Difference between revisions of "Sugar Labs/Current Events"

From Sugar Labs
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 5: Line 5:
 
==Sugar Digest==
 
==Sugar Digest==
  
−
1. I was in Brussels last week to attend [http://www.tedxkids.be/ TedxKids@Brussels]. I have to admit that I was not very anxious to make yet another trip across the Atlantic Ocean, but I had made a commitment to run a workshop for roughly 50 ten-year-old children, whose parents would be attending the Tedx lectures. (My former colleague at MIT, Dan Ariely has done some nice studies on “time discounting” that explain why is it easy to make such commitments far in advance while dreading them when the actual event is just around the corner.)
+
“What we need are notions, not notations.” —Gauss
  
−
While I was not at all surprised that I would enjoy working with the children—we spent an intense 45 minutes exploring Turtle Blocks—I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the program overall. One speaker after another demonstrated some tangible aspect of Constructionist learning (although few actually referred to Papert et al.). The children built sensors, did 3-D printing, build robots, programmed, wrote music, and generally had a blast.
+
1. I gather that I am the only one who had never read the "Mathematician's Lament", but in case you haven't read it in a while and need a refresher on "notions" instead of "notations", see [http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf].
  
−
Here are a couple of examples of what the kids did:
+
It is also always worth rereading Marvin Minksy's essays on learning math: [http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Minsky_essays]
−
<gallery>
 
−
File:TB-Brussels-1.png|TedxKids
 
−
File:TB-Brussels-2.png|TedxKids
 
−
</gallery>
 
−
 
 
−
While I was impressed by how far the children got in such a short time, I continue to struggle with how to make the experience of debugging paramount. Too often I have seen children using graphical programming environments just pushing around blocks in a rote manner to achieve some visual effect but with little understanding of how things work such that they can make systemic changes.
 
−
 
 
−
I was inspired to write a simple Turtle Blocks example that incorporates sensor input in a way that requires little if any calibration, hence it is readily accessible to newbie programmers and gives them lots of places in the code in which they can make meaningful interventions.
 
−
 
 
−
<pre>
 
−
[[0, ["start", 2.0], 766, 0, [null, 1]],
 
−
[1, "forever", 766, 42, [0, 26, null]],
 
−
[2, "repeat", 827, 270, [9, 3, 24, null]],
 
−
[3, ["number", 80], 877, 270, [2, null]],
 
−
[4, ["vspace", 0], 891, 456, [20, 5]],
 
−
[5, "forward", 891, 498, [4, 8, 6]],
 
−
[6, "right", 891, 540, [5, 7, 11]],
 
−
[7, ["number", 91], 949, 540, [6, null]],
 
−
[8, "box1", 961, 498, [5, null]],
 
−
[9, "storeinbox1", 827, 228, [21, 10, 2]],
 
−
[10, ["number", 10], 945, 228, [9, null]],
 
−
[11, "storeinbox1", 891, 582, [6, 14, null]],
 
−
[12, ["number", 10], 1063, 624, [14, null]],
 
−
[13, "box1", 1063, 582, [14, null]],
 
−
[14, ["plus2", 0], 1009, 582, [11, 13, 12]],
 
−
[15, ["division2", 0], 996, 414, [20, 19, 18]],
 
−
[16, "setcolor", 891, 372, [24, 17, 20]],
 
−
[17, "heading", 969, 372, [16, null]],
 
−
[18, ["number", 100], 1074, 456, [15, null]],
 
−
[19, "volume", 1050, 414, [15, null]],
 
−
[20, "setpensize", 891, 414, [16, 15, 4]],
 
−
[21, ["fillscreen", 0], 827, 144, [26, 22, 23, 9]],
 
−
[22, ["number", 60], 913, 144, [21, null]],
 
−
[23, ["number", 80], 913, 186, [21, null]],
 
−
[24, "wait", 891, 330, [2, 25, 16]],
 
−
[25, ["number", 0.25], 949, 330, [24, null]],
 
−
[26, ["setxy2", 0], 827, 60, [1, 27, 28, 21]],
 
−
[27, ["number", 0], 885, 60, [26, null]],
 
−
[28, ["number", 0], 885, 102, [26, null]]]
 
−
</pre>
 
  
−
I also wrote [http://git.sugarlabs.org/turtleart/mainline/blobs/master/samples/scratch.ta a simple sample program] (including in Turtle Blocks Version 108) that emulates some basic Scratch functionality in Turtle Blocks: animating a character sprite across a background image. The idea is to reveal the underlying mechanics of a typical Scratch experience. My hope is that it will make less opaque some of the black-box-like operators so popular in Scratch. I still struggle with the question of how to entice teachers and students to embrace programming through simple modifications to the programs they are using, which brings me to the next topic.
+
2. One of the pleasures of working in the Sugar community is that you get thoughtful feedback on your work from a wide range of people. Last week I got a request from a teacher in Uruguay for some new features in Turtle Blocks. (I included one—coordinate grid marked in centimeters—in Version 109. I also got feedback from Alan Kay and Barry Newell about the merits of the inclusion of an Arc block, which motivated me to finally write a Sugar Activity based on Barry's book, ''Turtle Confusion: Logo Puzzles and Riddles''. Check out [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4450]. Also, at this weekend's Design Team meeting, I got very helpful feedback from Sascha Silbe, Gary Martin, and Manuel Quiñones regarding the enhancements I have been proposing to View Source (See [[Design_Team/Proposals/Toolbars/View-Source_Enhancements]]). Perhaps the most significant change is that I now put a copy of the cloned activity bundle into the Journal, thus maintaining equal status for the clone within the Sugar infrastructure. You can find the current patches here [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-June/031838.html] and here [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-June/031702.html].
  
−
2. I cleaned up my patches to the [[Design_Team/Proposals/Toolbars/View-Source_Enhancements|Sugar View-source mechanism]]: (1) Sugar platform source code can be viewed through the same mechanism as Sugar activity code; and (2) the source code can be copied to create an end-user modifiable version of any Sugar activity.
+
=== In the community ===
  
−
The Sugar source code simply appears along side the activity source code, under a second radio button on the View Source toolbar.
+
3. There will be a Turtle Art Day in Costa Rica in July. We may hold simultaneous workshops at other deployments as well: stay tuned (See
 +
http://www.facultadeducacion.ucr.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=23).
  
−
The copy function is invoked through a secondary menu available under the activity radio button on the View Source toolbar.
+
4. The TedxKids@Brussels talks are online at [youtube.com/playlist?p=PLA14C60FA101D1F4C].
  
−
At the suggestion of Ana Cichero and with help from Manuel Quiñones I modify the icon of the local copy of an activity so that it is readily apparent which version is the one to be modified by the end user.
+
=== Tech Talk ===
  
−
I am still a bit up in the air regarding how to best enable the actual modifications. I am considering adding a file chooser to the Edit activity in order to facilitate writeable access to the source directly from Sugar (without having to open the Terminal activity).  
+
5. Peter Robinson is very close to releasing Sugar on a Stick Version 5. Please help us test: http://fedora.roving-it.com/SoaSv5-20110612-x86_64.iso and http://fedora.roving-it.com/SoaSv5-20110612-i686.iso
  
−
My bigger conundrum is in regard to modifying the Sugar platform source. While it is as easy to modify as activity code, the consequences of making a mistake can be dire: Sugar could break in ways that prevent it from launching. One idea I am toying with is adding a prompt on start up to select which version of Sugar to run (from the system or from $HOME). Note: I'd only issue the prompt if a copy of Sugar was found in $HOME.
+
6. I cooked up a patch to the Edit Activity—Sugar's plain-text editor—to enable editing files from outside of the Journal. I am waiting for Nate Theis, Edit maintainer, to accept the patches, but if you want to play with it, see my clone on Gitorious [http://git.sugarlabs.org/~walter/edit-activity/walters-edit-activity].
  
−
Try out my patches, which were sent to the [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-June/031693.html sugar-devel list]. Further feedback would be appreciated.
+
7. Martin Abente has implemented multiple-object select for the Sugar Journal. His patches are not quite ready for release—there is a performance-related issue with unnecessary list regeneration that Martin is working on, but having tried it, even in its current form, it is really nice.
  
 
=== Sugar Labs ===
 
=== Sugar Labs ===
Line 73: Line 34:
  
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
−
File:2011-May-28-Jun-3-som.jpg|2011 May 28th–June 3th (57 emails)
+
File:2011-Jun-4-10-som.jpg|2011 June 4th–10th (80 emails)
−
File:2011-May-21-27-som.jpg|2011 May 21th–27th (34 emails)
 
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  

Revision as of 15:44, 13 June 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

“What we need are notions, not notations.” —Gauss

1. I gather that I am the only one who had never read the "Mathematician's Lament", but in case you haven't read it in a while and need a refresher on "notions" instead of "notations", see [1].

It is also always worth rereading Marvin Minksy's essays on learning math: [2]

2. One of the pleasures of working in the Sugar community is that you get thoughtful feedback on your work from a wide range of people. Last week I got a request from a teacher in Uruguay for some new features in Turtle Blocks. (I included one—coordinate grid marked in centimeters—in Version 109. I also got feedback from Alan Kay and Barry Newell about the merits of the inclusion of an Arc block, which motivated me to finally write a Sugar Activity based on Barry's book, Turtle Confusion: Logo Puzzles and Riddles. Check out [3]. Also, at this weekend's Design Team meeting, I got very helpful feedback from Sascha Silbe, Gary Martin, and Manuel Quiñones regarding the enhancements I have been proposing to View Source (See Design_Team/Proposals/Toolbars/View-Source_Enhancements). Perhaps the most significant change is that I now put a copy of the cloned activity bundle into the Journal, thus maintaining equal status for the clone within the Sugar infrastructure. You can find the current patches here [4] and here [5].

In the community

3. There will be a Turtle Art Day in Costa Rica in July. We may hold simultaneous workshops at other deployments as well: stay tuned (See http://www.facultadeducacion.ucr.ac.cr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=23).

4. The TedxKids@Brussels talks are online at [youtube.com/playlist?p=PLA14C60FA101D1F4C].

Tech Talk

5. Peter Robinson is very close to releasing Sugar on a Stick Version 5. Please help us test: http://fedora.roving-it.com/SoaSv5-20110612-x86_64.iso and http://fedora.roving-it.com/SoaSv5-20110612-i686.iso

6. I cooked up a patch to the Edit Activity—Sugar's plain-text editor—to enable editing files from outside of the Journal. I am waiting for Nate Theis, Edit maintainer, to accept the patches, but if you want to play with it, see my clone on Gitorious [6].

7. Martin Abente has implemented multiple-object select for the Sugar Journal. His patches are not quite ready for release—there is a performance-related issue with unnecessary list regeneration that Martin is working on, but having tried it, even in its current form, it is really nice.

Sugar Labs

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

  • 2011 June 4th–10th (80 emails)

Visit our planet [7] 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

13 Apr 2011 framablog – L'expérience Sugar Labs préfigure-t-elle une révolution éducative du XXIe siècle?
05 Apr 2011 Businesswire – The Government of Peru Expands the One Laptop Per Child Program with Local Manufacturing
31 Jan 2011 Sundance – A Day in the Life – Peru
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=66415"