[Grassroots-l] OLPC/Sugar Contributors Program Mtg (NOW! on #olpc-meeting, 2PM Boston Time, Friday)

Fri Apr 23 14:09:18 EDT 2010

Please all join us right now reviewing the latest OLPC/Sugar community 
projects over IRC Live Chat:
http://forum.laptop.org/chat

Then type at bottom:
/join #olpc-meeting

AGENDA:

* XO-1.5 early production machines now available & shipping:

http://blog.laptop.org/2010/02/25/xo-1-5-early-production-laptops-free-to-contributors-worldwide/

* Fast Review of the 4 latest (greatest!) HW/Project Proposals -- please
  join us advocating for, and/or reviewing shortcomings of these proposals:

 1. Benji Smith’s Eagle and Youth Group Project - Jefferson, Maryland
 2. Fedora Security Lab - India, Germany, USA
 3. Lubuto Library Project - Zambian Literacy Programming Project - 
Silver Spring, Maryland
 4. Language Documentation on Ambrym, Vanuatu - Berlin; Paris
 5. Laptops Uganda

* Which projects might you enjoy Mentoring below?!
  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects
  http://rt.laptop.org/Search/Results.html?Query=Queue=%27contributors%27

* New projects & libraries -- teaching them Community Outreach:
  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Laptop_Lending_Libraries

* Meeting results will be posted here very shortly:
  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Contributors_program/meetings

1. Benji Smith’s Eagle and Youth Group Project - Jefferson, Maryland
   http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=50626
   http://sites.google.com/site/laptopsforthedominican/
   [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

   Requests 7/10 XOs over undetermined months

   Project Objectives:
   My project will provide entertainment and a learning experience for the
   children of Los Toscones by providing them with basic computers that 
can be
   used for both fun and educational purposes.

   I have created a quick-start guide that can be used on deployments
   world-wide. The information being put in it can be found here:

http://sites.google.com/site/laptopsforthedominican/project-updates/moreworkdone.
   I have put all of this information into a nice booklet that can be 
printed
   at someone's own home and can be distributed when they are doing 
their own
   deployments. It is currently in the process of being translated into
   Spanish. Note: this is NOT yet completed. In three weeks after AP 
exams, I
   will begin doing a LOT of work, I just don't have the time right now.

   You can track the progress of the project using the project updater,
   http://sites.google.com/site/laptopsforthedominican/project-updates. 
It has
   all kinds of information, as does all of the sidebar.

2. Fedora Security Lab - India, Germany, USA
   http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=61414
   http://blog.hiemanshu.in
   http://planet.laptop.org
   [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

   Requests 2-4 XOs over 6 months

   Project Objectives:
   We are planning to use the XOs for testing the
   Fedora Security Lab which is to be used as a Learning platform for
   budding Security Professionals. We would like to test the compatibility
   with the laptops and its hardware, and if something does not work right,
   we would even be happy to write/make changes to the hardware/software
   and contribute it back to the community.

3. Lubuto Library Project - Zambian Literacy Programming Project - 
Silver Spring, Maryland
   http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=61571
   http://www.lubuto.org
   http://www.olpclearningclub.org
   [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

   Requests 6 XO-1.5s over 24 months

   Project Objectives:
   There is a critical need for means to teach all Zambian children to
   read in their original language that the educational system cannot
   meet. Lubuto libraries reach out-of-school children and can help them
   toward reading by read-aloud and storytelling programs, but tools for
   reading teaching in Zambian languages are not available. Youth who
   have been using the One Laptop Per Child XO laptops in Lubuto
   libraries and experienced Zambian reading teachers will together be
   trained in the OLPC application Etoys and create early reading
   programs in Zambian languages. The programs will then be made
   available on laptops in the libraries and via the Lubuto.org website
   to inspire creation of similar programs in other African countries and
   languages.

   Being able to approach learning to read in their native tongue will
   literally mean development of reading fluency for hundreds of
   thousands of out-of-school and vulnerable children and youth who do
   not have access to adequate reading education. The Zambian-language
   reading programs can be used in under equipped classrooms as well as
   in Lubuto and other libraries, and programs can be adapted to
   accommodate other African languages of similar structure (primarily
   Bantu languages), potentially bringing literacy to millions of
   children in Africa. It is also expected that programs to introduce
   reading in Zambian languages will inspire more advanced local language
   computer content as well as writing of children’s books in Zambian
   languages to advance fluency.

   There remains no question of the central importance of literacy in
   African development and the spread of literacy is considered necessary
   to achieving several of the Millennium Development Goals. Illiteracy
   in Africa has been shown to underpin extreme poverty, the spread of
   disease and the health and safety of girls and women, and endemic
   underdevelopment on the continent. The central importance of learning
   to read in one’s original language has been long understood, yet
   solutions that would make this universally possible have long eluded
   Zambian society. The potential social and economic benefits of this
   straightforward innovation, then, are profound.

   An additional, narrower benefit to the young Zambians who will develop
   programming and educational product design skills can be expected to
   not only benefit them but may set them on a course to develop more
   useful educational tools in Zambian languages.

4. Language Documentation on Ambrym, Vanuatu - Berlin; Paris
   http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=61574
   [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

   Requests 1 XOs over 6-12 months

   Project Objectives:
   The participants are currently documenting several
   languages in the Southwest of the island of Ambrym, Vanuatu. The project
   work involves audio and video recordings, which will lead to the 
production
   of dictionaries, story books and grammars for the previously undocumented
   and undescribed languages. Due to the lack of devices with the 
capacity to
   display accustic and visual information, however, local communities will
   hardly have access to the audio and video recordings. Also, the
   opportunities for speakers to actively participate in the 
documentation of
   their languages and traditional knowledge themselves are very 
limited. The
   laptops provided by the OLPC project would help to make recordings
   accessible to the communities as well as empower the youngest 
generations to
   use modern technologies to explore and record the traditional knowledge
   which is in acute danger of being lost. The objectives of a collaboration
   with the OLPC would therefore be the distribution of laptops to local
   schools, storing the data collected during the documentation work on the
   laptops and training children -- and their teachers -- to use the laptops
   for documentation. The country of Vanuatu has already shown interest 
in the
   OLPC and is very adamant about the importance of language 
documentation so
   that we expect a collaboration would be welcome.

5. Laptops Uganda
   http://rt.laptop.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=61631
   [SPECIFIC SITE NEEDS TO BE POSTED OFF 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Projects ]

   Requests 20 XOs over 24 months

   Project Objectives:
   - Impart computer knowledge to the young. since my country 75% of the
     population are the young people
   - To bring unity by appreciating diversity, my country has more than 90
     tribes, divided into 85 districts and has been affected by wars for the
     last 30 years that’s has caused too much tribal difference yet we are
     all Africans. So, I bringing kids of different tribes together sharing
     the same computers it brings a sense of love and peace through sharing
     hence unity.
   - To fight computer illiteracy in the youth, many youth in Uganda have
     never had an encounter with computers so weather I use an OX laptop or
     any other brand of computers it will be the same to them. They need the
     skill no matter the type of computers being used.
   - Prepare the young for the future ,this 21st century the use of
     computerized digital peripherals has became part of life in the world ,
     me volunteering to reach out to the kids and the youth am preparing 
them
     for the future time so as to make the world a global village
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