[Olpc-open] getting used to the journal

[Sameer Verma]

Edward Cherlin wrote:
> This, you see, is how discovery is supposed to work. You can't turn
> this experience into a canned lesson. We have to think about how to
> invite people into the experience effectively, since explaining it
> just doesn't work for those of less than astounding powers of
> imagination.
>
> We need a way to capture such experiences and make them vicariously
> available to others as part of that invitation. Would you Wiki this,
> Sameer?
>   

I'll give it a shot. Do you have an existing document or should I start
afresh?

> I started writing a little guide to Discovering the XO, but had to put
> it on hold. It was a bit odd writing a document to specifically not
> explain how to use the product, but definitely educational. How would
> you go about it? (All of you, not just Sameer)
>
>   

I have two ways of doing this. There was a time when I did not know
Linux or Unix. I try to go back to that time and fast forward to the
moments when I struggled with /bin /etc/ var and so on. The other
method, which I think is a lot more helpful is that I show the XO to
children 5 and up every chance I get and observe them without much
intervention. It is amazing what one can glean from such observations.
It works really well. I believe it worked for Piaget as well :-)

Sameer

-- 
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://opensource.sfsu.edu/



> On Feb 11, 2008 1:07 PM, Sameer Verma <sverma at sfsu.edu> wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I must admit it took me some time to get used to the concept of a
>> journal that captures all that you do, and saves it, along with
>> versioning, date and time. Additionally, the ability to add tags and
>> description is great.
>>
>> What I didn't expect is that I would get used to it so much that I would
>> miss it in my regular work environment! I find my file manager and
>> backup utilities to be primitive. With file managers, you have to go
>> digging into drives, folders, and then look at time stamps. BTW, I use
>> Ubuntu Gutsy as my primary interface. I boot into Windows XP about once
>> a month (old habits...). Now that I've experienced the journal, I want
>> it on my machine!!!
>>
>> I can [now] see how a person (child or otherwise) who has never used a
>> file manager would not need one and would take to the journal. Of
>> course, those of us who like it under the hood would want their /usr
>> /var /etc to be there, but if you don't know about it, why bother?
>>
>> I wonder if anyone else has had this experience, or is my wine tainted :-)
>>
>> Sameer
>>
>> --
>> Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
>> Associate Professor of Information Systems
>> San Francisco State University
>> San Francisco CA 94132 USA
>> http://verma.sfsu.edu/
>> http://opensource.sfsu.edu/
>>
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