On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 1:18 PM, David Farning <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 11:41 AM, Walter Bender <[email protected]> > wrote: > > == Sugar Digest == > > > > 1. The 'New York Times' had an article about the tablet invasion, No > > Child Left Untableted, in this Sunday's magazine section [1]. The > > author of the article was a skeptical of the approach taken by the > > Murdoch-backed Amplify tablet. I've not seen the Amplify tablet yet, > > so it is difficult to judge, but there is one photograph [2] in the > > article that says it all: a tablet showing a blue screen with the > > words "Eyes on Teacher". When technology becomes the affordance used > > by the teacher to control the class, it is a sure sign that the use of > > technology has gone seriously awry. With Sugar, we celebrate the fact > > that the students are so engaged with learning that the teacher can > > (in some cases literally) throw the stick out the window. It seems > > with Amplify, they are handed a $199 digital stick. > > > > 2. There has been a renewed discussion on the lists about Android. > > (The topic seems to come up once every 2-3 months.) Meanwhile, the > > Sugar developer team continues to make great headway. Our approach has > > two stages. The first stage [3] is to make HTML5/Javascript a > > first-class development environment for Sugar. The basics are largely > > complete: we already have about a dozen new activities that use the > > new framework. There are many details that still need addressing and > > undoubtedly the framework will change as we gather more experience, > > but please do try it: early feedback is very helpful. The second stage > > [4] is to migrate to the HTML5/JS apps to the Android platform. We > > also need to migrate some Sugar services to Android, such as the data > > store, and design some mechanisms for collaboration (we are exploring, > > among other things, a web-services approach to collaboration). > > > > There are other approaches to getting Sugar up on Android. I blogged > > about some efforts last year by students at the Homi Baba Center to > > get Linux running on a generic tablet in order to run Sugar. George > > Hunt has been taking a similar approach. Ruben Rodríguez has been > > working with Ubuntu on Android, which would also support Sugar. These > > efforts would likely provide more backward compatibility to existing > > Sugar deployments; the downside is the need to reboot to launch > > Android apps. As always, the problem with dual-boot in a school > > setting is that the maintenance and support costs double. > > > > At the core of both efforts remains a dedication to what makes Sugar > > valuable to the learner: the emphasis on tools for constructing; the > > Journal providing interoperability between objects and a place for > > reflection; the facility with which learners can collaborate; the > > empowerment of the end user as the constructor of both tools and > > knowledge. We remain dedicated to the principles of Free Software, > > even in the commercial world of Android. > > Thanks for the detailed response. I must confess that I am suffering a > bit from Android fatigue. My personal position is to wait and see. > The chatter that the Association led Android UI and framework is not > free software is a bit disappointing. > > I'm also pretty upset about OLPC's direction with the tablet, to go down the proprietary/non-free/locked-down route (or that is what it seems like at the moment). There was a time when in our community we had energetic discussions over *just* transitioning from GPL v2 to v3. http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2011-April/030926.html > The HTML5/JS work on Sugar seems to be a reasonable midterm approach. > The lingering question is how much work will it take to make the sugar > bits available within the framework. Is there an implementation plan > and funding available to complete the work? > > > === In the community === > > > > 3. International Turtle Art Day will be on October 12. Pacita Peña and > > Cecilia Alcala will be hosting an event in Caacupé and there will be > > other events around the world sharing ideas and resources. Brian > > Silverman and Artemis Papert will be featured guests. There are guides > > to holding a Turtle Art Day event available in English [11] and > > Spanish [12]. (Tip of the hat to Claudia Urea, who has led this > > effort.) > > > > 4. From 10-13 October, there will be an EduJam!, in Asunción [7]. On > > the 13th, we will hold a hack-a-thon, and hopefully make some headway > > on some of the open issues with Sugar on Android. We will also take > > advantage of the occasion of so many Sugar oversight board members > > (Gonzalo, Daniel, Claudia, and me) in one place to hold a SLOB meeting > > (most likely on Sunday morning). > > > > 5. Google Summer of Code [8] is coming to a close. We have had a > > terrific group of student interns, who contributed to a wide range of > > projects. Many thanks to: Kalpa Welivitigoda, Akshit Khurana, Marion > > Zepf, Casey DeLorme, Erik Price, Rahul Gaur, and Suraj KS. Also, many > > thanks to our community mentors, including Marten Abente, Lionel > > Laské, Claudia Urrea, Gonzalo Odaird, Remy DeCausemaker, and Aneesh > > Dogra. > > > > === Tech Talk === > > > > 6. We are wrapping up Sugar 100 and need all hands helping with both > > closing a few outstanding tickets [9] and helping with testing. > > Gonzalo and Jerry have been preparing images (Fedora 18) for OLPC AU > > that can be used for testing [10]. Kudos to our release manager Daniel > > Narveaz!!! > > > > 7. Tom Gilliard has been making SoaS images on Fedora 20 that can also > > be used for testing [11]. Meanwhile, the previous release of Sugar > > (98.8) is available on Ubuntu (12.04) [12] thanks to the efforts of > > Quidam. > > > > === Sugar Labs === > > > > 8. Please visit (and contribute to) our planet [13]. > > > > ---- > > > > [1] > http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/no-child-left-untableted.html > > [2] > http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/09/15/magazine/15klein3/15klein3-sfSpan.jpg > > [3] http://developer.sugarlabs.org/web-architecture.md.html > > [4] http://developer.sugarlabs.org/android.md.html > > [5] http://people.sugarlabs.org/walter/Guia_Ingles_10-08-2013.pdf (en) > > [6] http://people.sugarlabs.org/walter/Guia_Esp_12-08-2013.pdf (es) > > [7] http://ceibaljam.org/drupal/?q=edujam2013 > > [8] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Summer_of_Code/2013 > > [9] > http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/query?status=new&status=assigned&status=accepted&status=reopened&priority=Immediate&priority=Urgent&component=Sugar&status_field=New&order=priority > > [10] http://build.laptop.org.au/xo/os/sugar-100 > > [11] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Fedora_20#SoaS_86_64-dm_.28remix.29 > > [12] > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Ubuntu#Ubuntu_12.04.2_LTS_-_Dextrose_Sugar_Live > > [13] http://planet.sugarlab.org > > > > > > -- > > Walter Bender > > Sugar Labs > > http://www.sugarlabs.org > > _______________________________________________ > > Sugar-devel mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > -- > David Farning > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > _______________________________________________ > Sugar-devel mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel >
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