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Line 7: − + − We touched on a different set of themes when we discussed this topic ([http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-May/005484.html versus, not]) back in May. We were responding in part to Mark Guzdial's blog: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/blog/post/PLNK3F4TMBURELZZK Does "There's an App for That" Hurt or Help Computing Education?]. At the time I said that I was optimistic about the role of phones in learning—a u-turn from my long-standing position. The arguments about the differences in affordances between phones and computer remain relevant: e.g., you wouldn't write an essay on your phone if you have a computer at hand; and as Kozma points out, the large installed base of phones is not composed primarily of the latest iPhone on a 3G network. The current installed base has much less capacity. But that will change over time.+ − My disregard of phones for learning had been based on my fear that "phone culture" was turning us into a society of consumers of those services that "Ma Bell" chose for us. But the iPhone and the Android are changing that. The meme that is rapidly becoming part of our culture is that phones are programmable, i.e., computers. This is a huge step forward. There is merit in Guzdial's argument that the Apple marketing pitch discourages end-users from becoming active participants in the creative process—we must be vigilant in combating this trend. But now that the phone company's model of "phone as a service" is eroding, there is reason for optimism that the corresponding model of "learning as a service" will also wane. The end of restrictions on who can develop what for whom is an important cultural development that will have an overall positive impact on learning, regardless of the platform. Sugar, which is designed for relatively lightweight environments, will become more significant to learners.+ − 2. [http://nexcopy.com Nexcopy] has generously donated a USB replicator to Sugar Labs. It will be a great help in our various Sugar-on-a-Stick pilot programs this summer.+ − + + + + + + + − 3. Hamilton Chua has written some patches to enable SoaS images to register with School Servers, thus enabling backup and restore. The patch is described in Ticket [http://dev.sugarlabs.org/ticket/916 #916]. Please try to test it.+ − 4. Lionel Laske reports that OLPC France has launched a French FLOSS Manual Sprint, and a large part of the work has been completed. They are now looking for help with "Help." Lionel asks, is there a way to do quickly a “one shot” build of the Help Activity in French (and other languages)?+ − 5. Samy Boutayeb is seeking input on [http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/olpc-mg/2009-June/000169.html digital media] for the OLPC/Sugar pilot in Madagascar.+ + + + + + − 6. David Van Assche published [http://www.nubae.com/collaboration-session-sugar-june10 a report] from the collaboration-testing session that took place last week (10 June 10). Please leave your comments, especially those who took part. We plan to continue testing again on Wednesday, 17 June, at 20:00 UTC, irc.freenode.org, channel #sugar-collaboration.+ − ===In the community===+ − 7. Coming up next week: Sugar at [http://linuxtag.org Linuxtag] (24–27 June in Berlin).+ − 8. Also, Sugar at [http://www.fossed.com/ FOSSED] in Bethel, Maine, 24–26 June.+ − 9. And Sugar at [http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/ NECC] in Washington DC, 28 June–1 July.+ − 10. The OLPC Learning Club, DC, is hosting a [http://olpclearningclub.org/meetings/june-meeting-the-brightest-light-in-the-library/ Family XO Mesh Meetup] Saturday, 20 June from 10 AM to 1 PM.+ − + − 11. I modified Mitchel Charity's [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4192 Ruler activity] to look up the screen resolution so that it would render properly on non-OLPC-XO displays. I'm parsing xdpyinfo, which may not be the most reliable way to get the display resolution; feedback from testers would be appreciated.+ − 12. Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:Image:2009-June-6-12-som.jpg|SOM]]). +
→What's new
===Sugar Digest===
===Sugar Digest===
1. It seems that once per month the computer vs. phone debate reemerges. This time, [http://edutechdebate.org/ Educational Technology Debate] has taken up the theme. Wayan Vota posed the question: Mobile Phones: Better Learning Tools than Computers? Michael Trucano takes the affirmative position in his essay, [http://edutechdebate.org/mobile-phones-and-computers/phones-are-a-real-alternative-to-computers/ "Phones Are a Real Alternative to Computers"] while Robert B. Kozma argues that [http://edutechdebate.org/mobile-phones-and-computers/computers-are-more-capable-than-mobile-phones/ Computers are More Capable than Mobile Phones"]. The usual arguments of pervasiveness (phones) and capacity (computers) were made.
1. A dear friend and mentor, [http://community.adn.com/adn/node/141909 Henry Aristide “Red” Boucher], died yesterday at the age of 88. Red taught me never to say never. His energy and enthusiam were infectous and his capacity to do the right thing was boundless. I'll miss him.
2. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Sebastian Dziallas and the Sugar community, Sugar Labs announces the availability of Sugar on a Stick, codenamed "Strawberry". It features the latest version of the Sugar desktop environment—Version 0.84—and a number of additional activities, providing a great learning experience for new and experienced users. For more information and instructions—how to put SoaS on your USB key or how to deploy it—please refer to our [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/Strawberry|release notes]].
===Help Wanted===
3. Lionel Laske has asked for help with the French version of the Sugar FLOSS manual. He is happy to announce [http://olpc-france.org/docs/OLPC%20Guide%20de%20l'ordinateur.pdf the results of their efforts].
===Help Wanted===
4. There is a new page in the wiki, [[What_could_I_do_in_an_hour%3F|What could I do in an hour?]], for collecting ideas for quick contributions. Please add your ideas.
===In the community===
5. Coming up this week: Sugar at [http://linuxtag.org Linuxtag] (24–27 June in Berlin). The marketing team has made a great [http://www.flickr.com/photos/39656470@N02/3650748717/ banner] to draw attention to our booth.
6. Also, Sugar at [http://www.fossed.com/ FOSSED] in Bethel, Maine, 24–26 June. Caroline Meeks and I will be running a three-hour Sugar workshop for teachers.
7. And Sugar at [http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2009/ NECC] in Washington DC, 28 June–1 July. Mike Lee, Jeff Elkner and others from the Washington DC area will be representing Sugar Labs.
8. [http://squeakfest.org Squeakfest] will be held in Los Angeles 10–12 August and in Porto Alegre 23–25 Julho (starting today!).
9. There is an [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-June/006272.html on-going discussion] about setting up a program similar to the [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors#Fedora_Ambassadors_Goals Fedora Ambassadors program] to help facilitate more community involvement in Sugar. Sugar "Facilitators" would:
* Represent Sugar to the wider public
* Help spread the word about Sugar
* Be a point of contact for local community members and channel the feedback to the Sugar community
* Help recruit contributors
* Think of creative ways for promoting Sugar in your region
===Tech Talk===
10. Tomeu Vizoso has been making great progress on [http://blog.tomeuvizoso.net/2009/05/progress-on-sugar-activities-with-swf.html improving support for Gnash/Flash based activities] within Sugar.
11. David Van Assche started a [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-June/006233.html thread on personalisation and collaboration]. The gist of the discussion is that we should be able to enhance many of the collaboration and evaluation scenarios by capturing and sharing information about user preferences and activities. Please join the discussion as this could be an important topic for Sugar 0.86.
12. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Nexcopy had donated a USB replicator to Sugar Labs. Caroline and I have successfully used the replcator to make Sugar on a Stick keys—we'll be bringin gthe system with us to FOSSED this week. We plan to use it at the Gardner Elementary School this summer as well.
13. Eric Bachard reports on http://planet.go-oo.org/ that starting in July there will be a new collaboration between OpenOffice.org Education Project and Epitech Paris. Thomas Fontenay, Abdelkader Bellabes will work on a forked version of OpenOffice.org, named OOo4Kids for performance improvement on powerless machines, like XO or gdium.
14. Manusheel Gupta reports the release of SocialCalc 0.8.3g for the Sugar environment. Please try [http://seeta.in/wiki/index.php?title=SocialCalc_on_Sugar#Downloads SocialCalc.xo] and share your feedback. Many thanks to Dan Bricklin, Luke Closs, K.S. Preeti, Nicholas Doiron, Claudia Urrea, and Vijit Singh.
===Tech Talk===
Note to developers: K.S. Preeti has compiled [http://seeta.in/wiki/index.php?title=Guide a manual for programmers] for SocialCalc.
15. Last week, I mentioned that I had modified Mitchel Charity's [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4192 Ruler activity] to look up the screen resolution so that it would render properly on non-OLPC-XO displays. I had been parsing xdpyinfo to get the display resolution. Tomeu Vizoso recommended that I use gtk.gdk.screen_width_mm() instead. Alas, it turns out that neither method is returning the proper screen resolution (either from within Sugar or otherwise) on any of the machines I have been using. Back to square one.
===Sugar Labs===
===Sugar Labs===
16. Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/File:2009-June-13-19-som.jpg|SOM]]).