[Its.an.education.project] An OLPC Development Model

[Tomeu Vizoso]

Hi David,

unfortunately I don't have time right now to enter again in this
debate, but I wanted to do one comment:

On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 6:31 PM,  <david at lang.hm> wrote:
>
> many people have pointed out the limitations of the journal approach, and
> problems with not naming activites and files. yes it's easier to get
> started if you don't have to deal with confusing matters like directories,
> but as more documents are created a flat namespace for them will get
> overwelmed (be it a time-based journal, or a single layer home directory)
>
> you are optimizing for the beginner so much that once they have used the
> system for a short time it will no longer be suitable for them.
>
> dom't make the training wheels for beginners so ridgid that the kids can't
> remove them as they learn more.

For the record, I personally find more efficient to use a tagging
interface with good search capabilities rather than a hierarchy of
folders. A sizable part of the GMail users may share this opinion. So
I don't think we are optimizing for the beginner at all.

Indeed, the projected journal is a very good example of an UI that can
be at the same time usable from the first time and a powerful tool for
users that have dug beneath its surface.


Thanks,

Tomeu