FWIW I haven't received my ballot e-mail yet. (Just throwing it out there early on because last time around at least a couple of different people had this issue.)
Christoph Luke Faraone <[email protected]> schrieb: >Hi all, > >The candidate list has closed; I'm sending out ballots over the next >hour. All registered members should receive emails from ><team[AT]selectricity.org> with a subject like: > [Sugar Labs Oversight Board Election 2011-2012] Election Begun! > >Please check your spam folders! On occasion these mails get caught in >spam filters. Your email from the voting software contains the link to >the election; this URL is unique to you and should not be shared. > >The election will end at Wed Nov 30 00:00:00 -0500 2011. > >== Candidate Information == > >There are 7 candidates for 3 seats. They are listed at ><http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/2011-2012-candidates?oldid=71296>, >and below: > > * Gerald Ardito > * Walter Bender > * Sridhar Dhanapalan > * Nick Doiron > * David Farning > * Chris Leonard (cjl) > * Laura Victoria Vargas > >Position statements from each candidate as indicated on the >aforementioned page follow. > >=== Gerald Ardito === > >I believe Sugar Labs is an amazing enterprise. Miraculous, even. >It is a place where people from all over the world are working together >to empower learning for children everywhere. > >And the world of these people is outstanding. In just a few short years, >they have developed an operating system and hundreds of >applications/activities. And all of them are free and open source, and >modifiable by their users. > >Sugar Labs is also a community. And it is a community, I believe, that >is also free and open source. A community of people who are also, in a >manner of speaking, free and open source. I am thinking, especially, of >the regional versions of Sugar Labs, where developers and others have >come together to the serve the unique needs of a particular region. >And so, Sugar Labs, like any other enterprise, is a collection of >conversations. I would very much like to be a part of this conversation >as a SLOB member. > >Here are my relevant qualifications. I have been managing a deployment >of XO Laptops for the last 2 1/2 years in a New York middle school, >working with 5th grade students and their teachers. This work formed the >basis of my doctoral dissertation research, which I completed in May >2010. I have also consulted with other teachers and schools on the use >of XO Laptops and Sugar with their teachers and students. In the Winter, >I will be working with three Navajo elementary schools in New Mexico. > >I sometimes feel that educators and students (at least in the United >States) are under-represented in the various discussions around Sugar. I >believe my experience could help to close this gap. >I look forward to what comes next. > >=== Walter Bender === > >My position on the board is expiring. After giving it some thought, I >will be throwing my hat into the ring. My rationale is that while Sugar >Labs has made great progress over the past three years, it still needs >shepherding, particularly in regard to maintaining its focus—too often >expediency takes precedent over consideration for the learner. The >local-lab program is starting to finally take off, but it too needs some >further shaping. And while there are numerous commercial entities taking >interest in Sugar, our volunteer community remains at the heart of Sugar >Labs—I plan to continue to advocate on behalf of the Sugar contributors. >By way of example, it is the volunteer community that is leading the >effort to migrate Sugar to GNOME 3.0. > >For those of you who don't know me, here is a bit of background. I am >formerly the director of the MIT Media Lab. I took a leave of absence >from MIT to found One Laptop per Child with Nicholas Negroponte in 2006. >I left OLPC in 2008 to establish Sugar Labs as an independent entity. >(At the time, Nicholas had taken the position that Sugar was "the >problem" preventing him from selling more laptops. I was of the opinion >that what the children did with the laptops was more important than the >hardware. Ironically, but not surprisingly, OLPC continues to ship Sugar >with every laptop that they distribute.) At Sugar Labs, I wear many >hats: I am the developer or maintainer of numerous Activities, including >Turtle Art, Abacus, Portfolio, Measure, Dimensions, etc.; I contribute >to the Sugar toolkit—most recently, the enhancements to the View Source >mechanism; and the occasional patch to Sugar itself; I am an active >member of the Design Team; the Activity Team; and the Learning Team. I >was the principal author of the Sugar FLOSS Manual. When I am not >writing code, I am advocating on behalf of Sugar Labs and helping out >with deployments by running seminars and workshops for teachers and >engineers. My blog about Sugar is aggregated at http://planet.sugarlabs.org. > >=== Sridhar Dhanapalan === > >The easiest way to find out about me is to visit my Web site >[http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/about/]. > >Amongst a variety of Free and Open Source Software contributions >since the 1990s [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SridharDhanapalan], I have >previously been a board member of Linux Australia and President of >the Sydney Linux Users Group (SLUG). I have given presentations at >various events including linux.conf.au, OSDC, SLUG, Software Freedom >Day and Document Freedom Day. > >For nearly two years I have served full-time as OLPC Australia's >Engineering Manager, liaising between developers and educators to ensure >that we are able to satisfy requirements on the ground. My team at OLPC >Australia take this very seriously, to the point of extending OLPC's >core principles with two of our own >[http://www.laptop.org.au/vision/core-principles]: >* Empowering Teachers >* Community Engagement > >In my day-to-day work, I am in constant contact with schools, >communities, governments and other relevant bodies. I have developed an >appreciation for Sugar as much more than software - it is a platform >that supports education, community and culture. Everything we build is >done so in consultation with educators and other stakeholders, in >consideration of the whole picture. For instance, the operating system >that we carry on our XOs >[https://dev.laptop.org.au/projects/xo-au/wiki/List_of_improvements_in_XO-AU_builds_2010-2011] >was developed in tandem with our certification system >[http://edu.laptop.org.au/laptop/xo-cert-course]. > >I am proud to say that our approach has shown tremendous success >[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO-VNhgZLDw]. You can read our Policy >Document [http://edu.laptop.org.au/laptop/policy-document] to gain a >full appreciation of our programme. > >As a Sugar Labs Oversight Board member, I aim to bring this same kind of >holistic approach to guiding Sugar. My strength is in using my extensive >Free Software experience to meet real needs on the ground. I strongly >believe that for Sugar to grow, it needs to have strong representation >from all stakeholders, including deployments. > >Our contributions to Sugar have been numerous. We have extended the OLPC >XS Schoolserver with our XS-AU >[https://dev.laptop.org.au/projects/xs-au/wiki], creating a far more >flexible collaboration solution. We have partnered with Activity Central >to develop many improvements for the platform. These are currently being >tested in Dextrose developer builds, and will be upstreamed in the near >future. > >While it's all well and good to speak about past achievements, it's >important as a Board member to have a vision for the future. We need to >broaden the developer and user base. We need to make it simpler to >access Sugar. > >On the developer side, we should embrace >[http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2011/06/20/why-free-and-open-matters/] >Web [http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2011/06/23/html5-in-sugar/] >standards and allow activities to be created in HTML5. We are working >[https://dev.laptop.org.au/issues/742] on that. > >On the user side, I'd like Sugar to be made available on more devices. I >am encouraged by the work being made to port Sugar to GTK+ 3. This will >lay the groundwork for Sugar on tablets, such as the XO-3. We need to >think ahead to ensure longevity of the Sugar platform and mission. > >=== Nicholas Dorion === > >My interest in Sugar began when I received a G1G1 XO laptop. From my >dorm room, I started fixing bugs and then hacking new features for Sugar >activities. Since then, I have worked for two months each with the >Kasiisi Project in Uganda and Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, and I am presently >halfway through another two-month deployment in Haiti. I have helped >represent our community at Maker Faire NYC, OpenStreetMap's 2011 >conference, and Tech@State. If you have visited http://olpcMAP.net, a >website I co-founded, or have read a post from my blogs, >http://MapaDelSur.blogspot.com and http://MapUganda.blogspot.com , I >hope that it made you feel better connected to the teachers and students >using Sugar around the world. > >I would appreciate your support for my next phase of volunteering with >Sugar: serving on the Sugar Labs Oversight Board. > >I believe that my experiences teaching Sugar in Uganda and Haiti, and my >development work with Plan Ceibal in Uruguay, would help me provide >valuable input to the board's decisions. As a 2012 Code for America >fellow - >http://codeforamerica.org/2011/10/13/meet-code-for-america-2012/ - I >will be working closely with city governments to find open-source >solutions to common problems. As I see it, Sugar Labs is a major player >in the development of open education, but should take further steps to >cover traditional math and science disciplines. My recent work on >Memorize with Sensors, Mapa Ceibal, and Crikey (a modified Measure >activity) are my endeavours to make this possible without losing our >engaging constructionist ideals. > >=== David Farning === > >As a member on the original Sugar Labs Oversight Board, I came to feel >that as much as I believed in the vision of OLPC and Sugar Labs there >were a number of needs in the ecosystem which could be met by a third >organization. >1. The voice and needs of deployments were being over shadowed by the >global voice of Sugar Labs and OLPC. >2. There was no organization provide service and support for >deployments. As a result, deployments required a significant amount of >technical sophistication before they could get started. >3. Because of the volunteer nature of Sugar Labs, developers tended to >work on the interesting and innovative problems rather than the daily >grind necessary to deliver a fully polished educational platform. > >For the past two years I, and a number of other developers, have been >establishing Activity Central [1] to help fill the above needs. Our >model is to provide technical service and support to deployments. This >effort has resulted in the Dextrose [2] operation system which we >custom develop and support for several large and small deployment. >Because we depend on customer revenue for our sustainability we have a >strong incentive to meet the software needs of deployments. > >Because Dextrose is based on Upstream Sugar and OLPC OS releases >Activity Central has a strong incentive to assist in the continued >success of Sugar Labs and OLPC. To this end we have made a number of >commitments: > >1. All code written by Activity Central developers will be released >with an open source license. >2. Activity Central developers spend 60% of their time on revenue >generating work. They are free to spend the remaining 40% of their >time on projects which are of general value to the ecosystem. >3. Activity Central supports a Community Architect whose job is >identify and support local and global communities that are valuable >parts of the Sugar Labs and OLPC ecosystem. > >From time to time I am asked why I chose to form a third organization >rather than work within Sugar Labs or OLPC. A third global >organization brings several advantages to the ecosystem: > >1. It promotes cooperative decision making. When the ecosystem >consisted of two primary participants, Sugar Labs and OLPC, there was a >tendency for competitive decision making. When a third player was >added to the mix, the value of cooperative decision making become more >apparent. >2. Organizations with a business focus often provide value to a Free >Software ecosystem. Interestingly OLPC-A has seen this and has been >shifting toward a 'social entrepreneurship' model. >3. Activity Central approaches the ecosystem from a different >viewpoint than either sugar Labs or OLPC. As global innovators both >Sugar Labs' and OLPC's strengths are top down. Ideas and >Implementations flow down from the central organization to deployments >and users. As a service provider, most of Activity Central's ideas and >implementation flow up from deployments and user. Our work flow is to >solve issues faced by individual deployments which we generalize and >push upstream. > > >=== Chris Leonard === > >I have decided to stand as a candidate for election to the Sugar Labs >Oversight Board. > >Since placing my G1G1 order on the first day of availability back in >2007, I've been very interested in learning how I could contribute to >the goals of the education mission articulated by OLPC. With the spin >out of Sugar Labs in 2008, I joined as a member of Sugar Labs, but have >long considered myself to hold "dual-citizenship". > >I've worked on many aspects of the effort. In the early days, I did a >great deal of work on the wikis, earning the medal of the "Order of the >Mop and Bucket" (wiki admin) and even rising to "b'crat" status. I've >been a member of the OLPC Support Gang answering help and collaboration >requests in the OLPC RT system and working to "weave together the >grassroots". I've also done testing of activities and filed numerous >bugs in the OLPC, Sugar Labs and Etoys bug trackers, as well as >performing a lot of ticket clean up of older tickets as a general >contribution to maintenance. I've explored content development, >producing a Latin America and Caribbean targeted .xol content bundle >containing the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in about 100 >languages, including a number of spoken audio versions. > >In recent years I've been focusing my efforts on the Localization >community, working with and then picking up tasks from Sayamindu >Dasgupta as he made his transition to graduate school and in the process >took on responsibilities as the Sugar Labs Translation Team Coordinator. >In that role I have worked to expand our language coverage and >facilitate the recruitment and empowerment of members of the >Localization community that spans Sugar Labs / OLPC and Etoys. I have >advocated on behalf of improvements in internationalization and >localization of our products as well as the tools to perform that work. >I've performed extensive outreach to upstream and downstream efforts to >improve the overall L10n ecosystem. We now host translation for Gnash >and AbiWord upstream's as well as the Waveplace downstream. I arranged >for the Gnome team to provide us with a "release set" to facilitate our >tracking of the upstream L10n bits we pull from them, as well as >facilitating upstream contributions by our localizers that will >ultimately benefit our users. > >I'm a frequent presence in the open meetings of the various Sugar Labs >teams IRC meetings, including the SLOBS meetings and I have advocated >for attention to the needs of our language communities in those forums >as well as encouraging collaborative effort among Sugar Labs teams and >upstream outreach to the wider FOSS community. > >I've gained a wide angle view of Sugar Lab's work, as well as having >delved into excruciating detail in a number of areas. I've had the >opportunity to work with a broad variety of stakeholders and I hope to >use this perspective to help Sugar Labs grow it's community and reach it >goals. > > >=== Laura Vargas === > >Currently working on Sugar Camp Lima 2011. > >Starting the century [2000] I graduated as an industrial engineer from >the Colombian School of Engineering, the same year I began to specialize >in international business, banking and finance at the University of Rosario. > >In 2005 moved to California to study film production [thanks to the >Ministry of Culture and the Fulbright Commission Colombia] leading on my >return the local production team of the film "Love in the Time of Cholera". > >In Bogotá I became part of a select team, designing user experience for >multiple commercial and educational web projects, until Free Software >crossed my path in 2009 and first came the idea of getting involved >with the group which was also dedicated software design aimed at >children of primary school. > >I was accepted as a research associate at Escuelab and from there and >hand to hand with Sebastian Silva, we incubated the research project >somosazucar.org / sugarlab Peru with the aim of encouraging the use and >development of free software SUGAR. > >My vision and reason for filing this application, is to align the >system's efforts towards creating a secure, open and free Sugar Users >Network where end users can interact with designers and developers. > >To achieve this goal I propose first to strengthen the network of local >laboratories, procuring their sustainability and the sharing of their >experiences and results. > >-- >Luke Faraone >Membership and Elections Committee >Sugar Labs > > > >_______________________________________________ >IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >[email protected] >http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
