[IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity

[Steve Thomas]

Alan,

Very nice.  Great job with the pictures.
In spite of my earlier protestations, I have nothing against python (I use
it at work and in one of my classes with kids).

Mark Guzdial made an interesting comment in his post:
Definitions of “Code” and “Programmer”: Response to “Please Don’t Learn
to Code”<http://computinged.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/definitions-of-code-and-programmer-response-to-please-dont-learn-to-code/>
>
> The problem is that we in computer science often have blinders on when it
> comes to computing — we only see people who relate to code and programming
> as we do, as people in our peer group and community do.  There are many
> people who code because of *what it lets them do*, not because they *want* the
> resulting code.


I would modify it slightly to:

“what it lets them do easily and quickly”

Now I am not saying folks shouldn’t work hard to get something they want
(they will if they really want it). I am all for “hard fun,” but too many
things that should be easy are too hard. Ideally I want to be able to go
from idea to conception as quickly as possible. I realize I will have to
struggle along the way, playing and debugging as I go, but I don’t want
those struggles to because of the programming environment. I have too many
bugs in my mental models and I don’t need extra ones to deal with.

Scratch does a really good job at this but its ceiling is too low (for me
at least, they really focus on not confusing the user, which is a good
choice considering their target audience). That said they are making some
great improvements in 2.0 by adding “Build your own blocks” and a
“Backpack” to make reusability easier.

Etoys is also amazing in its power and expressiveness (although it has a
number of rough edges which can be frustrating to beginning beginners).
Also it suffers from not being able to work in a web page or on an mobile
device which is what most people want to do.

What we need are more environments like these that let folks play with and
express ideas (and get things done) in a way that lets them focus more on
the ideas and work to be done than on programming, while letting them dig
into the code and program when needed.

Saludos,
Stephen

On Thu, Dec 20, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Alan Jhonn Aguiar Schwyn <
alanjas at hotmail.com> wrote:

> In the case of my activity, only modify a file to add/remove the questions.
>
> I attach a simple version of "I know the Eye" activity.
>
> For run, in a XO or any thing that have python and pygame (run: python
> conozco.py)
>
> The answer it's directly clicked on the image (for small parts, I leave
> the circles that can be
> accepted as a correct answer).
>
> This activity is too very, very simple of apply i18n! (use gettext)
> (now is only in english for time questions).
>
> The complete process takes: less than 1 hour to create a standalone
> activity.
> include the search of images, modify them, download more than 88 mb of
> gimp and inkscape (at 50 kb/s -
> I reinstall my ubuntu the last monday :-)
>
> http://www.fing.edu.uy/~aaguiar/files/IknowtheEye-1.xo
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 01:49:49 -0500
> From: sthomas1 at gosargon.com
> To: alanjas at hotmail.com
> CC: andrycaa at gmail.com; olpc-open at lists.laptop.org;
> iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity
>
> Oh and the other "perspective" to consider with Etoys, is that doctors,
> nurses, volunteers in the field can easily modify the lessons to meet local
> needs and adapt based on what they find in the field.  The text is easily
> translatable so the same project can be built to run in multiple languages.
>  The above can be done with very little training and would be a lot easier
> for folks than learning python.
>
> [image: Inline image 1]
> The above image created using Etoys :)
>
> Cheers,
> Stephen
>
> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>wrote:
>
> Spelling correction:
> You can put the lesson on a USB stick and it will run on any Mac, PC or
> Linux box, because the code is Byte identical for all platforms
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 1:40 AM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>wrote:
>
> Alan,
>
> So to quote your namesake "*A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ
> points."*
> So let me see if I can change your perspective on Etoys.  I just created a
> simple lesson in Etoys such as you described in about 10-15 minutes, most
> of that time was spent trying to find a good open source image of the eye
> (I used the one from WIkipedia which you may want to look at if you would
> like to take the Quiz I just developed).
>
> Here is the You Tube video of why Etoys rocks and how<http://youtu.be/mqbnJG1dgkA>
>
>
> I created the quiz with 5 "lines of code" an image, a holder and two text
> objects.  You can put the lesson on a USB stuck and it will run on any Mac,
> PC and Linux, because the code is Byte identical for all platforms. No
> libraries to load or special drivers needed.
>
> Now of course perhaps this could be done quicker or more cost effectively
> in python :D
>
> Cheers,
> Stephen
>
> Below is a more full quote from Alan on IQ:
>
> Q - What if you had an "IQ" of 500, but were born in 10,000 BC. You would
> not be able to make a lot of progress. For example, Leonardo was very smart
> but couldn't come up with the engines his vehicle designs needed in order
> to work -- he was born in the wrong century for what he wanted to do.
>
> Knowledge - On the other hand, Henry Ford was not nearly as smart as
> Leonardo, but was born at a very good time and in a good place, so he was
> able to combine engineering and production inventions to make millions of
> inexpensive automobiles.
>
> Outlook - what made Henry Ford powerful (and most other things today) was
> an enormous change in Outlook (you called it a paradigm shift) which we can
> symbolize by invoking Newton.
>
> "Knowledge is Silver, but Outlook is Gold" (IQ is Lead ... because most
> worthwhile problems we want to work on and solve are beyond mere IQ)
>
> In other words, most human cultures accumulate and use a lot of knowledge
> (this is what a culture is all about) that is used to survive, to
> accommodate to the environment and even sometimes thrive. But the knowledge
> of a traditional society is very different from that of a feudal society
> which in turn is very different from a technological scientifically based
> society.
>
> The bug most people have about schools (including many who set up schools)
> is the idea that they are there to teach knowledge. (Not a bad secondary
> goal, but it's a very bad idea for it to be the main goal.) Montessori was
> an early voice who pointed out that the main purpose of schooling
> (especially early schooling) was to help students learn and deeply
> internalize the most powerful outlooks that have been discovered/invented
> by humans. She observed that otherwise children wind up living in the 20th
> century but with a 10th century (or much earlier) outlook ...
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:47 AM, Alan Jhonn Aguiar Schwyn <
> alanjas at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not sure why, but I not like much Etoys (with all my respect to my
> namesake Alan Kay :-)
>
> I prefer a pure-python activity. For example, a first activity could be:
> "I know the Eye" and use a
> similar image to this: (search: eye anatomy)
>
> External: (muscleds, etc)
>
>
> http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-x4oGiQWiUA/TMP2dRqClBI/AAAAAAAAAGY/PuehgCY8WJM/s1600/eye+anatomy+2.jpg
>
> And internal:
>
> http://www.floridaeyeclinic.com/images/aao-G04-large.jpg
>
> The first problem is obtain a good image (CC creative commons or similiar
> free license).
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:31:15 -0500
> From: sthomas1 at gosargon.com
> To: andrycaa at gmail.com
> CC: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org; alanjas at hotmail.com;
> sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org; iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org
> Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity
>
>
> Alan,
>
> If you have the materials (images, test, knowledge, etc.) I would be happy
> to work with you to create some materials in Etoys that could help educate
> folks about the eye and more importantly detect vision problems and provide
> suggestions and resources on how to deal with them.  If you send me some
> materials I can put something together in Etoys fairly quickly.  It would
> be available to all OLPC XO's and because its Etoys, it can also run on
> Windows, Mac and Linux (with no code changes).  If it works for both of us,
> we could put together some quick prototypes to help build a "more robust
> case".
>
> Stephen
>
> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 12:09 AM, Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > From: andrycaa at gmail.com
> > To: olpc-open at lists.laptop.org
> > Subject: [Olpc-open] Healthcare - Potential Opportunity
> >
> > Hello, I'm new to this venue but am looking to contribute and/or
> determine
> > if I might have some material that would benefit the community.  I work
> for
> > a healthcare company that specializes in vision and was wondering if
> there
> > was any need for material on healthy vision or perhaps an interactive eye
> > model to teach children about the different parts of the eye.  It could
> be
> > anything in this realm really - the sky is the limit.
> >
> > My company is constantly looking for ways to give back and if there was
> some
> > interest in this I'd look to build a more robust case and inquire more
> > deeply into whether the company would be willing to put some resources
> > behind this.
> >
> > Is there anyone on this distribution list that would be able to point me
> in
> > the right direction?
>
>
> I would suggest taking a look at the accumulated notes and links on these
> pages.
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Vision_screening
>
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Visual_Acuity
>
> cjl
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education
> Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education
> Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/attachments/20121221/6fb548d7/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 1.48.06 AM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 29140 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/attachments/20121221/6fb548d7/attachment-0001.png>