On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Jeffrey F. Cuff wrote: ) Hi. This list has finally entered my field of awareness and I've scanned ) through the backmail, so I'll add two centicents[TM] worth. ) ) My own kids are Gr. I and IV and I often wished for something like this, ) particularly when they were younger, but also these days when they are ) feeling the lure of MS Magic Schoolbus-ilk CDs (about which I could ) easily fill 64K with ranting (:but won't:)). ) ) Some introductory thoughts about the big picture: ) ) 1. "Real" (nontech) parents' computer systems ) 2. Software (or at least an OS) that grows with the child Nautilus looks as though it should be able to accomodate that (if it ever appears). ) 3. Facilitating sibling and peer shared experience Like shared whiteboard type things? ) 4. The "educational software" scam and user expectations ) 5. What kids need for a real good GUI Probably the best WM for kids is Window Maker. Big icons, no text. Microsoft's Creative Writer is very good as something to emulate. ) 6. Multimedia underpinnings Like having, say, icons that animate and/or play sound by way of providing feedback? ) 7. Open content edugame authoring env and load and go CDROM protocol How about the story telling things they have at MIT's AI lab? The child types in a story, and the program replies with one of a similar theme. E.g. one was called Aesop and replied with one of Aesops fables. Another was a rabbi. ) 8. School curriculum tracking and the subject tree ) 9. Report and project writing and research SEUL Edu are working on these things (http://www.seul.org/edu) ) 10. Lighting those LEDs; simple hardware/robotics projects Yeah, my 3 year old loves them. Maybe something like a letters and numbers game where the lights make a certain pattern for, say, spelling certain words the right way. ) 11. "SharingNG" : helping future linux/open dvls Huh? ) ) So much for a top-of-my-head outline. I'm sure there're missing topics, ) but this is my roadmap on a napkin. ) ) Hello world. Glad to sign on to this list. ) ) PS If you want to check out one parent's (reasonably successful) attempt ) to innoculate his kids against the Pokepidemic, check out www.smoos.com. ) )
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