Changes

Christoph made a number of observations on his whirlwind tour of OLPC deployments in South America. While his observations are of anecdotal interest, none of them have any statistical significance and yet he presumes to draw far-reaching conclusions. Even when he relies upon data gathered by others, his conclusions are overstated. For example, he cites from an [http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35370099 IDB report] "that almost 5% of the schools which have already received XOs don’t even have electricity yet." He goes on to assert "that the Ministry of Education’s data on the infrastructure available at schools doesn’t seem to be up to date and accurate enough." I don't know how he can draw that conclusion from the data. (As Oscar points out, the source of the problem was that the solar panels were not available as soon as expected.) Another way of saying the same thing is, "more than 95% of the schools that have already received XOs have electricity." Or he could have used the data as a rallying cry for support for OLPC's efforts to build a more power-efficient, ARM-based machine.

Christoph made a number of observations on his whirlwind tour of OLPC deployments in South America. While his observations are of anecdotal interest, none of them have any statistical significance and yet he presumes to draw far-reaching conclusions. Even when he relies upon data gathered by others, his conclusions are overstated. For example, he cites from an [http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35370099 IDB report] "that almost 5% of the schools which have already received XOs don’t even have electricity yet." He goes on to assert "that the Ministry of Education’s data on the infrastructure available at schools doesn’t seem to be up to date and accurate enough." I don't know how he can draw that conclusion from the data. (As Oscar points out, the source of the problem was that the solar panels were not available as soon as expected.) Another way of saying the same thing is, "more than 95% of the schools that have already received XOs have electricity." Or he could have used the data as a rallying cry for support for OLPC's efforts to build a more power-efficient, ARM-based machine.

Like Christoph, I too will cherry pick from the IDB report: "it was noted that over 95% of teachers in schools receiving laptops think they help improve education and children's learning and motivate them to go to school. Moreover, between 90 and 94% of teachers indicated that laptops improve the quality of teaching." (From the original Spanish: "se observó que más de 95% de los docentes de escuelas que recibieron los equipos piensa que las computadoras portátiles contribuyen a mejorar la educación y el aprendizaje de los niños y los motivan para ir a la escuela. Por otro lado, entre el 90 y 94% de los docentes indicaron que las computadoras portátiles mejoran la calidad de su enseñanza y la facilitan."

Like Christoph, I too will cherry pick from the IDB report: "it was noted that over 95% of teachers in schools receiving laptops think they help improve education and children's learning and motivate them to go to school. Moreover, between 90 and 94% of teachers indicated that laptops improve the quality of teaching." (From the original Spanish: "se observó que más de 95% de los docentes de escuelas que recibieron los equipos piensa que las computadoras portátiles contribuyen a mejorar la educación y el aprendizaje de los niños y los motivan para ir a la escuela. Por otro lado, entre el 90 y 94% de los docentes indicaron que las computadoras portátiles mejoran la calidad de su enseñanza y la facilitan.")

The Peru deployment is necessarily a process of iterative design. The challenges (Internet, electricity, training) are formidable and undoubtedly mistakes have been and will be made. The ministry is neither "waiting for miracles to happen" nor is it ignorant of or ignoring the challenges. By adopting an iterative approach, it is refining its deployment model while trying to provide opportunities for learning to children in the near term – rather than waiting for perfection. We can argue about details, but progress is being made: the ministry, the teachers, the community, and especially the children are learning.

The Peru deployment is necessarily a process of iterative design. The challenges (Internet, electricity, training) are formidable and undoubtedly mistakes have been and will be made. The ministry is neither "waiting for miracles to happen" nor is it ignorant of or ignoring the challenges. By adopting an iterative approach, it is refining its deployment model while trying to provide opportunities for learning to children in the near term – rather than waiting for perfection. We can argue about details, but progress is being made: the ministry, the teachers, the community, and especially the children are learning.

If can keep in mind Alan Kay's axioms as a guide both to not over value technology and to be aware of what is its potential good; and if we work together as a community [2] – not moving blindly without critique, but also not engaging in sensationalism – doing, making, deploying, mentoring, and sharing, we will make a positive difference, in Peru and everywhere else.

If we can keep in mind Alan Kay's axioms as a guide both to not over value technology and to be aware of what is its potential good; and if we work together as a community [2] – not moving blindly without critique, but also not engaging in sensationalism – doing, making, deploying, mentoring, and sharing, we will make a positive difference, in Peru and everywhere else.

:[1] Both [http://tonyforster.blogspot.com/2008/06/home-pcs-lower-education-results.html Tony Forster] and [http://radian.org/notebook/distraction-machine Ivan Krstić] had a nice blogs debunking this study. Since the deployment failed to even get and hold the children's attention, clearly there were some serious deficiencies in the implementation that make me think twice about drawing any conclusions other than it is possible to stifle children's interest in computers.

:[1] Both [http://tonyforster.blogspot.com/2008/06/home-pcs-lower-education-results.html Tony Forster] and [http://radian.org/notebook/distraction-machine Ivan Krstić] had a nice blogs debunking this study. Since the deployment failed to even get and hold the children's attention, clearly there were some serious deficiencies in the implementation that make me think twice about drawing any conclusions other than it is possible to stifle children's interest in computers.

===Tech Talk===

===Tech Talk===

5. Aleksey Lim has been drafting [[User:Alsroot/How_Development_Team_should_evolve_or_How_to_"architect"_Sugar|some notes]] on re-architecting the Sugar platform team.  

5. Aleksey Lim has been drafting [[User:Alsroot/Sugar_Architecture|some notes]] on re-architecting the Sugar platform team.  

===Sugar Labs===

===Sugar Labs===