#3655 (Specify the order of the Activity taskbar icons)

[Yoshiki Ohshima]

  Hello, Mitch,

> I think that children will do what they consider fun, regardless of our 
> priorities or "message".

  This is almost FAQ, but have you heard of or read about Seymour's
"Mathland" analogy?  Like if parents have a lot of books in their
house and read them, or play piano after dinner or weekends (or
whenever) for fun, chances are that the kid will consider reading
books or playing piano to be fun, because the environment and parent's
behavior make it so.  The environment is really important.  And, the
"message" the OLPC project is about building such an environment, and
send a "message" that creating stuff on computer is fun.  We may not
get the ideal environment where parents and teachers can really help,
but think about the next generation.  If the parents of next
generation, or current kids, just think that computer is good for text
chatting and grow up, that would be pretty bad.

> It largely doesn't matter which particular activities are "emphasized" 
> by preferred placement.  So long as activities are not so well hidden as 
> to be undiscoverable, within short order the group of children as a 
> whole will have seen all of them, and individuals and groups will 
> gravitate toward the ones they find appealing.

  I wasn't merely talking about the placement of icons, of course.

> You can't make people be interested in what you think is good for them.

  Yes, there is big truth in this statement.  If you see what is on
TV, you see that.  But this is an educational project, not a project
to cater people's instinct.

-- Yoshiki