[Sugar-devel] unique activities . . . for Oceania XO's, or other regions.

[Sean Linton]

Hi

I will look into creating a ticket. Thanks for your help most appreciated,

As far as Sugar/OLPC is world wide, and the places the computers go to have
their own pedagogies, have people encountered issues regarding the embedded
pedagogy within this technology. The thing to remember maybe that OLPC also
contains a learning environment which has its own consequences, which on one
level is a neutral learning environment -  that assumes universal
recognition of symbols and on screen aids.

Even if the embedded pedagogy of OLPC is an experiential
learning environment in itself this doesn't mean that an
inherited pedagogy will begin to disappear (that 'social missions' are
competing) maybe just that it is a sign of what can be expected, and needed
to prepare children for growing into adults in the 21st century.

One way these two backgrounds (or pedagogies) may complement each other, and
I think OLPC and Sugar are already on the way to doing this is by trying to
 balance creating a neutral learning platform and encouraging virtual
learning environments. Virtual learning environments are powerful because
they may contain cultural metaphors, however they can also feel limiting
where the user is bound by what is already familiar. The strengths of a
neutral learning environment include a sense that what is possible is not
already defined. How broad do people think the metaphors contained with the
activities should be? Can anyone relate to the metaphor as an effective way
of making sense of a new experience, perhaps with a specific activity?

Sean

 On 4 February 2011 00:21, Aleksey Lim <alsroot at activitycentral.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 03, 2011 at 10:32:28PM +1300, Sean Linton wrote:
> > Hi:
> >
> > One of the things I would like to know is that even at the current level
> of
> > deployment the OLPC project doesn't get attacked for eroding the
> indigenous
> > cultures of places when with some careful planning and insight it could
> > contribute to the opposite. The sort of thing I am thinking about is for
> > example where you have the TamTam activities, which have a pretty good
> > representation of instruments from around the world built in to the
> activity
> > already, but at this stage are not tailored to different regional
> > environments. I am thinking about the difference in using that program
> for a
> > child whose local music culture is represented by the program, and a
> child
> > whose musical instruments are not included in that program.
> >
> > At one level the activity is useful for either child - the first can see
> > that his or her culture is part of this world wide project and that is
> > really neat, and the second child is at least given the opportunity to
> see
> > what other instruments from around the world are like. So either way it
> is
> > an education for who ever is using it, but with out that renewal of the
> > traditional instruments and the unique backgrounds (culture) being
> brought
> > into the light of this empowering technology I feel there is a danger
> that
> > the result is a monoculture. To counter this one other thing that I can
> see
> > being accomplished with the OLPC project is the ability to create audio
> > content, and distribute it locally. In this situation although we don't
> have
> > 'place specific instruments' loaded as a part of the music iconography of
> > the OLPC, we at least have the ability to couple with community radio, or
> > other audio frameworks to promote locally generated content.
> >
> > One thing I have heard is that OLPC, in a way, creates this situation of
> the
> > 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Maybe you have heard this too? I think as
> long
> > as a focus of the project is making a contribution to building
> communities
> > through learning and networking the technology itself is less like a
> piece
> > of the pie and more like mixing dish.
> >
> >
> > It would be great to see the Canadian
> > 'drumbeats<http://www.olpccanada.com/content.php?id=12>'
> > activity ported to all the places where the computers are, and that all
> of
> > those places could create their own version of that interface, drawing on
> > indigenous knowledge and experience of sound. However if for example
> > 'drumbeats' is what makes OLPC in Canada unique, and that unique identity
> is
> > being expressed through this activity then it makes less sense to try and
> do
> > it in other places because that would be back to creating a sameness
> which
> > is contrary to the aim of renewal of indigenous music. My feeling is that
> > the identity created by 'drumbeats' is in the content and not in the fact
> > that it is unique to Canadian machines, and for that reason think it
> would
> > be great to see some more discussion on how to better equip this
> technology
> > to provide insights into more specific / less generic backgrounds.
>
> > It would be good to establish some more contacts who are on the same page
> > with this, I have also heard similar thoughts expressed by someone in
> Nepal.
>
> In case of TamTam and Nepal, people provided images and sounds of some
> Nepalese instruments, and they are in TamTam :)
> The only step is needed - creating request on
> http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/newticket?component=TamTam
>
> >
> > all the best,
> >
> > Sean
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Sugar-devel mailing list
> > Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
>
>
> --
> Aleksey
>
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