Thoughts about government funding - US and EU

[Caroline Meeks]

On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Mel Chua <mel at melchua.com> wrote:

> > 1. Here in the US ride the trend for change to emphasise funding to
> > solve infrastructure issues.
>
> Have we sufficiently positioned Sugar as infrastructure? (Something that
> encompasses and supports the entire learning experience, rather than a
> separate shiny software toy you can go play with off in a corner somewhere
> for an hour a week.)


This is a very interesting point in light of  Obama's  economic stimulus
plan that includes school infrastructure improvement.

The wonderful thing about Sugar is it is, in my mind significant
infrastructure improvement, but it demos so *shiny*.  I think the half dozen
of us on this list are probably close to half the total people  I've met who
get excited about infrastructure improvement or see how Sugar+XS and Sugar
on a Stick is a significant improvement to infrastructure and the incredible
opportunity it provides to build better educational activities.

I hope we can work together and get some expert help is articulating our
vision of Sugar as infrastructure cause so far my experience, even talking
to other grad students in the Technology program, is pretty confused looks
or board blank stares.  The good news is that I can talk about Scratch like
programs and the Journal as portfolio and the eyes light up.

I feel like we have a very complex value proposition.


>
> Side note: this is one of the reasons I'm really excited about the pilots,
> because gathering good data, observations, and,  most importantly, stories
> about Sugar-as-infrastructure will probably be *the* most attention-getting
> thing we have, whether it's for a grant proposal, a presentation/demo, or
> anything else.\


YES! concrete examples seem incredibly valuable.

>
>
>  In my opinion the result is incredibly cool stuff that no one is using.
>>
>
> > 2. Push for funding to be tied to how many students are using the
> > results of a project.
>
> (Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with grant applications. I would like to
> learn.)
>
> Would it be worth it, perhaps as a joint marketing/education team
> miniproject, to try to put together a "here are
> {NSF,other-big-grant-org}-funded projects that Sugar could bring to a much
> wider audience" brochure/page/letter? (As part of a "therefore,
> NSF/other-big-grant-org should fund Sugar because we make all the rest of
> the things you've funded Way More Effective" thing.)
>
> Maybe a place to start would be to have a 1-2 hour "find these projects"
> sprint - go through journals, award webpages, etc. and pick out neat but
> non-widespread projects, then do a cursory evaluation of how much
> engineering (and educator-training) time and effort would be needed to make
> it Sugar-riffic.
>
> I'd be willing to come and hack on such a sprint, if someone else would run
> it. I don't know much about where to find these studies, how to evaluate how
> useful they'd be to us, or how to present our findings in a way that will
> appeal to resource-distributing organizations, but I can follow instructions
> and ask lots of questions.


What I want to do is figure out how to get upstream. How do we get the ear
of the people who will be changing the way grants are given out and how the
stimulus package will be spent.  I really do think finding these people,
once they are appointed, and getting some time with them is a realistic goal
for Sugar Labs.




>
>
> --Mel
>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

617-500-3488 - Office
505-213-3268 - Fax
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