[IAEP] Running local Sugar workshops

[Edward Cherlin]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 6:39 AM, Caroline Meeks
<caroline at solutiongrove.com> wrote:
> I agree that we should run workshops and that we should aim them at teachers
> and parents with a goal of having 50% or more women attend.
>
> When will we be ready? - Really soon I think.  As soon as we can get Sugar
> on a Sticks to collaborate I think we will be ready from a technical side.

+1

> What do we want to teach? - Thoughts on this???

How absolutely anyone can take part. I am working with some students
on a newsletter on this theme, with examples. Basically we need
children and grandparents, among others, with any and all knowledge
and skills, to teach each other.

How country projects operate now, and what is being done to improve
collaboration among the stakeholders.

How to get Sugar into the political process in the developed
countries, both for deployment at home, and as a component of foreign
aid.

How XOs and Sugar fit into a comprehensive development plan, including
infrastructure, economic opportunity, health care, etc.

There is far too much for us to teach it all. We need to entrain our
attendees in the community of collaborative discoverers.

> How do we do it? - Anyone done this before? How much does it cost? Should we
> raise money for it or should we charge to try to cover expenses? Where
> should it be? How should it be publicized.

It will be possible for local organizations to offer this on a
volunteer basis to schools, NGOs, government, and so on. We can offer
it as a tutorial component of technical, educational, and other
conferences. There is also a need for regional, national, and global
workshops and conferences. Where travel and housing enter in, so must
either fees or funding. We could do with funding for some of the
organizers to work on this full time.

> We should recruit someone to be a project lead for such a workshop.

Several people for each of several roles. We will need those who know
the subject matter, A/V people, those who know how to make the food
arrive on time, those who can reach out to the communities we want to
reach...I have done parts of this for technical conferences and
Science Fiction conventions.

> I actually have pretty strong feelings that gender equity is a relevant
> issue for Sugar Labs.

Indeed. The ratio at Sugar Camp was better than usual, since it wasn't
only geeks. Many of those asking how to join in were women studying at
local colleges and universities. I talked to engineering, law, and
education students from Harvard, BU, and Olin, and of course we have
women from MIT.

> The mission is learning to learn for EVERY child. We
> believe that having the power and capability to change your tools is
> important.  Sugar should be about giving all children the opportunity to
> learn this.   Rich and poor, speaking any language, living in a developed
> country or a developing one, and male or female. The differences between
> interests, cultural expectations and learning opportunities are real between
> girls and boys.  Its an issue we should care about, research, and build
> tools that help both genders, and in different cultures, be able to learn,
> and indeed love learning, the skills they need to do things like contribute
> to open source projects.

Hear, hear.

> The development teams mission includes as broad a base of contributions as
> possible.  This should absolutely mean reaching out to women in all the
> countries we are working in.
>
> So, women of Sugar Labs and OLPC, I think we should all stand up, be
> recognized, and say participation by women in this project, at every level
> and in every role is important.
>
> What I certainly don't want to say is that any of the men on this list or in
> this project is responsible for the gender gap in this project or in the
> world we are trying to change.  Nor do I think that there is some bad
> behavior that men in this project need to change.  We are together doing the
> hard work of changing the world and we are trying to do it by creating free
> software and community.  Guys, thanks for all your hard work and I
> absolutely already know that you support our shared vision of for EVERY
> child, including girls and boys.
>
> Caroline
>
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 1:37 PM, Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com> wrote:
>>
>> Copying IAEP, slides for context are at
>> http://www.slideshare.net/emmajane/form-an-orderly-queue-ladies (resend,
>> since link > massive attachment. Sorry about that.)
>>
>> Oh, I don't agree with all of it either, but it sure makes for an
>> interesting discussion. :) Mostly I wanted to point out slide 138 and the
>> bunch following - more than anything else, the slide deck made me think "hm,
>> we should run workshops." (Not a "gender thing," but as another way to reach
>> people we might not be reaching now.)
>>
>> --Mel
>> (who happens to be female, and who also happens to like brie and be
>> wearing a yellow shirt right now. I consider them all about equally
>> relevant.)
>>
>> Caroline Meeks wrote:
>> > Hi Mel,
>> >
>> > This was a really interesting Slide show.  A bunch of it is not my
>> > style.  I like geeks, I am one,  and I think most of the open source
>> > programmers I know are sweet wonderful men.
>> > I am passionate about getting more women into open source and into
>> > programming. I think we should be talking about this issue as a part of our
>> > shared vision for Sugar and the children of the world and as something that
>> > everyone in the Sugar community, male or female, agrees with.  This project
>> > is about equity and opportunity for all.
>> >
>> > I agree with her reasoning about end user workshops being an important
>> > tool for recruiting women.  Scratch did amazingly well with their workshop
>> > last summer.  I wonder if they have any numbers on male-female ratio.
>> >
>> > We should definitely do one.  They are pretty challenging to put
>> > together, and although we should be able to charge and not lose money, they
>> > can be financially risky and require money up front.
>> >
>> > If you are comfortable with it I think you should forward this to IAEP
>> > and get the whole group thinking about it.
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Caroline
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 8:35 PM, Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com
>> > <mailto:mel at melchua.com>> wrote:
>> >
>> >     These are a set of slides from a talk by Emma Jane Hogbin - slide
>> >     138 starts talking about workshops.
>> >
>> >     This made me start thinking about Sugar. Sugarcamp wasn't really an
>> >     end-user workshop.
>> >
>> >     Are there any plans for one?
>> >     If not, what can we do to make one?
>> >
>> >     -Mel
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Caroline Meeks
>> > Solution Grove
>> > Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
>> >
>> > 617-500-3488 - Office
>> > 505-213-3268 - Fax
>
>
>
> --
> Caroline Meeks
> Solution Grove
> Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
>
> 617-500-3488 - Office
> 505-213-3268 - Fax
>
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