Changes

== What's new ==

== What's new ==

This page is updated every few weeks 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 every few weeks 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. Google Summer of Code 2015 is wrapping up. The students have been writing their final blog reports, submitting last-minute patches, and uploading their code to Google. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our students and their mentors for all their hard work this summer. (Also, thanks once more to Google for supporting this program.) Great strides along many fronts were made. Specifically,

It has been a long time since I last wrote a Sugar Labs community new blog. I got tied up with my day jobs: starting a new design college from scratch and launching a new research center at MIT. (And, frankly, I was a bit depressed following the deaths of Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert.) I have a breather on both fronts and given all of the Sugar activity of late, I am inspired to do some writing.

* Michaël Ohayon worked on Web versions of some core activities for the Sugarizer project: Calculate, Paint (with collaboration, Record, and Memorize. He also submitted patches to Turtle Blocks to make it compatible with Sugarizer. Michaël's [blog http://sugarizingparis2015.blogspot.fr/] and git [repo https://github.com/mikklfr] are worth visiting. (Mentor: Lionel Laske)

1. A footnote from Google Code-in 2015. Ezequiel Pereira, one of the grand-prize recipients from Sugar Labs was recently acknowledged by Google for discovering a security bug. He got some nice press, e.g., [https://thenextweb.com/google/2017/08/10/highschool-security-research-google-data/#.tnw_5BETRGWT][https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/10/schoolboy_google_bug_bounty_http_host/1]. In one article [http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/google-awards-uruguay-high-school-student-10k-finding/story?id=49249604], he was quoted as saying: "Homework is boring. Looking for bugs is fun.” Ezequiel is one of a generation of children in Uruguay who grew up with Sugar. It is nice to hear the occasional word about their accomplishments.

* Yash Khandelwal worked on Music Blocks AKA Mouse Music. This is a powerful, playful model for music in a block language. Yash's [blog [https://sugarizingmusic.wordpress.com/] and git [repo https://github.com/khandelwalYash/Music-Blocks] are also worth visiting. (Mentors: Devin Ulibarri and Marnen Laibow-Koser)

2. We just wrapped up Google Code-in and Outreachy 2017. We had 9 interns supported by Google and 1 Outreachy intern. You can read about their accomplishments in their [[Summer_of_Code|blogs] and in the meeting logs [http://meeting.sugarlabs.org/sugar-meeting/meetings] (every Monday from May through August). Highlights from the summer include a new, easy-to-maintain activity portal and a new www.sugarlabs.org, both going live soon. Also of note: a new Sugar image for Raspberry Pi, some new apps, GTK3 ports, a Sugarizer dashboard, and a major overhaul of Music Blocks.

* Ishan Sharma revisited the Turtle 3D concept, rewriting it in Javascript. His results ([blog https://turtle3d.wordpress.com/2015/08/24/final-update/], demo and git [repo http://ishan28mkip.github.io/turtle3D/]) are robust, scalable, and extensible. (Mentor: Walter)

Tip of the hat to our mentors: Abhijit Patel, Cristina Del Puerto, Devin Ulibarri, Hrishi Patel, Ignacio Rodriguez, José Argüello, Lionel Laské, Matias Baez, Michaël Ohayon, Samson Goddy, Samuel Cantero, and Tony Anderson. Lionel help me administer the program again this year. It is nice to note that many of the mentors are former GCI participants.

* Amit Kumar Jha worked on extensions to Turtle programming this summer. He added argument passing and return values to procedures, passing arguments to and returning values from Turtle programs so that Turtle Blocks can be used for in-line programming by all Javascript activities, and he developed a unit=test framework for Turtle Blocks JS that can be extended to all of our Javascript activities. See his [blog http://sugarlabs-artista.blogspot.in/] and the master Turtle Blocks JS [repo http://github.com/walterbender/turtleblocksjs/] for more details. (Mentor: Walter)

Cristina, Michaël, and Samson will be representing Sugar Labs at the annual mentor summit at Google in October. (For those of you who have been following the saga of Samson's visa, I am happy to say that he was approved!)

* Richa Sehgal worked on a framework to support off-line Web programming, an interactive Javascript shell. She's submitted patches to the upstream Browse activity. Meanwhile, checkout her git [repo https://github.com/richaseh]. (Mentor: Tony Anderson)

3. I was invited to represent Sugar Labs at the Plan Ceibal 10th anniversary in Montevideo a few months ago. It was great to see children still using Sugar 10  years after the first deployment in a small school in the Florida Department. It was also an opportunity to catch up with many old friends and Sugar contributors, including Ignacio, Andres, Alan, Jose Miguel, Guzman, etc. I am not sure if my talk is on line, but I wrote a paper based on the talk which is available for [http://www.um.es/ead/red/54/bender.pdf download].

* Vibhor Sehgal and Utkarsh Dhawan, although not officially GSoC students, worked with Tony and Richa on a parallel project, [Web Confusion https://github.com/sehgalvibhor/WebConfusion], a series of programming challenges in the spirit of Turtle Confusion to encourage students. (Mentor: Tony Anderson)

4. Lionel just announced a new release of Sugarizer (v0.9). See [http://sugarizer.org] for all of the details.

* Abhinav Anurag made some progress on a Web collaboration framework for our Javascript activities. See his [blog https://summerofcode2015.wordpress.com/] and [code https://github.com/abhinavanurag18/turtleblocksjs]. (Mentors: Martin Abente and Lionel Laske)

5. James Cameron is working towards the release of [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2017-September/054631.html Sugar 0.111], our first new release in nearly one year. It is mostly planned as a maintenance release.

=== In the Community ===

6. There are only a few more days left (15 Sept.) to register as a candidate for the Sugar Labs oversight board. Please consider joining the board as we need some fresh voices and perspectives. See [[Oversight_Board/2017-2019-candidates]] for details. You also have until 27 Sept. to register as a member in order to be given a vote in the election. See [[Sugar_Labs/Members]] for details.

2. We will be holding an election for the Sugar Labs oversight board (SLOB) at the end of the calendar year. If you are interested (or know someone who is interested) in running for a board seat (all seven seats will be open), please see [[Oversight_Board/2014-2015-candidates]]. Also, whereas ballots are only available to "members", please [[officially join Sugar Labs|Sugar_Labs/Members#Applying_for_membership]].

7. One of the first decisions the new board will be making is whether or not Sugar Labs should apply for GCI 2017. I am hopeful that the board will see the merits of the program and give a green light to apply again this year. If we do apply, I will be looking for mentors, project ideas, and a co-administrator. Please contact me if you are interested.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

== Community News archive ==

== Community News archive ==

==Sugar in the news==

==Sugar in the news==

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{|

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|align=right valign=top|28 Aug 2015||'''Google Open Source''' &ndash; [http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-sweet-adventures-with-sugar-labs-and.html My sweet adventures with Sugar Labs and Google Code-in]

|align=right valign=top|28 Aug 2015||'''Google Open Source''' &ndash; [http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-sweet-adventures-with-sugar-labs-and.html My sweet adventures with Sugar Labs and Google Code-in]

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|align=right valign=top|06 Feb 2013||'''el Observador''' &ndash; [http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/242936/joven-uruguayo-gana-la-competencia-google-code/ Joven uruguayo gana la competencia Google Code] (Also see [http://people.sugarlabs.org/aguz/gci-press-interviews.html GCI press interviews])

|align=right valign=top|06 Feb 2013||'''el Observador''' &ndash; [http://www.elobservador.com.uy/noticia/242936/joven-uruguayo-gana-la-competencia-google-code/ Joven uruguayo gana la competencia Google Code] (Also see [http://people.sugarlabs.org/aguz/gci-press-interviews.html GCI press interviews])

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|align=right valign=top|07 Sep 2012||'''NDTV''' &ndash; [http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/one-laptop-per-child-initiative-a-hit-in-rural-india-263867 One Laptop Per Child initiative a hit in rural India]

|align=right valign=top|07 Sep 2012||'''NDTV''' &ndash; [http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/one-laptop-per-child-initiative-a-hit-in-rural-india-263867 One Laptop Per Child initiative a hit in rural India]

|align=right valign=top|06&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2008||'''OLPC News''' &ndash; [http://www.olpcnews.com/people/leadership/23_questions_on_technology_education.html Twenty-three Questions on Technology and Education]

|align=right valign=top|06&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2008||'''OLPC News''' &ndash; [http://www.olpcnews.com/people/leadership/23_questions_on_technology_education.html Twenty-three Questions on Technology and Education]

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|align=right valign=top|18&nbsp;Jul&nbsp;2008||'''Bill Kerr''' &ndash; [http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2008/07/evaluating-sugar-in-developed-world.html evaluating Sugar in the developed world]

|align=right valign=top|18&nbsp;Jul&nbsp;2008||'''Bill Kerr''' &ndash; [http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2008/07/evaluating-sugar-in-developed-world.html evaluating Sugar in the developed world]

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==Press releases==

==Press releases==

[http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=press See our Press Page]

http://www.sugarlabs.org/press

[[Category:General public]]

[[Category:General public]]