<div dir="ltr">I think if we really want to get people outside OLPC machines, then we should adapt to them. Like take advantage of hardware specs, specially when people using the windows(HP, DELL etc), chromebooks and even the Macbooks without going against our culture and pedagogy. We can continue with the spec for users using low hardwares like the OLPC xo-1 and xo-1.5 but make it look more attractive for people who haven't experienced using low spec computers like the OLPC machines. <div><br></div><div>I saw an article on OLPC blog [1] about adding more design to Sugar to make it suitable for both children, teens and adult.</div><div>This is just a thought i think we can consider this to make us grow bigger and possible get more users. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>[1] <a href="http://www.olpcnews.com/software/operating_system/aquatic_sugar_childrens_interface.html">http://www.olpcnews.com/software/operating_system/aquatic_sugar_childrens_interface.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>BR</div><div>Samson</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 8:09 AM, Tony Anderson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tony_anderson@usa.net" target="_blank">tony_anderson@usa.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
I am extremely disappointed with the direction this thread is
taking. Based on our experience with the 2016 goals, this emphasis
on starting over will lead to a restatement of the 2017 goals which
at the end of the year will be as close to reality as they are
today. <br>
<br>
The heart of Walter's document is:<br>
<p>"We have several near-term opportunities that we should leverage:
</p>
<ul>
<li> Raspian: The Raspberry Pi 3 is more than adequate to run
Sugar—the experience rivals or exceeds that of the OLPC XO-4
hardware, though not the OLPC NL3 hardware. While Raspberry Pi
is not the only platform we should be targeting, it does have
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 Raspberry Pi website.</li>
<li> 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.</li>
<li> 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.</li>
<li> 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."</li>
</ul>
<p>Lionel Laske offered this response:<br>
</p>
<div>"Thanks a lot for this long proposal. Great to hear you on
that.</div>
<div>I think that it's more a Sugar history than a goal/vision but
it's good to read it from a guy that was the major contributor of
the history.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>BTW I'm not agree with your goals.</div>
<div>My view is that it's not a good idea to limit Sugar/SugarLabs
to makers. We can't target a so small market:</div>
<div>- RaspberryPI ? RPI is a great tool. I personally used 2 RPI
weekly for my personal usage. But it's a tool for geeks not for
learners. It could be a good device as server (we're using it in
classroom in France and in Madagascar and it's good for XSCE too)
but it's a very poor tools for children: no screen, no keyboard,
no mouse, not even a power adapter. It's just a board ! So I don't
see the interest of Sugar on it.</div>
<div>- Trisquel ? Probably a nice Linux distribution but how many
users ? Not at all a largely distributed distribution like Fedora
or Ubuntu. Why doing effort on it ?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I can't understand you even mention Windows support in your
goals: just 99,9% of the PC market ! So if you're a Windows user
you can't be a target for SugarLabs ? Plus, regarding devices: we
should be better on touch devices because tablets is the favorite
learning tools in classroom today, not PC. It's why Android (80%
of the tablet market) and iOS are so important in my mind. We
should go where users - children/teachers - are !</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We can't target makers just because Sugar has synergy with them
and because we hope they help us to spread the world tomorrow.</div>
<div>Our goals should be to deploy Sugar as a mainstream solution
for everyone not a solution for a bunch of geeks. It's the only
way to expand the Sugar community. You told about OLPC: the goal
of One Laptop Per Child was to give a laptop to EVERY child, our
goal should be to give Sugar to EVERY child too. The marketing
effort should be in that way, no need to do marketing for makers,
I'm sure they found us themselves.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> Lionel.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>P.S.: Regarding Sugarizer maintainability, it's just your
opinion. Not sure it's the opinion for 20 others Sugarizer
contributors. I don't think you could judge Sugarizer
maintainability only because you've not successfully updated
TurtleJS activity inside. I don't have success running TurtleJS on
my side and had a very bad experience when trying to Sugarize it,
it's not a reason for me to give a judgement about TurtleJS
maintainability. "<br>
<br>
Regarding Raspberry Pi, while of the millions in the wild
certainly only a small minority are used for education of primary
school aged children, the same is true for the number used to
drive 3d printers. There are computer labs in operation based on
Raspbery Pi with hand-me-down peripherals. Kids on Computers in
Mexico supports several using XSCE as the school server (the KoC
team never even considered Sugar as an option for the clients).
There is a specific opportunity in Kenya where desktops are being
used with hand-me-down peripherals. These desktops could be
replaced by RPi3 saving the difficulty in maintaining old ATX
boxes (and making use of the peripherals where the desktop is not
working). <br>
<br>
Lionel expresses concern that Trisquel is not well known in our
community. However, the newbies to Sugar are unlikely to have a
clue about the difference between Trisquel, Ubuntu, Debian or
Fedora (let alone Arch or Gentoo or OpenBSD). What is critical is
that it be dead simple to download and install Sugar and that
Sugar works reliably.<br>
<br>
The maker community has MakerFaires. These are very effective
opportunities to show what makers can do and to invite visitors to
make something on the spot. Adam Holt and the XSCE team have
demonstrated Sugar at several. The idea is that the exhibitor
offers an opportunity for visitors to 'make' - something we can do
easily with Sugar. Typical visitors are school-age children.<br>
</div>
<ul>
</ul>
I think our single goal is to escape the perception that Sugar is
tied to the XO and establish the perception that Sugar is a viable
learning platform available to the mainstream user. Continuing to
tie Sugar to NL3, Infinity or Positivo (Rwanda) is wrong. We need to
make Sugar a platform available independent of particular suppliers
(the Achilles heal of OLPC). <br>
<br>
I think it is easy to understand what is needed to move toward this
goal:<br>
<br>
Provide an image for the RPi3 which can be downloaded, copied to
an SD microchip, and booted on an RPi3 configuration with an HDMI
screen, usb keyboard and mouse. Sebastian Silva has offered some
technical ideas on how to implement this. The XSCE team is very
familiar with this process in connection with XSCE.<br>
<br>
Currently on the website we mention Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu.
At <a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Downloads#Do_you_use_GNU.2FLinux" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/<wbr>Downloads#Do_you_use_GNU.<wbr>2FLinux</a>
we mention a potpourri of options including Trisquel. We need to
have one. If there is disagreement with Walter's choice of Trisquel,
let's have that discussion. In the meantime let's release a
supported version of Sugar and document it as the choice on our
website. <br>
<br>
Sugarizer. We need to work out with Lionel Laske if Sugarizer is
an alternative to Sugar or is Sugar for mobile devices or is the
successor to Sugar. Sugarizer has a unique advantage in that it does
not need to be installed. However, Sugar offers a rich library of
activities that will not be available to Sugarizer without a major
investment in developer time.<br>
<br>
It is possible that Turtle Blocks is a standalone project but it is
also a Sugar activity. Making Music Blocks a Sugar activity should
not be difficult. The important aspect is that both add to the
educational benefits offered by the Sugar platform.<br>
<br>
I would only add to Walter's document two observations. <br>
<br>
One, to attract potential new users and deployers of Sugar, we must
remake the website so that it is easy for the curious to see what
Sugar is and how to bring it to their own computer. To accomplish
this, it must be possible to obtain the current release directly
from our website. We need a user forum and a means for users to
report problems similar to other open source projects. <br>
<br>
Second, we need a version for Windows. This is the most likely place
potential deployers will stumble upon Sugar (remember, Negroponte's
encounter). If possible it should be a Windows 10 application.
Samuel Greenfeld suggests Sugarizer as the version for Windows.
Sugarizer can be experienced by anyone with a browser and internet
access - including, of course, Windows users. This user experience
of Sugar can be featured immediately on our site. <br>
<br>
This thread needs to become a discussion of how our goals can be
reached in 2017 and the pragmatic steps needed to get there.<br>
<br>
Tony<br>
<br>
P.S. What is the role of SOAS?<br>
<br>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-cite-prefix">On 04/12/2017 07:22 AM, Mariah Noelle
Villarreal wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Hey everyone,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As promised, I've started the wiki based on the
conversation that's been happening on the thread. I hope this
helps out. I haven't had time to go through the 2016 Goals or
to add all of the information that was presented yet. Any help
would be much appreciated!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<a href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/2017_Goals" target="_blank">https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/<wbr>2017_Goals</a><br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- Mariah Noelle</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 11, 2017 at 10:34 AM,
Mariah Noelle Villarreal <span dir="ltr"><<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:villarrealmn@gmail.com" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:villarrealmn@gmail.com" target="_blank">villarrealmn@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto">
<div>I will take time this afternoon to combine all of
what is being said in the thread at <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/2017_Goals" target="_blank">wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/2017_Goa<wbr>ls</a></div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">This way we can move over to the wiki and
add our particular goals, objectives, and actions in one
place.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Also, I would really appreciate the
bickering and insults on this thread to come to an end.
This is an international volunteer community. We should
be mindful of language barriers and cultural differences
between us.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">I've followed this thread for years and
don't jump in often because of the constant bickering.
The time is better spent formulating these ideas,
documenting them and then actually doing them.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Look out this afternoon for updates on the
wiki a the address I mentioned above.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Best,</div>
<div dir="auto">Mariah
<div>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024h5"><br>
<div class="gmail_extra" dir="auto"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Apr 11, 2017 9:51 AM,
"Caryl Bigenho" <<a href="mailto:cbigenho@hotmail.com" target="_blank">cbigenho@hotmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div id="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654divtagdefaultwrapper" style="font-size:12pt;color:#000000;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>
<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="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt" face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> IAEP <<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:iaep-bounces@lists.sugarlabs" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:iaep-bounces@lists.sugarlabs" target="_blank">iaep-bounces@lists.sugarlabs</a>.<wbr>org>
on behalf of Laura Vargas <<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org" target="_blank">laura@somosazucar.org</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 class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374elided-text">
<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 class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:samsongoddy@gmail.com" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:samsongoddy@gmail.com" target="_blank">samsongoddy@gmail.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 dir="auto">If i am wrong,
walter made it clear earlier
that this is a "draft
proposal" meaning you can
input.<span class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-h5">On
Apr 10, 2017 2:15 PM,
"Laura Vargas" <<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:laura@somosazucar.org" target="_blank">laura@somosazucar.org</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-h5">
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241quoted-text">2017-04-09
19:03
GMT-05:00
Walter Bender
<span dir="ltr"><<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.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 dir="ltr"><br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><span class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-">On
Sun, Apr 9,
2017 at 7:56
PM, Dave
Crossland <span dir="ltr"><<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dave@lab6.com" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dave@lab6.com" target="_blank">dave@lab6.com</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 class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://pe.sugarlabs.org/i" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://pe.sugarlabs.org/i" target="_blank">http://pe.sugarlabs.org/i</a><wbr>r/Proyectos</div>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-walter</div>
</font></span>
<div>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-m_-8743274119683487946h5">On
Apr 9, 2017
3:31 PM,
"Walter
Bender" <<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com" target="_blank">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
</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>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-m_-8743274119683487946h5">
<div dir="ltr">
<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>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-m_-8743274119683487946m_-4175201952617904324m_7371648061571581588gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><font><font>Walter
Bender</font></font><br>
<font><font>Sugar
Labs</font></font></div>
<div><font><font><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a></font></font><br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
IAEP -- It's
An Education
Project (not a
laptop
project!)<br>
<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis</a><wbr>tinfo/iaep<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-m_2296444459671294241m_4941550130399028666gmail-h5"><br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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><font><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a></font></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 class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis</a><wbr>tinfo/iaep<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-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>“No paradox, no progress.” </span></font></div>
<div><font size="2"><span>~ Niels Bohr</span></font><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Happy
Learning!<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</font></div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<span class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail-">______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
Sugar-devel mailing
list<br>
<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.or" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.or" target="_blank">Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.or</a><wbr>g<br>
<a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank"></a><a class="m_-2045901839869986024moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis</a><wbr>tinfo/sugar-devel<br>
<br>
</span></blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024m_-247192185365639613m_7153495693517737374m_-2111123969528405654gmail_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>“No paradox, no progress.” </span></font></div>
<div><font size="2"><span>~ Niels Bohr</span></font><br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Happy Learning!<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a
laptop project!)<br>
<a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/lis<wbr>tinfo/iaep</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all"><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="m_-2045901839869986024gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Mariah
Noelle<br>
</div>
</font></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>