[Sugar-devel] [IAEP] Planning for the future (Samuel Greenfeld)

[Sameer Verma]

Interesting thread. I'll reply to Lionel's post, but my reply is more
of my own set of ideas and understanding.

Putting on my business school researcher hat:

1) The eventual goal of this project should be to influence the
adoption of Sugar across the world. A person's attitude, combined with
subjective norms, forms his behavioral intention
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_reasoned_action). To
influence adoption, we have to address the attitudes of the potential
adopter, and the subjective norms. Should Sugar be a part of that
ecosystem (such as a school's curriculum) or apart from it?

2) Role of marketing:  Most of what I've seen thus far is focused on
the internal producer view of OLPC/Sugarlabs. This is natural, given
that that's the world view we are most familiar with. The role of
marketing is to take this internal view, and adapt its value to make
it attractive to the consumer. If this adaptation fails, we end up
with over-engineered products that the market rejects. This adaptation
is largely dependent on addressing the perceptions of the consumer.
This is one of the reasons why shiny products sell - we associate
shiny with expensive, be it chrome polished plastic or iPads. At this
point if you are saying to yourself "we don't care for marketing or
consumer" you are sorely mistaken.

3) Vision and Mission are important for the project: Vision is an
inspirational, directional, future state description. Mission is
largely how we get there. Both should be referenced on the basis of a
time frame. So, vision and mission for now + 5 years is a good target.
These might appear cheesy, but FOSS projects are usually non-strategic
by design, because we are all busy writing small bits and pieces,
hoping someone will stitch it all together eventually. We "scratch our
own itch" in a piecemeal fashion, by writing scripts for battery
stats, frame icons, Journal data and such. FOSS projects strive for
operational excellence. Then, we hope that all this gets weaved into a
fabric that can be used by someone (kids). The same applies to Apache,
Ubuntu, Drupal, Linux, etc. In all those cases, there is a foundation
or association or company that puts resources (time and money) and
provides strategic direction, because the project isn't designed to do
so by itself. Apache Software Foundation, Canonical, Drupal
Association, Linux Foundation play that important role (I am on the
Board of Directors of the Drupal Association, and some of this
thinking is from my observations there). Vision, Mission, Goals,
Objectives etc. should come from somewhere for Sugar/olpc. For a while
it came from OLPC, but right now, I don't see any of it in an
organizational manner.

4) In the free and open source world, the consumer is also sometimes
the producer. So, instead of treating the consumer as someone with
limited feedback (as may be the case with Windows or MacOSX) the
consumer can switch roles and become a producer (like Ignacio or
SamP). http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/37450155.pdf This can lead to a
myopic view of the target population being only people like Ignacio or
SamP. Should all kids open the hood to peek into Sugar and become
developers like Ignacio and SamP? Can we get into schools where they
have locked down Windows machines with no admin rights?

5) Sugar is not a product. Sugar is a project, that keeps evolving as
time goes by. A product is when we take a snapshot and polish it with
QC, QA and package it for delivery. OLPC's build for the XO platform
is a product. Sugarizer is a product. Suagr is NOT a product. This is
just like Fedora is NOT a product. It's a project. RHEL is a product.
Or for that matter, take the Ubuntu phone. The phone delivered by BQ
is a product that took Ubuntu 14.09 and made it RTM (release to
manufacturer) and ran it through QC and QA and produced the phone with
the polished stack on it. Customers buy products, while developers
work with projects. It is imperative that we understand the difference
and treat the two as different.

I'm pretty sure Rangan Srikhanta has a strategy for
OLPCAU/OneEducation. So does Rodrigo Arboleda for OLPC Inc. I think we
(Sugarlabs+lowercase olpc) need a strategy going forward to address
Vision, Mission, etc. We also need to operationally pick approaches
(such as Sugar Web) to build for multiple platforms. Android,
RaspberryPi, Ubuntu are prime targets. Low-hanging fruit. How do we
build for Android, but also reuse it for RaspberryPi and Ubuntu? On
Android, stuff should be in the Google Play Store. On Ubuntu, it
should be a simple install via apt-get or in their Software Center
(the current builds are horribly broken). On Rpi/Rpi2, build a
completely workable version for the 5 million units out there. Heck,
people should be able to buy a SD/microSD card on Amazon to run a full
Sugar desktop on the Rpi! Way back, I had a chat with Mike Lee, and I
even proposed a name for this - sweetie pi. Remember, marketing is
key, and branding a huge part of it. Speaking of branding,
Sugar/Sugarlabs has none. It is still a vestige of OLPC, which
continues to enjoy a high brand status around the world (good, bad,
it's all publicity).

This may be a lot to digest, but unless we address of these issues,
this project will go nowhere fast.

best,
Sameer
-- 
Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Professor, Information Systems
San Francisco State University
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://commons.sfsu.edu/
http://olpcsf.org/
http://olpcjamaica.org.jm/

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 1:10 AM, Lionel Laské <lionel at olpc-france.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Samuel,
>
>
>
> Thanks to share your vision. I think you're right, SugarLabs lack of a clear
> long-term vision that we could share with all contributors. Hope that your
> mail we'll give us opportunity to share our thought on that.
>
> Here's mine.
>
>
>
> If Sugar want live, it can't be limited to a niche platform: neither the XO,
> neither a Fedora computer. I'm sure we're all convinced that the better
> platform for education is a computer but today all others decision maker in
> the world seems to think that it's a tablet or even a mobile.
>
>
>
> So the question is how we could answer to requests for these new platforms
> thought keeping our roots: an unique UI for children, a reflection tool
> (Journal), a collaborative platform (Presence) and the most important - free
> an open source contents.
>
>
>
> My point of view is that we must not invest time to think how we could be
> compliant with a new platform, we need to think in another way: how we could
> port Sugar on Any platform ? Any computer (from the bigger one to the tiny
> one: raspberryPI), any laptop, any tablet, any mobile.
>
>
>
> And the answer is simple: web technologies allow every device to run very
> complex software. It's the only solution to be compliant with any device.
> It's where we need to put our investments.
>
>
>
> It's why I've got a personal engagement on Sugar for the Web from years:
>
> First to allow Sugar activities to be written using web technologies. From
> Sugar 0.100 thanks to Sugar Web, every developer could write new Sugar
> activities using exclusively HTML5/JavaScript - without any line of
> Python/Gtk.
> Second to create a Sugar container for the web - named Sugarizer - that
> could host any Sugar Web activities and that reproduce the unique Sugar
> features: Sugar UI, Journal and Presence.
>
>
>
> Sugar for the Web is not the Sugar successor, Sugar for the Web is a way to
> do a transition from Sugar for the XO to an universal version of Sugar that
> could run on any device so that could be used by any children anywhere on
> the world.
>
> Most important with Sugar for the Web we don't leave alone our current base
> of Sugar users, with Sugar 0.100+: any new Sugar Web activities will be
> usable both on Sugar on "old" devices and Sugar on new devices.
>
>
>
> With Sugarizer and Sugar Web, Sugar for any device already exist. But to
> become a reality, we need to invest more on it:
>
> Have a clear roadmap of transition between "old" Sugar activities to Sugar
> Web activities.
> Convince a more important community to join us. Sugar is the better learning
> platform, with Sugar for the Web, it should be easy to convince other
> communities to help us. I think specifically to Mozilla because they have a
> clear engagement on web and open source and Google because of their wish to
> embrace education with Chrome. We need to ask help from them.
> Experiment: we need to start deployment as soon as possible to demonstrate.
> At OLPC France, we've got ambition to start a first experimental deployment
> of Sugarizer before the end of the year.
>
>
>
> All of us spent years on promoting the Sugar philosophy. We have the choice
> to look backward or look forward. My choice is clear: with Sugar for the Web
> I will give to every children the same opportunities I gave to XO users.
>
>
> Best regards from France.
>
>
>                        Lionel.
>
>
>
>>
>> Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 18:36:34 -0500
>> From: Samuel Greenfeld <samuel at greenfeld.org>
>> To: IAEP SugarLabs <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>
>> Subject: [IAEP] Planning for the future
>> Message-ID:
>>
>> <CA+cAqjM7=hQOu47mHMr9AQtNBzKRmjDb00nxbzENnBO+1WKvdA at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> Disclaimer: The following are my views, and not the views of my current or
>> past employers.
>>
>> About a year ago, I privately expressed concern that Sugar needed to
>> ensure
>> it had long-term sponsorship and a long-term user base.
>>
>> Since then, both the historical US-based OLPC organization and Sugar Labs
>> have not publicly said much about their long-term plans, with OLPC also
>> being rather closemouthed about the present.
>>
>> Meanwhile contributors silently leave.  It is hard to justify volunteering
>> when you don't know who will benefit besides mysterious "customers."
>>
>> Everyone seems happy to cite their past successes.  No one corrects the
>> press when they report stale information in their favor.
>>
>>
>> There is no shame in being a smaller project.  But we need to ask the hard
>> questions.  With Sugar, getting users and developers for a niche platform
>> is a problem.  With OLPC, everyone seems to love repeating the 2 or 2.5
>> million number for laptops historically shipped.  Rarely is it asked how
>> many XOs been shipped in the past year or are in active use & where.
>>
>> Sugar & OLPC need to come up with long-term strategies.  While there is
>> nothing public I have seen stopping One Education's XO Infinity from
>> running Sugar, I haven't seen anything stopping it from running anything
>> else.  It is also unclear how much One Education is willing to engage with
>> the historical Sugar & OLPC communities (or how much they can tell us at
>> this time).
>>
>>
>> Historically there have been many philosophical questions like "Does there
>> need to be a physical machine?" and "Have we succeeded if every child has
>> a
>> computer, but from someone else?"
>>
>> I do not believe Sugar or OLPC is down for the count.  But in order to
>> engage One Education, governments, and other educational groups, both
>> Sugar
>> and the historical OLPC structure need to have plans to transition to the
>> future.  Otherwise these plans will be written for us.
>>
>> I suspect I know how things will end; but I wish it was not happening
>> though silence.
>>
>> ---
>> SJG
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>> Message: 2
>> Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2015 02:31:23 -0300
>> From: Gonzalo Odiard <godiard at sugarlabs.org>
>> To: Sora Edwards-Thro <sora at unleashkids.org>
>> Cc: Chris Leonard <cjl at sugarlabs.org>, grassroots
>>         <grassroots at lists.laptop.org>,  olpc-open
>> <olpc-open at lists.laptop.org>,
>>         Aaron Borden <adborden at live.com>,       olpc-sf
>> <olpc-sf at lists.laptop.org>,
>>         iaep <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>,        Nick Doiron
>> <ndoiron at mapmeld.com>
>> Subject: Re: [IAEP] OLPC-SF February meeting
>> Message-ID:
>>
>> <CAJ+iPVSKb3puCeQc57Kc3TUA4Df1=AkVtwdPT0abj-aQrUHYqA at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Only a English version is available right now.
>>
>> There are another activity with a older version in French, but the last
>> version is from 2009
>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4195
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 12:44 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro <sora at unleashkids.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Gonzalo, if a French translation exists and it's easy to include both it
>> > and the English translations when making the templates, that would be
>> > great. But if there's only room for one language, please have it be
>> > English.
>> >
>> > Thanks!
>> >
>> > On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 9:12 AM, Gonzalo Odiard <godiard at sugarlabs.org>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Thanks Nick.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 11:11 AM, Nick Doiron <ndoiron at mapmeld.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I believe the official language code is HT
>> >>> On Feb 23, 2015 9:09 AM, "Gonzalo Odiard" <godiard at sugarlabs.org>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> I can create the templates to do the translation and sent to you.
>> >>>> Or I can upload and you can translate them online.
>> >>>> The process is a little different than with the pottle server used to
>> >>>> translate activities,
>> >>>> but the idea is the same.
>> >>>> I need the localization code you are using to Haitian Creole
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Gonzalo
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 7:28 PM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>> >>>> sora at unleashkids.org> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> Good to see it's been updated! I look forward to checking it out to
>> >>>>> see what content we're using in Haiti that it's missing. We've been
>> >>>>> using
>> >>>>> our customized course guide
>> >>>>> <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti_Course_Guide> to help teachers
>> >>>>> design lesson plans, but materials that provide a basic overview of
>> >>>>> the
>> >>>>> activities themselves would also be helpful. How would I go about
>> >>>>> helping
>> >>>>> with translation efforts into Haitian Creole?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Gonzalo Odiard
>> >>>>> <godiard at sugarlabs.org
>> >>>>> > wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>> A little unrelated, but could be useful. The new version of Help
>> >>>>>> activity added information about more activities,
>> >>>>>> including many you named.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4051
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Help activity content can be translated if you or other are
>> >>>>>> interested.
>> >>>>>> Actual content is based in the work of many volunteersin this list,
>> >>>>>> and more content can be easily added.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Gonzalo
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 2:44 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>> >>>>>> sora at unleashkids.org> wrote:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Thanks for passing that on, Gonzalo! (note to self: when embarking
>> >>>>>>> on a project, first go to Sugar Labs and search extremely-relevant
>> >>>>>>> terms
>> >>>>>>> like "Story" instead of just assuming the stuff you've seen / used
>> >>>>>>> before
>> >>>>>>> is the only stuff that exists).
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> I like the open-endedness of Story. It also looks like it might
>> >>>>>>> not
>> >>>>>>> be hard to modify the images it's using - kids could nominate
>> >>>>>>> different
>> >>>>>>> pictures, or you could take examples from stories the class had
>> >>>>>>> read.
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:50 PM, Gonzalo Odiard <
>> >>>>>>> godiard at sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> You can add Story
>> >>>>>>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/es-ES/sugar/addon/4565
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 2:01 AM, Sora Edwards-Thro <
>> >>>>>>>> sora at unleashkids.org> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> Hello all,
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> We're looking for programming help on student writing software;
>> >>>>>>>>> hope some OLPC SF folks can become involved! I'm over on the
>> >>>>>>>>> East Coast,
>> >>>>>>>>> but I can join in over Skype / respond to questions via email if
>> >>>>>>>>> folks are
>> >>>>>>>>> interested.
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> Here are some more details:
>> >>>>>>>>> Unleash Kids recently received recognition
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/blog/> for our iloominate
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://iloominate-haiti.herokuapp.com/edit> app (shout-out to
>> >>>>>>>>> Caryl Bigenho for her input and Mike Dawson, whose Ustad Mobile
>> >>>>>>>>> project was
>> >>>>>>>>> also recognized). The app helps teachers write books
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/lascahobas-workshops-final-review/>
>> >>>>>>>>> for beginning readers by recommending easy words; now we're
>> >>>>>>>>> shifting our
>> >>>>>>>>> focus to supporting student writers.
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> There are already several excellent writing activities for the
>> >>>>>>>>> Sugar, which we're including as we design lessons for a summer
>> >>>>>>>>> writing
>> >>>>>>>>> workshop for our XO projects in Haiti:
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> -Labyrinth
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4078>, a
>> >>>>>>>>> mindmapping activity that gets kids thinking
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://www.unleashkids.org/2013/07/31/story-activity-continued-and-the-results/>
>> >>>>>>>>> about how to lay out their ideas on paper
>> >>>>>>>>> -Fototoon
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4253>,
>> >>>>>>>>> comic-book style creations; a perpetual favorite
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> <https://projectrive.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/first-week-of-classes/>
>> >>>>>>>>> -Newspaper <http://seeta.in/j/products/37.html>, an example of
>> >>>>>>>>> how templates can enable kids
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://blog.unleashkids.org/2013/08/01/journal-mission-of-hope/>
>> >>>>>>>>> to explore new formats
>> >>>>>>>>> -Prompt
>> >>>>>>>>> <http://olpc-yokwe.tumblr.com/post/39897602954/prompt-activity>,
>> >>>>>>>>> literally just presents students with a random image from a
>> >>>>>>>>> library for
>> >>>>>>>>> them to write about...proof that simple stuff can be powerful
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> We want to supplement these great activities with some new
>> >>>>>>>>> stuff,
>> >>>>>>>>> based on teacher recommendations. A lot of the focus will be on
>> >>>>>>>>> creating
>> >>>>>>>>> templates and scenarios that kids can use as inspiration - for
>> >>>>>>>>> example, we
>> >>>>>>>>> can present the kids with a scene of people talking, where the
>> >>>>>>>>> speech
>> >>>>>>>>> bubbles aren't filled in, and ask them to fill in the speech
>> >>>>>>>>> bubbles.
>> >>>>>>>>> That's one of many ideas for an effective tool.
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> We also hope to make use of the XSCE schoolserver installed
>> >>>>>>>>> on-site to enable the kids to collaborate and share the finished
>> >>>>>>>>> products
>> >>>>>>>>> with one another.
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> Our most dire need is help with the programming, but we also
>> >>>>>>>>> welcome input on any and all aspects.
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> Thank you everyone!
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> Sora Edwards-Thro
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 1:49 AM, Aaron Borden
>> >>>>>>>>> <adborden at live.com>
>> >>>>>>>>> wrote:
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> Hello,
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> OLPC San Francisco will be hosting our monthly meeting
>> >>>>>>>>>> Saturday,
>> >>>>>>>>>> February 14th, from 10AM - 1PM at the downtown SFSU campus, 835
>> >>>>>>>>>> Market
>> >>>>>>>>>> Street, Room 597 (the fishbowl).
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> Our meetings are held on the second Saturday of every month.
>> >>>>>>>>>> Everyone is
>> >>>>>>>>>> welcome to join us for our monthly meeting! We'll be discussing
>> >>>>>>>>>> the
>> >>>>>>>>>> latest in OLPC events and give updates on our local (and
>> >>>>>>>>>> global)
>> >>>>>>>>>> projects. There will be plenty of XO laptops with the latest
>> >>>>>>>>>> builds to
>> >>>>>>>>>> play around with, too. Please post with any additional agenda
>> >>>>>>>>>> items.
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/325843320953044/
>> >>>>>>>>>> Google+
>> >>>>>>>>>> https://plus.google.com/events/crf7g4e84aag78ssn761danaj8s
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> --
>> >>>>>>>>>> Aaron Borden
>> >>>>>>>>>> Human and Hacker
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>>>>>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> >>>>>>>>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> >>>>>>>>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> >>>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>>>>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> >>>>>>>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> >>>>>>>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> >>>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> --
>> >>>>>>>> Gonzalo Odiard
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
>> >>>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> --
>> >>>>>> Gonzalo Odiard
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> Gonzalo Odiard
>> >>>>
>> >>>> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> >>>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> >>>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> >>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> >>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Gonzalo Odiard
>> >>
>> >> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gonzalo Odiard
>>
>> SugarLabs - Software for children learning
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>> End of IAEP Digest, Vol 83, Issue 17
>> ************************************
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep