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| | ==Sugar Digest== | | ==Sugar Digest== |
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| − | 1. Since the early days of One Laptop per Child I spent a lot of energy combating the accusations that OLPC's plan is to give hardware to children, sit back, and wait for miracles to happen. The sustained efforts of the Sugar community and the enormous investment in support made by the various deployment teams around the world are tangible evidence that we do not waiting for miracles – rather we are doing the hard work to ensure that the opportunity to learn is made available to every child. It is therefore disheartening to hear Nicholas Negroponte once again say "You can, you actually can" [give a kid a laptop connected to the Internet and walk away]. [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20012926-56.html [1]] While there is much evidence to suggest that the informal time spent with computing is valuable, we have a lot of work ahead of us in order to bridge the gulf between using a computer and using a computer for learning. While the much-hyped Whole-in-the-Wall Project demonstrated that children can learn to use computers without any instruction, if we want them to engage with "powerful ideas", we must offer them more and better contexts for learning – on their own, among their peers, and under the guidance of a mentor. | + | 1. The ''New York Times'' reported on a FailFaire gathering last month "over drinks and finger food", where MobileActive, "a network of people and organizations trying to improve the lives of the poor through technology", presented a prize for the worst ICT for Development project. The prize was an OLPC XO laptop, "a program that MobileActive members regard as the emblem of the failure of technology to achieve change for the better." ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' subsequently picked up on the article: "One Laptop Per Child was recently laid off some staff members [SIC] after falling far short of its goal of providing inexpensive laptop computers to tens of millions of children in the developing world." |
| | | | |
| − | 2. I was on a short holiday last week, but I did have time to have some fun reworking the Sugar Home View so that we can better support more Activities (and perhaps eventually content). You can see some sketches [[Features/Spiral_Home_View#Detailed_Description|here]]. While there are many ideas kicking around about how we might improve the Home View, including making it a normal Sugar Activity and further integrating it into the Journal, I am hoping that this one change will be complete in time to meet the looming feature freeze for 0.90.
| + | I asked Katrin Verclas, a founder of MobileActive, for the evidence that OLPC was a failure and she said "OLPC was not discussed or presented at the FailFaire." It seems she has no evidence and yet she is sufficiently tone-deaf to be unconcerned that her using the XO as an emblem of failure might be damaging to the effots of the thousands of people trying to help the millions of children who are using the XO and Sugar. I would expect better from the ''New York Times'', the ''Chronicle of Philanthropy'', and from an organization that purports to shed some light on what works/doesn't work in development. I recommended that Verclas read ''Aristotle and and Aardvark go to Washington'' as she might learn a few more techniques for character assassination from Cathcart and Klein. |
| | | | |
| − | 3. Hilaire Fernandes [http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire/index.php?post/drgeo-xo-10.08-release announced] the release 10.08 of the DrGeo Activity. For those of you have never used it, DrGeo is a great tool for exploring advanced concepts in geometry.
| + | 2. On a positive note, I've archived a short exchange on the #suagr channel on irc.freenode.net. |
| | + | |
| | + | <marcopg> erikos: approve my trivial patch! :) I want to push again to sugar after so long :) |
| | + | <erikos> marcopg: just because you have just one module does not mean to not need to specify the module anymore! |
| | + | marcopg: r! |
| | + | marcopg: welcome back! :) |
| | + | <marcopg> erikos haha |
| | + | thanks :) |
| | + | |
| | + | For those of you who a relatively new to Sugar, Marco was a lead developer on the Red Hat team that worked with OLPC and Pentagram to develop Sugar. He helped found Sugar Labs but has been missing from our ranks over the past 12 months due to other obligations. It is great to have Marco contributing again. |
| | + | |
| | + | 3. Dinko Galetic, Lucian Branescu Mihaila, and Sebastian Dzaillas all successfully completed their Google Summer of Code projects. Congratulations and thanks to Google for sponsoring the work and to their mentors Stefan (Dogi) Unterhauser, Luis Gustavo Lira, Michael Stone, and Sascha Silbe, and to Tim McNamara for organizing the SUgar Labs GSoC program. |
| | + | |
| | + | 4. This review was posted on the Physics page on activities.sugarlabs.org. I had to share it: |
| | + | |
| | + | :I love it! It's doodling for inventors! I've had so many ideas from this. Starting live is the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise it would not be obvious what the thing does, silly! Also, stopping time is for losers. build stuff on scaffolding, big tall blocks, then delete them when everything is pinned, or jointed, just like real life. :-) |
| | | | |
| | ===In the community=== | | ===In the community=== |
| | | | |
| − | 4. There was an [http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/LinuxCon_2010 education mini-summit] at LinuxCon in Boston. It was heavily geared towards Sugar with talks about Sugar in RHEL 6 (Sebastian Dziallas) and Sugar on Ubuntu (Ian Daniher). There was a very nice talk about using Inkscape in middle school by Máirín Duffy of Red Hat. Alas, I missed both Karlie Robinson talk on her Beginner Guide to FLOSS education and David Trask's update on the Maine 1-to-1 computing initiative.
| + | 5. There is a call for presentations for an on-line global education conference that may be of interest to the Sugar community (See [http://www.globaleducationconference.com/call-for-presentations.html [1]]). |
| | + | |
| | + | 6. There is a comprehensive write up of last week's education summit at LinuxCon (See [http://mairin.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/mini-education-summit-linuxcon-boston-2010 [2]]). |
| | + | |
| | + | ===Tech Talk === |
| | | | |
| − | 5. [http://www.aup.fr/news/special_events/constructionism2010.htm Constructionism 2010 - Paris] begins 16 August at the American University of Paris.
| + | 7. We are making great progress towards Sugar 0.90. Follow the fun at [[0.90]]. |
| | | | |
| | ===Sugar Labs=== | | ===Sugar Labs=== |
| | | | |
| − | Gary Martin has generated SOMs from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list. | + | Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list. |
| | | | |
| | <gallery> | | <gallery> |
| − | File:2010-July-24-30-som.jpg|2010 July 24th-30th (25 emails) | + | File:2010-Aug-7-13-som.jpg|2010 August 7th-13th (61 emails) |
| − | File:2010-Jul-31-Aug-6-som.jpg|2010 July 31st-August 6th (44 emails)
| |
| | </gallery> | | </gallery> |
| | | | |
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 New York Times reported on a FailFaire gathering last month "over drinks and finger food", where MobileActive, "a network of people and organizations trying to improve the lives of the poor through technology", presented a prize for the worst ICT for Development project. The prize was an OLPC XO laptop, "a program that MobileActive members regard as the emblem of the failure of technology to achieve change for the better." The Chronicle of Philanthropy subsequently picked up on the article: "One Laptop Per Child was recently laid off some staff members [SIC] after falling far short of its goal of providing inexpensive laptop computers to tens of millions of children in the developing world."
I asked Katrin Verclas, a founder of MobileActive, for the evidence that OLPC was a failure and she said "OLPC was not discussed or presented at the FailFaire." It seems she has no evidence and yet she is sufficiently tone-deaf to be unconcerned that her using the XO as an emblem of failure might be damaging to the effots of the thousands of people trying to help the millions of children who are using the XO and Sugar. I would expect better from the New York Times, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and from an organization that purports to shed some light on what works/doesn't work in development. I recommended that Verclas read Aristotle and and Aardvark go to Washington as she might learn a few more techniques for character assassination from Cathcart and Klein.
2. On a positive note, I've archived a short exchange on the #suagr channel on irc.freenode.net.
<marcopg> erikos: approve my trivial patch! :) I want to push again to sugar after so long :)
<erikos> marcopg: just because you have just one module does not mean to not need to specify the module anymore!
marcopg: r!
marcopg: welcome back! :)
<marcopg> erikos haha
thanks :)
For those of you who a relatively new to Sugar, Marco was a lead developer on the Red Hat team that worked with OLPC and Pentagram to develop Sugar. He helped found Sugar Labs but has been missing from our ranks over the past 12 months due to other obligations. It is great to have Marco contributing again.
3. Dinko Galetic, Lucian Branescu Mihaila, and Sebastian Dzaillas all successfully completed their Google Summer of Code projects. Congratulations and thanks to Google for sponsoring the work and to their mentors Stefan (Dogi) Unterhauser, Luis Gustavo Lira, Michael Stone, and Sascha Silbe, and to Tim McNamara for organizing the SUgar Labs GSoC program.
4. This review was posted on the Physics page on activities.sugarlabs.org. I had to share it:
- I love it! It's doodling for inventors! I've had so many ideas from this. Starting live is the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise it would not be obvious what the thing does, silly! Also, stopping time is for losers. build stuff on scaffolding, big tall blocks, then delete them when everything is pinned, or jointed, just like real life. :-)
5. There is a call for presentations for an on-line global education conference that may be of interest to the Sugar community (See [1]).
6. There is a comprehensive write up of last week's education summit at LinuxCon (See [2]).
Tech Talk
7. We are making great progress towards Sugar 0.90. Follow the fun at 0.90.
Sugar Labs
Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past week of discussion on the IAEP mailing list.
2010 August 7th-13th (61 emails)
Visit our planet for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments.
An archive of this digest is available.
Planet
The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.
Sugar in the news
| 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 |
|
| 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
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| 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
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| 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
