[IAEP] [Marketing] [Sugar-devel] ASLO Suggestion

[Sean DALY]

I really like "Basics"... it is concise, and will be reassuring to
teachers I think.

Sean



On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM, Bert Freudenberg<bert at freudenbergs.de> wrote:
> On 11.06.2009, at 15:17, Walter Bender wrote:
>
>> Maybe "Getting Started" might be a better name?
>
> How about "Basics"?
>
> - Bert -
>
>> Just to complicate things, Nubae and I were discussing collaboration
>> on IRC. It is another theme people may be interested in searching.
>> Activities that a whole class can share, e.g., Browse, and activities
>> that are designed as "duets".
>>
>> -walter
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 9:10 AM, Sean DALY<sdaly.be at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Bert - many thanks, I understand much better now.
>>>
>>> We're expecting a traffic peaks at the end of the month with our media
>>> push, that's why this work on clarity/simplicity is important.
>>>
>>> I'm afraid "Fructose" as a left-hand category on ASLO is obscure, it
>>> really should be "base" or "core" or "base install", this last I like
>>> best because it's very clear. Note: a search for "Fructose" in ASLO
>>> returns no results!
>>>
>>> I actually don't think it's that hard to set a list; it's really just
>>> a Get Started list which covers online/offline, younger/older
>>> Learners, and super-helpful to have even if off-ring (Terminal...).
>>>
>>> I agree some deployments will want to zap some Activities, but as long
>>> as it's clear that there's no technical barrier to doing so we're
>>> fine.
>>>
>>> The list of 13 Fructose Activities at
>>> http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/fructose/
>>> does not match the list of 11 Fructose Activities on ASLO
>>>
>>> (http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/browse/type:1/cat:112?sort=name).
>>> I imagine Image is off the bus (replaced by Image Viewer), but is the
>>> omission of Write intentional? I couldn't find it on ASLO at all :-(
>>>
>>> (N.B. Write is always the first Activity I choose to demonstrate
>>> classroom collaboration; people understand collaboration instantly
>>> when each of two machines can edit the same document live. My kids'
>>> nanny who is in her early 60s and does not use computers understood
>>> right away the usefulness of XOs in a classroom when she saw that, she
>>> got all excited and started asking me questions!)
>>>
>>> So I think the ASLO Fructose list, plus Write, can certainly be
>>> qualified as 12 "base install" Activities:
>>>
>>> Browse
>>> Calculate
>>> Chat
>>> Etoys
>>> ImageViewer
>>> Jukebox
>>> Log
>>> Pippy
>>> Read
>>> Terminal
>>> TurtleArt
>>> Write
>>>
>>> However I think it would be judicious to add Help to this list. Help
>>> is very reassuring during discovery of the totally unfamiliar
>>> interface. I'm aware there are issues right now building a new Help
>>> from the FLOSS Manuals source, but I believe Help aids teachers and
>>> parents significantly with the Sugar GUI learning curve.
>>>
>>> Are there any other candidates today for the Fructose list we should
>>> consider? Not to open a can of worms - adjusting the pantheon is much
>>> less urgent than the discoverability/usability issues - but a review
>>> before each SoaS version seems judicious to me, especially since a
>>> choice needs to be made about which Activities are in the ring and
>>> which are off. I would suggest:
>>>
>>> Clock
>>> Help
>>> Maze
>>> Memorize
>>> Moon
>>> Read ETexts
>>> Speak
>>> Tux Paint
>>>
>>> I hesitated over:
>>> * Record which kids adore, but which I understand is iffy due to wide
>>> hardware variations, also teachers don't seem to like it much :-)
>>> * the TamTams which would make the list longish... (though my
>>> four-year-old figured out TamTam Mini in ten seconds the other day and
>>> loved every second with it)
>>> * GCompris Chess, since no 2-player yet.
>>>
>>>
>>> Our introduction to Sugar has a page with an attractive smorgasbord of
>>> Activities
>>> (http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=page&page=about_activities),
>>> and a link to ASLO. We listed the Activities in teacher/parent
>>> interest order: reassuring basics, net stuff,
>>> games/language/multimedia, the TamTams, tech/system utilities. Image
>>> Viewer and Jukebox are missing from this page, I propose to add them
>>> and two others to the matrix so the complete Fructose set (minus
>>> Image) is present. The Journal starts the list due to its special
>>> status, but it really should be broken out as a "special" Activity
>>> that is always there, saves everything automatically, allows resuming
>>> of work, etc. ASLO should have a brief mention of the Journal in the
>>> orientation intro I want to edit; telling inexperienced Sugar
>>> admins/teachers/parents/Learners that it is always in Sugar and can't
>>> be installed or uninstalled. This "super-Activity" distinction is
>>> important because the Journal icon occupies the same spot under the
>>> central XO avatar as the current Activity. Note that each icon links
>>> to the OLPC page (the intro site was published on a tight deadline
>>> just before the March 16th press release :-), I think we can update it
>>> to link to the ASLO pages now.
>>>
>>> Note: we have been doing some "star marketing" of Activities in our
>>> PR: Write, InfoSlicer, Mindmap, Portfolio. We chose these to appeal to
>>> teachers; they are differentiators. Some press articles have mentioned
>>> the star Activities, recognizing that they are interesting and unique
>>> to Sugar. Library for example is an Activity I'm not quite sure does
>>> what, but its name and logo will be irresistible to parents and
>>> teachers.
>>>
>>> OLPC has their list (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities/All) and we
>>> need to get that page to link to ASLO, the information there is uneven
>>> (contains some stillborn/abandonware). Perhaps the easiest fix would
>>> be to link from each Activity position on that page to that Activity's
>>> ASLO page; people searching the Activity population would quickly
>>> understand the different/parallel nature of the OLPC page and ASLO. As
>>> far as I know, there aren't any issues with the very latest versions
>>> running on XO-1s, would I be correct in assuming this? Or does OLPC
>>> prefer to identify "known good" version, the ones updated through the
>>> XO Control Panel?
>>>
>>> Google search ranks highly this 6-month-old page:
>>> http://www.spitting-image.com/OLPC/ , an indicator of the need for
>>> ASLO's rating system.
>>>
>>> By "Activity Pack" I mean a set of Activities.
>>> * Activity Set: clear and concise, but dullish.
>>> * Activity Pack: implies a "box" containing a bunch of chosen
>>> Activities; my favorite, because it sounds like you're getting
>>> something.
>>> * Activity Group: will be confused with Learners.
>>> * Activity Bundle: bundle clearly means something already, so that's
>>> out. I'm afraid I don't know what a "content bundle" is.
>>> * Activity Hive: fits with honey metaphor, but obscure.
>>>
>>> Activity packs can have a very useful role in promoting Sugar, e.g.
>>> "our updated Multimedia Pack is perfect for budding musicians and
>>> artists" or "our Games Pack has been specially selected for 2 or more
>>> player learning fun". As our Activity offer becomes richer, we
>>> encourage potential installers to jump through the hoops of
>>> downloading an ISO, installing VirtualBox or loading a USB stick,
>>> learning the new interface, etc.
>>>
>>> Echoing James' mail which started the thread, I agree Featured
>>> Activities will ideally be:
>>>
>>> * non- base install
>>> * interesting
>>> * different each month, encouraging return traffic
>>>
>>> In short, the place to go for "extras" beyond what you start out with.
>>>
>>> The "base install" grouping will be very useful to replace an
>>> accidentally deleted Activity or offer further information about an
>>> Activity with a learning curve (link to author's page etc).
>>>
>>> A parent or teacher who successfully installs Sugar and then
>>> successfully upgrades and adds to its Activities will fully understand
>>> the key advantages of the platform's openness and extensibility.
>>>
>>> Does this seem like a good path?
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> Sean
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Bert Freudenberg<bert at freudenbergs.de>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 11.06.2009, at 09:51, Sean DALY wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> ultimately, the question is: are there (or not) Activities common to
>>>>> every, or nearly every instance of Sugar?
>>>>>
>>>>> Browse
>>>>> Read
>>>>> Write
>>>>> etc.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> At least the Fructose activities should always be there:
>>>>
>>>> http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/fructose/
>>>>
>>>> - Bert -
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Walter Bender
>> Sugar Labs
>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>
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