Changes

1. Danishka Navin pointed me to [http://www.ft.lk/2012/05/12/reconstructing-sri-lankas-education-system-with-hanthana an article about Sugar] in Sri Lanka. Even though they don't mention Sugar, in fact, both Sugar and GNOME are being used on [http://www.hanthana.org/ Hanthana Linux], a Fedora-based Linux, using LSTP. The program is modelled on the [http://school.hanthana.org/lab/ Hanthana School Labs]. I wonder where else Sugar is being used that I am unaware?

1. Danishka Navin pointed me to [http://www.ft.lk/2012/05/12/reconstructing-sri-lankas-education-system-with-hanthana an article about Sugar] in Sri Lanka. Even though they don't mention Sugar, in fact, both Sugar and GNOME are being used on [http://www.hanthana.org/ Hanthana Linux], a Fedora-based Linux, using LSTP. The program is modelled on the [http://school.hanthana.org/lab/ Hanthana School Labs]. I wonder where else Sugar is being used that I am unaware?

2. In the spirit of procrastination, I wrote two new Sugar activities this week. The first is a simple activity around the concept of narrative. Claudia Urrea had come across a game in which nine picture are chosen at random (by throwing nine dice). The players then construct a narrative based on the pictures. Easy enough to implement [[Activities/Story]] in Sugar. I took advantage of a nice source for SVG artwork, [http://thenounproject.com/ ''The Noun Project'']. When shared – with up to eight other users – everyone sees the same pictures and hence can tell a story in a round-robin fashion. (One of these days, I will write the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse ''Exquisite Cadavar''] activity, based on the Dadaist storytelling technique that is a nature fit with Sugar collaboration. There is a variant that combines pictures and text: you draw a picture illustrating my text; the next person writes text describing your picture, and so on. Stay tuned.)

2. In the spirit of procrastination, I wrote two new Sugar activities this week. The first is a simple activity around the concept of narrative. Claudia Urrea had come across a game in which nine picture are chosen at random (by throwing nine dice). The players then construct a narrative based on the pictures. Easy enough to implement [[Activities/Story]] in Sugar. I took advantage of a nice source for SVG artwork, [http://thenounproject.com/ ''The Noun Project'']. When shared – with up to eight other users – everyone sees the same pictures and hence can tell a story in a round-robin fashion. (One of these days, I will write the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse ''Exquisite Cadavar''] activity, based on the Dadaist storytelling technique that is a natural fit with Sugar collaboration. There is a variant that combines pictures and text: you draw a picture illustrating my text; the next person writes text describing your picture, and so on. Stay tuned.)

Meanwhile, on the flight to Korea last week, I got caught up on some [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/can-you-make-yourself-smarter.html?_r=2&ref=magazine reading]. Even though is it not clear that "you can make yourself smarter" using these techniques, nonetheless, n-back games are fun. So I wrote [[Activities/Recall]]. There are three games, with six levels each. It is deceptively easy to get hooked. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, on the flight to Korea last week, I got caught up on some [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/can-you-make-yourself-smarter.html?_r=2&ref=magazine reading]. Even though is it not clear that "you can make yourself smarter" using these techniques, nonetheless, n-back games are fun. So I wrote [[Activities/Recall]]. There are three games, with six levels each. It is deceptively easy to get hooked. Enjoy.