[squeakland] Musings on the Book Sprint

[Bert Freudenberg]

On 08.12.2009, at 20:13, Rita Freudenberg wrote:
> 
> 
> Am 08.12.2009 um 18:42 schrieb Steve Thomas:
> 
> Hi Steve,
> 
> thank you for sharing your thoughts!
> 
> 
> 
>> The goal (as I understand it . . .)
>> 	• Facilitate Understanding (Well that's pretty broad, Understanding of What?)
>> 		• How it works
> 
> The manual might cover that.
> 
>> 		• How can I use it
>> 			• To build what I want to build
>> 			• In general (more abstract version of (item 1.2.1)
>> 			• With other Objects?
>> 		• What can I combine with it to build something bigger/better, smaller/better, more useful, more fun
>> 
> This is definitely something Etoys users need. We will not be able to include that in the manual we write currently. But it is a great idea for our next face-to-face book sprint!
> Please don't get me wrong: if we are really productive and have finished the complete reference manual by tomorrow, we are free to add as much chapters as we can write about how to use it with examples etc. The main goal for this sprint is to collect all the information we already have on different places, synchronize it and have *one* place where a user can find it. That means looking up names and descriptions in Etoys, Quick Guides, "Powerful Ideas" etc. and of course discussion (which has started already :)
> The reference manual will be a great foundation for many more books and material.
> 
>> 
>> Who is the target audiences (yes I know adults, but there are many kinds of adults just like there are many kinds of spaghetti sauces: see http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html )
>> 	• Teachers
> 
> During our audio discussion yesterday, we agreed on targeting mostly teachers and parents. That will hopefully include most of first time (adult) Etoys users. So the language will not be technical.
> 
>> 	• College Students
>> 	• High School Students
>> 	• Middle School Students
>> 	• Elementary School Students
>> Mediums
>> 	• Textbook (aka Floss Manual)
> 
> That's the only medium we concentrate on right now.
> 
>> 	• Etoys
>> 	• "ScreenCast"
>> 	• Web Page
> 
> I agree, it will be really helpful to have linked projects (I saw your comment in the playfield text), also screencasts and a webpage (do you mean just the book in html? we will have that ...). I would like to discuss these issues when we have finished the textbook.
> 
>> Use Cases
>> 	• Teacher
>> 		• What can I teach with this?
>> 			• Underlying core concepts (Sequence, corrdinates, ...)
>> 			• Etoys Concepts
>> 			• CS Concepts
>> 		• How can I use this in a project that will motivate the kid?
>> 		• What will motivate kids and how can I tie this into that?
>> 			• Cartoons
>> 			• Comics
>> 			• Games
>> 	• College Student
>> 	• HS Student
>> 	• Elementary Student
> 
> That's a whole new book! I think, most of us wanted to write that book since a long time ... We will cover some of that with our courseware, on which we will keep working when the book sprint is over :)
> And we have that section on the wiki about tips and tricks, these would make a good book, too!
> 
> Steve, please don't be disappointed by my comments, your ideas are wonderful and we will remember it for our next efforts!
> 
> Greetings,
> Rita


I agree.

Basically the Reference Manual should be an inventory of stuff in Etoys. Descriptions should be as terse as possible so we cover a lot of ground. 

The more thorough explanations, recipes, examples etc. should follow in another book ("Etoys User Guide" maybe?). And the applications to particular topics could fill a whole series of books after that.

- Bert -