Difference between revisions of "Sugar Labs/Current Events"

From Sugar Labs
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 5: Line 5:
 
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 archived [[Sugar Labs/Current Events/Archive|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 archived [[Sugar Labs/Current Events/Archive|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 am once again falling behind in my writing. This time I have two excuses: travel and coding. I spent last week in Miami, not to escape the cold Boston winter, but to attend the OLPC deployment meeting. (This is first time since I left OLPC almost two-years ago that I have been invited to participate in an OLPC event.) It was great to see many old friends with passion in their hearts for the project. The highlight of the week was of course the presentations from the deployments. Many of the larger OLPC deployments gave detailed updates of the progress and plans—all of which include Sugar. The variety of means by which the deployments engage in outreach was fascinating. For example, in Paraguay, which still has a relatively modest deployment, they have been setting the stage for an eventual nationwide roll-out by publishing weekly “how-to-use Sugar” storyboards in the newspaper. In every case, the deployment teams have been considering not just the technology, but also their cultural context. The vector is pointing in the right direction.
+
1. The Sugar Labs Development Team continues to make great progress towards our next release, Sucrose 0.88. Last weekend a "testing day" was held in which most of the new features exercised. There will be another meeting on Monday (February 22) at which we will be discussing various outstanding details as we approach "string freeze" on March 1. What has been significant in this release cycle has not only been the steady progress we have been making on improving and stabilizing the core Sugar platform, but also the introduction of a more systemic mechanism for proposing, vetting, and implementing new features. While the procedures we have put into place are still in need of fine-tuning, we have seen progress on one key goal—greater involvement from Sugar deployments. Sugar remains a volunteer-run project and thus it is what its community makes of it. Our release process is intended to provide a stable and predictable base from which the community can build. Long-term maintenance and growth will come from our community. A goal for Sucrose 0.90 is to have a well-defined set of features, proposed from downstream, and developed downstream. Sugar, like learning itself, is not something done for it. It is something you do for yourself.
  
−
A concrete idea that surfaced during the discussions was to explicitly add the creation of a local Sugar Lab to the offering whenever OLPC partners with new deployment. The local lab would provide the means for the local community to nurture growth in their local Free Software community and to engage with the global Sugar community more systemically and efficiently. Another result from the meeting is that Claudia Urrea, one the education/deployment leads for OLPC, will be joining our Design Team meetings. Her direct feedback will be very helpful.
+
2. Tony Forster, Raúl Gutiérrez Segalés, Michael Stone, and Edward Cherlin have given me detailed feedback on the new Turtle Art. Raúl will be testing it this week in the field and I hope that with that additional feedback to be able to make a final release as part of Fructose 0.88. If you'd like to give it a test drive, please download it from the wiki:
  
−
2. Raúl Gutiérrez Segalés and I are finally to the point where we would like some testing and feedback on the Turtle Art refactoring project. We have been rewriting much of code over the past month with several goals in mind: (1) make it easier to maintain; (2) make it easier to localize; (3) make it easier to incorporate new features; and (4) make it easier for the end-user to modify.
+
[[TurtleArt-83.xo]]
  
−
So far, we have:
+
New user-interface features include support for multiple turtles (this enables the learner to engage in many of the types of problems opened up by learning systems such as StarLogo). To facilitate debugging, there is now runtime block highlighting and highlighting of the block that raised an error. Boolean logic is now prefix instead of infix, which makes it consistent with the arithmetic operators and less ambiguous in its visual parsing. Many other UI improvements, a trash palette (with restore), variable-length, editable string blocks, labels on coordinate-grid overlays, etc. were driven by feedback from the field.
−
* completed a major refactoring of the code
 
−
** object-oriented
 
−
** 90% smaller download bundle-size
 
−
** faster first-time launch
 
−
** simplified i18n maintenance
 
−
** easier to add new blocks and palettes
 
−
* added new user interface features
 
−
** support for multiple turtles
 
−
** expandable blocks
 
−
** trash palette (with a restore button)
 
−
** variable-length string blocks
 
−
** editable strings
 
  
−
Still to come:
+
We also completed a major refactoring of the code, resulting in a 90% smaller download bundle-size and a faster first-time launch. Our goal here is greatly simplified maintenance, more decentralized localization and easier extension with new blocks and palettes.
−
* a new collaboration model, where multiple turtles are shared
 
−
* conversion to Cairo graphics for the Turtle
 
−
* better program visualization during run-time
 
  
−
You can download the new Turtle Art for testing from: [[File:TurtleArt-83.xo]]. The source is in the [http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/turtleart/repos/refactoring/trees/master refactoring branch] of the TurtleArt project on gitorious.
+
3. Sugar on a Stick, Blueberry, is now in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) permanent collection.
  
−
3. It is worthwhile to periodically check on the Sugar-related materials being created in the field. For example, the teachers in Uruguay continue to assemble lesson plans for using Sugar in the classroom at [http://www.reducativa.com/wiki2/index.php?title=Proyecto_OLPC_-_Plan_Ceibal the Plan Ceibal website]. There is a real wealth of materials there.
+
===In the community===
  
−
4. Thanks to an introduction by Chuck Kane, I am in touch with the team that developed GeoGebra. [http://www.geogebra.org GeoGebra] is free software for learning and teaching mathematics. Written in Java, “it combines interactive geometry, algebra, calculus, and spread-sheets in one easy-to-use system for students of all ages.” It could be a candidate for Aleksey Lim's [[Activity_Team/Services|Sugar Services]] efforts.
+
4. Sorry for the last minute notice, but Joy Ventura Riach from One Laptop Per Child's regional center in Africa is organzing Learning Team chats. The first meeting will be on Thursday, February 18, at 10 EST (15 UTC). Join the [http://bit.ly/9TxkwD discussion].
  
−
=== In the community ===
+
===Tech talk===
  
−
5. Kevin Mauricio Benavides Castro pointed out to me an article about the work going on in rural Nicuaragua (See http://impreso.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2010/02/02/contactoend/118357).
+
5. Thanks to the efforts of Luke Faraone, Sugar Labs has received some  servers donated from the Wikipedia project. They will be deployed in various locations, including RIT, Washington, and Cambridge. Stefan Unterhauser (dogi) is helping in the effort to get the new machines up and running and properly configured to meet our growing needs.
  
−
6. Cristian Paul Peñaranda Rojas has created an XO-man-inspired case for Sugar-on-a-Stick. You can download the CAD model from  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1659
+
===Sugar Labs===
  
−
7. Hilaire Fernandes, the author of [http.//wiki.laptop.org/go/DrGeo DrGeo], is looking for feedback on his interactive geometry software (developed with Squeak and deployed on Etoys).
+
10. Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:File:2010-Jan-30-Feb-5-som.jpg]] and [[:File:2010-Feb-6-12-som.jpg]]).
−
 
 
−
=== Tech talk ===
 
−
 
 
−
8. The Design Team is meeting with great regularity and is making progress on many of the 0.88 features. You can follow the progress in the [[Design_Team/0.88_Meeting|wiki]].
 
−
 
 
−
=== Sugar Labs ===
 
−
 
 
−
10. Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past two weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:File:2010-Jan-16-22-som.jpg|SOM]] and [[:File:2010-Jan-23-29-som4.jpg|SOM]]). The latter image does a nice job of visualizing the on-going [[http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2010-January/009933.html discussion about trademarks]].
 
  
 
=== Community News archive ===
 
=== Community News archive ===

Revision as of 08:36, 18 February 2010

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. The Sugar Labs Development Team continues to make great progress towards our next release, Sucrose 0.88. Last weekend a "testing day" was held in which most of the new features exercised. There will be another meeting on Monday (February 22) at which we will be discussing various outstanding details as we approach "string freeze" on March 1. What has been significant in this release cycle has not only been the steady progress we have been making on improving and stabilizing the core Sugar platform, but also the introduction of a more systemic mechanism for proposing, vetting, and implementing new features. While the procedures we have put into place are still in need of fine-tuning, we have seen progress on one key goal—greater involvement from Sugar deployments. Sugar remains a volunteer-run project and thus it is what its community makes of it. Our release process is intended to provide a stable and predictable base from which the community can build. Long-term maintenance and growth will come from our community. A goal for Sucrose 0.90 is to have a well-defined set of features, proposed from downstream, and developed downstream. Sugar, like learning itself, is not something done for it. It is something you do for yourself.

2. Tony Forster, Raúl Gutiérrez Segalés, Michael Stone, and Edward Cherlin have given me detailed feedback on the new Turtle Art. Raúl will be testing it this week in the field and I hope that with that additional feedback to be able to make a final release as part of Fructose 0.88. If you'd like to give it a test drive, please download it from the wiki:

TurtleArt-83.xo

New user-interface features include support for multiple turtles (this enables the learner to engage in many of the types of problems opened up by learning systems such as StarLogo). To facilitate debugging, there is now runtime block highlighting and highlighting of the block that raised an error. Boolean logic is now prefix instead of infix, which makes it consistent with the arithmetic operators and less ambiguous in its visual parsing. Many other UI improvements, a trash palette (with restore), variable-length, editable string blocks, labels on coordinate-grid overlays, etc. were driven by feedback from the field.

We also completed a major refactoring of the code, resulting in a 90% smaller download bundle-size and a faster first-time launch. Our goal here is greatly simplified maintenance, more decentralized localization and easier extension with new blocks and palettes.

3. Sugar on a Stick, Blueberry, is now in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) permanent collection.

In the community

4. Sorry for the last minute notice, but Joy Ventura Riach from One Laptop Per Child's regional center in Africa is organzing Learning Team chats. The first meeting will be on Thursday, February 18, at 10 EST (15 UTC). Join the discussion.

Tech talk

5. Thanks to the efforts of Luke Faraone, Sugar Labs has received some servers donated from the Wikipedia project. They will be deployed in various locations, including RIT, Washington, and Cambridge. Stefan Unterhauser (dogi) is helping in the effort to get the new machines up and running and properly configured to meet our growing needs.

Sugar Labs

10. Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see File:2010-Jan-30-Feb-5-som.jpg and File:2010-Feb-6-12-som.jpg).

Community News archive

An archive of this digest is available.

Planet

The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.

Sugar in the news

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
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
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

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Sugar_Labs/Current_Events&oldid=44254"