Difference between revisions of "Sugar Labs/Current Events"

Revision as of 16:56, 24 May 2012

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. Sugar 0.96 has been officially released. You can read all about it at 0.96/Notes.

2. Guzman Trindad has posted some great videos of various physics investigations on the XO (See [1]).

3. EduJAM! presented awards for the best Sugar activities. Although they were not singled out in any special way, the youth of Uruguay managed to walk away with six of the prizes. Congratulations to Christofer, Agustin, Daniel, et al. for your contributions. A tip of the hat to the adult contributors too: Flavio, Gabriel, Alan, Andres, and Alejandro.

By my rough estimate, approximately 10% of all Sugar activities have been written by kids who grew up on Sugar. It would interesting to understand the phenomenon. But we must be doing something right.

I did learn that Christofer has been in an on-going dialogue with Rosamel Ramirez, a teacher in Duranzo about his activity development. Their latest collaboration is JAMuliples. Good stuff.

4. Some of you may be following the discussion about "New Co." on the iaep list [2] and [3]. To summarize, we are exploring alternative structures for Sugar Labs, which may well involve the creation of a new organization -- to augment our FOSS development efforts housed at the SFC -- to support the auxiliary operations involved with supporting the code in the field.

I solicited feedback on the specific goals for a New Co. Aleksey reminded us that our stated mission as a community is much broader than just software development: we want our software to be used and we want to have a positive influence of other people writing learning software. We came together as a community because we share certain principles about learning and we want to help people to "embody these principals 'in the field'."

In trying to answer my specific question, Aleksey Lim said: the "new organization should provide practices and procedures how to setup local deployment program in most useful way." and the "new organization should provide a way to forward funding... to particular program[s] and provide everything to make this funding open/clear for donators and easy handled by local deployment people." Finally, he posited that perhaps the "new organization will be a guarantee for institutions where local deployment happens (schools, etc.) to make them assured that even after finishing the program, there will be a way to get some help."

Martin Langhoff raised some important points as well: "The _top priority_ should be to get stuff done with your own means...", that "the good name of SL is a precious asset based on work from a global effort", but we should "let each group do their own thing. It's their name, their reputation on the line."

We'll be continuing the discuss at next week's Sugar Labs oversight board (SLOB) meeting. Please join us.

5. On a personal note, my heart goes out to Marco Presenti Gritti, who posted on his blog this week that he has cancer. Marco was part of the team that created Sugar and was at my side when we created Sugar Labs. Marco: know that there are many people thinking of you.

Sugar Labs

Visit our planet for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments.

Community News archive

An archive of this digest is available.

Planet

The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.

Sugar in the news

24 Apr 2012	Pacific Standard – OLPC Redux
12 Apr 2012	Huffington Post – Hult Global Case Challenge: One Laptop Per Child
30 Mar 2012	newswise – “Sugar on a Stick” Helps Kids Learn How to Learn
11 Jan 2012	Boston Herald – One Laptop Per Child screening $100 tablet
10 Jan 2012	ars technica – Crank, bicycle, and waterwheel: hands-on with the OLPC XO 3.0 tablet
08 Jan 2012	The Verge – OLPC XO 3.0 tablet preview: impressions, video, and pictures
07 Jan 2012	The Verge – OLPC XO 3.0 tablet: an 8-inch tablet for $100, with Android and Sugar options for the children
23 Dec 2011	Miller-McCune – One Laptop Per Child Redux
18 Oct 2011	BDU – Robotics in Uruguay (video)
11 Aug 2011	Berlin.de – Gewinner des Berliner Landeswettbewerbs zu Open Source stehen fest
25 Jul 2011	CCC Classic – Garmin-sugarlabs development cycling team at Crit starting line
25 Jul 2011	CCC Classic – Garmin-sugarlabs development cycling team after Crit
13 Apr 2011	framablog – L'expérience Sugar Labs préfigure-t-elle une révolution éducative du XXIe siècle?
05 Apr 2011	Businesswire – The Government of Peru Expands the One Laptop Per Child Program with Local Manufacturing
31 Jan 2011	Sundance – A Day in the Life – Peru
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	Dailymotion – Un jour... à Paris... ensembles pour OLPC et Sugar... (video)
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

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == Sugar Digest ==
-. 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?
+. Sugar 0.96 has been officially released. You can read all about it at [[0.96/Notes]].
-. 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 &ndash; with up to eight other users &ndash; 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.)
+. Guzman Trindad has posted some great videos of various physics investigations on the XO (See [https://sites.google.com/site/solymar1fisica/fisica-con-xo-investigacion-/videos-youtube-fisica-con-xo]).
-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.
+. EduJAM! presented awards for [http://edujam2012.blogspot.com/p/nominados.html the best Sugar activities]. Although they were not singled out in any special way, the youth of Uruguay managed to walk away with six of the prizes. Congratulations to Christofer, Agustin, Daniel, et al. for your contributions. A tip of the hat to the adult contributors too: Flavio, Gabriel, Alan, Andres, and Alejandro.
-=== In the community ===
+By my rough estimate, approximately 10% of all Sugar activities have been written by kids who grew up on Sugar. It would interesting to understand the phenomenon. But we must be doing something right.
-. [http://ceibaljam.org/?q=edujam2012 EduJAM!] is under way in Montevideo. Tune into the [http://www.ustream.tv/channel/edujam webcast] and join the [[EduJAM/CodeSprint|code sprint]] on the 13th and 14th.
+I did learn that Christofer has been in an on-going dialogue with Rosamel Ramirez, a teacher in Duranzo about his activity development. Their latest collaboration is [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4572 JAMuliples]. Good stuff.
-. Next week is [http://squeakland.org/squeakfest Squeakfest], also in Montevideo (May 17-19) and May 21-22 in Buenos Aires.
+. Some of you may be following the discussion about "New Co." on the iaep list [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2012-May/015272.html] and [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2012-May/015288.html]. To summarize, we are exploring alternative structures for Sugar Labs, which may well involve the creation of a new organization -- to augment our FOSS development efforts housed at the SFC -- to support the auxiliary operations involved with supporting the code in the field.
+I solicited feedback on the specific goals for a New Co. Aleksey reminded us that [[What_is_Sugar|our stated mission]] as a community is much broader than just software development: we want our software to be used and we want to have a positive influence of other people writing learning software. We came together as a community because we share certain principles about learning and we want to help people to "embody these principals 'in the field'."
+In trying to answer my specific question, Aleksey Lim said: the "new organization should provide practices and procedures how to setup local deployment program in most useful way." and the "new organization should provide a way to forward funding... to particular program[s] and provide everything to make this funding open/clear for donators and easy handled by local deployment people." Finally, he posited that perhaps the "new organization will be a guarantee for institutions where local deployment happens (schools, etc.) to make them assured that even after finishing the program, there will be a way to get some help."
+Martin Langhoff raised some important points as well: "The _top priority_ should be to get stuff done with your own means...", that "the good name of SL is a precious asset based on work from a global effort", but we should "let each group do their own thing. It's their name, their reputation on the line."
+We'll be continuing the discuss at next week's Sugar Labs oversight board (SLOB) meeting. Please join us.
+. On a personal note, my heart goes out to Marco Presenti Gritti, who posted on his [http://theoria.me/#cancer blog] this week that he has cancer. Marco was part of the team that created Sugar and was at my side when we created Sugar Labs. Marco: know that there are many people thinking of you.
 === Sugar Labs ===