[IAEP] [support-gang] XO-4 Questions After Viewing CES video

[Steve Thomas]

Mike,

Thanks for the video links.

So two basic comments:
1) The Parental Controls (from what I can determine from the videos) seem
more like "Parental FYI" rather than controls.  I would like to see some
"controls" to help parents keep kids from "distracting themselves to
death".  I suspect that one of the reasons the "helicopter drop" experiment
worked so well, was the kids had nothing much to distract them from using
this really cool new toy,  No internet, YouTube, lowest common denominator
games etc.  The App Store with a set of curated Apps is a good start
(assuming the device can only download apps from the curated store and the
curation is good).  It would also be good if there were time limits on
internet surfing.  I'm thinking time limits as it seems too hard to decide
what to allow/not and to keep up with changes.  That said I have yet to see
a really good implementation of Parental Controls and the bigger challenge
is implementing them across multiple devices (XO tablet, Xbox, Wii,
handhelds, Smartphones, etc).  Would be nice if there were a way to do this
via the cloud and there was a common protocol all vendors implemented.

2) The goals of reflection and sharing are good, I never was quite sure how
well the Sugar Journal helped meet those goals though.  Reflection I think
needs more of a cultural rather than technical solution. One thing which I
try (and often fail) to practice with my kids is to have them write down
what they plan to do/learn today, reflect on what they actually did/learned
and what went well/what didn't.  The main problem seems to be getting them
to write, talking and asking questions works much better.  As for sharing.
the Scratch website seems to have done that best so far and having a
website to share projects and allow kids to comment/remix would be great.

Cheers,
Stephen

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:28 PM, Mike Lee <curiouslee at gmail.com> wrote:

> [I meant to copy this to the IAEP list as well...]
>
> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 1:36 AM, Mike Lee <curiouslee at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Caryl,
>>
>> In today's Engadget video[1], the host interviews Giulia and Bob, and the
>> XO-4 is never displayed. Most of the segment covers OLPC history and
>> mission, then they recap the features of the new consumer tablet. One
>> interesting soundbite towards the end at 17:05 when Bob is referring to
>> the XO-4 Touch (he calls it the clamshell):
>>
>> "We're going to port that device to Android. So it's going to possible
>> for a child in Africa on a clamshell to be using the same software as a
>> child coming to Walmart."
>>
>> One way to interpret this statement is that the new "Dreams" interface
>> will be ported to an Android version of the XO-4 Touch. That opens
>> questions on if some deployments will opt for an Android version of the
>> XO-4 Touch and if this new consumer interface is customizable as open
>> source.
>>
>> Thinking about this, and since Guilia mentions the Journal in her demos,
>> I went and took a closer look at the short hands-on video Engadget shot of
>> the XO Tablet [2] as well as a higher quality clip by Jeremy Hill [3].
>>
>> On the new tablet, the Journal icon leads to a dashboard showing % usage
>> of each of the "dream" categories (e.g. XO Artist, XO Athlete) of the
>> tablet. There's nothing of the Sugar Journal there. The other My Files icon
>> leads to a basic Android explorer file list. Screenshots here [4]
>>
>> So there's lots to think about. But one thing is for sure, the original
>> concepts behind the Sugar Journal as a portfolio for reflection and sharing
>> are gone.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> [1] http://www.viddler.com/v/41ee1d5e (no escape from pre-roll ad)
>> [2] http://www.viddler.com/v/3f7d1d50?secret=39213658 (no escape from
>> pre-roll ad)
>> [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzU7zJV4kFs
>> [4] http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/sets/72157632489475573/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 12:28 AM, Mike Lee <curiouslee at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I was looking for that clip and finally found it after the incorrectly
>>> placed clip. Here is the direct link to the clip on Viddler where it is
>>> actually hosted for Engadget:
>>>
>>> Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with OLPC's Giulia
>>> D'Amico and Bob Hacker
>>> http://www.viddler.com/v/41ee1d5e
>>>
>>> Watching the 18:42 clip now...
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 12:08 AM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Hi Mike...
>>>>
>>>> Check this again. The video was made *today,* and Giulia is clearly
>>>> holding and pointing to things on an XO-4, not a tablet. The link might not
>>>> work right... it didn't for me. I had to go to the Engaget schedule for
>>>> today, find the one for OLPC, click on it, go down below the photos, there
>>>> will be a video screen with a guy on the right. Click on play. It is short.
>>>>
>>>> Caryl
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:51:20 -0500
>>>> From: curiouslee at gmail.com
>>>> To: support-gang at lists.laptop.org
>>>> CC: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; support-gang at laptop.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [support-gang] XO-4 Questions After Viewing CES video
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Caryl,
>>>>
>>>> I watched the video the other day, which I should say did a good job of
>>>> bringing attention to Sugar as opposed to the hardware.
>>>>
>>>> A press release from June 2012 about the Sesame Workshop partnership
>>>> states firmly that
>>>>
>>>> "The educational packages for Latin America and South Africa will
>>>> include content from the respective local adaptations of *Sesame Street
>>>> *: *Plaza Sésamo* and *Takalani Sesame*. The fun and engaging programs
>>>> will be pre-loaded onto the “XO” laptops."[1]
>>>>
>>>> But that doesn't necessarily mean that SW will release that content
>>>> license free for Sugar. LEGO WeDo for Sugar, for example, is not freely
>>>> available.
>>>>
>>>> I think Giulia misspoke about the intent of the Journal on the XO-4 as
>>>> affording parental control. In the latest build, it is still possible to
>>>> erase items.
>>>>
>>>> I can't see any apparent change to the interface of TamTam Mini on the
>>>> XO-4 Touch. It looks like Gonzalo is still actively working on the simple
>>>> piano keyboard widget[2]. Maybe he can jump in to say when it might be
>>>> added to TamTam Mini.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [1]
>>>> http://www.sesameworkshop.org/news/sesame-workshop-and-one-laptop-per-84-detail.html
>>>> [2] http://git.sugarlabs.org/simplepiano
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 10:54 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Hi...
>>>>
>>>> I finally found the video done by Giulia D'Amico today about the XO-4
>>>> at CES. Watch it and see if you also have questions. Below you will find
>>>> some of mine. Add yours below and pass it on.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/06/marvel-olpc-4-0-ces-hands-on/
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone verify any of these?
>>>>
>>>> It sounded like she said some content from Sesame Street and others
>>>> would be included in Sugar on the XO-4. Is this correct?
>>>>
>>>> She mentions the Journal as a means of "Parental Control." Does this
>>>> mean the XO-4 may be marketed to individuals?
>>>>
>>>> She said the child cannot remove things from the Journal. Does this
>>>> mean it will be locked? Can a teacher or parent remove things?
>>>>
>>>> I notice that Tam Tam is still included. Has anyone managed to make the
>>>> touch-screen standard type musical keyboard available as I have been
>>>> suggesting?  If so... I want to "test drive" it!  If not, I hope it is in
>>>> development and want to be a "beta tester"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________ support-gang mailing
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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