Hi all,<div><br></div><div>I thought review may interest people, especially educators, following Sugar & OLPC in New Zealand.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Bernie Innocenti</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bernie@codewiz.org">bernie@codewiz.org</a>></span><br>
Date: 13 July 2010 13:37<br>Subject: [IAEP] Sugar Labs 2010 Goals Review<br>To: SLOBs <<a href="mailto:slobs@lists.sugarlabs.org">slobs@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>>, IAEP <<a href="mailto:iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org">iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org</a>><br>
<br><br>I thought it would make sense to review our goals half-way through 2010<br>
to check if we're really achieving them and possibly take corrective<br>
actions where we're not doing well. See:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Meeting_Minutes-2010-01-22#Goals_for_2010_2" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Meeting_Minutes-2010-01-22#Goals_for_2010_2</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Quoting from the above page, with my reflections inline:<br>
<br>
> * Release Sucrose 0.88 and 0.90 in order to provide a more useful and<br>
> stable learning platform for deployments and developers<br>
> * Release Sucrose 0.88 in March<br>
<br>
Done<br>
<br>
> * Release Sucrose 0.90 in November<br>
<br>
After a lot of uncertainty, it seems to be happening.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Deliver a product that has been well tested for usability and<br>
> accessibility needs<br>
><br>
The first part has been done, thanks to Paraguay Educa and SoaS pilots.<br>
<br>
Some work on accessibility has been done by Uruguay, but would require<br>
more involvement on our side to integrate it. Gonzalo would like to work<br>
on keyboard navigability of the Sugar UI.<br>
<br>
><br>
> * Make successful launches with great marketing campaigns<br>
<br>
There has been a lot of friction between the marketing team and the SoaS<br>
team. Perhaps the ombudsman could talk to the people involved to help<br>
resolve the conflict?<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Promote corresponding SoaS releases with Fedora<br>
><br>
This is done, and it was a great success in terms of Fedora <-> Sugar<br>
Labs collaboration. There's an open quality issue: without interim<br>
bugfix releases, we'll hardly ever reach the level of polish we need for<br>
classroom usage.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Define Sugar 1.0 so that we can begin partnering with long-term<br>
> stable distros, such as RHEL<br>
<br>
I think pbrobinson is working on this. If the dot-releases of RHEL could<br>
become SoaS spins, the above-mentioned quality issue would be solved.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Make Sugar the learning platform of choice for 2010<br>
> * Support existing local user groups (e.g., local Sugar Labs) and<br>
> work to create new ones<br>
><br>
We seem to have done well.<br>
<br>
><br>
> * Have SL representation at major free software and education<br>
> events<br>
><br>
We seem to have done well here too, but we could do better. I have no<br>
idea who within our community could take care of this.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Establish relationship with third-party solution providers to<br>
> help them understand the benefits of Sugar<br>
<br>
Examples of such solution providers could be Activity Central, Solution<br>
Grove and Waveplace. Without these entities, Sugar has no value for<br>
teachers.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Work with other learning programs that complement our efforts<br>
<br>
Does anyone have any idea of specific learning programs we could work<br>
with?<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Explore Sugar in the context of mobile devices and web-based<br>
> services<br>
<br>
I'm not aware of any work in this direction. I can understand the need<br>
to integrate with web-based services (aka online communities).<br>
<br>
If "mobile devices" in this context means devices smaller than netbooks,<br>
such as smart phones, I'm not sure what their use would be in an<br>
education context.<br>
<br>
><br>
> * Make Sugar Labs the place for working on learning-related<br>
> technologies<br>
><br>
Not sure we did much progress here. We say that our platform is agnostic<br>
with respect to education paradigms, but our community may not be<br>
particularly welcoming for those interested in traditional content and<br>
tools supporting traditional learning.<br>
<br>
I think we should embrace Karma and eXe as complementary to our current<br>
array of activities. I've already invited the leaders of both projects<br>
to work closely with us, but perhaps Sugar Labs should make an official<br>
proposal for collaboration.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Provide forums for teachers and developers to collaborate<br>
><br>
AFAIK, we did no progress in this direction. I think that the Realness<br>
Alliance could fulfill this role.<br>
<br>
><br>
> * Provide a forum (similar to ASLO) for learners to share their<br>
> work<br>
<br>
No progress here either. We could easily extend ASLO to let children<br>
publish contents created with Turtle Art and other activities. Scratch<br>
and Etoys already provide their own online communities, we should<br>
probably not duplicate them.<br>
><br>
> * Demonstrate leadership by providing great tools for the<br>
> appropriation and application of knowledge<br>
<br>
We have plenty of new activities, most of which are very creative and<br>
engaging. I particularly like Photo<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Always ask: how does this impact the learning<br>
><br>
...and also "think of the children" :-)<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Let downstreams such as deployers and vendors lead development by<br>
> providing human resources<br>
<br>
I think we did great progress with Paraguay and some progress with<br>
Uruguay. Peru, the second largest OLPC deployment, is mysteriously<br>
absent from our mailing lists. If someone has contacts, we should<br>
attempt to reach out.<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Eat our own dogfood<br>
> * Promote free software<br>
<br>
I think we're doing well here.<br>
<br>
><br>
> * Be transparent and open to critique<br>
><br>
In the past, we've been criticized for insufficient transparency. Does<br>
anyone still have a problem with this?<br>
<br>
<br>
> * Encourage new people to join our project<br>
<br>
We have a welcoming join page ( <a href="http://join.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://join.sugarlabs.org</a> ). Most<br>
members of our community are also nice to newcomers, as long as they are<br>
sufficiently technical to understand our jargon.<br>
<br>
We're definitely intimidating to non-technical people. At least, this is<br>
what I sensed at the Realness Summit. OLE also seems to be doing a<br>
better job at connecting with educators. I'm not completely sure what<br>
corrective actions should be. We might need to do some work on the wiki,<br>
maybe add web forums, which non-geeks tend to prefer...<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
// Bernie Innocenti - <a href="http://codewiz.org/" target="_blank">http://codewiz.org/</a><br>
\X/ Sugar Labs - <a href="http://sugarlabs.org/" target="_blank">http://sugarlabs.org/</a><br>
<br>
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