[IAEP] Etoys or Scratch?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Note that I did not state that professional programmers had to do this,
although the way various states are leaning, licensed professional
programmers may be required to do something like this in the United States
within the next few years.

I spent roughly 10 years doing volunteer ARES/RACES/emergency
communications work.   And from that work I know that practices vary by
region, and tend to change over time.


With disasters, there can be more misinformation than real information.  I
clearly remember one of the major cable news networks cutting away from a
news conference after the September 11 attacks.  The mayor of New York was
asking people not to spread rumors.  What was the news station breaking out
of the press conference to report?  A rumor, which they actually said was a
rumor.

Now I do not know who this guide is targeted for.  Different regions of the
world tend to encounter different disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes,
landslides, etc.).  And each targeted country may also have specific
information relevant to it.


If this guide just repeats information found in various reputable sources,
that may be safe, regardless of who makes it.  But reputation can sometimes
be a tricky thing to judge.



On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 7:31 PM, Maria Droujkova <droujkova at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am very concerned about undue professionalization of every aspect of the
> life, versus the maker/DIY/crowdsourcing approach.
>
> Kids need to share their very imperfect ideas about serious life issues -
> disasters, health, parenting, science... They need to share openly, and in
> a space where discussion can happen. They also need to learn to check and
> re-check anything they see in open spaces.
>
> Cheers,
> Maria Droujkova
> 919-388-1721
>
> Make math your own, to make your own math
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 7:27 PM, Samuel Greenfeld <greenfeld at laptop.org>wrote:
>
>> Although I cannot recommend a platform, I recommend being highly cautious
>> about who generates and who edits material for a program which teaches
>> disaster preparedness.  Legal disclaimers will not be able to protect the
>> author(s) if the information is blatantly incorrect, or even slightly
>> misinterpreted.
>>
>> Even the experts cannot always agree about what is best and the best way
>> to present it.  For a United States based example, compare www.ready.gov&
>> www.reallyready.org.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 6:27 PM, Maria Droujkova <droujkova at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> I would not use these programs. I would actually use Prezi.
>>> The simple answer to "Why" is the professional look of end product.
>>> Scratch and Etoys apps look childish (on purpose!!!) - like their names
>>> imply, the idea is to mess and play with things.   I just would not take
>>> disaster preparedness info seriously if it were presented in such way.
>>>
>>> However, if you are thinking specifically about GAMES about disasters
>>> (and humor), I would go with Scratch. Mostly because of the ease of upload
>>> and remix, and large user base.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Maria Droujkova
>>> 919-388-1721
>>>
>>> Make math your own, to make your own math
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 1:22 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Hi Folks…
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you were going to build an educational piece about disaster
>>>> preparedness for possible *cross platform* worldwide distribution
>>>> would you prefer to do it in Scratch or Etoys and why?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The end product would need to be able to have animation, sound,
>>>> possible narration, interaction and all that sort of thing. The text and
>>>> sound in the end product would be translated into many target languages.
>>>> The project might be done by youth with little or no prior programming
>>>> experience.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I am tending toward Scratch because it is easier to get started and I
>>>> really like the ease and quality of animation and the sound capabilities.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> What do you all think?  And please, no simple "+1"s. I am very
>>>> interested in the "whys".
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Caryl
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>>
>>
>>
>
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