[Sugar-devel] Should we care about non readers and kids with motor skill issues? was - Re: RFC: Kill the delayed menus for good

[Caroline Meeks]

>
> > Perhaps. What would you define as the ailment, yourself? The primary
> > intent was to encourage use of a direct interaction model, in which
> > palettes we're supposed to play a big role. When it turned out that
> > young kids, who didn't read, and who didn't have motor skills for
> > selecting form the palettes, we aimed to reduce accidental invocation
> > of them without entirely eliminating discovery by increasing the
> > delay.
>
> Many kids have motor skills, and the ones that don't initially are
> remarkably good (being kids) at developing motor skills that they don't yet
> have. Many kids also read. In fact, let's cut into some real deep philosophy
> stuff here...
>

True. But all kids matter. Including the nonreaders, the ones going to
schools that are not taught in their native language, the ones for whom
reading is a struggle, the dyslectics.

Also I really disagree about the developing motor skills.  I think
developing motor skills is a developmental thing that goes at different
paces. I see kids that can get the concepts of Sugar but who struggle with
clicking the blocks together in Turtle Art.  I think they are perfectly
normal kids who will eventually have perfectly adequate motor skills for
normal computing.  Providing them with a system that is as easy as possible
for them while those motor skills are developing should be one of our
missions.

>
> The idea that the XO laptop is mainly for kids who can't read is completely
> bogus. Now, maybe you're thinking of other children when you say this, but I
> prefer to first consider the main existing userbase. Laptops which have
> Sugar installed on them are primarily located in schools and are used for
> education. It is kind of ridiculous to say "Well, you don't actually need to
> know how to read to use the laptops, so we should make the interface not
> require reading." when the truth is that, for most activities that have any
> educational merit, you DO need to read and you need to read things
> significantly more complicated than activity names. Most of the people who
> use Sugar for most of the time WILL know how to read.
>
> I disagree on this too. I think there a host of activities that nonreaders
could use in Sugar. Paint, Colors, Jingsaw, Flipsticks, Write (writing a
great way to learn to read), speak, many GCompris Games, Calculate, books
that are read to you, Browse if you share a favorited website.  In fact if
you share a started activity then you further expand the number of things a
nonreader could do.
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