Activity hosting application: Time

[Yoshiki Ohshima]

  Hi, Jason,

> Translating the 12 hour to 24 hour notation of the submission to whichever the other player is using shouldn't be a
> problem.  Also the game isn't time zone dependent.

  Translating these isn't a big problem technically, yes.  Again, I
was just thinking that that wouldn't be the kick-ass feature for an
educational clock activity.

  (When I attended a conference in France, the organizer wrote "20h30"
on the blackboard and said "the night session begins at
twenty-thirty".  Some in the audience reponded: "And, what time is it
exactly?")

>      Do you envision that these two kids connect to each other when they
>     don't understand what the other's language and find a good time of the
>     day when they can connect, and discuss about an artificial and
>     abstract concept like time?
> 
> True, perhaps discussions would be less helpful, but I think the time game is still something that would help.

  My point is that to get kids understand the sense of time, the
programmer doesn't have to build a single "the game"; like what you
have on the wiki page, in a game, a kids walks up to the blackboard
and write something.  There, if the activity has simple yet flexible
interaction, they can make more "games".  So, the good focus for a
programmer would be to provide such a interface.

> I think the natural time clock should be close enough to the actual appearance outside so that the children will connect
> the ideas.

  I wouldn't count on it that much (you know how China deals with
timezones, and how summer is like in high-latitute places, right?).
It would be nice there is *also* an abstract form of explanation.

>  Also, the clock can be updated to the time it is right now.  Thus in that way it should be its own
> explanation.

  Ah, but stuff like "60 seconds is 1 minute", "60 minutes is 1 hour",
"24 hours is a day", "but the face only has 12 numbers", etc. are not
that "discoverable".

>      It appears that you are a high-school student... That is really
>     great!  Please don't take above as discouragement.  I'm really trying
>     to encourage people who are trying to make educational activity (as
>     you know, there aren't many for XO.)  It is really valuable to see
>     that somebody (who is young and close to the target age group!) think
>     about making activity.
> 
> I am a senior at IMSA, and am aware of the development process, so I know your comments aren't discouragement.

  Thanks!

>      Do you know Kathleen Harness?
> 
> Should I?

  Well, she is helping Etoys activity contents development, and her
group at http://www.squeakcmi.org/index.php is for example hosting an
"OLPC meeting" (as on the web).  Also, she was on a local newspaper
recently.

  When I attended a conference in Chicago, a presenter from UIUC gave
a talk.  In the talk, she showed a blank map of Illinois and started
with a remark: "Welcome to Chicago!  But do you know that, outside
Chicago, there is a larger area called Illinois?"  For an outsider
like me, Illinois is one thing so I thought you might know her.^^;

-- Yoshiki