[OLPC-Chicago] New member

[Edward Cherlin]

Now that I am on staff for PyCon 2009, and planning events that will
include the local community, I joined this list. My mother's family is
from Chicago, and I was born there when my father was in the Navy.

The idea for next year's PyCon is to organize a room full of children
doing Python on One Laptop Per Child XOs. Some people assume that it
means teaching children Python, but my real idea is to have the
children learn Python ahead of time, starting with the Pippy activity
on the laptop, and then be able to show adults or other children how
it all works and how one learns on the laptop. We should rotate in
groups of children of different ages, some to teach Python and the XO,
and some to show how children learn Python.

So the first question is, how many children do we know who have XOs,
and can we organize something so they can work on Python together?
Along with everything else. Would anybody like to host a children's XO
hacking meetup? Is there a school or museum or library where we can
meet? Are there any schools that would consider this PyCon session for
a field trip? What NGOs in Chicago have operations in OLPC target
countries, present (Peru, Uruguay, Haiti, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cambodia,
Afghanistan, Mongolia, Mexico, and within the US, in Mongomery,
Alabama), or prospective
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Status_by_Country, not entirely
up-to-date).

Second, whom else can we bring into our fold. I looked around on the
Net, and found a number of substantial African communities in Chicago,
including Kenyans, Rwandans, and Ethiopians, and I have no doubt that
there are many others. My interest in these three groups is that there
are more than 10,000 XOs each going to Rwanda and Ethiopia, and if we
can get Kenyans involved, we have an even stronger basis for inviting
Barack Obama to PyCon 2009 for a short speech and photo op. I suppose
we are more likely to get him if Hillary becomes President somehow,
but it never hurts to ask.

What do you think, Sirs?

-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay