Difference between revisions of "Sugar Labs/Current Events"

Revision as of 20:43, 5 January 2009

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 and blogged at walterbender.org.) If you would like to contribute, please send email to walter at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit planet.sugarlabs.org.)

Sugar Digest

I read the new Neal Stephenson book, Anathem, last week. There was one line I cannot resist sharing with the Sugar community. Raz, our hero, is a young mathematician who leaves the nest to solve any number of problems. At one point, he asks why he is the one upon whom everyone is leaning.

"But Raz, you are educable, you can learn 'this kind of thing,'... You've spent your whole life ... becoming educable."

Another book I read over the holidays is a new biography of Andrew Jackson. He remains a pretty controversial figure, but he knew the importance of "staying focused on the things that matter most and not dwelling on the things that pull us apart."

In the case of Sugar Labs, the things that matters most are creating a great learning platform and making it available to learners everywhere.

I am confident that in 2009, we will see Sugar in the hands of many more children and teachers. We'll see an accelerated pace of development and deployment across a diverse set of platforms under an even more diverse set of conditions.

While we debate the various means towards our goals, we need to keep in mind that the most important metric we can hold up to our work is the impact on learning. On the one hand, we need to flexible and inclusive; on the other hand, we need to adhere to the core principles that make Sugar of value to the learner, putting an emphasis on quality over quantity. So while we shouldn't be overly zealous, we need to constantly remind ourselves and those whom we are trying to reach of the value of learning to learn: the authenitic appropriation of knowledge, learning through expressing, debugging, reflection, and critique. If it does not impact the learning, we shouldn't be doing it.

Community jams, meet-ups, and meetings

FUDConF11, which will be held this week (9–11 January) at MIT (Cambridge, MA).

Help Wanted

Christian Marc Schmidt has been working on a static landing page for Sugar Labs. (The wiki is a powerful tool, but not the easiest place to get started from when you are new to Sugar.) Christian has uploaded a build onto a server (See beta sugarlabs.org). This version is fully dynamic, based on an XML->XSL translation using PHP 5 and Libxslt. Christian has tested it in all major browsers where it seems to work fine, but please exercise it some more.

Christian is ready to concentrate on gathering content for the gallery and the activity sections. There is other content that needs to be prepared as well.

As far as internationalization, we are thinking of adding a simple CSS dropdown underneath the links on the top-right edge of the page. We should decide how best to handle the translations, whether through Pootle or some other mechanism.

One specific area where we are seeking help is in regard to illustrations. One project we have in mind is a comicbook-like narrative about Sugar to be featured on the static site. If anyone is interested in taking on such a project, please come forward.

Tech Talk

There are some Activity updates to report:

TurtleArt-27.xo
Yay!BeeSee-2.xo

Sugar Labs

Gary Martin has generated another SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see SOM).

Gary has also made some significant changes to the text-metric extraction code; he is trying to fully normalize the frequency of each term. He hypothesizes that this will allows the maps to more clearly show the finer details that are otherwise drowned out by heavy terms like "Sugar", "Work", "Use", "Project", "Want", etc. He'll be posting some examples in the wiki.

Community News archive

An archive of this digest is available.

Planet

The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.

Sugar in the news

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

9 Dec 2008	Sugar Labs/Sugar Labs joins the SFC
15 May 2008	Sugar Labs/Announcing Sugar Labs

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 === Sugar Digest ===
-As 2008 comes to an end, it gives me an excuse to do some reflecting on what we are doing as a project and foundation. Most of the following you've read before, but it is helpful—at least to me—to revisit these ideas periodically.
+I read the new Neal Stephenson book, ''Anathem'', last week. There was one line I cannot resist sharing with the Sugar community. Raz, our hero, is a young mathematician who leaves the nest to solve any number of problems. At one point, he asks why he is the one upon whom everyone is leaning.
-The world faces many seemingly intractable problems: war, a faltering economy, an energy crisis, global climate change, to name just a few. My generation has failed to solve these problems. Our children will inherit them from us. But we can leave them something in addition: the means to become a generation of critical thinkers and problem-solvers. The investment that we can make on their behalf that will have the most return is learning. It has a bearing on all of the challenges we face and is essential if our children are to excel in an ever-changing world. Providing every child with the opportunity to learn learning will allow them both to achieve a clarity of purpose and to develop independent means towards their goals.
+"But Raz, you are <i>educable</i>, you can learn 'this kind of thing,'... You've spent your whole life ... becoming educable."
-What should children and learn and how should they learn it? Information is about nouns; learning is about verbs. Of course learners should have access to power ideas (I won't debate here which ones we should teach). But they should also engage in exploration and collaboration, appropriating knowledge while engaging in authentic, open-ended problem solving. This can be accomplished within a framework of accountability, one that complements rigorous national standards where learners engage in a process of reflection, public expression, and critique—a "portfolio" approach. What am I learning? How did I learn it? Why is it important? Can I teach it to others?
+Another book I read over the holidays is a new biography of Andrew Jackson. He remains a pretty controversial figure, but he knew the importance of "staying focused on the things that matter most and not dwelling on the things that pull us apart."
-We have some simple, universal points of leverage:
+In the case of Sugar Labs, the things that matters most are creating a great learning platform and making it available to learners everywhere.
-* Everyone is a teacher and a learner.
+I am confident that in 2009, we will see Sugar in the hands of many more children and teachers. We'll see an accelerated pace of development and deployment across a diverse set of platforms under an even more diverse set of conditions.
-* Humans are social beings.
-* Humans are expressive.
-You learn through doing, so if you want to learn more, you want to do more.
+While we debate the various means towards our goals, we need to keep in mind that the most important metric we can hold up to our work is the impact on learning. On the one hand, we need to flexible and inclusive; on the other hand, we need to adhere to the core principles that make Sugar of value to the learner, putting an emphasis on quality over quantity. So while we shouldn't be overly zealous, we need to constantly remind ourselves and those whom we are trying to reach of the value of learning to learn: the authenitic appropriation of knowledge, learning through expressing, debugging, reflection, and critique. If it does not impact the learning, we shouldn't be doing it.
-Love is a better master than duty—you want people to engage in things that are authentic to them, things that they love. Internal motivation almost always trumps external motivations.
+=== Community jams, meet-ups, and meetings ===
-These ideas are not immiscible with current norms within schools, but too often we fall back on what we "know". I challenge you to think of a great learning moment in your life: was it sitting in a classroom, all eyes forward, listening to a lecture or was in when you were trying to solve a problem that was important to you?
+[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon/FUDConF11 FUDConF11], which will be held this week (9–11 January) at MIT (Cambridge, MA).
-We know of no better tool for learning than a computer—it is a “thing to think with” when it is used as a means of knowledge creation. (Unfortunately, it is too often thought of and used as simply a mechanism for information retrieval and rote learning in our schools—the modern equivalent of the mimeograph machine, AKA the “purple” plague.)
+=== Help Wanted ===
-Three experiences can characterize a computer-enhanced learning platform:
+Christian Marc Schmidt has been working on a static landing page for Sugar Labs. (The wiki is a powerful tool, but not the easiest place to get started from when you are new to Sugar.) Christian has uploaded a build onto a server (See [http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com/projects/sugarlabs/betasite beta sugarlabs.org]). This version is fully dynamic, based on an XML->XSL translation using PHP 5 and Libxslt. Christian has tested it in all major browsers where it seems to work fine, but please exercise it some more.
-Sharing: The interface should always shows the presence of other learners. Collaboration is a first-order experience. Students and teachers dialog with each other, support each other, critique each other, and share ideas.
+Christian is ready to concentrate on gathering content for the gallery and the activity sections. There is other content that needs to be prepared as well.
-Reflecting: A "Journal" should record each learner's activity. The Journal serves as a place for reflection and assessment of progress—the basis of a portfolio.
+As far as internationalization, we are thinking of adding a simple CSS dropdown underneath the links on the top-right edge of the page. We should decide how best to handle the translations, whether through Pootle or some other mechanism.
-Discovering: We can accommodate a wide variety of users, with different levels of skill in terms of reading, language, and different levels of experience with computing. It is easy to approach, yet it doesn't put an upper bound on personal expression. One should always be able to peel away layers and go deeper and deeper, with no restrictions. This allows the direct appropriation of ideas in whatever realm the learner is exploring: music, browsing, reading, writing, programming, or graphics. The student can always go further.
+One specific area where we are seeking help is in regard to illustrations. One project we have in mind is a comicbook-like narrative about Sugar to be featured on the static site. If anyone is interested in taking on such a project, please come forward.
-These are the core ideas behind Sugar. By embodying these ideas directly into the affordances provided by the user interface, we can skew the odds that teachers and learners will engage in more than the accumulation and transfer of information.
+=== Tech Talk ===
-In Sugar, have in hand the tools to reinvent how computers are used for education. Collaboration, reflection, and discovery are readily integrated directly into the learning experience. Children and teachers have the opportunity to use computers on their own terms, reshape, reinvent, and reapply both software and content into powerful learning activities. Learning can be focused on sharing, criticism, and exploration. We have a lot of work ahead of us to refine these tools and to refine the practice around them, but we have a solid beginning.
+There are some Activity updates to report:
+* TurtleArt-27.xo
+* Yay!BeeSee-2.xo
-We can raise a generation of critical thinkers, armed with the complementary tools of science and the arts. (Relatively speaking, it is a trivial investment—probably less than the cost of a single “bridge to nowhere”. All of the necessary tools are freely available under free software licenses. But we do need to invest in engaging teachers, parents, and children in learning learning.) So let's make it happen.
+=== Sugar Labs ===
-=== Sugar Labs ===
+Gary Martin has generated another SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:Image:2008-Dec-27-2009-Jan-2-som.jpg|SOM]]).
-Gary Martin has generated another SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list (Please see [[:Image:2008-December-20-26-som.jpg|SOM]]).
+Gary has also made some significant changes to the text-metric extraction code; he is trying to fully normalize the frequency of each term. He hypothesizes that this will allows the maps to more clearly show the finer details that are otherwise drowned out by heavy terms like "Sugar", "Work", "Use", "Project", "Want", etc. He'll be posting some examples in the wiki.
 === Community News archive ===