[Grassroots-l] Fwd: OLPC/XO event for Cambridge Science Festival

[Samuel Klein]

Hi,

Mchua, Babbing, and Arjun are working with Edward Freedman (of the
Boston ACM) on an event for the cambridge science festival (on either
April 27 or May 3).  Feedback appreciated; another core organizer is
needed who is in the area and could attend the event.  the event
description has to go in this week, so get your feedback on duration
and # of tracks in now.

SJ


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Edward Freedman <edward.freedman at acm.org>
Date: Feb 7, 2008 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: OLPC/XO event for Cambridge Science Festival
To: Samuel Klein <sj at laptop.org>, Arjun Sarwal <arjun at laptop.org>, Mel
Chua <mel at melchua.com>, Nikki Lee <nicole.lee at students.olin.edu>,
edward.freedman at acm.org
Cc: Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org>


Wow!  Frankly I'd begun to despair of being able to pull this off, but
your collective response is great!
I'm sure with the experience that you folks have at Jam type activities
and our GBC/ACM volunteers' experience running weekend seminars we can
make this a successful and valuable event.

Our immediate need is to commit (or NOT) to the CSF organizers so they
can finalize the schedule for the website and printed program guide
(over 30 pages last year!).
This means that we need to define approximately what the event will
encompass, so that we can:
1)  create a paragraph of description for the CSF program guide (about
to go to printer)
2)  identify and lock in an appropriate venue (needed for printer)
3)  decide on the data and time (and duration) of the event (also needed
for printer)

If we can't nail these down ASAP, it won't be part of the CSF program.
To help me do this, I'd your like feedback on the following:

Does splitting into two tracks (technical track for sw development
workshop, creative story-boarding track for kids and non-technical
adults) sound like a good and workable plan?
This affects choice of venue for breakout room and appropriate space.

It also affects duration: Technical track could go all day.  (Our ACM
Professional Development Seminars typically are 9am-4:30pm).  Kids may
not have stamina for all day of creative/story-board track.  Should our
schedule try to accommodate this?
(Suggestion: Two sessions for kids, perhaps 10-1 & 1-4, or just say come
in the afternoon and join activities already in progress.)  Sorry to be
fuzzy on this, but I don't work with kids.  Also should we limit it to
older kids or require an adult to accompany them?

Candidate days are either Sunday April 27 or Saturday May 3.  We have
some preference for April 27 but can be flexible.  Sounds like Mel is
not available then, only for May 3 -- right?

Also, I'm considering asking attendees to pre-register (at zero cost) so
we can anticipate attendance (and cap it if need be).  We can set up a
web registration mechanism for this.

If you want to get a feel for some of what was done at CSF 2007, the CSF
website lists the events from last year in a browsable and searchable
format.
Go to
    http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2007/search.php
and select
   Theme: "Innovations"
   Event Type: "Activities"
You can also look at other Themes (Themes: "Any"), and lots of other
Event Types as well.  There was quite a rich variety.  (Last year Jim
Gettys presented an evening talk on OLPC as part of the CSF -- see
Thursday April 26 7pm.)

Thanks much,
Edward

p.s.  Who are the grassroots and support-gang lists?  Should I be
including them in these emails?  (forward if you see fit).