On Wed, 2005-01-12 at 17:46 -0400, Ben Armstrong wrote: > I can imagine in a lab/classroom setting that gives children > the freedom to do so, such sharing could be commonplace, or the computer > might be set up without accounts altogether. This would be a good > thing, and I think is something the design of Tux Paint should > accomodate for.
I just wanted to say a couple of more words about this, because I really feel strongly about it: Consider the social factors: Just like sharing of personal toys, sharing of personal accounts demonstrates the child has learned social behaviour. All of my children, except the three year old, understand "ownership" of each of their accounts, and all of the things that entails: privacy, organizing it the way they want it, and not wanting to have it wrecked. They also understand that when they use another person's account, they should respect that person's privacy, arrangement of their account the way they want it, and not wanting to have it wrecked. Now, consider the social implications of a classroom or lab where there are no personal accounts at all. Does it lead to deliberate vandalism of each others drawings? If so, are there consequences? What can a child whose drawing has been deliberately vandalised do about it? Social context is everything, of course. This could be either a great learning experience in the right context, or an absolutely horrible, unmanageable mess ni the wrong context. But that's up to those setting up the lab, isn't it? I prefer to see the positive potential. How about sharing of ideas? Increased ease of collaboration, or learning from each others' styles? Here is the computer, a wonderful medium on which drawings can be made, copied and modified over and over again, all from the same original. Having all children use one computer and one account means an opportunity for this kind of creative sharing that wouldn't be there if each user had their own account. In the end, I think there's a place both for "personal stuff" and sharing when it comes to Tux Paint. I'd like to see Tux Paint operate equally well in both environments. The --nodelete idea is a great way to do this, because every child can have their own stuff & not have it wrecked, and yet all pictures on the shared account are available for others to view, admire, and copy without deleting the original. Ben _______________________________________________ Tuxpaint-dev mailing list [email protected] http://tux4kids.net/mailman/listinfo/tuxpaint-dev
