The Next Wave of Activity Sharing

[Joshua Eddy]

Sugar Labs DC would like to propose an exciting new direction for the
development of the Sugar interface.  It is our belief that in the
spirit of sharing and collaboration, Sugar activities should be
publishable to the Internet, just as they are in Scratch
(http://scratch.mit.edu/), another children's software suite.

Scratch's friendly interface and open, collaborative attitude seem to
go hand-in-hand with the current goals of the OLPC project.  It seems
like exactly the kind of environment we need to create in the XO
community for open education.  Instead of XO users learning only from
what's shared with them over their local Mesh, they could connect to
the Internet, go to the website (their homepage?) and immediately have
access to projects, ideas, and media created by thousands of children
all over the world.  The kids will be able to learn by example, and
learn together; not just as a class, but as a community.

The PNG image attached to this email shows a doctored screenshot
describing the visual implementation of this idea.  From any
activity's Options menu, the end user would be able to select
"Publish" and immediately upload their project to the website.
Students would be able to connect together as class groups (or any
other kind of group) on the website and thus receive updates about
their classmates' activities.

Scratch's website is much more limited, as it is only used for sharing
Scratch files.  The integrated web resource for the XOs would
encompass all forms of Sugar media:  from "Write" documents to "Paint"
drawings to "Physics" projects and beyond, and would be extensible in
order to keep up with Sugar's constant evolution.

The end result of this entire project would be massively increased
connectivity between learners, eventually allowing for trans-national,
even global communications and sharing.  Students would be able to
learn beyond their own classroom and share across geographical and
linguistic borders.  An entire generation would be connected, united
in learning.

This is what Sugar Labs DC wants to bring to the table.  For a more
detailed description of this idea, please visit my blog:
http://joshstechjournal.blogspot.com/

Thank you.

Josh Eddy
Sugar Labs DC
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