[Olpc-open] [IAEP] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

Fri Dec 21 01:17:57 EST 2012

> Also it suffers from not being able to work in a web page or on an mobile device which is what most people want to do.
No scratch.. no python.. the future: html5

Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 01:14:58 -0500
From: sthomas1 at gosargon.com
To: alanjas at hotmail.com
CC: andrycaa at gmail.com; olpc-open at lists.laptop.org; iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

Alan,
Very nice.  Great job with the pictures.In spite of my earlier protestations, I have nothing against python (I use it at work and in one of my classes with kids).

Mark Guzdial made an interesting comment in his post: 
Definitions of “Code” and “Programmer”: Response to “Please Don’t Learn to Code”
The problem is that we in computer science often have blinders on when it comes to computing — we only see people who relate to code and programming as we do, as people in our peer group and community do.  There are many people who code because of what it lets them do, not because they want the resulting code.

I would modify it slightly to:

“what it lets them do easily and quickly”
Now I am not saying folks shouldn’t work hard to get something they want (they will if they really want it). I am all for “hard fun,” but too many things that should be easy are too hard. Ideally I want to be able to go from idea to conception as quickly as possible. I realize I will have to struggle along the way, playing and debugging as I go, but I don’t want those struggles to because of the programming environment. I have too many bugs in my mental models and I don’t need extra ones to deal with.
Scratch does a really good job at this but its ceiling is too low (for me at least, they really focus on not confusing the user, which is a good choice considering their target audience). That said they are making some great improvements in 2.0 by adding “Build your own blocks” and a “Backpack” to make reusability easier.
Etoys is also amazing in its power and expressiveness (although it has a number of rough edges which can be frustrating to beginning beginners). Also it suffers from not being able to work in a web page or on an mobile device which is what most people want to do.
What we need are more environments like these that let folks play with and express ideas (and get things done) in a way that lets them focus more on the ideas and work to be done than on programming, while letting them dig into the code and program when needed.

Saludos,Stephen
On Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Alan Jhonn Aguiar Schwyn <alanjas at hotmail.com> wrote:

In the case of my activity, only modify a file to add/remove the questions.

I attach a simple version of "I know the Eye" activity.

For run, in a XO or any thing that have python and pygame (run: python conozco.py)
The answer it's directly clicked on the image (for small parts, I leave the circles that can be
accepted as a correct answer).
This activity is too very, very simple of apply i18n! (use gettext)(now is only in english for time questions).
The complete process takes: less than 1 hour to create a standalone activity.
include the search of images, modify them, download more than 88 mb of gimp and inkscape (at 50 kb/s - I reinstall my ubuntu the last monday :-)

http://www.fing.edu.uy/~aaguiar/files/IknowtheEye-1.xo

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 01:49:49 -0500
From: sthomas1 at gosargon.com
To: alanjas at hotmail.com

CC: andrycaa at gmail.com; olpc-open at lists.laptop.org; iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org

Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

Oh and the other "perspective" to consider with Etoys, is that doctors, nurses, volunteers in the field can easily modify the lessons to meet local needs and adapt based on what they find in the field.  The text is easily translatable so the same project can be built to run in multiple languages.  The above can be done with very little training and would be a lot easier for folks than learning python.

The above image created using Etoys :)

Cheers,Stephen

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com> wrote:

Spelling correction:You can put the lesson on a USB stick and it will run on any Mac, PC or Linux box, because the code is Byte identical for all platforms

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 1:40 AM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com> wrote:

Alan,
So to quote your namesake "A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points."

So let me see if I can change your perspective on Etoys.  I just created a simple lesson in Etoys such as you described in about 10-15 minutes, most of that time was spent trying to find a good open source image of the eye (I used the one from WIkipedia which you may want to look at if you would like to take the Quiz I just developed).

Here is the You Tube video of why Etoys rocks and how 
I created the quiz with 5 "lines of code" an image, a holder and two text objects.  You can put the lesson on a USB stuck and it will run on any Mac, PC and Linux, because the code is Byte identical for all platforms. No libraries to load or special drivers needed. 

Now of course perhaps this could be done quicker or more cost effectively in python :D
Cheers,Stephen
Below is a more full quote from Alan on IQ:

Q - What if you had an "IQ" of 500, but were born in 10,000 BC. You would not be able to make a lot of progress. For example, Leonardo was very smart but couldn't come up with the engines his vehicle designs needed in order to work -- he was born in the wrong century for what he wanted to do.

Knowledge - On the other hand, Henry Ford was not nearly as smart as Leonardo, but was born at a very good time and in a good place, so he was able to combine engineering and production inventions to make millions of inexpensive automobiles.

Outlook - what made Henry Ford powerful (and most other things today) was an enormous change in Outlook (you called it a paradigm shift) which we can symbolize by invoking Newton.

"Knowledge is Silver, but Outlook is Gold" (IQ is Lead ... because most worthwhile problems we want to work on and solve are beyond mere IQ)

In other words, most human cultures accumulate and use a lot of knowledge (this is what a culture is all about) that is used to survive, to accommodate to the environment and even sometimes thrive. But the knowledge of a traditional society is very different from that of a feudal society which in turn is very different from a technological scientifically based society.

The bug most people have about schools (including many who set up schools) is the idea that they are there to teach knowledge. (Not a bad secondary goal, but it's a very bad idea for it to be the main goal.) Montessori was an early voice who pointed out that the main purpose of schooling (especially early schooling) was to help students learn and deeply internalize the most powerful outlooks that have been discovered/invented by humans. She observed that otherwise children wind up living in the 20th century but with a 10th century (or much earlier) outlook ...

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:47 AM, Alan Jhonn Aguiar Schwyn <alanjas at hotmail.com> wrote:

I'm not sure why, but I not like much Etoys (with all my respect to my namesake Alan Kay :-) 
I prefer a pure-python activity. For example, a first activity could be: "I know the Eye" and use a

similar image to this: (search: eye anatomy)
External: (muscleds, etc)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-x4oGiQWiUA/TMP2dRqClBI/AAAAAAAAAGY/PuehgCY8WJM/s1600/eye+anatomy+2.jpg

And internal:
http://www.floridaeyeclinic.com/images/aao-G04-large.jpg

The first problem is obtain a good image (CC creative commons or similiar free license).

Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:31:15 -0500

From: sthomas1 at gosargon.com
To: andrycaa at gmail.com
CC: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org; alanjas at hotmail.com; sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org; iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org

Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

Alan,
If you have the materials (images, test, knowledge, etc.) I would be happy to work with you to create some materials in Etoys that could help educate folks about the eye and more importantly detect vision problems and provide suggestions and resources on how to deal with them.  If you send me some materials I can put something together in Etoys fairly quickly.  It would be available to all OLPC XO's and because its Etoys, it can also run on Windows, Mac and Linux (with no code changes).  If it works for both of us, we could put together some quick prototypes to help build a "more robust case".

Stephen

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:09 AM, Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: andrycaa at gmail.com

> To: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org

> Subject: [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

>

> Hello, I'm new to this venue but am looking to contribute and/or determine

> if I might have some material that would benefit the community.  I work for

> a healthcare company that specializes in vision and was wondering if there

> was any need for material on healthy vision or perhaps an interactive eye

> model to teach children about the different parts of the eye.  It could be

> anything in this realm really - the sky is the limit.

>

> My company is constantly looking for ways to give back and if there was some

> interest in this I'd look to build a more robust case and inquire more

> deeply into whether the company would be willing to put some resources

> behind this.

>

> Is there anyone on this distribution list that would be able to point me in

> the right direction?

I would suggest taking a look at the accumulated notes and links on these pages.

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Vision_screening

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Visual_Acuity

cjl

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IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)

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IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
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_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
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