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| == Sugar Digest == | | == Sugar Digest == |
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| 1. Simon Schampijer and the Sugar Development Team have announced the preliminary release of Sugar 0.96. This development release is a major milestone as it is the first Sugar release to incorporate the Gtk+ 3 toolkit and introspection, better aligning us with the GNOME development community and enhancing our long-term positioning vis-a-vis growth, stability, maintenance, and relevance. | | 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? |
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| There are some rough edges, as would be expected from such a major effort. Please report bugs!
| | 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. Easier 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.) |
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| New features include a port of the Browse activity to webkit.
| | 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. |
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| There are [http://build.laptop.org/12.1.0/os8/ OLPC builds] available for testing and Sugar 0.96 in the [http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-prerelease Fedora 17 beta].
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| This extraordinary effort began at the [[Marketing_Team/Events/Gtk3_Hackfest_2011|Prague workshop]] organized by Daniel Drake. It was sustained by Simon, Gonzalo, and Manuq, with help from Benjamin, Tomeu, Gary, Raul, Marco, Bert, Martin, Chris, et al. Congratulations and thank you.
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| 2. Block that metaphor: I am in transit to Korea; my first visit in more than six years. The occasion for this trip is a lecture at the opening of iLab, a new "Media Lab" at Pohang University of Science and Technology. So I am wearing my "former director of the MIT Media Lab" hat rather than my "founder of Sugar Labs" hat. Not that I won't try to inject a little Sugar into my keynote speech. | |
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| It was in Korea, 10 years ago, that I "revealed" the [http://www.media.mit.edu/publications/bttj/ForwardPages5-6.pdf ''Seven secrets of the Media Lab.''], based on the symbols of the seven days of the week in the Chinese calendar: sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, and earth. Today, I am recalling four lessons learned -- both at MIT and at Sugar Labs -- based on the cardinal directions: the azimuth of the southern sky* can be used to align goals -- without common goals, we drift apart; the setting sun can be used to align expectations -- mismatched expectations can lead to disappointment regardless of the quality of the work; the rising sun is the source of new light (and new ideas) -- a reminder to invest in community; and the steady northern light is a message to leadership to provide a safe place for taking risks. Many of these lessons were reinforced by my experiences at OLPC and Sugar Labs.
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| * Note that since Korea is in the northern hemisphere, the sun peaks in the south.
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| 3. I get a lot of coding done on airplanes. What I have been experimenting with lately are: (1) some work related to the Gtk-3 port -- lots of little tweaks; (2) some enhancements regarding touch -- in Turtle Art, Abacus, and Dimensions (AKA Visual Match); and (3) different approaches to help -- specifically, I've revamped the introductory animation in [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4246 Dimensions]. Please try the latter and let me know if you find it useful.
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| === In the community === | | === In the community === |
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| 5. Details for [http://ceibaljam.org/?q=edujam2012 eduJAM!] the week of May 7-12 in Montevideo are available. eduJAM will be followed by a [[EduJAM/CodeSprint|code sprint]] on the 13th and 14th.
| | 3. [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. |
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| 6. The week following eduJAM! will be a Squeakfest, also in Montevideo (May 17-19) and May 21-22 in Buenos Aires.
| | 4. Next week is [http://squeakland.org/squeakfest Squeakfest], also in Montevideo (May 17-19) and May 21-22 in Buenos Aires. |
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| === Sugar Labs === | | === Sugar Labs === |
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| Gary Martin has generated SOMs from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list:
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| <gallery>
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| File:2012-April-21-27-som.jpg|'''2012 Apr 21st-27th''' (20 emails)
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| File:2012-April-14-20-som.jpg|'''2012 Apr 14th-20th''' (15 emails)
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| File:2012-Apr-7-13-som.jpg|'''2012 Apr 7th-13th''' (13 emails)
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| File:2012-Mar-31-Apr-6-som.jpg|'''2012 Mar 31st-Apr 6th''' (14 emails)
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| </gallery>
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| Visit our [http://plant.sugarlabs.org planet] for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments. | | Visit our [http://plant.sugarlabs.org planet] for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments. |