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

Sun Aug 24 17:58:14 EDT 2008

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

Michael,

after that intro I almost expected a serious Irish pub style beating,
glad to find out that it was more like a single punch... ;-)

> 
> 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.

Upon further reflection I agree, we mustn't be too vague or quiet about
the fact that people can and should contribute to the olpc efforts in
many different ways.

The core point I was trying to make is that we mustn't get hung up on 
tech-related contributions. In terms of the general public's perception 
OLPC is still very much a tech-driven project and I have talked to many 
people (incidentally mostly at tech-related events such as CeBIT and 
LinuxTage) who didn't realize the enormous potential of contributions by 
graphic artists, game designers, story writers, musicians, lawyers, 
fund-raisers, student groups, etc. to the larger olpc mission.

In terms of actual changes I think that G1G1 2008 is a great chance to 
attract many of these valuable contributors *if and only if* public 
facing pages such as the information on the wiki and laptop.org are 
quite fundamentally changed (on top of information included with the 
laptops that is).

e.g. When I go to "participate" on laptop.org 
(http://laptopfoundation.org/en/participate/) it's really all about the 
money.

I actually need to click on "propose" 
(http://laptopfoundation.org/en/propose/) to find out what I can really 
do, and guess what: Even though there's talk of textbooks and whatnot 
the paragraph seems to be addressed to "Programmers and developers 
interested in volunteer opportunities".

Then under (c) it links to [[Getting involved in OLPC]] (which has been 
proposed to be merged with [[Participate]] - a good idea IMHO) which is 
yet another page very much focused on software related tasks.

By the time a non-technical person who maybe doesn't have experience 
with wikis were to actually find relevant information you're very likely 
to have lost them...

It's my strong belief that we will only be able to attract more people 
via a unified and clear message. As GDK likes to put it "simplify and 
amplify"!

> 
>> 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?

I wasn't quite serious with that comment, especially as I just
downloaded the iPod touch manual the other day since I couldn't figure
out some of the details of that oh-so-intuitive multi-touch device.

> 
>>> 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.

A Michael Stone version of the image mentioned above?

Okay, I'll shut up already and grab some sleep... :)

Good night,
Christoph

> 
> Michael
> 

-- 
Christoph Derndorfer
co-editor, olpcnews
url: www.olpcnews.com
e-mail: christoph at olpcnews.com