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

[Chris Leonard]

On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 3:40 AM, Christoph Derndorfer <
e0425826 at student.tuwien.ac.at> 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. Testing
> and improving Sugar raises the barrier-to-entry too high and is (as
> ever so often in this education project;-) too tech-centric. 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.
>
It was certainly not my intent to draw lines around what sort of
contribution would be valued or encouraged,  I was only raising the idea
that including *something* to smooth the path to engagement with the project
seems worth doing.  More specifically, my point was that at the end of a
book about the "low floor" of entry into using Sugar, one might give some
consideration of the "high ceiling" of not just using Sugar, but becoming
part of creating it, leaving a clear impression that the end of the book is
not the end of what Sugar can become.

Insha'Allah (إن شاء الله), there will be a next release, there will be new
features, there will be a new edition of the guide (much easier the next
time thanks to FLOSS platform) or at the very least new translations.  In
some ways, FOSS is as much a process as it is a product and that process
very much relies on bringing in fresh blood with new energy and new ideas.
Volunteers will come and go, hopefully projects go on (but only if they keep
bringing in new volunteers).  If one in a thousand readers follows through
and acts on such a message to get involved, that is a win, if the
opportunity to include that message at all is overlooked, that is a lose.

cjl
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