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I am afraid we are going down another rathole. <br>
<br>
Walter has taken the time to write a set of proposed goals, so why
are we talking about 2016 goals or writing new ones. As I think it
should be clear, I want us to move past academic studies, discussing
potential goals, writing detailed proposals and get on with the job.<br>
<br>
While I get no response, I still believe it is clear to even the
most casual observer that Sugar is locked into its association with
the XO. Our primary goal should be to make Sugar available as
supported software for the widest range of platforms. <br>
<br>
Walter has suggested that making Sugar available as a supported
release for the Raspberry Pi should be easy. Great! Then let's do
it. If a Sugar release were available for the Pi, I would be happy
to exhibit it at the Pi and More meeting in Trier on June 24, 2017.
Before Walter can approach the Raspberry Pi Foundation to have Sugar
included in NOOBS, it first has to be released and supported by
Sugar Labs and proven through deployment.<br>
<br>
Having Sugar distributed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation would be a
much more important marketing step than anything I have seen
mentioned in the past two years. <br>
<br>
Walter believes that the Trisquel version of Sugar is supportable.
If so, then let's put the image on Sugar Labs and document how to
install it <br>
<br>
The current SOAS image can be downloaded and installed by dd to a
usb stick but you wouldn't know that from the Sugar Labs website.
This is really easy to fix, so let's do it. <br>
<br>
I can't believe there is no one in this community who knows enough
about Windows 10 to suggest a method to implement Sugar there. So
far the only technical suggestions I have seen came from Sean Daly
many months ago. Microsoft has a partnership with Ubuntu to provide
a Bash shell on Windows 10. I have yet to see an technical analysis
of this opportunity as an approach to implement Sugar on Windows 10.<br>
<br>
None of this will be easy. For example, many of our activities
assume a 1200x900 screen. If Sugar is to be supported on a range of
platforms, this needs to be addressed. Sugar depends on wifi for
collaboration. Supporting networking on a range of platforms will
not be easy (the current Sugar on Ubuntu does not provide any
networking support). The Record activity is our interface to a
camera and microphone. This will not be easy to extend to support a
range of hardware. PC hardware is moving to the amd64 architechture.
This will affect Sugar releases - probably requiring arm, i686 and
amd64 versions.<br>
<br>
But all of this is a matter of doing, not talking.<br>
<br>
Tony<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 04/11/2017 04:55 AM, Caryl Bigenho
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:MWHPR19MB11194CE28406B8CACB1B511BCC010@MWHPR19MB1119.namprd19.prod.outlook.com"
type="cite">
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style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"
dir="ltr">
<p>Sorry Laura, but I don't think you actually read what I
wrote. Most of the "Goals" you refer and the objectives you
refer to are really "activities." Please re-read my letter
below and, if you think I am wrong, I suggest you Google
"Goals vs Objectives vs Activities" to see what they really
are. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>As an educator I have spent many hours writing goals,
objectives, and activities (many of the latter were actually
to qualify for grant money). It was part of my job and that of
many other educators.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Now, back to goals... We should start with 4 - 5 clear,
concise, goal statements (each may cover a fairly broad
topic). I suggest something simple, such as Google Docs as a
place to start. When we have something concrete that most
folks can agree with and support, it will then be time to move
them to the wiki. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Remember the KISS principle. It is how to get things done!
(also can be Googled or searched for in Wikipedia if you need
clarification).</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Caryl</p>
<p><br>
</p>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt"
face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> Laura
Vargas <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org"><laura@somosazucar.org></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 10, 2017 11:45:26 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Caryl Bigenho<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Samson Goddy; sameer verma; Lionel Laské; Adam
Holt; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ignacio@sugarlabs.org">ignacio@sugarlabs.org</a>; <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>; Tony
Anderson; George Hunt; José Miguel García; SLOBs; iaep;
sugar-devel; Dave Crossland<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] 2017 Goals for Sugar
Labs</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">Hi Caryl and all,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Last year we - as a community - made the exercise to
document a list of technical and organizational goals here
at the wiki:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/2016_Goals">https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/2016_Goals</a><br>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It may be the logical start point for an updated version.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As for Objectives, and according with our mission*,
earlier this year I suggested:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px">[1] To sponsor any
motivated, active individuals in need to continue doing
the best they can to support our <span class="gmail-il">mission</span>.</span><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px">[2] To make sure our
servers are safe and our systems are distributed.</span><br>
</div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px">[3] To maintain domains
and trademarks</span><span style="font-size:12.8px">.</span><span
style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:12.8px">As for the official
mission I would be on favor of eliminating the text "</span><span
style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:11.375px">Originally
part of the One Laptop Per Child project"
</span><span
style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">just
because it is irrelevant.</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span
style="color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">From </span><font
face="sans-serif" color="#252525"><span
style="font-size:12.8px"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Mission">https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Mission</a></span></font></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<h1 id="gmail-firstHeading" class="gmail-firstHeading"
style="color:black;background:none;font-weight:normal;margin:0px
0px 0.25em;overflow:visible;padding:0px;border-bottom:1px
solid
rgb(170,170,170);font-size:1.8em;line-height:1.3;font-family:"linux
libertine",georgia,times,serif" lang="en">
*Mission</h1>
<div id="gmail-bodyContent" class="gmail-mw-body-content"
style="line-height:1.6;font-size:0.875em;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif">
<div id="gmail-contentSub"
style="font-size:11.76px;line-height:1.2em;margin:0px
0px 1.4em 1em;color:rgb(84,84,84);width:auto">
</div>
<div id="gmail-jump-to-nav" class="gmail-mw-jump"
style="overflow:hidden;height:0px;zoom:1;margin-bottom:1.4em">
</div>
<div id="gmail-mw-content-text" dir="ltr"
class="gmail-mw-content-ltr" style="direction:ltr"
lang="en">
<p style="margin:0.5em 0px;line-height:inherit"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Trademark"
title="Trademark"
style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:none;border-bottom:1px
dotted lightgrey">Sugar Labs<sup
style="line-height:1">®</sup></a> is a
volunteer-driven member project of <a
moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow"
class="external gmail-text"
href="http://www.sfconservancy.org/"
style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(102,51,102);background-color:initial;border-bottom:1px
dotted lightgrey;padding-right:13px">Software
Freedom Conservancy</a>, a nonprofit corporation.
Originally part of the One Laptop Per Child project,
Sugar Labs coordinates <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Getting_Involved"
title="Sugar Labs/Getting Involved"
style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:none;border-bottom:1px
dotted lightgrey">volunteers</a> around the world
who are passionate about providing educational
opportunities to children through the Sugar Learning
Platform. Sugar Labs® is supported by donations and is
seeking <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Donate"
title="Donate" class="gmail-mw-redirect"
style="text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:none;border-bottom:1px
dotted lightgrey">funding</a> to accelerate
development.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>Regards and looking forward for your comments,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Laura Victoria</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">2017-04-10 11:58 GMT-05:00
Caryl Bigenho <span dir="ltr">
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:cbigenho@hotmail.com" target="_blank">cbigenho@hotmail.com</a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px
0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div
id="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709divtagdefaultwrapper"
style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:calibri,arial,helvetica,sans-serif"
dir="ltr">
<p>Hi Folks,</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>First, thanks go to Walter for the very
comprehensive review of Sugar Labs and what
has been done and is currently being done. It
is very helpful. However, it, in no sense of
the words, represents goals and objectives for
SL going forward.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I know Sameer really does want to share more
with us to assist in developing a viable list
of goals and objectives, but I also know he is
very busy with his teaching job. So, I have
taken the time to find a couple of resources
from education that show what goals and
objectives really are and how the activities
we choose to undertake are related. These
resources are attached.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>The next thing that needs to be done is to go
through Walter's fine document and identify
all the specific areas Sugar Labs works with
and write one goal for each. Don't do anything
else until these goals are written. These
should be done in a sharable online document.
Everyone who wants to participate should be
encouraged to do so. There should be no
special priority attached to any of these
goals. At this point they would be of equal
value.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>There should be one goal for each area... I
suggest we start with these 4 broad areas:</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<ol style="margin-bottom:0px;margin-top:0px">
<li>Sugar<br>
</li>
<li>Sugarizer<br>
</li>
<li>Stand Alone Projects<br>
</li>
<li>School Server<br>
</li>
</ol>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Each goal should be concise and precise. <u>Preferably
one sentence.</u> Under each goal go
objectives. There can be
<u>more than one</u> objective per goal. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>An objective should follow the form of <b>Who</b>
is going to do <b>What</b> by
<b>When</b> and <span
style="font-family:calibri,arial,helvetica,sans-serif,emojifont,"apple
color emoji","segoe ui
emoji",notocoloremoji,"segoe ui
symbol","android
emoji",emojisymbols;font-size:16px">
<b>How</b></span> will success be measured. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>A goal can have several objectives under
it... for example, the objectives for Sugar
could have objectives addressing both Raspian
and Trisquel (two separate categories).</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Once the objectives are filled in, it will be
time to start working on activities. These
will include actual activities like producing
a new version of Sugarizer, conducting a Music
Blocks workshop, showing Sugar Labs "products"
and recruiting users and volunteers at Linux
conferences and educational conferences, etc.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>After this every project proposed can be
analyzed with the question in mind, "How does
this project help Sugar Labs achieve its
stated objectives (and thus its goals as
well).</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Please! Someone start a doc for this to all
happen. Begin with just the 4 (or 5 if you
want to separate Raspian and Trisquel). Make a
simple goal for each. Then collaborate on
getting the goals "just right" before moving
on to objectives. </p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Then do the same thing for objectives.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>This may seem like a lot of "busy work." But,
trust me it isn't. It will give Sugar Labs a
strong platform to work from, enabling the
best use of limited time and resources.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Caryl</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%">
<div
id="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709divRplyFwdMsg"
dir="ltr">
<font style="font-size:11pt" face="Calibri,
sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> IAEP
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:iaep-bounces@lists.sugarlabs.org"
target="_blank">iaep-bounces@lists.sugarlabs.<wbr>org</a>>
on behalf of Laura Vargas <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org">laura@somosazucar.org</a></a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, April 10, 2017 7:31:18 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Samson Goddy<br>
<b>Cc:</b> SLOBs; iaep; sugar-devel; Dave
Crossland<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] 2017
Goals for Sugar Labs</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-h5">
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Thank you Samson</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Then I guess the email format is not
the best choice. Could you please
document it on a wiki page at the Sugar
Labs wiki?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Blessings and a nice week to all</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Laura Victoria</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_extra">
<div class="gmail_quote">2017-04-10
8:25 GMT-05:00 Samson Goddy <span
dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:samsongoddy@gmail.com"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:samsongoddy@gmail.com">samsongoddy@gmail.com</a></a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto">If i am wrong,
walter made it clear earlier
that this is a "draft proposal"
meaning you can input.<span
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-HOEnZb"><font
color="#888888">
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Samson</div>
</font></span></div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-h5">On
Apr 10, 2017 2:15 PM,
"Laura Vargas" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org">laura@somosazucar.org</a></a>>
wrote:<br
type="attribution">
</div>
</div>
<blockquote
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-h5">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div
class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div
class="gmail_quote">
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241quoted-text">2017-04-09
19:03 GMT-05:00
Walter Bender <span
dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com">walter.bender@gmail.com</a></a>></span>:<br>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div
class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div
class="gmail_quote"><span
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-">On
Sun, Apr 9,
2017 at 7:56
PM, Dave
Crossland
<span
dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:dave@lab6.com" target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dave@lab6.com">dave@lab6.com</a></a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div
dir="auto">Hi
<div
dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div
dir="auto">Thanks
Walter. I'd
like to better
understand
some
additional
context before
diving in :)<br>
<div
dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div
dir="auto">Does
this mean
Sameer you
have stopped
the project
planning
process you
started, and
we should not
expect you to
restart it
again?</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div> </div>
</span>
<div>At the
most recent
SLOB meeting
Samson brought
up the fact
that we were
still waiting
and so I
volunteered to
write
something up
to get the
conversation
going again.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div>Thanks for
doing this
Walter,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>After a quick
read, I have to
confess I feel
sad and excluded
because none of
the projects I
have worked on
[1] is mentioned
on your view of
Sugar's history.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards and
blessings,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Laura V</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> [1] <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://pe.sugarlabs.org/ir/Proyectos" target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://pe.sugarlabs.org/i">http://pe.sugarlabs.org/i</a><wbr>r/Proyectos</a></div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241elided-text">
<div> </div>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div
class="gmail_extra">
<div
class="gmail_quote"><span
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-">
<div> </div>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div
dir="auto">
<div
dir="auto">
<div
dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div
dir="auto">Walter,
are these the
goals for this
year, or are
they your
proposal for
the goals for
this year?</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
</span>
<div>Not sure
I understand
what you are
asking. I
wrote up a
draft of goals
but they are
not "the
goals" until
we agree to
them.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>regards.</div>
<span
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-HOEnZb"><font
color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-walter</div>
</font></span>
<div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-h5">
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px
solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div
dir="auto">
<div
dir="auto">
<div
dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div
dir="auto"><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div
class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div
class="gmail_quote">
<div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-m_-8743274119683487946h5">On
Apr 9, 2017
3:31 PM,
"Walter
Bender" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com">walter.bender@gmail.com</a></a>>
wrote:<br
type="attribution">
</div>
</div>
<blockquote
class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px
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<div>As per
the discussion
in the last
Suagr Labs
Oversight
Board Meeting,
I had agreed
to write a
draft
statement of
goals for
2017. The
document below
includes
feedback from
Samson G. I
hope this
document can
serve to
revitalize our
discussion
from 2016 that
never reached
resolution.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sugar
Labs Plans,
Goals,
Aspirations</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What is
Sugar Labs?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sugar
Labs creates,
distributes,
and maintains
learning
software for
children. Our
approach to
learning is
grounded in
Constructionism,
a pedagogy
developed by
Seymour Papert
and his
colleagues in
the 1960s and
70s at MIT.
Papert
pioneered the
use of the
computer by
children to
help engage
them in the
“construction
of knowledge.”
His long-time
colleague
Cynthia
Solomon
expanded up
his ideas by
introducing
the concept of
engaging
children in
debugging as a
pathway into
problem-solving.
Their 1971
paper, “Twenty
things to do
with a
computer”, is
arguably the
genesis of
contemporary
movements such
as the Maker
Movement and
Hour of Code.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>At the
core of
Constructionism
is “learning
through
doing.” If you
want more
learning, you
want more
doing. At
Sugar Labs we
provide tools
to promote
doing. (We
focus almost
exclusively on
tools, not
instructional
materials.)
However, we go
beyond “doing”
by
incorporating
critical
dialog and
reflection
into the Sugar
learning
environment,
through
mechanisms for
collaboration,
journaling,
and portfolio.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sugar
Labs is a
spinoff of the
One Laptop per
Child (OLPC)
project and
consequently
it has
inherited many
of its goals
from that
project. The
goal of OLPC
is to bring
the ideas of
Constructionism
to scale in
order to reach
more children.
A particular
focus is on
children in
the developing
world. In
order to meet
that goal,
Sugar, which
was originally
developed for
OLPC, was by
necessity a
small-footprint
solution that
required few
resources in
terms of CPU,
memory,
storage, or
network
connectivity.
The major
change on
focus from the
OLPC project
is that Sugar
Labs strives
to make the
Sugar desktop
available to
multiple
platforms, not
just the OLPC
XO hardware.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Who
develops
Sugar?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sugar
Labs is a 100%
volunteer
effort
(although we
do
occasionally
raise money
for paid
student
internships).
Sugar
development
and
maintenance is
incumbent upon
volunteers and
hence we
strive to
provide as
much control
as possible to
our community
members,
including our
end-users. (In
fact, one of
our assertions
is that by
enabling our
users to
participate in
the
development of
the tools that
they use will
lead to deeper
engagement in
their own
learning.)
Towards these
ends, we chose
the GPL as our
primary
license. It
has been said
of the GPL
that it
“restricts my
right [as a
developer] to
restrict yours
[as a user and
potential
developer]”,
which seems
ideal for a
project that
wants to
engage a broad
and diverse
set of
learners. But
at Sugar Labs
we go beyond
the usual
goals of FOSS:
a license to
make changes
to the code is
not enough to
ensure that
users make
changes. We
also strive to
provide the
means to make
changes. Our
success in
this goal is
best reflected
in the number
of patches we
receive from
our community.
(We achieve
this goal
through
providing
access to
source code
and
development
tools within
Sugar itself.
We also
actively
participate in
workshops and
internship
programs such
as Google
Summer of
Code,
Outreaching,
and Google
Code-In.)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Who uses
Sugar?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ultimately,
our goal is to
reach learners
(and
educators)
with powerful
tools and
engage them in
Constructionist
learning.
Currently we
reach them in
many ways: the
majority of
our users get
the Sugar
desktop
preinstalled
on OLPC XO
hardware. We
have a more
modest set of
users who get
Sugar packaged
in Fedora,
Trisquel,
Debian,
Ubuntu, or
other
GNU/Linux
platforms.
Some users get
Sugar on Live
Media (i.e.,
Sugar on a
Stick).
Recently
Sugarizer, a
repackaging of
some of the
core Sugar
ideas for the
browser, has
been finding
its way to
some users.
There are also
a number of
Sugar
activities
that are
popular
outside of the
context Sugar
itself, for
example,
Turtle Blocks,
which has
wide-spread
use in India.
Harder to
measure is the
extent to
which Sugar
has influenced
other
providers of
“educational”
software. If
the Sugar
pedagogy is
incorporated
by others,
that advances
our goal.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Who
supports
Sugar?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>When we
first created
Sugar Labs, we
envisioned
“Local
Labs”—hence
the name
“Sugar Labs”,
plural—that
would provide
local support
in terms of
local-language
support,
training,
curriculum
development,
and
customizations.
This model has
not ever
gained the
scale and
depth
envisioned (we
can debate the
reasons why),
although there
are still some
active local
communities
(e.g., Educa
Paraguay) that
continue to
work closely
with the
broader
community.
There are also
individual
volunteers,
such as Tony
Anderson and
T.K. Kang, who
help support
individual
schools in
Rwanda,
Malaysia, et
al. An open
question is
how do we
support our
users over the
long term?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What is
next for
Sugar?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We face
several
challenges at
Sugar Labs.
With the ebb
of OLPC, we
have a
contracting
user base and
the number of
professional
developers
associated
with the
project is
greatly
diminished.
How can we
expand our
user base? How
can we attract
more
experienced
developers?
Why would they
want to work
on Sugar as
opposed to
some other
project? The
meta issue is
how do we keep
Sugar relevant
in a world of
Apps and
small,
hand-held
devices? Can
we meet the
expectations
of learners
living in a
world of
fast-paced,
colorful
interfaces?
How do we
ensure that it
is fulfilling
its potential
as a learning
environment
and that our
users,
potential
users, and
imitators are
learning about
and learning
from Sugar.
Some of this
is a matter of
marketing;
some of this
is a matter of
staying
focused on our
core pedagogy;
some of this a
matter of
finding
strategic
partners with
whom we can
work.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We have
several
near-term
opportunities
that we should
leverage:</div>
<div>*
Raspian: The
Raspberry PI
3.0 is more
than adequate
to run
Sugar—the
experience
rivals or
exceeds that
of the OLPC XO
4.0 hardware.
While RPi is
not the only
platform we
should be
targeting, it
does has broad
penetration
into the Maker
community,
which shares a
synergy with
our emphasis
on “doing”. It
is low-hanging
fruit. With a
little polish
we could have
an image
available for
download from
the RPi
website.</div>
<div>*
Trisquel: We
have the
potential for
better
leveraging the
Free Software
Foundation as
a vehicle for
promoting
Sugar. Their
distro of
choice is
Trisquel and
the maintainer
does a great
job of keep
the Sugar
packages up to
date.</div>
<div>*
Sugarizer: The
advantage of
Sugarizer is
that it has
the potential
of reaching
orders of
magnitude more
users since it
is web-based
and runs in
Android and
iOS. There is
some work to
be done to
make the
experience
palatable on
small screens
and the
current
development
environment
is—at least my
opinion—not
scalable or
maintainable.
The former is
a formidable
problem. The
latter quite
easy to
address.</div>
<div>*
Stand-alone
projects such
as Music
Blocks have
merit as long
as they
maintain both
a degree of
connection
with Sugar and
promote the
values of the
community. It
is not certain
that these
projects will
lead users
towards Sugar,
but they do
promote FOSS
and
Constructionist
principles.
And they have
attracted new
developers to
the Sugar
community.</div>
<div>*
School-server:
The
combination of
the School
Server and
Sugar desktop
is a technical
solution to
problems
facing small
and remote
communities.
We should
continue to
support and
promote this
combination.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Specific
actions: After
last year’s
Libre Planet
conference,
several
community
members
discussed a
marketing
strategy for
Sugar. We
thought that
if we could
reach
influencers,
we might be
able to
greatly
amplify our
efforts. There
are several
prominent
bloggers and
pundits in the
education
arena who are
widely read
and who might
be receptive
to what we are
doing. One
significant
challenge is
that GNU/Linux
remains on the
far periphery
of the Ed Tech
world.
Although the
“love affair”
with all
things Apple
seems to be
over, the new
elephant in
the
room—Chromebooks
and Google
Docs—is
equally
difficult to
co-exist with.
Personally, I
see the most
potential
synergy with
the Maker
movement,
which is
building up
momentum in
extra-curricular
programs,
where FOSS and
GNU-Linux are
welcome (hence
my earlier
focus on RPi).
(There are
even some
schools that
are building
their entire
curriculum
around PBL.)
We can and
should develop
and run some
workshops that
can introduce
Sugar within
the context of
the Maker
movement.
(Toward that
end, I have
been working
with some
teachers on
how to
leverage, for
example,
Turtle Blocks
for 3D
printing.) It
is very much a
tool-oriented
community with
little overall
discussion of
architectural
frameworks, so
we have some
work to do.
But there is
lots of
low-hanging
fruit there.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>regards.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-walter</div>
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
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<div dir="ltr">
<div><font><font>Walter
Bender</font></font><br>
<font><font>Sugar
Labs</font></font></div>
<div><font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a></font></a></font><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
IAEP -- It's
An Education
Project (not a
laptop
project!)<br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a></a><br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" rel="noreferrer"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis</a><wbr>tinfo/iaep</a><br>
</blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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</div>
</div>
<div>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-h5"><br>
<br
clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-m_-8743274119683487946gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><font><font>Walter
Bender</font></font><br>
<font><font>Sugar
Labs</font></font></div>
<div><font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><font><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a></font></a></font><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
IAEP -- It's
An Education
Project (not a
laptop
project!)<br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a></a><br>
<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" rel="noreferrer"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis</a><wbr>tinfo/iaep</a><br>
</blockquote>
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</div>
<font
color="#888888"><br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Laura V.<br>
<font
color="#ff00ff"><b>I&D
SomosAZUCAR.Org</b></font></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><font
size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">“No paradox, no progress.” </span></font></div>
<div><font
size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">~ Niels Bohr</span></font><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Happy
Learning!<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</font></div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<span
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail-">______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
Sugar-devel mailing list<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.or<wbr>g</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel" rel="noreferrer"
target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis<wbr>tinfo/sugar-devel</a><br>
<br>
</span></blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div
class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail-m_9945995199356709gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Laura V.<br>
<font color="#ff00ff"><b>I&D
SomosAZUCAR.Org</b></font></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><font size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">“No paradox, no progress.” </span></font></div>
<div><font size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">~ Niels Bohr</span></font><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Happy Learning!<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="gmail-m_952877343267167088gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Laura V.<br>
<font color="#ff00ff"><b>I&D SomosAZUCAR.Org</b></font></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><font size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">“No
paradox, no progress.” </span></font></div>
<div><font size="2"><span
style="color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"helvetica
neue",helvetica,arial,sans-serif">~ Niels
Bohr</span></font><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Happy Learning!<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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