[IAEP] [SLOBS] Sugar Labs 2017 Budget

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi All,


OK, it's time to get real. The problem with all of this talk is that most (but not all) of you haven't a clue how teachers and schools operate! Unless SugarLabs' products are targeted to perceived needs of teachers, parents, school boards, school owners, after school tutoring services, etc., etc., etc. They will never achieve wide distribution and use. Here are some things that MUST be done (and so far haven't been done on a meaningful scale).


* Stakeholders are polled to find out what the needs of their students are.

* Products are tailored to specifically meet those needs.

* Documentation is produced with easy to understand instructions for installing and using the product.

* Sample lessons and lesson plans are prepared by teachers who have experience using the product.

* Everything is translated into the languages of the target markets.

* Follow-up is done with new users to determine if any changes and improvements are needed.

* Needed changes are made and the users are provided an easy way to update.


Free is good, but teachers and schools don't want to waste their time on something that doesn't meet their needs even if it is free. This requires that all of these things I list above be done, and maybe more that some of you will think of. This applies to all of SugarLabs products, Sugar, Sugarizer, TurtleBlocks, MusicBlocks, Servers, and anything new that may be created to add to the mix.


All of this costs money, which SL will not have if we spend it on a bunch of Badges given out mostly to SLOB members. Badges are not the way to go! They guarantee nothing! Projects fulfilling the criteria listed above with specific duties and specific remuneration are what we need.


So, write a good proposal for a project that meets a specific, proveble, need. Submit it. Get it funded. Work on it. Budget to pay yourself a reasonable amount to make it happen.  If you folks need and want SL funds, that should be what you do to get them. Not just drawing a dole for being you.


Sorry for the rant! But these are things that needed to be said and at my age, I guess I have to be the one to do it!


Caryl (aka GrannieB)



P.S. It really breaks my heart that we missed the opportunity to try for the Global Learning XPrize.




________________________________
From: IAEP <iaep-bounces at lists.sugarlabs.org> on behalf of Dave Crossland <dave at lab6.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 10:46:41 AM
To: Walter Bender
Cc: Adam Holt; Lionel Laské; Tony Anderson; SLOBs; Sam P.; Samson Goddy; Martin Abente Lahaye; iaep
Subject: Re: [IAEP] [SLOBS] Sugar Labs 2017 Budget



On Feb 25, 2017 6:27 PM, "Walter Bender" <walter.bender at gmail.com<mailto:walter.bender at gmail.com>> wrote:


On Sat, Feb 25, 2017 at 5:39 AM, Sam Parkinson <sam at sam.today<mailto:sam at sam.today>> wrote:
On Sat, 2017-02-25 at 08:36 +0530, Dave Crossland wrote:
> Actually I am not convinced of this; I do not believe that the latest
> releases of the Python codebase reach classrooms, and the js codebase
> only reaches one.
>
> One of the projects listed is social help. It's a fine idea, but a
> cursory look at the site shows it has extremely low activity. I think
> it would be better to shut it down.

Sugar tries to literally replace every part of the computer that a user
sees.  And believe it or not; that is a hard goal for a small free
software community.  3 people in their spare time can't replace the
years of work poured into every other desktop environment & their
software.

You're 100% spot on.  The future of SL is things like TurtleJS.

I am obviously a fan of Turtle (and Music Blocks), but I am convinced that, for example, Sugar on Raspberry PI has a big future. It is a very experience, relatively easy to set up, and a good fit for the maker space. We should push hard to really make the process smooth and robust.

Sugar or sugarizer? 😂

How many classrooms do we know of using the latest sugar release on pi hardware? 🤣
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