PC, others
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Feeding the Peguins – The future of Sugar
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Sugar list – A few thoughts on SugarLabs
|
| 16 May 2008 |
xconomy – Bender Creates Sugar Labs—New Foundation to Adapt OLPC’s Laptop Interface for Other Machines
|
| 16 May 2008 |
BBC – '$100 laptop' platform moves on
|
| 15 May 2008 |
OLPC wiki – Dual-boot XO Claim: OLPC will not work to port Sugar to Windows.
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Softpedia – Bender Launches Sugar Labs for Better Development of OLPC's Sugar UI
|
Press releases
See our Press Page