[OLPC library] Fwd: goal setting and scope for BookSprint

[Michael Stone]

Christoph,

Your response to Chris made me a little bit angry. Please take the
forthrightness of my reply with that in mind. :)

On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 09:40:01AM +0200, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
>Zitat von Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com>:

>> Just a suggestion, but maybe a somewhat general chapter towards the end (for
>> the hopefully more advanced users) that might guide those so inclined into
>> how to get involved with testing and improving Sugar.
>
>I think we shouldn't be too specific about how to contribute. 

Insofar as contribution is central to the spirit of OLPC, which I will
approximate as "learning is a social phenomenon that can be magnified by
malleable technology", it is central to the _purpose_ of our work that
people be encouraged to use their computers to modify the way that they
and their neighbors learn. This is not an optional component of our
agenda. Thus, while you are correct that we can foreclose possibilities
by being overly specific, we must also be specific enough about that
potential contributors are not turned away by our lack of clarity.

> Testing and improving Sugar raises the barrier-to-entry too high and
> is (as ever so often in this education project;-) too tech-centric. 

Then we should offer some alternative paths first. More specifically, in
my opinion, what is most important is to teach people something about
how and why to make contributions, and then to show them how to find
others who are contributing. Basically, we need to make it clear that
there are LOTS of fun, cool people out in the world who'd like to play
together with you, the fledgling contributor, to push the whole thing
forward. (Greg Smith could probably offer some excellent advice on
"places to go to talk to people using our laptops".)

That being said, we still _must_ (for our own scalability) drive home
that our tech-support _is_ done by volunteers, that our software and
content _is_ gratis and free, that our testing _is_ communal, and that
_we rely_ on people like you, the reader, to chip in to the commonweal
to make this happen. Consider:

   "Step by step, the longest march / can be won, can be won. /
    Many stones can form an arch / singly none, singly none. /
    And by union, what we will / can be accomplished still /
    Drops of water turn a mill / singly none, singly none."

> I think a more general note in terms of "let us know about all the
> cool things you and your kids do by sending us an e-mail / posting to
> the forums / etc." might be more appropiate.

This is nonsense -- we do everyone a disservice when we underestimate
the people who donate through our project. Certainly, we should point
out that the forums exist and that there are some nice Flickr
photo-streams; however, I really think that we _need_ to ask for large
commitments as well as small ones. Think of Bernie.

>Plus, which "advanced user" actually reads a manual? That just for the 
>n00bs, right? ;-)

The ones which expect that they're dealing with a charitable project
capable of explaining its ways, means, and ends in writing and
distributing the same with its project?

>> impression that this is not a Dell/HP/MacBook User
>> Manual, but a volunteer-powered effort.  Might as well place a "help wanted
>> ad" in our own manual.
>
>That's a very good point, we should certainly have such an ad!
>
>I vote for an Adam Holt version of 
>http://www.history.army.mil/art/Posters/WWI/I_want_you.jpg saying "I 
>Want YOU for Support-Gang"... ;-)

We can do better.

Michael