squeakland October 2009

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

22 participants
67 discussions

seymour papert joins squeakland
by Timothy Falconer 20 Jun '10

20 Jun '10

Hi everyone, I'm very happy to announce that Seymour Papert is now a part of the Squeakland Foundation: http://squeakland.org/about/people/ The photo is a recent one of Seymour. He's doing well, reading the New York Times each morning, working on projects from home. We are of course thrilled to have him part of the team. Take care, Tim -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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The Squeakland Tally Contest (win an RC plane with video)
by Timothy Falconer 08 Dec '09

08 Dec '09

Hi everyone, As we prepare for our two month Etoys publicity drive (starting November 1st), I'd like to make things a little more interesting. Let's have a contest. The winner gets a brand-new HobbyZone Super Cub LP with a lightweight Fly Cam One attachable video camera, shipped anywhere (that's legal) in the world. I'm personally donating both. The plane is very fun, and very easy to fly. Also, if you win, you'll be able to do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiNxzXixlOc Here are the rules: 1. you must be 18 years or older to enter the contest, or have the signature of a guardian or parent. Proof will be required upon winning. 2. you must guess three tally totals as they will appear at midnight, New Year's Eve, as the Times Square ball drops in New York City. The tally totals are: a. Squeakers (number of people that have signed the squeaker list) b. Accounts (number of people that have signed up for a showcase account) c. Projects (number of publicly visible projects on the Showcase) see: http://squeakland.org/tally 3. Lowest score wins. To determine it, subtract your guesses from the corresponding new year's value for each total, then add the absolute value of the each difference. Example: squeakers ... joe's guess (5000) ... new year's value (4500) ... abs diff (500) accounts ... joe's guess (3000) ... new year's value (3500) ... abs diff (500) projects ... joes guess (1000) ... new year's value (7000) ... abs diff (6000) score = 7000 4. These bonuses will apply: a. subtract 500 from your score if you're the last publicly visible project in 2009 b. subtract 300 from your score if you're from the top NON-USA country in the list at new year's b. subtract 200 from your score if you're at the PURPLE level at new year's d. subtract 100 from your score if you're at the BLUE level at new year's see: http://squeakland.org/showcase/ranking.jsp 5. Initial guesses need to be emailed to me before November 1st starts (midnight) in New York. 6. You'll be allowed three "mulligans" before December 1st where you can change any one of your guesses (one per mulligan). 7. Each mulligan will enact a 100 point penalty, which will be added to your final score. 8. Any obvious attempts at cheating will disqualify you. (Adding Squeakers or accounts yourself, reposting duplicate projects, etc.) 9. Disputes will be decided by me. I'll try to be as fair as possible, though I suspect some will see things differently. My plane, my call. 10. The winner will hopefully agree to send some fly-by video of a "Squeak if you love Etoys" sign, that we'll send, which we'll later use on the Squeakland website. Anyway, I hope this remains friendly and fun. The trick, of course, is making good guesses. A few hints . . . * we currently average about 300 web visitors a day, some new, some returning. We've peaked at 6000 web visitors in a single day. * the peak was because of a magazine article. We *will* be seeking multiple magazine articles and other forms of publicity during this time. * the addition of multiple languages on the website will greatly increase our possible audience * we will have "tell a friend" functionality to allow for some social networking, including facebook, twitter, and blog buttons for individual projects * schools will create multiple accounts, usually in one shot (I just now saw 14 accounts from the same school create accounts). So ask yourself . . . How many people do you think like Etoys in the world? How many can we reach before the end of the year? How many new people will we reach before the end of the year? How many will create accounts, or share projects? I've already made my three guesses (though I can't win), which will remain private like everyone else's. All will be revealed on New Year's Day. Have fun! Tim -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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Best way to use Etoys 4
by Carlos Rabassa 29 Oct '09

29 Oct '09

We enjoyed very much viewing some of the examples in the Gallery of Projects, after downloading Etoys 4 and switching to full screen mode. What recommendations would Etoys - experienced teachers and the creators of Etoys give to teachers who are just starting to use Etoys in their classrooms? How much should they do and how much should they ask the students to do? What is the best way to ask the class to do a project? How do experienced evaluators rank projects? Where do they look for value in a project? Any comments will be appreciated. The timing is perfect for our country, Uruguay, the distribution of the XO computers to public elementary school students is complete. Almost all of them are already connected to internet. Etoys-To-Go offers a solution to many others. They can even work at cybercafes which are quite popular here. Now is the time to go to work and use Etoys 4. Thanks in advance for any comments. Carlos Rabassa Member of Volunteer Support Network to Plan Ceibal (OLPC)

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please help us prioritize work for the next Etoys release
by Timothy Falconer 28 Oct '09

28 Oct '09

Hi everyone, With Etoys 4 done (we're getting lots of downloads), it's time to start planning the next release, due mid-June. The first step is to get a sense for what the community wants most. Our current development task list has 180 tickets. I'd like to move at least 100 of those into "someday" status, which means we have to choose the top 80. Please scan the list and pick your top 10 issues that you'd like to see. You can either vote within JIRA or respond to this email with your picks. Here's the list: http://tracker.squeakland.org/dev Once we get the picks, we'll assign priorities to the top 80 and move the rest into "someday" status. Thanks, Tim -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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Fwd: [sq-education] Attn: Bert Fruendenberg
by Hilaire Fernandes 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

CC to Squeakland I have investigate a bit more about sharing whole Etoys projects between XOs. I must confess it was a big disappointment when I realized sharing a file among XO is not even a basic functionality. It really sound odd when you considerer all the arguments produced around the mesh network (it really recalls me the eBook reader software situation with its flaky usability). Anyway, I have just tried Distribute activity on latest updated XO, but this activity behavior is unreliable, I was once able to share a project, but I can't reproduce it. Hilaire 2009/10/26 Hilaire Fernandes <hilaire(a)ofset.org>: > Hello John, > > I am concerned with the same problem, as I would like to use several > XO and be able to share Etoys projects from one to another one through > the Mesh network. > > So far from Etoys, it is reasonnably easy to share one object from one > XO to another XO through Etoys. > However, I have not found how you can share a whole project from one > XO to another one: > droping a project frame from one XO to another one lead to an error > when yzou try to access the shared project (an error message pop up > like "server unknow") > > AFAIK, shareing document from the Journal is not possible. > > I am also interested about any knowledge you may gain about shareing > through the mesh network. > > Hilaire > > > 2009/10/25 <JohnStout(a)aol.com>: >> I am looking for someone with experience using two or more XOs in mesh mode. >> Our project is centered on OX laptops and the unique connection between them >> via Mesh Network 1, 6 or 11. Have you done this? >> >> If we don't have to depend on Internet connections and working with servers, >> a classroom of students can have the same image on their screen, then all >> the students can learn by teaching, actively assisting other learners and >> thereby liberating the teacher to focus her experience and expertise where >> it is most needed in the classroom. The point is independence from the >> Internet, contrary to Intel’s Classmate computer. >> >> John Stout (a new member of the Squeakland ed group) > > > > -- > http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire > -- http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire -- http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire

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education team meeting notes October 23
by Rita Freudenberg 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

Hi all, here are the notes from our meeting last week: http://wiki.squeakland.org/display/sq/2009/10/23 Greetings, Rita ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Randy, Avigail, Cathie, Cherry, Christine, Hilaire, Rita We started discussing two questions Avigail raised in an email, which are now related to tracker issues. *1.* How to edit/change a project that is already in the showcase? Find more details and comments in the tracker here: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-534^ *2.* How to choose appropriate age recommendation for projects? As it turns out, the current items to choose from (up to 8 years, 9-11, 12-14, 15 and older) are very hard to use. Especially the upper limit can descourage older kids to even try the project. And when choosing the target age for projects, it is ok to choose the minimal age, but often the upper limit is not appropriate. Since we want to have target age for the projects in featured showcase, the options should be changed. The result of our discussion is this: * ages 8 - older * ages 12 - older * ages 15 - older * 18+ Here is the related tracker issue: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-533^ Related to that we think that every project in featured showcase *should* have target age. We have to find out if it is possible somehow to add categorization to projects which are already uploaded. If this is impossible, we will at least add the relevant information using comments. Featured projects should cover all age groups from elementary school to college level. Since it seems to be hard to add target age later, we talked about how to encourage people, and especially kids, to choose a target age for their projects (withour pressing them to do so). Cathie came up with a nice text: /If you would like to share your project with the most people possible, please indicate what age person might be most interested in looking at or using your project./ *3.* We discussed which projects should be featured for the new release. Currently on our list are: * all projects from the gallery, which are not in the tutorials section on the website: salmon sniff fish and plankton simple springs lunar lander game ball drop analysis bouncing ball animation make a movie speed acceleration random racing computer logic game turtle geometry * other projects to feature: rabbits and grass butterfly queen seymour quest sun earth moon add relative integer Pling Ant Colony Morphing Spirograph nBody Every project should have a description what it is about, especially projects like butterfly queen (story telling), which is the winenr of the waveplace awards. We also discussed if we should add more information about the developer of the project, like age and gender, to encourage and motivate other kids, but we should probably not publish such information about younger children, so we will not do this. *4.* During our discussion about target age we again hit the point of having two different kind of projects: projects which are "just for fun" and projects with a sopecial purpose and how to distinguish between these. *5.* Courseware We are working on short descriptions for the courseware units. We discussed examples of how the startpage for the courseware could look like. The design of the page is important also from an educational point of view. Avigail suggested to look up other education websites. Randy suggested to use a circle and put the categories around it, with arrows showing the relations between the topics. In the middle we can write up the main ideas of Etoys. We looked up some examplary websites: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5sNE5ktPHQ4/Rrz-RLNHnFI/AAAAAAAAACc/WOHdV-NoUXU/s… http://studentaffairs.uoregon.edu/planning/images/curriculum1.png^ http://www.cast.uark.edu/assets/images/Research/Geomatics/geomatics.jpg^ http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/pubs/katzsym/dodge2.gif^ The second link was best appreciated. Cherry will make a first draft based on the example, using our list of units. *6.* Cherry told us that John Stout is asking for help using the mesh network with Etoys. Rita advised that he should ask his questions on the squeakland mailing list. -- Rita Freudenberg Squeakland Foundation http://www.squeakland.org

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ANN: Etoys 4 has been released!
by Timothy Falconer 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Squeakland is proud to announce the release of Etoys 4, which you can now download from our website. Special thanks to the Squeakland software team, particularly Bert Freudenberg, Yoshiki Ohshima, and Scott Wallace for their tremendous efforts in the last month. Your hard work really shows! http://squeakland.org/download/ In our Fall newsletter, you'll find some thoughts by Scott Wallace, along with the Etoys 4 release notes which detail the changes you'll find. Of special interest is the new Squeakland Showcase. Everyone can now share their projects directly from Etoys to our website, where the Etoys community can then benefit from the many surprising and useful Etoys examples that are available. Please explore the showcase and share your projects with us. We want to hear from you! http://squeakland.org/news/newsletter/web.jsp?id=112 Also, if you haven't signed our Squeakers list, consider adding your name. As I write this, more than 175 people from 35 countries have signed, which really shows the enthusiasm and reach of Etoys throughout the world. http://squeakland.org/squeakers/ Take care, Timothy -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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[Deadline Extended] Call for Papers: C5 2010 - La Jolla California
by Hideyuki Takada 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

Dear squeakland members, (Apologies if you received multiple copies of this CFP.) I would like to inform you that the deadline for the paper submission to C5 2010 conference has been extended to November 13. We hope that many of you still consider submitting your research works. Hideyuki Takada (C55 2010 Publicity Chair) ----- The Eighth International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing (C5 2010) January 25-28, 2010, La Jolla, CA, US http://www.cm.is.ritsumei.ac.jp/c5-10/ ** PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 13 ** CALL FOR PAPERS Computers, networks, and other forms of technology are now pervasive in our information-based society. However, most users still function as passive consumers of technology. To evolve into a true knowledge society, it is critical that we transform computer-based human activities to engage users in the active process of creating, connecting, and collaborating together. The C5 conference is for researchers, technology developers, educators, and technology users who are concerned about developing and enabling human-oriented creation, connection, and collaboration processes. C5 is an international forum for presenting ongoing work as well as new work currently under development and for discussing future needs and directions in creative computing and multimedia authoring environments. We welcome equally the submission of theoretical and technical papers, practitioner/experience reports and papers that bridge the gap between theory and practice. C5 2010 invites submissions of full papers in the following categories (but not limited to): - Collaboration & Communication - Technology-Human Interaction - Visualization - Virtual Worlds - Social Networks - Learning Full papers must report original work that has not been previously published. Papers must present reports of significant work in research, development and applications with regards to one or more of the conference topics of interest. All submissions will be reviewed by a distinguished international program committee. Paper Submission Paper Format A full paper with a limit of eight (8) pages, formatted in two columns and 10 point font, should be submitted by the paper submission deadline. Each paper will be reviewed by the program committee, and authors will be notified regarding acceptance. Accepted authors must submit a camera ready version of the full paper with an eight (8) page limit by the camera-ready copy deadline. Papers should follow the formatting instructions provided by 8.5" x 11", Two-Column Format of "IEEE Computer Society Press - Proceedings Author Guidelines" (please refer to INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS in Conference Publishing Service). Submitted papers and camera-ready papers should be sent electronically in PDF through our online submission site below. Online Paper Submission Site http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=c510 Publication of the Proceedings A preliminary version of the proceedings will be distributed during the conference. The formal version of the proceedings will be published by the IEEE Computer Society (requesting) and sent to authors after the conference. For each accepted paper, at least one of the authors needs to attend the conference and deliver the presentation; otherwise the paper will not be included in the formal proceedings. Important Dates - Full paper submission: November 13, 2009 (Extended) - Notification of acceptance: December 11, 2009 - Full paper camera-ready copies: January 11, 2010 Web presence and Contact Website: http://www.cm.is.ritsumei.ac.jp/c5-10 If you have any questions or comments, please contact the program chairs. -- Hideyuki Takada, Ph.D Department of Computer Science College of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University

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please help me test browser compatibility
by Timothy Falconer 21 Oct '09

21 Oct '09

Hi everyone, We're launching the Etoys 4 final today, but first we need to make a fix to the showcase. We have recently discovered that the showcase does not appear well on Internet Explorer 8. If you use IE8 and you have some time today, please visit the Etoys chat channel (http://chat.squeakland.org) and say: "teefal, I have IE8" (or something .... the important part is starting with "teefal", which is me.) I need to try a few things, but since I don't have IE8 here, I need someone to be my eyes for me. Even if you don't use IE8, please check the website on your browser to determine if it looks like the four pictures below. Respond to this email, saying "It looks good on Windows XP, IE6" or "Ubuntu 4.04 on Konquerer" or whatever. No need to test on Safari or Firefox on Mac OS X. This will be a BIG help. Thanks, Tim http://squeakland.org http://squeakland.org/showcase http://squeakland.org/showcase/everyone/ http://squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=7029 -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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squeakland tally
by Timothy Falconer 21 Oct '09

21 Oct '09

Hi all, For those that like to look at numbers: http://squeakland.org/tally/ The tally remembers the last time you looked, and shows you changes in parentheses. The page is suitable for mobile phones, btw. Purple stuff on the right are about ballots, which indicate how the ranking system is working. If you want to bump some numbers yourself, add your name (if you haven't) here: http://squeakand.org/squeakers/ Have fun, Tim -- Timothy Falconer Squeakland Foundation http://squeakland.org 610-797-3100 -- "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do." ... piaget

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squeakland October 2009