Re: [IAEP] Priority languages to translate Sugar

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

I added Haitian Creole, even though it's already been partly translated,
because the quality of the translations is weak and not finished. I know
there was some talk in the past about hiring a firm - Educa Vision - to do
the translations and contribute a Haitian Creole dictionary app, but I
don't know the status of any of that because I was not really involved in
it.

On Thu, Jul 14, 2016 at 2:00 AM, Laura Vargas  wrote:

> Here is the first draft of the list for the Sugar translation pending
> projects. Hopefully, to be cosidered by the Sugar Projects Translation Fund:
>
>  https://titanpad.com/SLLL
>
> I have tried to summarize to the best of my knowledge current initiatives
> from local Communities in America. If you have an idea or project to add
> please share the context/continent and relationship of the language with
> the SugarXO Community, and thanks in advance.
>
>
> 2016-07-09 11:25 GMT-05:00 Sebastian Silva :
>
>> El 09/07/16 a las 01:48, Laura Vargas escribió:
>>
>> Recalling Claudia's proposal to make a priority languages list for Sugar
>> translations, here in Perú I did an informal survery with the team of the 
>> Dirección
>> de Lenguas Indígenas del Ministerio de Cultura, and noticing we already
>> have Quechua, Aymara and Awajún, they suggested (in no specific order):
>>
>> - Ashaninka http://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe/pueblo/ashaninka
>> - Wampis http://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe/pueblo/wampis
>> - Shipibo http://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe/pueblo/shipibo-konibo
>>
>>
>> Let's add Cherokee, possibly Navajo and Lakota?
>>
>> To better word a phrase I wrote in another thread:
>> I do believe the mere possibility of attaining fluency in technology and
>> properly appropriable informatics holds the promise to empower native
>> cultures to better cope with modernity and even assume leadership in it.
>>
>>
>> Is someone managing such list already?
>>
>> --
>> Laura V.
>> I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org
>> IRC kaametza
>>
>> Happy Learning!
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop 
>> project!)IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.orghttp://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Laura V.
> I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org
>
> Identi.ca/Skype acaire
> IRC kaametza
>
> Happy Learning!
>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
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Re: [IAEP] FW: Last Day to Save on Kindle Devices, $500 off NordicTrack SpaceSaver Treadmill, $669 Dell Inspiron 17 Core i7 Skylake Laptop

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Tablets currently retailing for $35.33 on Amazon; spoiler alert you can
only order 1 per Prime account, though.

On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 12:54 PM, Caryl Bigenho 
wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Don't know if this is real, but today may be the last day to get the
> $39.99 price on the Kindle… for a while. In my experience, most of these
> sales come back eventually. But, if you are ready to buy for a specific
> project, today seems like a good time to do it.
>
> Caryl
>
> P.S. I really enjoy using mine and it can do many, many things while
> offline, even without "rooting." I found a way (online… but have lost the
> link) to make it accept lots of stuff that was not from Amazon … e.g.
> Google Play Store apps). I was going to do the rooting thing and there was
> a software tool available on line to help do that… But the site was too
> busy and I gave up and went the other way.
>
> The ability to add extra storage with a micro SD card is very nice too.
> BTW…. while offline, they can't push new ads to your device!
>
> --
> From: bestde...@enews.pcmag.com
> To: cbige...@hotmail.com
> Subject: Last Day to Save on Kindle Devices, $500 off NordicTrack
> SpaceSaver Treadmill, $669 Dell Inspiron 17 Core i7 Skylake Laptop
> Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 08:00:00 -0700
>
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> 
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Re: [IAEP] International Society for Technology in Education 2016 Conference and Expo?

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Right, but it's called "Project Rive" on the planet.laptop.org site.

On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 12:23 AM, Dave Crossland  wrote:

> Hi
>
> You mean the https://kidswrite.org blog? :)
>
> On 13 June 2016 at 21:47, Sora Edwards-Thro  wrote:
> > I'll be printing a poster, which I can put on my blog linked to
> > planet.laptop.org if I figure out how to format it so it displays
> properly
> > on a screen. I plan to write up my results in a formal paper once we get
> the
> > data from the pilot concluding in June.
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 9:39 PM, Dave Crossland  wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Sora
> >>
> >> I'm curious about your presentation that is coming up in a couple of
> >> weeks - will your slides be available online? :)
> >>
> >> On 31 March 2016 at 12:31, Sora Edwards-Thro 
> wrote:
> >> > I'll be there presenting research on a literacy project with XOs in
> >> > Haiti.
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 12:32 AM, Dave Crossland 
> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Hi
> >> >>
> >> >> Is anyone involved in Sugar Labs going to
> >> >> https://conference.iste.org/2016/ ?
> >> >>
> >> >> Has anyone gone from SL attended previous years?
> >> >>
> >> >> ISTE 2016 says it is "the premier education technology conference,"
> and
> >> >> will be held June 26-29 in Denver, Colorado, USA.
> >> >>
> >> >> --
> >> >> Cheers
> >> >> Dave
> >> >>
> >> >> ___
> >> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Cheers
> >> Dave
> >
> >
> >
> > ___
> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>
>
> --
> Cheers
> Dave
>
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Re: [IAEP] International Society for Technology in Education 2016 Conference and Expo?

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

I'll be printing a poster, which I can put on my blog linked to
planet.laptop.org if I figure out how to format it so it displays properly
on a screen. I plan to write up my results in a formal paper once we get
the data from the pilot concluding in June.

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 9:39 PM, Dave Crossland  wrote:

> Hi Sora
>
> I'm curious about your presentation that is coming up in a couple of
> weeks - will your slides be available online? :)
>
> On 31 March 2016 at 12:31, Sora Edwards-Thro  wrote:
> > I'll be there presenting research on a literacy project with XOs in
> Haiti.
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 12:32 AM, Dave Crossland  wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> Is anyone involved in Sugar Labs going to
> >> https://conference.iste.org/2016/ ?
> >>
> >> Has anyone gone from SL attended previous years?
> >>
> >> ISTE 2016 says it is "the premier education technology conference," and
> >> will be held June 26-29 in Denver, Colorado, USA.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Cheers
> >> Dave
> >>
> >> ___
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Cheers
> Dave
>
___
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Re: [IAEP] International Society for Technology in Education 2016 Conference and Expo?

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

I'll be there presenting research on a literacy project with XOs in Haiti.

On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 12:32 AM, Dave Crossland  wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> Is anyone involved in Sugar Labs going to
> https://conference.iste.org/2016/ ?
>
> Has anyone gone from SL attended previous years?
>
> ISTE 2016 says it is "the premier education technology conference," and
> will be held June 26-29 in Denver, Colorado, USA.
>
> --
> Cheers
> Dave
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
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Re: [IAEP] [UKids] "Top 50 Educational Apps Are Mostly All Stuck In The Stone Age"

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for passing this on; it's helpful for my research on technology and
literacy.

The authors of the report itself mention television programming as the gold
standard for educational media. But accessing a television program is just
a matter of tuning to the right station; you don't have to download or pay
for anything if you've already got cable (yeah, people are using Netflix
more and more, but let's talk about that another day).

It would be more appropriate to compare apps to literacy games such as
flashcards or puzzles that parents make the decision to purchase
individually. I'd be curious whether the advertising for these traditional
formats is any better or worse than what they're reporting from the digital
"Wild West."

It's interesting that the Forbes author talks about learning methods while
the report authors are more focused on skills. The Forbes author is
concerned that tablets are just a new way of copying / rehearsing, instead
of offering opportunities for deeper engagement.
But copying / rehearsing is a great way to learn basic skills like linking
letters with the sounds they make. It doesn't make much sense to apply
deeper methods for learning letter-sound connections. On the other hand,
higher-level skills like comprehension and storytelling do require these
deeper methods, and there definitely aren't enough apps that promote these
skills.

So, you can still criticize app developers for not doing something crucial
for children, but you need to make sure you're going about it in the right
way.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 2:57 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Not unlike stone tablets, used in classrooms since 1900BC, and similar
> slates used in classrooms until about 1930- anyway that's the comparison
> made here by* Jordan Shapiro* who reviews educational apps professionally:
>
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2015/12/12/the-top-50-educational-apps-are-mostly-all-stuck-in-the-stone-age/
>
>   "Ancient students and teachers of
>   Mesopotamia used clay tablets for the
>   same reason (and in the same way)
>   that we still use dry-erase boards: clay
>   allowed pupils to write, wipe away
>   mistakes, and then iterate. The digital
>   tablet now works in very much the
>   same way. It’s beholden to same
>   essential metaphors. Tablet computing
>   with apps always maintains that same
>   spirit of impermanence and
>   ephemerality. Nothing is stored locally,
>   everything hovers in the cloud..."
>
> Perhaps more optimistically around our much-loved literacy apps:
>
>   "The Joan Ganz Cooney Center
>   report, *Getting a Read on the App*
> *  Stores: A Market Scan and Analysis of*
> *  Children’s Literacy Apps, *is full of tons
>   more interesting discoveries, plus a few
>   recommendations for app developers
>   and the industry as a whole"
>
>
> http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/getting-a-read-on-the-app-stores-a-market-scan-and-analysis-of-childrens-literacy-apps/
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
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Re: [IAEP] [UKids] Amzn Fire Sale No More: pricing rises 86% !

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:21 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:
>
> FWIW "$64.99 Amazon Prime without special offers" is Amazon's very own
> language, an 86% rise over the price-for-everyone on many recent days.
>
As far as I understand, that's *always *been the situation. When I bought
tablets back in September, I had the option of paying $15 more per tablet
to avoid ads, but I didn't consider that an essential feature so I didn't
pay extra for it. Is there any reason it would be essential, especially in
an offline situation where there's no potential to actually click-'n-'buy
anything?
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Re: [IAEP] [UKids] Amzn Fire Sale No More: pricing rises 86% !

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Price has gone up to $49.99

for
Prime members, as far as I can tell. That's a 43% increase over the Black
Friday $34.99 deal, not 86% or double.

The Black Friday sale ended, yeah. And they're not discounting those
particular tablets for Cyber Monday, which is silly. And because everyone
got them on Black Friday, they're not going to be in stock until December
25th. This seems like standard holiday logistics stuff to me, not something
inherently terrible.

More troubling, the 6-pack (buy 5, get one free) deal is no longer a thing.
Actually, you're limited to 2 tablets at a time. They direct you to their
Education and Business solutions page if you'd like to order more / get a
bulk discount.

For those interested in the XO Infinity, the Indiegogo

just launched. The retail price will be $300; backers get a special
discount ($250). . There's also an option to donate one; it's $250.
Finally, $2,390 gets you 10, giving a cost of $240 per unit plus shipping.

Being generous and saying that shipping only costs $10, each Infinity is 5x
the $49.99 undiscounted price of an Amazon tablet. So, if you're looking
for a cheap device to do basic tasks, unless we're expecting the Infinity
to last 15 years and still be relevant 15 years later, tablets are the
better option. I don't think the Infinity team is trying to replace cheap
tablets with their device. They're trying to do something new and exciting,
and that's admirable. But let's not pretend it's cost-effective.

If your goal is environmental sustainability and local ownership, it makes
sense to pay more upfront for a tablet that's produced in-country. Lower
shipping, support local industry, might be easier for staff on the ground
to repair and replace. Wee're definitely monitoring manufacturers in Haiti,
especially now that Amazon tablet price and the price of their tablets is
essentially equal (previously, with the 6-pack deal, we were only paying
$42 per unit...$8 discounts add up over 25 units).

On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Amazon assures us they are not in fact a casino, with oscillating prices,
> oscillating inventory, and oscillating policies, and 86'ing inventory from
> a country whose code is +86 = China ;-)
>
> Perhaps worse from microdeployments' very practical and pragmatic
> perspective, looking out over the high walls of Fortress America, Amzn's
> tablets just don't exist in many countries, so that "local capacity
> building" CAN become more than a fundraising buzzword One Day.
>
> But yes: fyi Amazon has now almost doubled its tablet price range/target:
> "$64.99 without special offers", instead of $34.99-for-everyone so very
> recently.
>
> Braddock's cautions (about deployments having the logistics rug pulled out
> from under them) apply earlier than we imagined...
>
> Oh for the good old days when OLPC'S microdeployment pricing only
> oscillated about 10-to-20% of the XO's "China price" (perhaps that's still
> the case, if OLPC still uses DHL from China).  OLPC's microdeployment
> real/actual pricing (including country-by-country certication, delivery
> from China, customs brokering) being even more stable in the USA, last I
> checked anyway.
>
> The future of student devices / clean browsers / consistent Sugar UX
> remains all too blurry for now ~ might OLPC Australia's "Infinite" hardware
> (modular laptop, announced for September 2016) possibly reconsider a clean
> Sugar experience out-of-the-box?
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
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Re: [IAEP] Sugar Numbers

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

In Haiti, OLPC sent laptops to four towns: Kenscoff, Lascahobas, Thomazeau,
and Jacmel. I've visited three of them to try and figure out what happened
to the XOs. Here's what I found:

https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/kenscoff-special-report/
https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/special-report-thomazeau/
https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/worth-it/

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 6:26 AM, Sebastian Silva 
wrote:

>
> On 15/05/15 21:44, Dan Tenason wrote:
>
>
> laptop.org states that about 900,000 XOs are in Peru. I was wondering if
> Mr. Silva, who is active in Peru, is willing to comment on the number of
> laptops in daily use in Peru.
>
>
> Perhaps like Adam, I am first and foremost a volunteer, who has been often
> critical of central government deployment.
>
> There was a wide, official survey in 2013, whose results summary are
> available here  [1].
> On page 21 it says:
> Laptop Educativa Primaria:  64% operative, 36% inoperative *(XO-1 in
> rural schools)*
> Laptop Educativa Secundaria: 71% operative, 29% inoperative *(XO-1.5 in
> towns, without Sugar)*
>
> The machines themselves have proven quite durable. Two pages later, 52 and
> 53 percent of respondents state that the cause for inoperativeness was
> "deprogrammed/deconfigured". Personally, I attribute this to the misguided
> DRM locking mechanism (wrongly called "security"). I can't think of another
> practical way to "unconfigure" a laptop to the point of it being
> inoperative. This is my informal perception from the field as well: The
> main reason laptops aren't used is this locking mechanism.
>
> Our own (SomosAzucar+SugarLabs Platform Teams) first version
> grassroots-community driven operating system update, which was distributed
> officially by the Ministry in 2014, has a monitoring mechanism that is able
> to tell us how many machines have been installed which have ever been
> online on the Internet. At this time there are over 27300 laptops who have
> ever called home. Considering low connectivity penetration, and the fact
> that this OS is aimed only at primary, rural schools, we are quite pleased
> with the adoption of this project.
>
> Certainly it is still possible to have a massive impact in Peru, thru
> these laptops. Our own volunteer efforts are aiming at setting up a
> permaculture station/learning laboratory in the rainforest region, where we
> can have a place to experiment and work with volunteers in the field, with
> different kinds of technologies applied to the environment and common good
> [2].
>
> Our logic is, the value of the project is not the the sum of value of each
> individual equipment, it is potentially the value of a network of children
> who have cameras and connectivity at their disposal. What is the value of a
> network of children, actively sharing information about their surroundings?
> It is not measurable, I think. This is the inspiration that continues to
> fuel our efforts, regardless of the hardware.
>
> As a technical volunteer in the field, my time is of a lot of value,
> especially since we are in the middle of an expedition.
> So I would ask you to share more about your own project so that we can
> better give you relevant information and try to help you be useful to the
> ecosystem.
>
> Regards,
> Sebastian
>
> [1] http://educaciontic.perueduca.pe/?p=810
> [2] http://pe.sugarlabs.org/ir/ClaVi
>
> --
> I+D SomosAzucar.Org
> "icarito" #somosazucar en Freenode IRC
> "Nadie libera a nadie, nadie se libera solo. Los seres humanos se liberan en 
> comunión" - P. Freire
>
>
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Re: [IAEP] Future Direction

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 7:13 AM, Alan Kay  wrote:

> But there are good materials for learning Etoys, especially in Spanish,
> and especially for teachers.
>

What Spanish materials exist?

>
> The last part I don't agree with because it contains a misconception about
> how to teach Etoys, and especially programming, to children and adults.
>

Thanks for reminding me that alternatives exist. That's what I was trying
to get at with the vague "different models would work differently" but
going into specific details, based on experience, is much more helpful and
promising.

>
> It is not used nearly enough (many pro teachers feel a loss of authority,
> and that is more important to them that in how well the children are
> learning).
>

Yes, we are talking about how to teach children but the real problem is
teaching adults to give up control and certainty.

On Thu, Mar 5, 2015 at 7:27 PM, Tony Anderson  wrote:

> I am not sure about how this could be accomplished where after-school
> programs are not feasible. At some of the schools I support, the teachers
> and students live too far from the school to stay after the normal day is
> over
>

Thanks for reminding us about the other kinds of obstacles to implementing
these programs.









>
> On 03/05/2015 08:18 PM, iaep-requ...@lists.sugarlabs.org wrote:
>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2015 12:13:46 + (UTC)
>> From: Alan Kay
>> To: Sora Edwards-Thro,Gonzalo Odiard
>> 
>> Cc: IAEP SugarLabs,   Tim Falconer
>> ,  "support-g...@laptop.org"
>> 
>> Subject: Re: [IAEP] Future Direction
>> Message-ID:
>> <1578652867.4886132.1425557626158.javamail.ya...@mail.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> I agree with your first paragraph (although I don't know of really
>> discoverable programming systems -- even Scratch has lots of conventions
>> that are hard to discover). But I do agree that 5-10% of an population is
>> better matched up to a given topic, and that the rest need more help of
>> different kinds.
>> But there are good materials for learning Etoys, especially in Spanish,
>> and especially for teachers.
>>
>> The last part I don't agree with because it contains a misconception
>> about how to teach Etoys, and especially programming, to children and
>> adults.
>>
>> We found -- via many attempts -- that 1 on 1 -- then branching out --
>> works much much better than trying to teach a group. The "Drive a Car"
>> project was invented to be the introduction, and it can be taught 1 on 1 in
>> about 20 minutes. Now we have two teachers of "Drive a Car". Then 4 etc. It
>> is worth taking the 100 minutes to carry this out. The reason for this
>> approach is found in your first paragraph, and the key is the 1 on 1 which
>> allows the time needed for specific learnings and questions about the
>> project.
>> Once a class has gotten going, then should eventually be the "first
>> teachers" for the next class, and now the whole new class can be handled in
>> ~30 minutes for the first exercise. This use of "peer teaching" works in
>> other areas also, but it is particularly effective in technique learning.
>> It is not used nearly enough (many pro teachers feel a loss of authority,
>> and that is more important to them that in how well the children are
>> learning).
>> Cheers
>> Alan
>>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
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IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] Future Direction

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 6:49 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:

> We see that all time, is not surprising at all.
> Some (but not all) kids will try until find the way,
> and many adults are used to a more structured way of learning,
> and are afraid of "break something".
>

Everyone's capable of thinking critically and being creative, but not in
the same ways. Within a class of 20 kids, you'll get maybe 3 max who can
figure e-Toys out on their own (in our experience, working with 4th - 6th
graders in Haiti). Then there's another kid in the class who's good at
writing, another who's good at playing music, another who's a natural
leader, and so on...people have different talents. In the developing world,
there are kids who can figure out e-Toys on their own but in my experience
the whole class of kids will not do that - maybe because it does not come
naturally to them, maybe because they are not as interested in it, who
knows?

A good teacher will be able to guide the kids who are not excited about the
software itself so that they can make something exciting with it. I agree,
Gonzalo, that adults in general want more structure than kids. But another
part of why teachers want a manual is so they can give their students
advice on how to do specific things. A kid raises their hand with a
question about how to do something; you want to be able to give them the
answer.

The materials that have already been created for e-Toys are great and we've
used them. And it's not like things are that hard to do once you've
learned. But just the way the menus work, the number of clicks it takes to
get to something cool is unfortunately too many in a lot of cases. That's
if you're looking to teach a class of 20 students at once, and you also
want to teach other things besides e-Toys. Different models (targeting only
advanced students, letting the kids play around on their own over months of
time) would work differently.

On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 5:04 PM, Alan Kay  wrote:
>
>> Interesting that 5th graders learn Etoys very easily but teachers find
>> "the learning curve too steep" hmm
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>   --
>>  *From:* Bert Freudenberg 
>> *To:* Caryl Bigenho 
>> *Cc:* IAEP SugarLabs ; Tim Falconer <
>> timo...@immuexa.com>; "support-g...@laptop.org" 
>>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 4, 2015 11:57 AM
>>
>> *Subject:* Re: [IAEP] Future Direction
>>
>> On 04.03.2015, at 10:44, Caryl Bigenho  wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hi...
>>
>> Some thoughts about Etoys:   Tim Falconer and other folks at Waveplace
>> (deployments around the Caribbean) have made excellent use of Etoys and
>> have made a series of lessons about its use available at:
>> http://www.waveplace.com/courseware/basic-etoys/
>>
>> However, I don't recall seeing anywhere that they use many other parts of
>> Sugar with the students. So the question could become: does Etoys need to
>> be "packaged" with Sugar.
>>
>> Something to consider in answering the question is that Etoys is
>> available in a very portable version as "Etoys to Go":
>> http://www.squeakland.org/download/  One nice feature about Etoys To Go
>> is that you can put it on a thumb drive and move it from a Linux machine to
>> a Windows machine to a Mac machine and the files will all be readable and
>> usable! Also, it leaves nothing behind on the host machine. It is all on
>> the usb drive!
>>
>> We can thank Bert Freudenberg for that! I'm adding him to this
>> conversation so he might be able to give us an update on the latest news
>> from Etoys... is a version for Android and/or IOS coming that would also be
>> as portable as the current Etoys To Go? Universal portability would be a
>> wonderful goal (for Sugar too)!
>>
>>
>> Supporting all the different platforms natively is too much work given
>> our limited resources. Something that could become the "universal" version
>> is this browser-based version (but that too needs work to optimize
>> performance, and support other browsers than Chrome):
>>
>> http://bertfreudenberg.github.io/SqueakJS/etoys/
>>
>> Personally, like Sora, I have found the Etoys learning curve a bit steep.
>> Once I did a workshop about Etoys To Go for a roomful of tech-saavy
>> teachers. They just really didn't get it.  I also tried to contribute to a
>> project where some folks were making some science lessons in Etoys... but
>> found it really difficult to get it to do what I wanted it too.
>>
>>
>> Yep. Etoys was designed with extensive teacher training in mind, but that
>> training never happened on a large scale. Scratch learned from that lesson,
>> and while as a result it is not as powerful as Etoys, it is much more
>> approachable and discoverable.
>>
>> Btw, recently Tim Rowledge worked on the ARM version of Squeak for the
>> Raspberry Pi, which both Etoys and Scratch benefit from. That should
>> benefit the XO-4 too.
>>
>> Yet,  my favorite little ecology simulation is an Etoys featured project
>> "Fish And Plankton". It is great fun to experiment with 

Re: [IAEP] Future Direction

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 10:58 PM, Tony Anderson 
wrote:

> Adding the Gnome Desktop has been very helpful in selling educators that
> the XO is an effective lead-in to their Windows Office oriented secondary
> school curriculum.
>

Yes, principals and other stakeholders are generally extremely skeptical
about the XOs until you show them that it's a "real computer." Later on you
sell them on the idea that technology's more than Powerpoint and Facebook,
but having the Gnome desktop ensures that they'll take an interest in the
first place.


> If we abandon etoys to maintain compatibility with Fedora, what has the
> end-user gained?
> Would a GSOC effort be better devoted to moving from Scratch 1 to Scratch
> 2 than rewriting imageviewer?


We've had incredible difficulty using etoys in classrooms in Haiti, despite
my personal fondness for it. The learning curve is just too high. Scratch
is also very new, but since its menu structure is different / more visible,
both teachers and students have more success with it. There's still a lot
of work to be done on creating / adapting training materials to illustrate
the possibilities for kids looking at it for the first time. But the other
nice thing about Scratch is it's used in many computer science classes here
in the U.S. Nick Doiron and I gave a talk at a middle school about the
importance of Haitian Creole books, and some Haitian-American students
there made us Scratch animations featuring their language.






>
>
>
>
> On 03/03/2015 08:41 PM, Gonzalo Odiard wrote:
>
> >This begs the question, what has changed between Sugar 0.82 and 0.104
>> >that significantly improves the value of the XO in primary school
>> >education in the Give 1 world?
>>
>
>  Ouch. Really? We worked for 5 years for nothing?
>
>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] IAEP Digest, Vol 84, Issue 2

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 9:48 PM,  wrote:

> Good analysis Tony. I live in the Get1 world that started me to work on
> the Give1 world. In fact the Give1 world has changed to Loan1 world. With
> that I could try to predict the chance of success before scaling up or
> saying No.
>
> http://www.scribd.com/doc/64216380/OLPdisAbledC-N-1


The concept of "Loan1" could be relevant at a school level. Start with
giving 5 or 10 XO laptops - schools normally want more, but see what they
do those 5 or 10 first. Or, start with XO-1 laptops, and then upgrade to a
"shinier" version (XO-4) after they're proven they can make good use of the
XO-1s.

But, even if you loan the technology, schools require significant
infrastructure investment to get even the smallest program up and running
(electrical, Internet, training). If you do not provide that, it will be
difficult for the program to work (In your honest report, TK, you explain
that you were unfortunately unable to train the teachers, which made
success unlikely).

Sidenote: TK, I know nothing about working with disabled students, but
maybe you can look at assistive apps

designed
for other devices for inspiration of what might work on the XO.

We will have alot to do with Bernie/XSCE/mOLP when we meet in 3 weeks time.
> Fixing lot of arrangements and playtime followups of the mOLC Project.
>
> http://www.scribd.com/doc/219619484/mobile-Open-Learning-Chest-mOLC-Project


TK, I really like the work you have done with others to get SD card user
accounts working. I think it's a fantastic way to allow the maximum number
of children to benefit from the computers you are able to provide.

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 8:35 PM, Tony Anderson  wrote:

> We should consider the real model of deployments (aside of the national
> ones). Some individual or group in the Get 1 world decides to sponsor a set
> of laptops for a specific school or library in the Give 1 world, the
> deployment.
>
> The role of the sponsor is to coordinate with the deployment, develop a
> plan to provide electrical power (e.g. agreeing to pay for utility bill or
> getting an agreement that the deployment will pay), acquire the laptops,
> arrange for the laptops to be delivered to the deployment (often in
> luggage), and arrange for someone with technical skills to go to the
> deployment to set up the system and show the staff how it works. Naturally,
> my personal interest is that the sponsor should supply a school server and
> one or more routers to provide the XOs with access to some of the
> information the Get 1 world routinely obtains from the internet.
>

That's how many of our programs began in Haiti: the US-based organization
that gives funds to a school or orphanage contacted us to bring laptops and
provide training. They pay for the server equipment that we install. For
the most part, it's working. When it's not working, it's because the
US-based organization did not understand important factors such as
electrical infrastructure and paying teachers' salaries. They do not always
have a vision when they ask for computers of how the computers will be
used; computers are a fun and useful toy. You have to make sure they
understand that using the computers requires more work from their teachers
and teachers expect to be paid for that. Even sponsors who appear to have a
lot of money available do not always want to spend the funds on this, for
whatever reason.

If we need a marketing program, it is to find sponsors to fund and support
> deployments in the Give 1 world. This program should be accompanied by an
> effort to find unused XOs and get them deployed for the simple reason that
> the initial $200 investment is paid and they are immediately usable. Where
> are the XOs given to Mongolia? The program should include particular
> attention to making the task of sponsorship as easy as possible and on
> giving the sponsor a clear understanding of the pedagogical goal of the
> program.
>

Yep, we're also trying to do that in Haiti. Sponsors are the main issue.
Schools have the XO laptops and would like to use them; they do not have
electricity or funds to pay teachers. We'll be reviving our second and
third programs this summer. I hope that experience will enable us to put a
price-tag on getting a program going again so we can start reaching out to
people to pay for it. We already have some rough ideas about what solar,
Internet, and teacher salaries cost in the developing world: I think $3000
- $4000 would do it in most cases, depending on how many laptops you wanted
to start using again. That's for a year of Internet and after-school
instruction, and 25 laptops. I'll some better budget stuff soon.

The initial reaction to Raspberry Pi is that when you added the essential
> peripherals (monitor, keyboard, camera, microphone) and packaged them in a
> portable package - the cost would be comparable to that of an X

Re: [IAEP] Planning for the future

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 11:53 PM,  wrote:

> The web sugarizer is a good attempt for quick start with limited
> activities. Hope this can change quickly.
>

Are you thinking the change will be the addition of new activities, or the

> 2. Support the idea that Sugar must be optimised to work with RPi2. It
> works with Rpi but no development or optimization to make it deployable.
> With  5 millions Rpi sold maybe we can get 1 million SugarRpi running :-)
>

I'd like to learn more about who's using the Raspberry Pi around the world.
At Maker Faire events that Unleash Kids attended in the US, there's a lot
of enthusiasm about using them for DIY electronics projects. Then I heard
about RACHEL , which uses it to
provide offline educational content. We should do more research, but it
looks like there are a few projects using it in the developing world
.

Finally, they have an education fund
 where they match whatever
other funds we're able to raise. I have no idea what the typically-awarded
amount is, but if we're interested I'm sure we could reach out to them and
ask. If we gotta pay people for optimization work, might as well try to get
them to cover half those costs.

3. Try to keep XOs deployment alive and support old/new XO with the best
> Sugar experience for learning.


On that note, who else (what lists) should take a look at this survey
before we pass it on?

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 1:32 PM, Caryl Bigenho  wrote:

> The proposed survey of the educators who have been using Sugar long term
> is a key to making this work. Teachers are very busy.
>

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1swm0KplaCdZnU4hJFcIu9C32PLYMsFt94wxXICgG2PE/edit?usp=sharing

Started here. I don't think it's a bad thing to add other useful questions
- teachers are busy, yes, but they're also eager to provide feedback.








>
>
>
> >-Original Message-
> >From: Leinonen Teemu [mailto:teemu.leino...@aalto.fi]
> >Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 12:35 PM
> >To: 'IAEP SugarLabs'
> >Subject: Re: [IAEP] Planning for the future
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >Sean's idea of 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux makes a
> lot of sense. If possible, by default it could be so that in a start screen
> on could choose 1) Sugar 2) The other. Having installers for Android and
> iPad would be great, too.
> >
> >Why?
> >
> >Bring your own device (BYOD
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device) is becoming popular
> in schools. In this case having one pedagogically visionary OS in the
> children's own devices would be great.
> >
> >   - Teemu
> >
> >> On 1.3.2015, at 23.57, Sean DALY  wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Samuel,
> >>
> >> thanks for this
> >>
> >> I believe Sugar has had a clear pedagogical vision from day one, but
> has not had a strategy for some time.
> >>
> >> Outside the XO, Sugar's historical technical architecture has
> unfortunately kept it out of reach from all but the most determined and
> tech-savvy teachers (and journalists). Without a pancake button download
> and one-click installer, the installation barrier is too high. OLPC's
> historical focus on the hardware was never helpful either, and the main
> reason OLPC got mauled by incorrect memes was they didn't want to accompany
> journalists past the unfamiliarity barrier of the XO (hardware+software).
> >>
> >> In my view there are only a few ways to overcome this issue:
> >>
> >> * Develop 1-click installers for Windows / MacOS / GNU/Linux. I had
> suggested maintaining a matrix of preconfigured (i.e. languages/keyboards,
> prepopulated Journal, selection of Activities) VMs over Oracle VirtualBox,
> whose license allows free distribution for nonprofit and educational
> purposes. Upsides were immediate fullscreen Sugar experience without
> touching the configuration of the host computer. The downsides were huge VM
> images and the effort required to build and maintain the matrix. At the
> time I suggested we approach Oracle for corporate sponsorship, but some
> community members voiced objections.
> >>
> >> * Arrange for Sugar to be preinstalled on low-cost, reliable machines
> other than XOs. This is complex and would require a sales force (or working
> with a partner's) since no OEM will make that investment without a prospect
> of selling many thousands of units. As an alternative I had suggested we
> ride the wave of Raspberry Pi units (five million sold in three years) by
> developing an SD card for it based on Sugar on a Stick, but there was no
> interest in that effort. I still believe a Sugar-branded version (case +
> teacher starters kit -documentation) could have an impact.
> >>
> >> * Migrate to a web-based Sugar compatible with browsers on any
> platform. Lionel's Sugarizer is I think a fabulous solution.
> >>
> >>
> >> I've heard it suggested that marketing could do fund-raising, but
> donors large and small won't want to contribut

Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] interesting article on evaluation

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks; I'll go ahead and reach out to him. I know there are writing tools
available online that we can use once we have the text samples, but
obviously they're not customized for Haitian Creole. A lot of the text
analysis will probably be more qualitative initially as we read through
what the students wrote and try to draw useful conclusions from it.

Out of curiosity: what sort of information becomes relevant when analyzing
a Turtle Art project?

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 5:15 PM, Walter Bender 
wrote:

> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 5:10 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro 
> wrote:
> > Thanks for sharing, Walter. Evaluation is a key component of my own
> research
> > on kids using the XO-1 laptops to develop as readers and authors. Here is
> > the data we hope to collect:
> >
> > -reading habits
> > We will monitor which books individual students are downloading
> from
> > the server. We will also see the comments and rating readers leave on the
> > books.
> > -writing habits
> > We will analyze writing samples published to the server for
> > vocabulary and grammatical complexity. The article is correct to point
> out
> > that these are key predictors of future success. I think it would be a
> good
> > idea to ask the students some of the questions proposed in the article
> and
> > see their responses.
> > -spoken stories
> > For students who are not yet confident as writers, we hope to
> also
> > collect audio samples of oral storytelling / responses to prompts in
> order
> > to gauge their verbal and narrative abilities.
> >  -EGRA test results
> >the EGRA test measures reading level by assessing students'
> ability
> > to recognize letters, sound out words, and comprehend short passages.
> It's
> > been adapted for Haiti and it's used in Africa as well. I don't really
> like
> > it (why so much emphasis on sounding out words, and only one section
> devoted
> > to comprehension, when the goal of reading is comprehension?), but we're
> > using it because USAID likes it and we like getting money from them /
> people
> > who trust them.
> >
> > I remember talking to Martin Dluhos a little bit about his work, but I
> have
> > to admit I don't know much about the possibilities for looking at how
> > students are spending their time via the Journal. Where can I go to find
> out
> > more?
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:43 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito <
> gerald.ard...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Walter,
> >>
> >> I agree with your position about this. I often think of it in these
> terms:
> >> we want to talk about depth of learning and not just proficiency in
> regards
> >> to skills and content. To do that, we need to offer al "alternative
> world"
> >> to the one that argues for more and more high stakes testing. The tools
> you
> >> propose seem really consistent with that.
> >> And thanks for sharing the article.
> >> Gerald
> >>
> >> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Walter Bender  >
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Amidst all the discussion about the future of Sugar, it would be good
> >>> to keep in mind what more we can do in terms of analyitics and
> >>> evaluation. We have a pretty decent mechanism (wrtiten by Martin) for
> >>> data gathering about what kids do; the portfolio for assessing what
> >>> they have done; and a few rubrics for tying together some of these
> >>> data.  The ideas expressed in [1] suggest we could do more.
> >>>
> >>> regards.
> >>>
> >>> -walter
> >>>
> >>> [1]
> >>>
> http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/02/26/things-every-kid-should-master/uM72LGr63zeaStOp9zGyrJ/story.html
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Walter Bender
> >>> Sugar Labs
> >>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
> >>> ___
> >>> Sugar-devel mailing list
> >>> sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org
> >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ___
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> >
>
> Martin Abente can tell you more about the data collection side of
> Sugar (all of that work is in the new release, I believe. It is a
> matter of turning on a server.) Regarding analyzing the writing
> samples, etc. we don't have any automated tools for that in place. (We
> do have some tools for analyzing Turtle Art projects). We also have
> some tools for audio storytelling (the Story activity).
>
> -walter
>
> --
> Walter Bender
> Sugar Labs
> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>
___
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Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] interesting article on evaluation

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for sharing, Walter. Evaluation is a key component of my own
research on kids using the XO-1 laptops to develop as readers and authors.
Here is the data we hope to collect:

-reading habits
We will monitor which books individual students are downloading
from the server. We will also see the comments and rating readers leave on
the books.
-writing habits
We will analyze writing samples published to the server for
vocabulary and grammatical complexity. The article is correct to point out
that these are key predictors of future success. I think it would be a good
idea to ask the students some of the questions proposed in the article and
see their responses.
-spoken stories
For students who are not yet confident as writers, we hope to also
collect audio samples of oral storytelling / responses to prompts in order
to gauge their verbal and narrative abilities.
 -EGRA test results
   the EGRA test measures reading level by assessing students' ability
to recognize letters, sound out words, and comprehend short passages. It's
been adapted for Haiti and it's used in Africa as well. I don't really like
it (why so much emphasis on sounding out words, and only one section
devoted to comprehension, when the goal of reading is comprehension?), but
we're using it because USAID likes it and we like getting money from them /
people who trust them.

I remember talking to Martin Dluhos a little bit about his work, but I have
to admit I don't know much about the possibilities for looking at how
students are spending their time via the Journal. Where can I go to find
out more?

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:43 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito 
wrote:

> Walter,
>
> I agree with your position about this. I often think of it in these terms:
> we want to talk about depth of learning and not just proficiency in regards
> to skills and content. To do that, we need to offer al "alternative world"
> to the one that argues for more and more high stakes testing. The tools you
> propose seem really consistent with that.
> And thanks for sharing the article.
> Gerald
>
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Walter Bender 
> wrote:
>
>> Amidst all the discussion about the future of Sugar, it would be good
>> to keep in mind what more we can do in terms of analyitics and
>> evaluation. We have a pretty decent mechanism (wrtiten by Martin) for
>> data gathering about what kids do; the portfolio for assessing what
>> they have done; and a few rubrics for tying together some of these
>> data.  The ideas expressed in [1] suggest we could do more.
>>
>> regards.
>>
>> -walter
>>
>> [1]
>> http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/02/26/things-every-kid-should-master/uM72LGr63zeaStOp9zGyrJ/story.html
>>
>> --
>> Walter Bender
>> Sugar Labs
>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>> ___
>> Sugar-devel mailing list
>> sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
>>
>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
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IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
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Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Planning for the future (Samuel Greenfeld)

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 12:09 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
 wrote:

> Thanks Sora for sharing. We are working in a questionnaire to get more
> information
> from the local deployments. If you agree, we can send it to you
> to get more information from Haiti deployments.
>

Somehow missed this message yesterday...yes, I'd be happy to get info from
our Haiti deployments.

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 2:24 AM, James Cameron  wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 08:13:04PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote:
> > One other thing I should mention about some Sugar Activities... some
> > of them really lack color. [...]
>
> This was possibly the design decision to support the colourless
> display of the XO laptop when used outdoors, as well as colour
> impaired children.
>
> I don't think it needs to be kept for Sugar, and would welcome a
> change where colour was more heavily used.
>
> (Developers: as a reproducible colouring of the background of the
> icons, for example, along with nicknames always shown on the
> neighbourhood view.)
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
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IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Planning for the future (Samuel Greenfeld)

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 10:13 PM, Caryl Bigenho 
wrote:

> Someone remarked that teachers don't like to use Sugar. If not,... why not?
>
> Ask them!
>
I hate to say that the user's not always right, but in Haiti at least, some
of the teachers are disappointed when they see Sugar because they were
expecting Windows. They've never used Windows, and they don't know what it
can and can't do, but they do know that's the software you have to master
in order to get a job. We ask our Haitian staff to speak during training
about the advantages they've seen using Sugar with kids. I constantly
repeat my mantra "We're not learning to use computers; we're using
computers to learn. But it doesn't always work.

> Obviously, the teachers in Uruguay like it and use it. But not all of it.
>
> So, do a survey of teachers who do use it and find the 10 or 20 top
> Activities and then concentrate on getting them ported to a more universal
> platform (e.g. Android). When I was there a few years back I did ask them...
> and the students. The hands-down winner was Labyrinth!
>
Yep, Labyrinth is fantastic (the mind-mapping one, although the maze isn't
bad either). Folks also like Fototoon, and the music software never gets
enough credit. But I'm just reporting what I've seen and what we wrote up
in our curriculum guide. I'd be up for sending out an actual survey.

> How important is collaboration? Ask the teachers!
>
> Can collaboration be implemented on an Android platform? If not, is there
> an easy work around?
>
I hope so. I know in Haiti the teachers don't use it very often, but that's
partly because it requires a new method of thinking about implementing
lessons and that can be tricky. It's something I always emphasize in
follow-up training sessions; once the teachers and students have gotten a
basic grasp of the technology they start exploring other possibilities like
this.

> One other thing I should mention about some Sugar Activities... some of them
> really lack color. When you look at the typical "educational" software for
> children, it is always bright and colorful with very simple artwork... maybe
> too much so. It also often has cute little tunes playing in the background.
> Teachers, parents, and children have grown to expect this in educational
> software. Perhaps considering brightening up the screens a bit on some of
> the Activities would be something to experiment with.
>
I've been reading a lot about e-books and digital education for school for
the past few weeks. One thing that keeps coming up is the line between
"engaging" and "distracting." As you say, bright and colorful with music is
what people have come to expect, but unless it's very tightly integrated
with what kids are doing it doesn't really enhance the experience. Another
case where the user may not be right...but what can you do?

>
> > Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2015 10:40:01 +1100
> > From: qu...@laptop.org
> > To: m...@jvonau.ca
> > CC: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org;
> lio...@olpc-france.org; sam...@greenfeld.org
> > Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Planning for the future (Samuel
> Greenfeld)
>
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 03:31:50PM +1100, James Cameron wrote:
> > > On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 04:20:02PM -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > > > > On February 25, 2015 at 3:09 PM James Cameron 
> wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 01:20:19PM -0600, Jerry Vonau wrote:
> > > > > > I know this is not a sugar issue directly, more of an OLPC issue
> > > > > > but since Fedora F12 the entire i686 platform's userland is
> > > > > > being compiled with -mtune=atom which would use sse. This causes
> > > > > > problems for some parts of sugar now that java is being used
> > > > > > more and the XO-1 lacks sse.  Fixing one package that uses sse
> > > > > > might fix one issue but this is really a distro wide setting and
> > > > > > other issues may float to the top in other areas.
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks, wasn't aware -mtune=atom was being used upstream.  It
> > > > > explains a lot.  First build after Fedora 11 was 11.2.0 (os874)
> > > > > using Fedora 14.  So if we rebuild everything there may be an
> > > > > improvement?  That's probably something that can be set running as
> > > > > a test.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Wouldn't all the rpms used need to be recompiled to ensure mtune is
> > > > set to match throughout the distro?
> > >
> > > Don't think so. Check my logic:
> > >
> > > The GCC documentation you referenced described -mtune as "Tune to
> > > cpu-type everything applicable about the generated code, except for
> > > the ABI and the set of available instructions. "
> > >
> > > -march is more significant, as "Generate instructions for the machine
> > > type cpu-type. The choices for cpu-type are the same as for
> > > -mtune. Moreover, specifying -march=cpu-type implies
> > > -mtune=cpu-type. "
> > >
> > > If the ABI were different between i586 and i686 arch, that would be
> > > very interesting.
> > >
> > > > Tall order IMH

Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Planning for the future (Samuel Greenfeld)

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for the fact-checking, James. Sorry I didn't correctly attribute
credit to you, Gonzalo.

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 3:33 PM, James Cameron  wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 03:19:18PM -0500, Sora Edwards-Thro wrote:
> > Here's a table Martin Dluhos generated of the start-up times on
> > XO-1s for different OS versions. It influenced our decision-making
> > in Haiti (we have a customized version of 12.1.0); I don't know
> > what they decided in Nepal, where he was based.
> >
> >
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As_jQJX0Me6XdDI2clFpX1FFRHhKMHVFZGkyakdST2c&usp=sharing
>
> No, that table was prepared by Gonzalo Odiard in July 2013, and
> discussed on devel@ at the time, and sugar-devel@ mailing list in
> November 2013.
>
> The results are all because of memory contention, and the fixes are to
> either:
>
> 1.  run the operating system from SD card, (which releases a lot of
> memory), or
>
> 2.  add swap partition on SD card, (which moves little used memory to
> the card).
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.linux.org.au/
>
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Planning for the future (Samuel Greenfeld)

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

I just got started with all of this in 2013, so my relationship with the
project is very different from many others on this list. I'm also not a
programmer. So this is just my perspective as a coordinator with schools
using XOs in Haiti.

I'm going to tackle the below item-by-item; looking forward to seeing what
others have to say. Thanks for bringing these questions to us all.

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Samuel Greenfeld 
 wrote:

> I am not necessarily discounting XOs; but several community members have
> said in the past they were not upgrading to the latest Sugar/OLPC OS
> versions.  This is because newer versions tend to need more resources and
> run slowly on older XO models.
>

 Here's a table Martin Dluhos generated of the start-up times on XO-1s for
different OS versions. It influenced our decision-making in Haiti (we have a
customized version of 12.1.0) ; I don't
know what they decided in Nepal, where he was based.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As_jQJX0Me6XdDI2clFpX1FFRHhKMHVFZGkyakdST2c&usp=sharing

Here was my input on that decision: "My gut is "keep moving forward" and go
with the latest thing because it's the latest, but I'm not the one who has
to fix things when they go wrong...I just report them. Basically, I'm
hoping those who have been involved much longer can help gauge what we're
gaining and giving upin terms of not only speed loading activities but the
support we'll require (12.1.0 more reliable, so less help needed?) and
receive (13.2.0 more shiny, so more help offered?) to keep things running."

Others should speak for themselves, but I think we stuck with 12.1.0
because the deadline to get things figured out was coming up and we wanted
something that had been battle-tested for the upcoming large and ambitious
deployment.

>
>
XOs may always be part of the community; but they are not necessarily going
> to be the centerpiece going forward.
>

 Volunteers have collected and refurbished significant numbers of XO-1s
that are still awaiting deployment. It would be a shame to have those go to
waste when they can do good somewhere. Same goes for perhaps 1000 XOs
sitting in closets in Haiti - we've identified multiple schools (see here
 and
here )
that have abandoned these programs for lack of training and electrical
solutions; a little funding and volunteer-work has been able to get those up
and running again
.

For my own project this summer: if we didn't have XOs, this project
wouldn't be happening, because we'd be spending all our budget on tablets /
laptops instead of the teacher training and programming assistance we'll
need to get good results.

So no, XOs aren't going to be the centerpiece, but in terms of our
operations in Haiti they're definitely a big part of the picture.

>
>- An assessment of what is the current Sugar community, and what we
>would like to see the community become.
>
> All I can give you is what we've got in Haiti. 13,200 XOs were apparently
deployed. See the blog posts mentioned above for evidence that many
actually made it to schools, but those programs did not survive into 2014.

In terms of schools where Unleash Kids volunteers have deployed XO-1s or
revived XO-1 programs:
60 to Mission of Hope (spring 2013)
25 to Silars' Orphanage (spring 2013)
10 to Ferrier (summer 2013)
10 to Ansapit (summer 2013)
20 to Cazeau (winter 2013)
18 to Hinche (winter 2013)
(I know a team went to Leogane as well; I don't know what they did there)
25 to Delmas (summer 2014)
120 in Lascahobas (summer 2014) but only 60 XOs actually being used in
classes
10 in Bois D'Avril (summer 2014)

Programs are still going strong at Silars', Ansapit, Cazeau, and
Lascahobas. Programs have run into funding problems at Mission of Hope,
Ferrier, and Hinche, and Delmas. Bois D'Avril is doing its best, but they
could use some more training.

In 2014 I entered college and started considering how I can approach work
in Haiti from the perspective of a researcher and get funding. Nick Doiron
and I collaborated with others to create software for a USAID literacy
competition. My school funded a pilot test
 of the software in December. We
installed it on the schoolserver and accessed it through browsers on the
XOs.

I plan to acquire more funding to build on that project this summer. We'll
be needing to write new software for some aspects of the project. I hope to
host the application on the schoolserver, so that you don't need an XO or
Sugar to make it work. That's partly because if we get good results and
want to expand the program to more schools who already have their own
devices, we need something that works for everyone. I'm not sure we can ask
them to install a separate OS; we can ask them to go to a web

Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

That's fine; I can look elsewhere to find the standard French versions for
some of these software terms. I'd work on the French translations, too, but
I currently understand the language much better than I actually speak it,
so unfortunately I can't really help out there. Thanks for sending along
the English templates to put into Creole when you get the chance!



On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 12:31 AM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:

> Only a English version is available right now.
>
> There are another activity with a older version in French, but the last
> version is from 2009
> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4195
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 12:44 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro 
> wrote:
>
>> Gonzalo, if a French translation exists and it's easy to include both it
>> and the English translations when making the templates, that would be
>> great. But if there's only room for one language, please have it be
>> English.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 9:12 AM, Gonzalo Odiard 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Nick.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 11:11 AM, Nick Doiron 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I believe the official language code is HT
>>>> On Feb 23, 2015 9:09 AM, "Gonzalo Odiard" 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I can create the templates to do the translation and sent to you.
>>>>> Or I can upload and you can translate them online.
>>>>> The process is a little different than with the pottle server used to
>>>>> translate activities,
>>>>> but the idea is the same.
>>>>> I need the localization code you are using to Haitian Creole
>>>>>
>>>>> Gonzalo
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 7:28 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>>>>> s...@unleashkids.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Good to see it's been updated! I look forward to checking it out to
>>>>>> see what content we're using in Haiti that it's missing. We've been using
>>>>>> our customized course guide
>>>>>> <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti_Course_Guide> to help teachers
>>>>>> design lesson plans, but materials that provide a basic overview of the
>>>>>> activities themselves would also be helpful. How would I go about helping
>>>>>> with translation efforts into Haitian Creole?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Gonzalo Odiard <
>>>>>> godi...@sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A little unrelated, but could be useful. The new version of Help
>>>>>>> activity added information about more activities,
>>>>>>> including many you named.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4051
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Help activity content can be translated if you or other are
>>>>>>> interested.
>>>>>>> Actual content is based in the work of many volunteersin this list,
>>>>>>> and more content can be easily added.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Gonzalo
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 2:44 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>>>>>>> s...@unleashkids.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks for passing that on, Gonzalo! (note to self: when embarking
>>>>>>>> on a project, first go to Sugar Labs and search extremely-relevant 
>>>>>>>> terms
>>>>>>>> like "Story" instead of just assuming the stuff you've seen / used 
>>>>>>>> before
>>>>>>>> is the only stuff that exists).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I like the open-endedness of Story. It also looks like it might not
>>>>>>>> be hard to modify the images it's using - kids could nominate different
>>>>>>>> pictures, or you could take examples from stories the class had read.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:50 PM, Gonzalo Odiard <
>>>>>>>

Re: [IAEP] Note-taking

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for the clarification on speech-to-text stuff, Gonzalo. A project
for the future would be creating a Haitian Creole text-to-speech engine.
We've been relying on the French one, which does not pronounce certain
things correctly.

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 9:00 AM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:
>
>
> I think the Pathagar server is the solution to this particular problem.
>

Looks like it! It's definitely set up along the lines of the library model
instead of the classroom model, which is what we're going for. I'm glad we
don't have to reinvent this particular wheel.

I've got a few questions:
-Does Pathagar support user accounts? (if I post a comment or upload a
book, will it display who posted / uploaded the book?)

We want to collect data to attract funding in the future. Similar projects
have created software that allows them to get information beyond just who's
reading what book: they can monitor whether students read a book all the
way through, and how long they spent looking at each page. Ideally, we'd be
able to access this info remotely (from the States) by getting it from an
online schoolserver installed on-site. But, as I understand Pathagar
currently, users download books to their own computers so there'd be no way
of collecting this info. What solutions could enable us to collect this
info, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of implementing them?

Thanks all. I'll be attempting to follow the instructions on Github
 for installing Pathagar on my
personal machine later today so I can check it out.
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Gonzalo, if a French translation exists and it's easy to include both it
and the English translations when making the templates, that would be
great. But if there's only room for one language, please have it be
English.

Thanks!

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 9:12 AM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:

> Thanks Nick.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 11:11 AM, Nick Doiron  wrote:
>
>> I believe the official language code is HT
>> On Feb 23, 2015 9:09 AM, "Gonzalo Odiard"  wrote:
>>
>>> I can create the templates to do the translation and sent to you.
>>> Or I can upload and you can translate them online.
>>> The process is a little different than with the pottle server used to
>>> translate activities,
>>> but the idea is the same.
>>> I need the localization code you are using to Haitian Creole
>>>
>>> Gonzalo
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 7:28 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro >> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Good to see it's been updated! I look forward to checking it out to see
>>>> what content we're using in Haiti that it's missing. We've been using our
>>>> customized course guide <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti_Course_Guide> to
>>>> help teachers design lesson plans, but materials that provide a basic
>>>> overview of the activities themselves would also be helpful. How would I go
>>>> about helping with translation efforts into Haitian Creole?
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> A little unrelated, but could be useful. The new version of Help
>>>>> activity added information about more activities,
>>>>> including many you named.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4051
>>>>>
>>>>> Help activity content can be translated if you or other are
>>>>> interested.
>>>>> Actual content is based in the work of many volunteersin this list,
>>>>> and more content can be easily added.
>>>>>
>>>>> Gonzalo
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 2:44 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>>>>> s...@unleashkids.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for passing that on, Gonzalo! (note to self: when embarking on
>>>>>> a project, first go to Sugar Labs and search extremely-relevant terms 
>>>>>> like
>>>>>> "Story" instead of just assuming the stuff you've seen / used before is 
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> only stuff that exists).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I like the open-endedness of Story. It also looks like it might not
>>>>>> be hard to modify the images it's using - kids could nominate different
>>>>>> pictures, or you could take examples from stories the class had read.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:50 PM, Gonzalo Odiard <
>>>>>> godi...@sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You can add Story
>>>>>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/es-ES/sugar/addon/4565
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>>>>>>> s...@unleashkids.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hello all,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> We're looking for programming help on student writing software;
>>>>>>>> hope some OLPC SF folks can become involved! I'm over on the East 
>>>>>>>> Coast,
>>>>>>>> but I can join in over Skype / respond to questions via email if folks 
>>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>>> interested.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Here are some more details:
>>>>>>>> Unleash Kids recently received recognition
>>>>>>>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/blog/> for our iloominate
>>>>>>>> <http://iloominate-haiti.herokuapp.com/edit> app (shout-out to
>>>>>>>> Caryl Bigenho for her input and Mike Dawson, whose Ustad Mobile 
>>>>>>>> project was
>>>>>>>> also recognized). The app helps teach

Re: [IAEP] Note-taking

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks, Tony and James. Replies to both your messages below:

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 8:42 PM, James Simmons  wrote
>
> The goodreads website https://www.goodreads.com might be useful.
>

Yes, and features like getting recommendations about what to read based on
what you've already liked and being able to add books to a "want to read"
list would be great. I especially like the "want to read" list because it
implies it gives you a way to identify something as interesting and then
move on instead of feeling obligated to dive right into it. Of course, the
experience of downloading a text to your computer's journal to read later
might replicate that.

>
> I wrote a free book the might be of some use to you:
>
> https://archive.org/details/EBookEnlightenment
>

 Thanks for passing this on! I ended up reading through the whole thing
because everything inside is relevant to this project (even the parts on
scanning in paper books).

A few questions:
You mention that the text-to-speech works for plain text and ePubs; does
that mean it doesn't work for PDFs? I would test this on my personal XO,
but I'm waiting for my charger to arrive in the mail...

On another note, at one point you mention that in the Read Etexts activity
"highlighting may lag behind the words being spoken." Does this activity
actually highlight the words as the computer is reading them? Using the
text-to-speech function built into the Frame of later versions of Sugar, I
haven't seen it do that.

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:03 PM, Tony Anderson 
wrote:

>  Hi, Sora
>
> The idea would be that a comments on a book (accession) would be linked
> from the accession record.
> There is also a Django app (kls), which provides a record for each XO user
> (student or staff) and a record for each XO (inventory). The comments made
> by a user would be linked also to the user. In this way it would be easy to
> look at all comments and rankings by a user or to look at all comments and
> rankings for a given item in the library.
>

Sounds great. It's good to hear that accessions can be linked to one
another; that also got me thinking about how we can accommodate books
accompanied with audio on the server. Currently, when students want to
listen to audio for a book, they have to start the audio in a separate
window and then flip back to the book to read along. It isn't too much of a
hassle, but it would be nice if it was easier.

Would you provide a log-on for each user? With our particular course we'll
be enrolling only 20 students in each class, so everyone will have access
to their own XO and will use the same computer each day. We figured that
means we can skip a log-in step and just identify teachers and students by
the computer they're using to access the server. I know other deployments
are using the same set of XOs for the whole school, so they might need a
log-in; we're just hoping to have one less page for students / teachers to
click through before class can start.

>
> Like most of my projects, this one is 90% complete. The comment link is
> needed. I plan the comments/rankings to look like those in Pustakalaya (
> www.pustakalaya.org). Unfortunately, that app currently only works in the
> internet version. I also have not added the 'url' links capability to add
> other items. Look at Rachel as an example of how the Gutenberg collection
> could be organized into collections for greater accessibility (by the way,
> this sort of direct link is far less demanding on the server than the
> current search method).
>

I'm glad someone's thinking of how to structure large amounts of resources
in the future. That's not exactly our situation, since we're only dealing
with 300 - 500 books in an extracurricular program that doesn't have to tie
things to curriculum. Sorting of some sort will be important, but I guess
my own priority at the moment is giving teachers and students the tools to
share great reading materials with each other. Thanks for giving some
advantages of the direct-link system so that even a non-techie like me can
understand why it might be useful ( ;













> Tony
> On 02/22/2015 09:42 AM, James Simmons wrote:
>
>  Sora,
>
>  The goodreads website https://www.goodreads.com might be useful. You can
> do rankings of books, reviews, have threaded discussions, post favorite
> quotes, interact with G+ and Facebook, and other things that the words
> "reading socially" would suggest.
>
>  I wrote a free book the might be of some use to you:
>
>  https://archive.org/details/EBookEnlightenment
>
>  It is also available on the web. Here is the chapter on the Pathagar
> book server, which might be of interest:
>
>  http://en.flossmanuals.net/e-book-enlightenment/the-pathagar-book-server/
>

Re: [IAEP] Note-taking

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for the additional input, everyone. James, Gonzalo, Tony, some
responses below:

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:14 PM, James Simmons  wrote:
>
> The catch is it only works with plain text files.
>

Yes, my original thought was we could convert PDF to plain-text files and
just use the Write activity to do highlights and such. But, some of the
content we're working with is not OER (that's what happens when you need
high-quality books in a specific language), and I'm not sure if they'll be
okay with us manipulating the files like that. We've got to choose how many
battles to fight with them. Thanks for passing this tool on - looks like
it's better suited than the Write activity for reading.

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 2:51 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
> wrote:
>>
>> I am available to work (on contract) in these features if you are
>> interested.
>>
>
Thank you for the offer, Gonzalo. Fortunately, we do have some money raised
to pay programmers. Right now I'm just trying to identify which tasks to
ask people to tackle. Bear in mind that this is my first experience with
software development; thanks for being patient,everyone, as we try to
figure out what is and isn't doable, and what is and isn't worth doing.

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 7:52 PM, Tony Anderson 
 wrote:

> Also on the list is a 'comments' capability so that learners can make
> comments and give rankings for the books they read from the school server
> library and which would be linked to the book entry on the school server.


Do you currently have a system in place for organizing books on the
schoolserver? I know on the Haiti IIAB release we have a searchable copy of
Project Gutenberg; I don't know how easy it is to add entries to that. In
the past, we just added books by creating another link that goes to a page
with a list of the PDF files available. But since we're looking at adding
at least 300 more books, plus whatever the texts the students are able to
write, so searching  by title would be nice / necessary. We're also looking
for sorting by level and topic. Finally, the ability to comment and give
rankings is essential if you want students to start reading socially. If
you've made / plan to make any headway on the above, I'd love to hear more
about it. Thanks.
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Good to see it's been updated! I look forward to checking it out to see
what content we're using in Haiti that it's missing. We've been using our
customized course guide <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti_Course_Guide> to
help teachers design lesson plans, but materials that provide a basic
overview of the activities themselves would also be helpful. How would I go
about helping with translation efforts into Haitian Creole?

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:

> A little unrelated, but could be useful. The new version of Help activity
> added information about more activities,
> including many you named.
>
> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4051
>
> Help activity content can be translated if you or other are interested.
> Actual content is based in the work of many volunteersin this list, and
> more content can be easily added.
>
> Gonzalo
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 2:44 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro 
> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for passing that on, Gonzalo! (note to self: when embarking on a
>> project, first go to Sugar Labs and search extremely-relevant terms like
>> "Story" instead of just assuming the stuff you've seen / used before is the
>> only stuff that exists).
>>
>> I like the open-endedness of Story. It also looks like it might not be
>> hard to modify the images it's using - kids could nominate different
>> pictures, or you could take examples from stories the class had read.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:50 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> You can add Story http://activities.sugarlabs.org/es-ES/sugar/addon/4565
>>>
>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro >> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello all,
>>>>
>>>> We're looking for programming help on student writing software; hope
>>>> some OLPC SF folks can become involved! I'm over on the East Coast, but I
>>>> can join in over Skype / respond to questions via email if folks are
>>>> interested.
>>>>
>>>> Here are some more details:
>>>> Unleash Kids recently received recognition
>>>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/blog/> for our iloominate
>>>> <http://iloominate-haiti.herokuapp.com/edit> app (shout-out to Caryl
>>>> Bigenho for her input and Mike Dawson, whose Ustad Mobile project was also
>>>> recognized). The app helps teachers write books
>>>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/lascahobas-workshops-final-review/>
>>>> for beginning readers by recommending easy words; now we're shifting our
>>>> focus to supporting student writers.
>>>>
>>>> There are already several excellent writing activities for the Sugar,
>>>> which we're including as we design lessons for a summer writing workshop
>>>> for our XO projects in Haiti:
>>>>
>>>> -Labyrinth <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4078>, a
>>>> mindmapping activity that gets kids thinking
>>>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/2013/07/31/story-activity-continued-and-the-results/>
>>>> about how to lay out their ideas on paper
>>>> -Fototoon <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4253>,
>>>> comic-book style creations; a perpetual favorite
>>>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/first-week-of-classes/>
>>>> -Newspaper <http://seeta.in/j/products/37.html>, an example of how
>>>> templates can enable kids
>>>> <http://blog.unleashkids.org/2013/08/01/journal-mission-of-hope/> to
>>>> explore new formats
>>>> -Prompt <http://olpc-yokwe.tumblr.com/post/39897602954/prompt-activity>,
>>>> literally just presents students with a random image from a library for
>>>> them to write about...proof that simple stuff can be powerful
>>>>
>>>> We want to supplement these great activities with some new stuff, based
>>>> on teacher recommendations. A lot of the focus will be on creating
>>>> templates and scenarios that kids can use as inspiration - for example, we
>>>> can present the kids with a scene of people talking, where the speech
>>>> bubbles aren't filled in, and ask them to fill in the speech bubbles.
>>>> That's one of many ideas for an effective tool.
>>>>
>>>> We also hope to make use of the XSCE schoolserver installed on-site to
>>>> enable the kids to collaborate 

Re: [IAEP] Note-taking

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for passing this on! I'm so glad someone was ahead of me on tackling
this need.

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 8:40 PM, Tony Anderson 
wrote:

> Oops! I forgot to include the install script:
>
> tar -xvf zim-0.62.tar.gz
> cd zim-0.62
> sudo python setup.py install
> cd -
> rm -rf zim-0.62
> sugar-install-bundle zim-4.xo
>
> The easy way is to use a 4GB usb drive (with 1-2GB free). Suppose the
> drive label is XYZ.
> Copy the tarball to this drive. Copy zim-4.xo as well.
>
> On an XO, open the Terminal activity (may not be a favorite - so launch
> from list view)
> You will see the prompt line ending in '$'. Enter the following commands
> (omitting the $ which is there to show that the command follows the $
> prompt.) The # introduces a comment, so don't type the # or the text
> following
>
> $cd /run/media/olpc/XYZ #XYZ is the usb drive label, on older builds, cd
> /media/XYZ may work.
> $nano zim-install $nano is a simple text editor
>
> Paste the script in the blank area, nano requires 'ctrl' + 'V', not 'ctrl'
> + 'v' (i.e. ctrl+shift+v)
>
> Enter 'ctrl' + 'x' to quit nano (answer Y to save the file).
>
> $cat zim-install #shows the content of the file to verify all is well
>
> $bash zim-install #runs the script
>
> The install takes a few minutes and displays a lot of messages.
>
> You can execute zim in the Gnome Desktop (should be in accessories).
>
> You can execute it from the Terminal activity:
>
> $zim
>
> You can launch the zim activity (should be in favorites). After it
> launches, click on the word zim in the toolbar.
>
> Since zim is not a native Sugar activity, there will be two icons on the
> frame: the zim icon and a grey circle. The grey circle shows the Zim
> screen, the icon shows the Zim activity screen. To quit zim, use the quit
> in the file menu or the 'x' in the top right corner. Normally, this will
> show the Zim activity screen. The normal quit button in the toolbar will
> terminate the activity.
>
> The web site is http://zim-wiki.org/. There is also a built-in manual
> (click on help in the Zim toolbar and click on the contents option).
>
> Yours,
>
> Tony
>
>
> On 02/21/2015 08:52 AM, iaep-requ...@lists.sugarlabs.org wrote:
>
>> Subject: Re: [IAEP] Note-taking
>> Message-ID:<54e7d6d4.1090...@usa.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
>>
>> Hi, Sora
>>
>> I have been using zim desktop wiki. I think it would fit this
>> application very well. It installs and runs on
>> all versions of XO.
>>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

[IAEP] Note-taking

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Hi all,

For our upcoming literacy project in Haiti, we'd like users to have the
ability to take notes on books while they're reading them - basic things
like highlighting, drawing arrows and such, or leaving text comments. It
would be nice if they could then save those notes.

I'm guessing many of the books we are using will be available as ePub or
PDF. I know the XO activity Read supports those formats, but I don't think
it has all the features listed above.

So, should we be looking to modify the Read activity or modify the texts
themselves, in order to enable those features for readers?

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

Sora
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Thanks for passing that on, Gonzalo! (note to self: when embarking on a
project, first go to Sugar Labs and search extremely-relevant terms like
"Story" instead of just assuming the stuff you've seen / used before is the
only stuff that exists).

I like the open-endedness of Story. It also looks like it might not be hard
to modify the images it's using - kids could nominate different pictures,
or you could take examples from stories the class had read.





On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:50 PM, Gonzalo Odiard 
wrote:

> You can add Story http://activities.sugarlabs.org/es-ES/sugar/addon/4565
>
> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro 
> wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> We're looking for programming help on student writing software; hope some
>> OLPC SF folks can become involved! I'm over on the East Coast, but I can
>> join in over Skype / respond to questions via email if folks are interested.
>>
>> Here are some more details:
>> Unleash Kids recently received recognition
>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/blog/> for our iloominate
>> <http://iloominate-haiti.herokuapp.com/edit> app (shout-out to Caryl
>> Bigenho for her input and Mike Dawson, whose Ustad Mobile project was also
>> recognized). The app helps teachers write books
>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/lascahobas-workshops-final-review/>
>> for beginning readers by recommending easy words; now we're shifting our
>> focus to supporting student writers.
>>
>> There are already several excellent writing activities for the Sugar,
>> which we're including as we design lessons for a summer writing workshop
>> for our XO projects in Haiti:
>>
>> -Labyrinth <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4078>, a
>> mindmapping activity that gets kids thinking
>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/2013/07/31/story-activity-continued-and-the-results/>
>> about how to lay out their ideas on paper
>> -Fototoon <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4253>,
>> comic-book style creations; a perpetual favorite
>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/first-week-of-classes/>
>> -Newspaper <http://seeta.in/j/products/37.html>, an example of how
>> templates can enable kids
>> <http://blog.unleashkids.org/2013/08/01/journal-mission-of-hope/> to
>> explore new formats
>> -Prompt <http://olpc-yokwe.tumblr.com/post/39897602954/prompt-activity>,
>> literally just presents students with a random image from a library for
>> them to write about...proof that simple stuff can be powerful
>>
>> We want to supplement these great activities with some new stuff, based
>> on teacher recommendations. A lot of the focus will be on creating
>> templates and scenarios that kids can use as inspiration - for example, we
>> can present the kids with a scene of people talking, where the speech
>> bubbles aren't filled in, and ask them to fill in the speech bubbles.
>> That's one of many ideas for an effective tool.
>>
>> We also hope to make use of the XSCE schoolserver installed on-site to
>> enable the kids to collaborate and share the finished products with one
>> another.
>>
>> Our most dire need is help with the programming, but we also welcome
>> input on any and all aspects.
>>
>> Thank you everyone!
>>
>> Sora Edwards-Thro
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 1:49 AM, Aaron Borden  wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> OLPC San Francisco will be hosting our monthly meeting Saturday,
>>> February 14th, from 10AM - 1PM at the downtown SFSU campus, 835 Market
>>> Street, Room 597 (the fishbowl).
>>>
>>> Our meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month. Everyone is
>>> welcome to join us for our monthly meeting! We'll be discussing the
>>> latest in OLPC events and give updates on our local (and global)
>>> projects. There will be plenty of XO laptops with the latest builds to
>>> play around with, too. Please post with any additional agenda
>>> items.
>>>
>>> Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/325843320953044/
>>> Google+ https://plus.google.com/events/crf7g4e84aag78ssn761danaj8s
>>>
>>> --
>>> Aaron Borden
>>> Human and Hacker
>>>
>>> ___
>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Gonzalo Odiard
>
> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
>
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Hello all,

We're looking for programming help on student writing software; hope some
OLPC SF folks can become involved! I'm over on the East Coast, but I can
join in over Skype / respond to questions via email if folks are interested.

Here are some more details:
Unleash Kids recently received recognition
<http://www.unleashkids.org/blog/> for our iloominate
<http://iloominate-haiti.herokuapp.com/edit> app (shout-out to Caryl
Bigenho for her input and Mike Dawson, whose Ustad Mobile project was also
recognized). The app helps teachers write books
<https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/lascahobas-workshops-final-review/>
for beginning readers by recommending easy words; now we're shifting our
focus to supporting student writers.

There are already several excellent writing activities for the Sugar, which
we're including as we design lessons for a summer writing workshop for our
XO projects in Haiti:

-Labyrinth <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4078>, a
mindmapping activity that gets kids thinking
<http://www.unleashkids.org/2013/07/31/story-activity-continued-and-the-results/>
about how to lay out their ideas on paper
-Fototoon <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4253>,
comic-book style creations; a perpetual favorite
<https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/first-week-of-classes/>
-Newspaper <http://seeta.in/j/products/37.html>, an example of how
templates can enable kids
<http://blog.unleashkids.org/2013/08/01/journal-mission-of-hope/> to
explore new formats
-Prompt <http://olpc-yokwe.tumblr.com/post/39897602954/prompt-activity>,
literally just presents students with a random image from a library for
them to write about...proof that simple stuff can be powerful

We want to supplement these great activities with some new stuff, based on
teacher recommendations. A lot of the focus will be on creating templates
and scenarios that kids can use as inspiration - for example, we can
present the kids with a scene of people talking, where the speech bubbles
aren't filled in, and ask them to fill in the speech bubbles. That's one of
many ideas for an effective tool.

We also hope to make use of the XSCE schoolserver installed on-site to
enable the kids to collaborate and share the finished products with one
another.

Our most dire need is help with the programming, but we also welcome input
on any and all aspects.

Thank you everyone!

Sora Edwards-Thro

On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 1:49 AM, Aaron Borden  wrote:

> Hello,
>
> OLPC San Francisco will be hosting our monthly meeting Saturday,
> February 14th, from 10AM - 1PM at the downtown SFSU campus, 835 Market
> Street, Room 597 (the fishbowl).
>
> Our meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month. Everyone is
> welcome to join us for our monthly meeting! We'll be discussing the
> latest in OLPC events and give updates on our local (and global)
> projects. There will be plenty of XO laptops with the latest builds to
> play around with, too. Please post with any additional agenda
> items.
>
> Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/325843320953044/
> Google+ https://plus.google.com/events/crf7g4e84aag78ssn761danaj8s
>
> --
> Aaron Borden
> Human and Hacker
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

Re: [IAEP] Fwd: How Does the New Haitian Sûrtab Tablet Measure Up?

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

We received text messages about it on our Haitian cell phone numbers
several times a day when it first came out (Digicel, the group selling it,
is Haiti's most popular cell company).

It's great to see electronics being manufactured there. The idea that it
can be dropped off at the factory for repairs is appealing.

But, low battery life and the nonstandard charger make this much less
suitable for the majority of Haitians. You don't buy your cell phone from a
store. You buy it from the street. Most people charge their cell phones on
the street too.

As far as WiFi goes, most Internet users purchase USB dongles, and it
sounds like they won't work in this port.

ever heard of this?

 Original Message   Subject: How Does the New Haitian
Sûrtab Tablet Measure Up?  Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 16:00:36 +  From: Inveneo
   Reply-To:

 To:
Yamandu  

   Email not displaying correctly? View it in your
browser.
  [image: Inveneo: Connecting Those Who Need It
Most]
 How Does the New Haitian Sûrtab Tablet
Measure 
Up?
By Sam Perales, Inveneo Senior Field Engineer

Since 2013, consumers have had their eye on a new Haitian-made tablet,
known as the Sûrtab. It's price and weight may seem ideal, but how does it
measure up in terms of  durability? With all of Inveneo's work in
Haiti,
the team wanted to run the Sûrtab7 WIFI through the paces using Inveneo's
standard testing
processto
see how well the Sûrtab performs.

What were the results?

*Product Description*

Sûrtab tablet manufacture is producing lightweight and affordable tablets
made in Port au Prince, Haiti. This is a new company, and availability is
limited as they ramp up operations. They are currently offering three
models: Sûrtab7 3GHD, Sûrtab7 3G, and Sûrtab7 WIFI.

Inveneo decided to review the lowest-cost touchscreen Sûrtab7 WIFI model.

Sûrtab7 WIFI comes at an affordable price of ($100 USD +/-) making it
attractive for consumers (especially those in developing countries). The
Sûrtab7 WIFI comes with Android 4.1 and access to the Google Play store
which has over 600,000 apps and games. The Sûrtab7 WIFI is a 7-inch device
with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

In addition, the tablet:

   -

   Runs on a Dual Core Allwinner 1.2GHz processor.
-

   Comes with 512MB of RAM.
-

   Has 8GB of storage expandable to 32GB via the microSD card.
-

   Features an HDMI port and two cameras (0.3MP in front and 2MP on the
   back).
-

   Is very lightweight, weighing in at 287 g / 0.63 lbs which makes it easy
   for travel and transport.

A warranty is available, and in Haiti, tablets will be repaired at the
factory. Inveno's Sûrtab representative explains further. "The local
support/warranty is huge when used in Haiti. The tablet can just be dropped
off at the Sûrtab production facilities and will get repaired."

*Inveneo's Quick Thoughts*

*Pros:*

   - Budget friendly
   - A protective rubber case for harsh environments is included with tablet
   - Lightweight
   - Front and back camera
   - SD card expansion and HDMI port

*Cons:*

   - Screen can be hard to see depending on angle of view and its display
   is not very bright making it hard to see at times.
   - Battery life is limited, 2-4 hours under stress conditions.
   - Has a special power port and adapter (not the common micro-USB) which
   may be difficult to replace if lost or stolen.
   - Limited availability for the time being although surtab will be
   launching an online sales platform making it easy for international
   customers to easily purchase tablets.

*Since the Sûrtab7 WIFI Is Cheaper, Does That Mean Lower Quality?*

Since the Sûrtab7 WIFI is nearly half the price of its competitors, it is
natural that the overall performance and hardware specifications would be
lower than those of its rivals, for example:

   - The battery life is poor, surviving only 2.5 hours under cpu stressed
   conditions.
   - The display is not as sharp nor bright as other tablets in its class,
   and depending on what angle you view the display, it could limit visibility.
   - The non-standard barrel connector power port makes it difficult to
   find a replacement, especially in developing countries. This means you'll
   have more equipment to handle and maintain.
   - The micro-usb adapter is only used to connect it directly to a
   computer for data transfers. In tough environments it may be more
   vulnerable to the elements since there are more ports/openings than are
   found

Re: [IAEP] Open Source Software Opportunities

[Sora Edwards-Thro]

Hey Caryl,

I noticed you included the Enabling Writers contest with its top prize of
$100,000 in your blog post. Just wanted to put out there that Nick Doiron
and I have already started working on our entry; there's some
proof-of-concept code up on github .
We're still in the early stages but maybe that's the best time for people
to jump on / put in their own 2 cents.

Thanks all,

Sora


On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 2:02 AM, Caryl Bigenho  wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> Last week I gave a talk at the San Gabriel Valley Linux Users Group
> (SGVLUG) about volunteering for OLPC projects and other open source
> educational projects. I promised to put links for the resources and
> contacts online on the ossie-SoCal blog website. Today I started putting
> things up and discovered that it was going to take a little longer than I
> expected.
>
> So far, I have just put up those opportunities related to software. If you
> would like to check them out (including a software development contest with
> a $100,000 prize), you will find descriptions and links available at:
>
> http://socalossie.wordpress.com
>
> I will be adding opportunities to volunteer with various small deployments
> in the near future. If you sent information before, it will be included. If
> you have something else you would like me to include, send the information.
> If you have  other software opportunities you would like to let people know
> about, you can add them in the comments to the current post.
>
> Caryl
>
> P.S. Braddock, could you post this on the SGVLUG list?
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
___
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