[Sugar-devel] community influence on development

[Philippe Clérié]

On Tuesday 28 July 2009 04:48:25 Tomeu Vizoso wrote:

> Yes, if deployers make very clear what is a priority for them and
> do so in a compelling way, I'm sure volunteer developers will
> make their plans accordingly.

Perhaps the highest priority should be a Live CD/USB that is easily 
and reliably installable on the hard disk of a machine. I've now 
tried strawberry and Sugar on Fedora and neither is satisfactory; 
Sugar on Ubuntu does not work. The only thing that works is Sugar on 
a stick and that may not be a good solution. In fact, I think I'm on 
the verge of commiting a sin: take the path of least resistance and 
go with XP versions of the Mini 110.

More generally, I think that what is really missing in Sugar (and 
for that matter, OLPC) is a conversation between developers and 
educators. Last year I signed up for several lists on OLPC, 
including one for educators and one for research. There was no 
activity on either. I haven't tracked them so perhaps things have 
changed. I doubt it; there would be echoes on this list if they 
became more active.

I am acutely aware of this absence because, as I've mentionned 
before, although I can handle the computer, I am totally out my 
depth in pedagogy. And the educators whom I'm working for want 
nothing to do with the computer. So there is a disconnect here and 
the issue is not being addressed.

At any rate, despite my enthusiasm for OLPC and Sugar, it's not at 
all clear to me what the role of the computer is in a classroom. 
Which is why if I'm not told what to do I'm lost.

Hope that helps.

-- 

Philippe

------
The trouble with common sense is that it is so uncommon.
<Anonymous>