<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Hi again And here is a collaborative story authoring tool for children called KidPad ([1]) based on ZUI and related with Pad++. It is based on Jazz respectively Piccolo ([2]; unmantained website), which has as successor Piccolo2 ([3]; use this website for more software technical informations). Said this, the general concept to use a ZUI for eductional software is not so new. I also looked at the Sugar framework again in relation with a potential prototyp of Sugar+ZUI. At least two options exist: 1. Put ZUI into a Linux kernel. Pro: In this way Sugar developers could decide if they want to use it or not. This might also have advantages with the overall perforamance Contra: There are X11, D-Bus and Gnome dependancies. Personally, I prefer Wayland instead of X11 but this is another Sugar enhancement. 2. Put ZUI into the Glucose layer. Pro: ? Contra: Binds ZUI to Python or/and JavaSript. Personally, I prefer my Boot to WebCore with C++Core, but this is another Sugar story. Christian [1] KidPad <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/kiddesign/kidpad.shtml">www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/kiddesign/kidpad.shtml</a> [2] Jazz and Piccolo <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/jazz/">www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/jazz/</a> [3] Piccolo2 <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.piccolo2d.org">www.piccolo2d.org</a> <blockquote cite="mid:5311D3A3.2010002@ontolab.com" type="cite"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> Hi again I forget to say something to your question related with the educational technology. Firstly, I found the following statements on the webpage "What is Sugar?" in the section "About the Sugar Learning Platform" of Sugar ([1]) that says: " It is easy to approach and yet it doesn't put an upper bound on personal expression; one can peel away layers and go deeper and deeper, with no restrictions." and "[...] in whatever realm the learner is exploring [...] they are able to drill deeper; they are not going to hit a wall, since they can, at every level, engage in debugging both their personal expression and the very tools that they use for that expression." Hence, Sugar+ZUI supports the learning even with the related UI paradigm that reflects the general computer desktop metaphor as well as the 3rd characteristical attribute of Sugar. Secondly, if the U.S. government supports this ZUI based Prezi software as part of a billion U.S. Dollar donation even if it does not comply with ADA and 508 actually, then there must be a very strong reason to include a ZUI based application in a framework of educational software. Sadly to say, I do not know the true reason actually, but my instinct gives me a very clear hint. For sure, I do know that these might not be convicting arguments. Christian [1] Sugar, What is Sugar?, About the Sugar Learning Plattform wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/What_is_Sugar <blockquote cite="mid:5311B767.9040700@ontolab.com" type="cite"> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> Hi Sam Basically, I find this ZUI concept as attractive as the multi-touchscreen and the mind mapping approach. Also, the foundational hierachical structure of Sugar with the views you mentioned fits perfectly with a ZUI. The problem I have seen is that the screen gets more and more crowded with icons when Sugar is used and collaborations are made. Also, specific applications like the Journal suffer from this problem respectively allow to present only a small list of documents and activities at once. In this relation, I refer to some screenshots that I have seen on the Sugar Labs website. A solution to this problem is a ZUI functionality. Even better, due to the simple GUI metaphor of Sugar deliberately designed for children, Sugar+ZUI should already run smoothly when a user zooms in an out with actual hardware. The actual plan is to try to implement a prototyp of Sugar+ZUI, though until now it is just a concept and a plan, and I wanted to ask the other developers at first, if they are interested and if it is worth to go in this direction at all. Christian <blockquote cite="mid:CACVKbrXxEOM+Av5194t5iPJYuuaGxe3-ZMDC3gV=EoPOSNGWzQ@mail.gmail.com" type="cite"> Totally forgot to reply all xD <div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 1, 2014 9:10 PM, "Sam Parkinson" <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:sam.parkinson3@gmail.com">sam.parkinson3@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Hi, In sugar we currently have 'the views'. I think the vid on our site shows that. The whole zui thing does look cool, but besides prezi I cannot see any clear use cases in edu tech. What do you have in mind? Sam <div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 1, 2014 9:04 PM, "Christian Stroetmann" <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:stroetmann@ontolab.com" target="_blank">stroetmann@ontolab.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Aloha Since many years now I am looking at Sugar and the underlying basic software technologies. Besides this, I am also interested in the specific field of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI). In this relation, I would like to present a concept that is an extension of the general GUI approach of the Sugar learning software with a Zooming User Interface (ZUI; [1]). One inspiring moment was that recently the U.S.American government together with companiens like Adobe, Prezi, Microsoft and Apple announced to make software donationsto schools (related reports can be find in the web easily). One specific software is Prezi ([2]) that is developed in Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR, and built on top of Django (Python web framework). Surprisingly, Prezi is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act ([3] and [4])but used in education (see again [2]). I looked around and found the software Eagle Mode ([5]; for a first impression see the videos on its website diretly). Said this, I simply counted 1+1, Sugar+ZUI and Sugar+Eagle. Such an UI approach has advantages and disadvantages that are discussed shortly on the website of Eagle Mode (see [6]). The point with the hardware requirements seems not to be relevant, because for example the hardware of the latest featurephones and featuretablets (simple smartphones and tablet computers) should be useable with a ZUI and are available for around 30 U.S. Dollar already. Have fun Christian Stroetmann [1] Wikipedia, ZUI <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooming_user_interface" target="_blank">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooming_user_interface</a> [2] Wikipedia, Prezi <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prezi" target="_blank">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prezi</a> [3] Wikipedia, Rehabilitation Act of <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://1973en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Rehabilitation_Act" target="_blank">1973en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Rehabilitation_Act</a> [4] Wikipedia, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_508_of_the_Rehabilitation_Act" target="_blank">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_508_of_the_Rehabilitation_Act</a> [5] Eagle Mode <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://eaglemode.sourceforge.net" target="_blank">eaglemode.sourceforge.net</a> [6] Eagle Mode, Project Philosoophy <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://eaglemode.sourceforge.net/philosophy.html" target="_blank">eaglemode.sourceforge.net/philosophy.html</a> _______________________________________________ Sugar-devel mailing list <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel</a> </blockquote> </div> </blockquote> </div> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote> </body> </html>