Re: [sugar] [IAEP] Sugar used for kids with disabilities.
Hi, I mistakenly CC'ed rather than BCC'ing in an earlier message in this thread. If you'd kindly edit out the @gallaudet.edu addresses, I'd appreciate it, as none of the folks on that list are at all technical, and wouldn't know Sugar from Salt. ;-) And the likelihood of them signing up for a mailing list, spending time on a wiki or cranking up IRC is next to nil. (I CC'ed them specifically to show that there was, once again, some interest in this technology for deaf students, as they have periodically hinted that they might try to get something going in deaf schools in Costa Rica.) Thanks! ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Sugar used for kids with disabilities.
On Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 18:03, Rafael Enrique Ortiz Guerrero < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hello > > Lately in OLPC-Sur mail list there has been discussions about working with > kids with hearing discapacities > especially i like one experience in Itagui Colombia: > > http://inclusion.semitagui.gov.co/index.php?title=Portada > > other professors in Uruguay are also interested in these matters > > But my doubt here it's about if are out there studies, thesis, or academic > dissertations about how GUIs can have an impact in child's or persons with > disabilities not just censorial but also learning disorders. > > Are there specific studies related to Sugar? > > IIRC this was previously discussed so any links or pointers are welcomed > My intention is to give this feedback to professors on Colombia and > Uruguay. > Hi, I'm at Gallaudet University, which is the only accredited liberal arts university for deaf students world-wide. Many people are unaware that the campus also houses an elementary school and a secondary school for deaf students, as well as a child development center for pre-schoolers. There are a few people on campus interested in finding ways to bring the XO to deaf children in developing countries. I am unaware of any formal studies, but as for large-scale deployments that are probably being studied, see the following article from March 2008, "Illinois School for the Deaf gets free computers" http://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/jacksonville_17737___article.html/students_computer.html Be sure to follow the link to "More photos" as well. I don't know how long the article will be available, considering that it was published in March... Also note that Antonio Battro, Chief Education Officer at OLPC has been working with deaf children and computers for to decades in Argentina, (see www.byd.com.ar) and stated a while back "we are planning a program for the deaf in Uruguay with OLPC/CEIBAL"... Are the professors you're talking to already involved with that effort? Rafael Ortiz > > ___ > Sugar mailing list > Sugar@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar > > -- Ubuntu Linux DC LoCo Washington, DC http://dc.ubuntu-us.org/ ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Sugar Works Now!
On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 20:42, Marco Pesenti Gritti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Why no one is posting the good press these days and I have to find it > out myself??? :) > > http://www.olpcnews.com/software/sugar/xo_laptop_software_upgrade_review.html I guess I've been remiss. The XO with the triangular layout and the funky computer icon in the center is mine. ;-) (On the other hand, I appeared to be the only one in the room who gets a rainbow-daemon error every time I start the browse activity. That was after a clean install of the gg image. The browser still starts, but I wasn't sure where to post the error, and haven't had time to look much.) -- Ubuntu Linux DC LoCo Washington, DC http://dc.ubuntu-us.org/ ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Give a Laptop, Change the World : G1G1 2008
On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 11:52, Eben Eliason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Walter Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I prefer "the Sugar learning platform" > > +1 from me as well. (I'm torn on "platform" vs. "environment"; the > latter actually sounds a little friendlier, to me.) Because I often miss some (or all) of a discussion I wasn't going to weigh in. However, I am also inclined towards "environment" being a more generally understood and inviting word. "Platform" means something to techies -- often a combination of architecture and OS, and I suppose desktop manager, on which applications run. (It means something else entirely to political wonks.) "Environment," especially for something that is "an education project, not a laptop project" seems a better fit wherever possible. ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] [IAEP] Developing activities.
On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 5:50 PM, Samuel Klein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM, David Farning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: >> >> 1. Create [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list. We have discussed >> this a few time over the last few months. Now that we are getting >> distro (other the OLPC) related comments the time seems right >> >> 2. Create [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list. This will focus >> on activity developer related issues. > > Please don't fork sugar and activities lists without need! Regardless of > where these lists are hosted, we should have one of each. olpc already has > a general olpc-only devel list, the sugar and activities lists aren't meant > to be so restricted. These lists run on Mailman, right? So, has anyone experimented with Mailman's "Topics" feature to effectively have one list that's sort of "split"? (I can't say I've had any experience with lists like that, but I keep noticing the feature in the lists I run, and have been tempted to turn it on to see what it does...) ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Please help test our new 8.2.0 Alpha release candidate, 8.2-757!
>> * MeasureActivity fails with: >> ImportError: No module named Numeric Though the yum broken dependency still stands, it appears folks are working on the MeasureActivity already... (if I read things right). http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/7467 ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Please help test our new 8.2.0 Alpha release candidate, 8.2-757!
On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 3:12 PM, Kevin Cole <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 10:07 PM, Michael Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > >> We are thrilled to announce our zeroth (Alpha) 8.2 release candidate, >> 8.2-757, valid until Wednesday, September 3. >> > > Since I've probably "done it to myself," I thought I'd ask here first > before submitting what may not be a bug, or two. I did a clean install of > joyride-2263, and have done subsequent "olpc-update's", together with "yum > update's". I don't know at which stage I lost a few things, but since at > least 2301, and the above 8.2-757, > > * MeasureActivity fails with: > ImportError: No module named Numeric > (I have the entire log handy, but it's still got all the ANSI color > escapes in it.) > P.S. I don't have the laptop handy but I believe "rpm --verify python-numeric" gave me an a-okay... So, it's there, but not being found. (Or I'm mistaken about what it's looking for.) ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Please help test our new 8.2.0 Alpha release candidate, 8.2-757!
On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 10:07 PM, Michael Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We are thrilled to announce our zeroth (Alpha) 8.2 release candidate, > 8.2-757, valid until Wednesday, September 3. > Since I've probably "done it to myself," I thought I'd ask here first before submitting what may not be a bug, or two. I did a clean install of joyride-2263, and have done subsequent "olpc-update's", together with "yum update's". I don't know at which stage I lost a few things, but since at least 2301, and the above 8.2-757, * MeasureActivity fails with: ImportError: No module named Numeric (I have the entire log handy, but it's still got all the ANSI color escapes in it.) * yum has a broken dependency: sugar-evince-2.20.1.1-3.olpc3.i386 from installed has depsolving problems --> Missing Dependency: libpoppler-glib.so.2 is needed by package sugar-evince-2.20.1.1-3.olpc3.i386 (installed) Error: Missing Dependency: libpoppler-glib.so.2 is needed by package sugar-evince-2.20.1.1-3.olpc3.i386 (installed) ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] new 8.2.0 beta joyride - upgrading via control panel ?
On Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 11:26 PM, Ixo X oxI <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've tried to use several joyrides and the control panel / upgrade > option... it just sits at 9% and does nothing. On 2269 I even left it > over night to see if it needed more than 10 hrs.. still nothing. > (I have no XS server, is one required?) I've never seen it work at all.. ;-/ > > Is there an estimate on the length of time for the upgrade process.. clean > system with no activities? with G1G1 activity pack? with just 5 > activites? How long should I wait to get past the first '9%' and > downloading? How much does it need to download first ? > > -iXo > p.s. Shall I file a TRAC ticket with the list of Activities I have ? For what it's worth, I was working with the joyride that was suggested at the start of the thread: 2263. I managed to get around whatever was hanging it up by using: http://dev.laptop.org/~bert/joyride-activities.py from the command line, and then doing the sugar control panel software update. (And then, for kicks "yum update") -- Kevin Cole | Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP) Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/ Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135 Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746 ". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Please help test our new 8.2.0 weekly beta, joyride-2263!
On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 2:45 PM, Michael Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > We are thrilled to announce a new test build, joyride-2230, valid until > Wednesday, August 13. > > Please help test it according to the detailed instructions at > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Friends_in_testing > > while we still have time to fix issues you might find! I'll look at the bug reports but since others here have gotten further, I thought I'd ask: I decided to try the clean-install. It took me a few tries to figure out I needed to put my developer key back where it belonged if I wanted to boot without the USB drive. The problem: Each time I start the software update to get my activities, it quickly goes out and finds a list, and asks me if I want to update them. I tell it to install/upgrade them all. It says "Downloading" but the progress bar never progresses, and it appears to be doing a whole lot of nothing. (This is regardless of whether I'm using wireless or wired.) ifconfig indicates I'm connected, with the expected IP address, and I see a lot of flashing of network and disk activity but after an hour, no progress. ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] On the Naming of Sugar
On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 3:08 PM, Benjamin M. Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > To resolve this, I am going to attempt to list a number of important, > distinct digital objects that this work has produced. I will also > introduce cutesy codenames. I hope that the Sugar developers will adopt a > clear set of distinct names, and I do not care if they choose these names > or other names. So you're saying Sugar is now suite? ;-) ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Controversies
On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 10:11 PM, Walter Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks for putting this page together. We've set up a mailing list for > discussing the educational mission here: > > http://lists.lo-res.org/mailman/listinfo/its.an.education.project Lord save me from YAML (Yet Another Mailing List, not to be confused with Yet Another Markup Language). ;-) -- Kevin Cole | Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP) Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/ Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135 Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746 ". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] xomail
On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:05 PM, Joshua N Pritikin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think a better angle on the problem is to be more aggressive about > blocking email. Can we GPG sign email by default? I hope you weren't serious about GPG either. ;-) I suppose people can tolerate a wee bit o' garbage at the end of their messages, if for whatever reason they don't have access to GPG (e.g. I don't get this list in my GPG-capable MUA, but use the web interface -- and don't particularly like FireGPG). But do you want people to type a password on every send? If not, aren't you kind of defeating the whole point of GPG, or am I misunderstanding you? -- Kevin Cole | Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP) Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/ Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135 Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746 ". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] [Community-news] on Sugar
On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 10:43 AM, Peter Krenesky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The sugar team has accomplished an amazing amount in the time they've > spent so far. However, there are so many features, like security, that > were not implemented or implemented as well as they should have been. Mentioning "Windows" and "security" in the same message, nay, the same universe, is something of an oxymoron. When even dyed in the wool Microsoft fanboys and fangirls are abandoning Vista and begging and pleading with Microsoft, it just doesn't seem prudent to say "Let's go with FOSS running on top of Windows". Though I'm a zealous supporter of FOSS, if people were saying something like "Let's run Sugar et al on Mac OS X" I'd be more inclined to say "Well... okay." Before Microsoft, the concept of infecting a document, seemed like complete nonsense. (WordPerfect and other word processors had macros as well. But the macros didn't need to travel embedded in the document.) Put another way: Assuming for a moment, that hell has frozen over, and Microsoft has decided to play nice. When a Fortune 500 company (or two, or 20) calls Bill et al and says "Holy Crap! There's a hole in Vista big enough to fly a starship through!" Do you think the answer will be "Sorry. We're working on Sugar right now." Or is the OLPC project more likely to end up on the back burner? Not that the FOSS crowd are all working on the XO night and day, but my suspicion is that the focus is a wee bit more directed. And as I've already commented, Microsoft is a bit like Lucy Van Pelt: "This time I promise to let you kick the football, Charlie Brown" It's not so much a hatred of M$ as much as it's an incredible lack of trust. They'll need to play nice for a couple of years, minimum before I let my guard down. I think the reason that FOSS has grown so much in the past several years has more to do with dissatisfaction with proprietary software than with cost. (I've bought and paid for FOSS.) -- Kevin Cole | Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP) Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/ Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135 Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746 ". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] on Sugar
My real fear regarding getting in bed with Microsoft is that Microsoft devours whatever it touches, and like pushers "the first hit is free..." It's X years down the road that concern me. Putting "Microsoft" and "plays well with others" in the same sentence rarely works. Also, this talk of "other OS's besides Linux..." Has there been much mention of "Mac OS X" or by other OS's do we really mean "Windows. Period." Does Apple wanna come out and play again -- considering their ancient but somewhat lapsed interest in the education market? ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] GOSC Mesh Visualization Mock-ups
> This is Justin Tanner, I'm working on a proposal for the Google > summer of code, to create different mesh network visualization > schemes, here are some mock-ups I've created to brainstorm some ideas. > Interesting stuff. > This next visualization is called "Planet Activity". The goal was to > create a mesh visualization similar tot the OLPC neighborhood, but > with space-like theme. > > http://www.jwtanner.com/images/svg/planet1.svg > > In this picture, the planets represent activities, the more popular > the activity, the bigger the planet. If a user has not joined a group > activity, he/she sits on an asteroid. > The others I find interesting. However, I think rotating the figures (particularly the 45 degree rotation) makes for a confusing image. When the XO person icon is upright, it's reasonably clear what it is. Rotated 45 degrees, it sort of looks like addition (plus) with something in a corner. Rotating 90 degrees suggested multiplication to me. While one could easily get used to it, the Planet Activity display didn't win me over. On a similar note, do the people really need to tumble down the ski slope, or do you think it's too boring to have them remain upright? The Leapfrog display worked best for me... ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
Re: [sugar] Image Recognition
On 3/18/08, Benjamin M. Schwartz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Higher rates of deafness in the OLPC target countries make this even more
> important. The XO has a distinct focus on real-time text-based chat
> ("IM"). I suspect that this will do a lot to improve communication
> between deaf children and hearing children, much as it seems to have done
> in the US. Chat also provides an easy opportunity to bring deaf children
> into the classroom, simply by designating one or two hearing students as
> transcribers for each lesson, and letting the trancribers and deaf
> children share a chat session.
While it's true that IM and closed-captioned television have been a
real boon, many deaf
students have very poor written language skills -- particularly those
who were born deaf or lost their hearing before age two. The term used
is "prelingual deaf". Unless prelingually deaf children are immersed
in sign language from birth, the cognitive system that processes
language quite often does not form correctly or completely.
Nonetheless, I'd agree: Chat can be very helpful for ALL deaf users.
> Regarding sign language, I doubt that automated video analysis and
> transcription of sign languages will be possible. The CPU is similar in
> processing power to the best desktops of 1997. In 2000, real time video
> analysis could recognize fewer than 100 gestures, with an error rate of
> almost 10% (http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/ICPR.2000.906112).
> ~ Today, sign language recognition is still just a research project, even
> with unlimited processing time.
>
> Video capture is already possible on the XO, and may be useful for
> learning sign language if the teacher is only available over the internet.
> ~ Video playback could certainly be useful for learning a sign language,
> perhaps with a video course provided on a USB stick.
I was thinking more along the lines of the video capture rather than
analysis and transcription. There are also some efforts underway to
produce clear animated sign a la high-quality Second Life actors.
I've seen one demo that I was wowed by. I've got the URL filed away
somewhere...
> There appear to have been a number of efforts to codify written forms for
> sign language, notably "SignWriting" (signwriting.org). There is even a
> Python-based program for "SignWriting" (http://signwriter.takdoc.de/). Is
> this writing system, or another writing system, viewed favorably by the
> community at Gallaudet? If so, creating a sign-language writing Activity
> for OLPC might be an appropriate endeavor for Gallaudet students.
Honestly, I don't know for certain. There was a newspaper for deaf
readers with a wide circulation -- "Silent News" if memory serves.
For a time, it offered a back page which was all in a sign writing
system, but I believe it received very little interest from anyone,
and was dropped. I don't think people are particularly hostile to it,
but view it as a bit "silly". I've been at Gallaudet a long time and
cannot think of anyone who took it very seriously -- other than a few
academics who were convinced they could get an article or grant money
out of it. ;-)
--
Kevin Cole| Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP)
Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/
Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135
Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746
". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer
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Re: [sugar] Image Recognition
Hi, I'm new to this list, but Ivan Krstic suggested this was the group I'd want. I'm at Gallaudet University, which some of you may not know is the only accredited liberal arts university for deaf students in the world. We're 70% federally funded and in return for that funding, are supposed to serve as a model for deaf education in the US. We're also supposed to provide statistics on the demographics of deaf children and youth, as well as data on their academic performance. We have a primary school and a secondary school for deaf students on the same plot of land as the university. And, we have an international outreach arm. Which brings me to the obvious: Deaf kids in developing countries often have no access to a traditional education and may not even attend school while their hearing peers do. A low-cost, low-power laptop with a built-in webcam and a somewhat iconic interface offers some interesting possibilities for folks whose primary means of communication is via sign language. I'm beginning to generate some interest on campus in the XO, and will be hosting the next meeting of the OLPC Learning Club of DC when I get back from PyCon 2008 (Chicago). With any luck, some of the people on campus who claim to be interested in improving deaf ed outside the US will attend. P.S. On the off-chance that some of you are in the DC area and unaware of the OLPC Learning Club of DC, you can find them (along with directions to the upcoming meeting) at http://olpclearningclub.org/ On 3/18/08, Chris Hager <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hey all, > > The webcam on the XO sure has a lot of potential for cool killer apps. > For example things with > - Motion Tracking > - Gesture Recognition > - Face Recognition > - Object Identification > - ... > > Recently I came in touch with OpenCV > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opencv) -- it's a open source > image-recognition library developed by intel, which does exactly this > kind things. It's also a library commonly used for robotics. > > Anyone here ever played with OpenCV before? I will slowly have a deeper > look into it during the next months, as I am taking a course in image > recognition. Wonder if it works well and fast on the XO. Then it could > even make sense to put effort in a kind of Python API, and examples. > > If it works fast enough, I'm sure it will be lots of fun playing with > this library and image recognition :) > > - Chris -- Kevin Cole| Key ID: 0xE6F332C7 (GPG/PGP) Gallaudet University | WWW: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/~kjcole/ Hall Memorial Bldg S-419 | V/TTY: (202) 651-5135 Washington, D.C. 20002-3695 | FAX: (202) 651-5746 ". ! 1 |" -- Rene Magritte's computer ___ Sugar mailing list Sugar@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
