Changes

The traditional "open" and "save" model commonly used for files will fade into abstraction on the laptops, and with it the customary floppy disk icon, as not only will the laptops not have floppy drives, but most likely the children will never see one of these largely obsolete devices.  Instead, a much more general notion of what it means to want to keep things prevails. Generally speaking, we keep things that we want to hold on to, and the rest just fades with time.  Appropriately, the Journal's primary function as a time based view of the activities a child has done and the objects she's kept reinforces this idea.

The traditional "open" and "save" model commonly used for files will fade into abstraction on the laptops, and with it the customary floppy disk icon, as not only will the laptops not have floppy drives, but most likely the children will never see one of these largely obsolete devices.  Instead, a much more general notion of what it means to want to keep things prevails. Generally speaking, we keep things that we want to hold on to, and the rest just fades with time.  Appropriately, the Journal's primary function as a time based view of the activities a child has done and the objects she's kept reinforces this idea.

Most of us recognize the "save early, save often" mantra; most of us have failed to live it and incurred the consequences.  The laptops aim to eliminate constant concern for this type of technicality, making automatic and incremental backups and allowing the children to focus on the activity itself.  These incremental backups will occur at regular time intervals, and activity events such as changes in scope, new participants, among others can trigger them as well.  In order to cater to the needs of many types of editing environments, activities can also specify "keep-hints" which prompt the system to keep a copy.  For instance, a drawing activity may trigger a keep-hint before executing an "erase" operation immediately preceded by a "select all".  Of course, a child itself may choose to invoke a keep-hint by selecting the "keep in journal" button, but adequate adoption of this new notion of keeping from activities should virtually eliminate need for this.

Most of us recognize the "save early, save often" mantra; most of us have failed to live it and incurred the consequences.  The laptops aim to eliminate constant concern for this type of technicality, making automatic and incremental backups and allowing the children to focus on the activity itself.  These incremental backups will occur at regular time intervals, and activity events such as changes in scope, new participants, among others can trigger them as well.  In order to cater to the needs of many types of editing environments, activities can also specify "keep-hints" which prompt the system to keep a copy.  For instance, a drawing activity may trigger a keep-hint before executing an "erase" operation immediately preceded by a "select all".  Of course, a child may choose to invoke a keep-hint by selecting the "keep in journal" button, but adequate adoption of this new notion of keeping from activities should virtually eliminate need for this.

Based on the Object model associated with files, each kept Object is, technically speaking, a separate instance of the activity which created it.  This eliminates the need to "open" a file from within an activity, replacing the act of opening with the act of resuming a previous activity instance.  Of course, a child will have the option to resume a drawing with a different set of brushes, or resume an essay with a different pen, providing "open with" style functionality, but no substitute for an "open" command will exist within an activity's interface.

Based on the Object model associated with files, each kept Object is, technically speaking, a separate instance of the activity which created it.  This eliminates the need to "open" a file from within an activity, replacing the act of opening with the act of resuming a previous activity instance.  Of course, a child will have the option to resume a drawing with a different set of brushes, or resume an essay with a different pen, providing "open with" style functionality, but no substitute for an "open" command will exist within an activity's interface.

=====Backup=====

=====Backup=====

In most locations where laptops deploy, a nearby school equipped with a server will provide additional functionality when children brings their laptops within range.  This server has one major implication for the Journal: backup.  Due to limited storage space on the laptops, children will have to choose to erase older entries to make way for new ones.  The automated backup system will ensure that, even once their creations leave their own laptops, they will remain available on the school server.  This process will happen in the background, fully automatically, anytime the child comes within range and bandwidth allows.  Her Journal will keep track of which entries have and have not yet been backed up, taking this into account when recommending items for removal.

In most locations where laptops deploy, a nearby school equipped with a server will provide additional functionality when children bring their laptops within range.  This server has one major implication for the Journal: backup.  Due to limited storage space on the laptops, children will have to choose to erase older entries to make way for new ones.  The automated backup system will ensure that, even once their creations leave their own laptops, they will remain available on the school server.  This process will happen in the background, fully automatically, anytime the child comes within range and bandwidth allows.  Her Journal will keep track of which entries have and have not yet been backed up, taking this into account when recommending items for removal.

=====Restore=====

=====Restore=====