Difference between revisions of "Sugar Labs/Current Events"

From Sugar Labs
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 3: Line 3:
 
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 [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>)
 
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 [http://walterbender.org/ walterbender.org], and [[Archive/Current Events|archived here]].) If you would like to contribute, please send email to [[User:walter|walter]] at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit <span class="plainlinks">[http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet.sugarlabs.org].</span>)
  
−
==Sugar Digest==
+
== Sugar Digest ==
  
−
1. I have fallen a bit behind in my writing because I had an unfortunate mishap while I was in Brussels last week: my laptop was stolen. My old laptop, which had been on life support before I had left for Europe was completely dead when I returned, so I am using my old old laptop, which works great as long as I apply pressure to the lower-right corner of the keyboard. Looking forward to getting a replacement machine at the end of the week.
+
1. I have been struggling with my end-of-the-year summary; I have
 +
always been more interested in looking forward than looking
 +
backward. Nonetheless:
  
−
2. Plan Ceibal, the one-laptop-per-child program in Uruguay, held an international conference in Montevideo on 30 November - 1 December. It was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends from across the region (Gonzalo, Cecilia, Antonio, Laura, Patricia, et al.) and to spend time with many of the teachers and volunteers who have been participating in the program. I finally met [http://www.blogedu-rosamel.blogspot.com/ Rosamel!!] And I got reacquainted with the [http://ceibaljam.org/ Ceibal Jam] team; the students and faculty at [http://www.ucu.edu.uy Universidad Católica del Uruguay], where I gave a [http://www.fedaro.info/audios/ConfWalterBender.ogg talk]; and the [http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/ Butiá] project team, who uses a combination of Turtle Blocks and an Arduino board to turn the XO laptop into a robot -- very cool. (A favorite demo was when they used one laptop to control the robot, one to be the robot, and one to display the video from the robot's webcam -- a great use of the network and the plurality of laptops in Uruguay.) It is also worth noting that a number of commercial software companies are now participating in the project, offering Sugar activities (under FOSS licenses) to the children.
+
The numbers tell some of the story of 2010: we have almost 2-million
 +
users, including 100% of the children of Uruguay; we had almost
 +
5-million downloads from our Activity portal; we released Sugar
 +
versions 0.88 and 0.90. The most telling number is 12, the
 +
age of our youngest contributor.
  
−
I spent some time at Ceibal discussing Sugar and future directions for the project. Emiliano Pastorino showed me an activity he is developing that uses an RFID-tag reader to help children use their laptops to inventory cattle. I was so intrigued that I decided to add an RFID block to Turtle Blocks so that the children can use RFID in their programs. (The code is in git and will be part of Release 105.)
+
As Sugar matures, we are entering a new phase, where more of the
 +
activity is in the hands of our user community. While we debated how
 +
best to get teachers engaged, the teachers themselves have started
 +
reaching out to each other and to us. While we debated how best to
 +
mesh our development cycle with the needs of OLPC and the distros, the
 +
deployments put together their own builds, meeting their own needs.
  
−
One mission I had for my trip to Uruguay was to bring an 'unlocked' laptop to ChristoferR, a twelve-year-old, who has been writing [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/user/1862 Sugar activities]. He was at the point where he needed root access in order to dig deeper into Sugar and the system. Thanks to Gabriel, Christofer now has a laptop that can be used for experimentation outside of the context of his school work. I discussed with Miguel Brechner the need to provide a scalable mechanism for unlocking machines in Uruguay -- today there are perhaps one dozen "Christofers" in Uruguay. Next year, there will be 100; in two years, 1000. Fiorella Haim, the technical lead for Ceibal, assured me that they have a plan in place to address this issue as part of the Sugar refresh scheduled for this summer.
+
As with any project, we have had some churn. Tomeu Vizoso and
 +
Sebastian Dziallas have moved on to other projects; others are
 +
increasing their engagement: Marco Pesenti Gritti is back. Simon
 +
Schampijer and Sascha Silbe are taking over responsibility for
 +
Glucose; Peter Robinson is the new Sugar-on-a-Stick lead; Tom Gilliard
 +
is advancing our efforts around virtual machine support. We have a
 +
renewed engagement with the OLPC association in Miami, a group
 +
dedicated to the original vision of the project. Activity Central and
 +
Seeta are among the commercial enterprises offering Sugar support. We
 +
have some prolific new activity developers, notably ChristferR and
 +
Mulawa. I would be remiss in not mentioning the on-going contributions
 +
of Aleksey Lim, who is touching every corner of the project. The Sur
 +
community has increased its activity and presence in global
 +
community. We have a board member from the South, weekly debates on
 +
pedagogy in Spanish, led by Claudia Urrea, keep us focuses on our
 +
mission. Meanwhile, Gary Martin has taken on the bulk of the design
 +
burden. We'd be no where without the time spent by Daniel Drake and
 +
Bernie Innocenti efforts at deployments. And Bernie and Dogi keep our
 +
infrastructure running. Of course, there are literally 1000s of others
 +
contributing to Sugar development and Sugar deployments. Your efforts
 +
are making a difference.
  
−
After our discussion, Miguel happened to have a conversation with President José Mujica. He mentioned Christofer to the president, who in reply, smiled and said with pride in his voice, "We have hackers." Congratulations Uruguay.
+
Other 2010 events of note:
  
−
3. I went from Uruguay to Brussels to give a talk at TEDx. Before my laptop was stolen, I had a chance to use it to make my presentation -- a 10-minute mini-talk (using, of course, Turtle Art). I started my talk off with a picture of Bernie at my mother's house, surrounded by pies I had baked for Thanksgiving. I remarked that it is important to feed the hackers, but my real point was to argue that we make a distinction between the every day (low shelf) and the occasional (high shelf): my special recipes for Thanksgiving that I have to 'reach' for; my daily coffee is right at hand. The remainder of my talk was an argument for making computation be on the low shelf of every child. (I'll post a link to the video as soon as it is available.)
+
The first Sugar twins: The Sugar community just got larger: Pablo
 +
Flores and Micaela Acosta had twins, Nacieron Facundo and Sasha, born
 +
on 27 December.
  
−
===In the community===
+
The first Sugar couple: Sebastian Silva and Laura Vargas met as
 +
volunteers and were married this fall.
  
−
4. We have a new Sugar oversight board: welcome to our new members, Sebastian Silva and Aleksey Lim. Also, welcome back Chris Ball and Adam Holt. It is a great group and we have already had some heated discussions (See [[Oversight_Board/Minutes]]). We meet on most Thursdays at 15:00 EST (20:00 UTC) in #sugar-meeting on irc.freenode.net. Please join us.
+
I'll do the "leadership thing" and blog about ‘Here’s what we’re going
−
 
+
to do. Here’s how we’re going to do it. Here’s why we’re going to do
−
5. Sebastian Dziallas, the project leader for Sugar on a Stick, has [http://sdziallas.com/blog/sebastian/2010/12/moving-on.html bid us farewell]. It is not a surprise that the transition from secondary school to university has consumed him. Hopefully we will see more of him after he settles into his new routine. In the meanwhile, Peter Robinson has taken the lead. Best wishes to SDZ and many thanks for your contributions to the project.
+
it.’ some time in January. Meanwhile, thank you for the great effort
−
 
+
and great accomplishments of 2010.
−
===Tech Talk===
 
−
 
 
−
6. Tom (satellit_) Gilliard has been making rapid progress on the Virtual Box version of Sugar on a Stick. It seems to be emerging as the most robust and facile way to get Sugar running on a wide variety of platforms, including the various Apple products. You can follow his work [[Downloads#Virtual_Machines_on_all_platforms|here]].
 
  
 
===Sugar Labs===
 
===Sugar Labs===
  
−
As always, Gary Martin has created some SOM diagrams of the discussions on the IAEP list.
+
Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion
 +
on the IAEP mailing list.
  
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
−
File:2010-Dec-4-10-som.jpg|2010 Dec 4th-10th (37 emails)
+
File:2010-Dec-24-Jan-01-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 24th-Jan 1st (37 emails)  
−
File:2010-Nov-27-Dec-3-som.jpg|2010 Nov 27th-Dec 3rd (42 emails)
+
File:2010-Dec-18-24-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 18th-24th (16 emails)
 +
File:2010-Dec-11-17-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 11th-17th (46 emails)  
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
−
Visit our [http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet] for more news from the Sugar Community.
+
Visit our [http://planet.sugarlabs.org planet] for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments.
  
 
== Community News archive ==
 
== Community News archive ==

Revision as of 09:43, 3 January 2011

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. I have been struggling with my end-of-the-year summary; I have always been more interested in looking forward than looking backward. Nonetheless:

The numbers tell some of the story of 2010: we have almost 2-million users, including 100% of the children of Uruguay; we had almost 5-million downloads from our Activity portal; we released Sugar versions 0.88 and 0.90. The most telling number is 12, the age of our youngest contributor.

As Sugar matures, we are entering a new phase, where more of the activity is in the hands of our user community. While we debated how best to get teachers engaged, the teachers themselves have started reaching out to each other and to us. While we debated how best to mesh our development cycle with the needs of OLPC and the distros, the deployments put together their own builds, meeting their own needs.

As with any project, we have had some churn. Tomeu Vizoso and Sebastian Dziallas have moved on to other projects; others are increasing their engagement: Marco Pesenti Gritti is back. Simon Schampijer and Sascha Silbe are taking over responsibility for Glucose; Peter Robinson is the new Sugar-on-a-Stick lead; Tom Gilliard is advancing our efforts around virtual machine support. We have a renewed engagement with the OLPC association in Miami, a group dedicated to the original vision of the project. Activity Central and Seeta are among the commercial enterprises offering Sugar support. We have some prolific new activity developers, notably ChristferR and Mulawa. I would be remiss in not mentioning the on-going contributions of Aleksey Lim, who is touching every corner of the project. The Sur community has increased its activity and presence in global community. We have a board member from the South, weekly debates on pedagogy in Spanish, led by Claudia Urrea, keep us focuses on our mission. Meanwhile, Gary Martin has taken on the bulk of the design burden. We'd be no where without the time spent by Daniel Drake and Bernie Innocenti efforts at deployments. And Bernie and Dogi keep our infrastructure running. Of course, there are literally 1000s of others contributing to Sugar development and Sugar deployments. Your efforts are making a difference.

Other 2010 events of note:

The first Sugar twins: The Sugar community just got larger: Pablo Flores and Micaela Acosta had twins, Nacieron Facundo and Sasha, born on 27 December.

The first Sugar couple: Sebastian Silva and Laura Vargas met as volunteers and were married this fall.

I'll do the "leadership thing" and blog about ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. Here’s how we’re going to do it. Here’s why we’re going to do it.’ some time in January. Meanwhile, thank you for the great effort and great accomplishments of 2010.

Sugar Labs

Gary Martin has generated a SOM from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list.

  • 2010-Dec-24-Jan-01-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 24th-Jan 1st (37 emails)
  • 2010-Dec-18-24-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 18th-24th (16 emails)
  • 2010-Dec-11-17-som.jpg -- 2010 Dec 11th-17th (46 emails)

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

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
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

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Sugar_Labs/Current_Events&oldid=60553"