[Olpc-open] Tools, etc. :-)

[Yoshiki Ohshima]

  Ed,

> >   How about Jerome Bruner?
> > 
> > Insufficient data.  I had a quick look at his
> > wikipedia entry (which I will assume is mainly
> > accurate :-))
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bruner
> > 
>   Insufficient... data?  Read his books.
> 
> Yes. Insufficient data.  I'll try to squeeze some in. 
> I am somewhat intrigued on a couple points.  What
> would you recommend as the best, if you could choose
> just one?  (Then I'll decide if I should read more
> :-))

  "Toward a Theory of Instruction" is good one.

> I'd prefer to see what, if any, an 'academic
> contribution' has done for the betterment of society,
> people, etc., rather than judge on a publish or perish
> paradigm, number/amount of books, publications, etc.

  If you dig in, I can assure that you *will* find how much he has
done for the betterment of society and people.

>   (BTW, his theory on psycology has strong influence
> on the computer
> graphical user interfaces used today.)
> 
> And, is that a 'good' thing? :-) Personally, I'd
> rather have a voice user interface (I can dream, can't
> I? :-) (Oh, alright, yes, I'm a Trekkie :-)).  And
> this is also very subjective, etc.  (Just ask anyone
> to defend their choice of Win/Mac/X, etc. GUIs.)  User
> interface is another whole kettle of fish.

  I'm talking about more fundamental stuff like the reasons why we
have "icons" on screen, etc.  Nothing subjective, nothing to do with
the choices of Win/Mac/X.

  And, if you want to talk about the voice interface?  Probably you
should start from Bruner's books on languages, narrative and thinking.

> I disagree. In fact, I tend to think of a computer as
> merely billions/trillions? of switches...the
> complexity of the media, etc. is simply a function of
> adding switches (adding rows to an abacus?) not so
> different from an abacus.  I suppose it depends on
> your level of abstraction, etc.

  If you think of a computer as merely billions/trillions of switches,
you can't think of its social impact.  Are books just papers and
inkblot?  Are you just arguing for argument's sake?

> Like any tool, it can be used for both good,
> desireable purposes, or bad, undesireable outcomes. 
> It is not the fault of the tool.  It is the people,
> and those who use and control the tool that must be
> considered.  Hence, this is an education project, not
> a computer/laptop project! :-)

  To conssider, calling a person flat-earther and dismiss what he
wants to say wouldn't help.

-- Yoshiki