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Sugar Labs/Current Events (view source)
Revision as of 11:48, 25 August 2010
, 11:48, 25 August 2010→Sugar Digest
==Sugar Digest==
==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."
1. I wrote about [[Archive/Current_Events/2010-04-01|a discussion with John Gilmore]] in April. When John asked how many patches have been contributed by Sugar end-users, I responded that community members have contributed patches but that I was unaware of any patches contrinuted by children. I went on to argue that it is not relevant whether or not patches are submitted or accepted. The learning happens in creating the patch and in submitting it or sharing it with a friend. Hopefully, Sugar has instilled in children and their teachers the sense that they can be expressive with computing.
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 efforts 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.
That said, the children are being creative with Sugar in ways that I had not anticipated. For example, Bernie shared [http://codewiz.org/wiki/pictures/sugar/deployment/paraguay/caacupe/scratcheros/00003.jpg this image] from Caacupe of a surprising and wonderful use of the nickname field in Sugar. It may not be a patch to the Python code, but it certainly is a user contribution that extends and enhances Sugar, a great first step for a sixth grader.
2. On a positive note, I've archived a short exchange on the #sugar channel on irc.freenode.net.
2. In the US, there is a mid-term election in November. At Sugar Labs, we will be holding our mid-term election in October in order to fill three oversight board positions. (You may recall that we agreed to stagger the two-year terms of the board so that 3 or 4 positions are up for reelection every year.)
We have several tasks associated with election:
(1) Updating our [[Sugar_Labs/Members/List|member list]], which is used to generate ballots. If you are already a member of Sugar Labs, your name will appear on the list and you will receive a ballot by email in October. If you are not a member and would like to be, please contact Luke Faraone, our membership administrator, who will add you to the list. Recall that the requirement to be a member of Sugar Labs is to engage with the project and the community. This can be as simple as asking a question.
(2) Gathering together a list of nominees. If you are interested in joining the Sugar oversight board, please contact me and I will add your name to the ballot. Also, please prepare a position statement about your candadicy on your "User" page in the wiki. There are no restrictions in regard to whom can run, e.g., whether you were born in Kenya or the United States, you are eligible.
===In the community===
===In the community===
3. There will be an OLPC/Sugar/Realness summit October 21 – 24 in San Francisco. The summit is being hosted by the San Francisco Bay Area OLPC community. More details are available at [http://olpcsf.org/CommunitySummit2010/].
===Tech Talk ===
===Tech Talk ===
4. Last week, we entered Feature Freeze for Sugar Release 0.90. This week we entered UI Freeze. Next week is String Freeze. Hard code freeze starts on September 13. Simon Schampijer is once again pulling together contributions from the community; the new release is looking great.
===Sugar Labs===
===Sugar Labs===