X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?p=wiki.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=blog%2F2010%2F03;h=b255bb0ef093ab3e4723dd513ee5f0b4722ab3bd;hp=a976099ab02973811d7e5c8d181d3e5038eb8f9b;hb=2084a346a8b0d36e048274d87f5c26599dcb4939;hpb=4b65df6f5ff34d2b5e9c83c8c587834d1a82dfd0

diff --git a/blog/2010/03 b/blog/2010/03
index a976099..b255bb0 100644
--- a/blog/2010/03
+++ b/blog/2010/03
@@ -1,8 +1,104 @@
+== Sun, Mar 14 - What are kids using Sugar for? ==
+
+I'm finally back in Asuncíon. Over the last few days, I had the
+opportunity to interview a dew dozen children who had been
+using Sugar 0.82 for about one year. Perhaps the most interesting
+and controversial finding was which activities are the most
+popular among them:
+
+{{podium.jpg|maxwidth=640|class=thumbright|The most popular Sugar activities}}
+
+ # [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(video_game) | Doom]]
+ # [[http://www.pixelprospector.com/indev/2009/12/super-vampire-ninja-zero/ | Super Vampire Ninja Zero]]
+ # [[http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4024 | Navegar]] (Browse)
+
+Heh, at least Browse made the third place, I thought. But when I
+asked what websites they were visiting, the answer was invariably
+"videos".
+
+Well, at the least I could tell they were answering honestly!
+We often idealize our young users as being creative, passionate and
+eager to learn just about everything. Some kids are really
+like this, I met some in Caacupé. However, the naked truth is that the
+vast majority would rather spend their free time playing.
+
+
+=== Those inappropriate games ===
+
+{{http://diablobasher.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/doom01.jpg|class=thumbleft|The Ultimate Doom title artwork}}
+
+It's no wonder kids like the game which, according to the Wikipedia, is "//widely regarded as one of
+the most important titles in gaming history//". This is no exaggeration: the first 7 hits for the
+common word "[[http://www.google.com/search?q=doom|doom]]" are about the game itself. Then come
+the film adaptation and various fan sites.
+Anyway, how can we blame kids for playing games? After all, many of us played
+Doom and many other types of "inappropriate" video games throughout our childhood.
+
+We quickly took Doom down from the OLPC wiki soon after it was uploaded,
+yet it is still spreading fast among Sugar users worldwide. Let's look at the
+positive sides: it shows social behavior and encourages kids to find technical
+solutions to transfer activities directly (their old version of Sugar does not
+allow direct sharing from the journal).
+
+So, what to do now? Do we lock the entire system down so that kids could
+only install applications that we approve? So much for the "child ownership"
+principle.
+
+Do we develop a couple of boring educational games, in the hope they will keep
+our kids from playing the "//#1 game of all time//"? I'm sure that will work :-)
+
+How about admitting defeat and giving them the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_WAD|level editor]]
+too? It could redirect some of the existing passion towards learning about advanced concepts
+of 3D graphics and game deisgn. Don't underestimate the latent creativity of gamers: over 13,000 original maps
+were created for Doom by young artits of any age and nationality. Later games from ID Software included
+a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuakeC | programming language]] which enabled users to create entire
+new games with relative ease.
+
+**Update**: my colleague [[http://selfdotblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/selfpresentation.html | Marten Abente]],
+author of the 3G broadband support in Sugar, noted that he had been creating [[http://selfdotblog.blogspot.com/ | many game maps]]
+when he was just 16. At the university, he worked with a friend to creat an entire 3D game engine from scratch
+using [[http://www.libsdl.org/ | SDL]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL | OpenGL]].
+
+
+=== Those inappropriate cartoons ===
+
+{{http://www.shoemoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/blame-canada.jpg|class=thumbright|Still from South Park}}
+
+
+What about the videos? The most popular video websites are
+[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash | Flash]] based.
+You Tube would work with [[http://www.gnashdev.org/ | Gnash]] as well,
+but because the required video codecs are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing_and_patent_issues | patent encumbered]],
+we're not allowed to ship them in Fedora.  Besides,
+both Flash and Gnash are quite inefficient and would feel
+sluggish on the XO-1.
+
+So I am left wondering what solutions these kids came up with
+in order to circumvent the technical limitations and watch
+their favorite videos.
+
+The coordinator of the education team got curious and asked questions.
+It seems that some smart kids figured out how to rip videos from You Tube,
+store them in the journal, and then play them back with some
+[[http://www.olpcnews.com/software/applications/using_an_xo_laptop_a.html | clever hackery]].
+We do not know the details of how this is done, but it is quite impressive.
+
+=== Passion-driven learning ===
+
+Even though most kids are inclined to misuse our precious educational
+technology for gaming and other mundane uses, in order to do what they want,
+they seem to be acquiring pretty advanced problem-solving abilities
+in a self-motivated and social way; in other words, the purpose for which
+OLPC and Sugar were created.
+
+
 == Fri, Mar 12 - Interview with //Los Scratcheros// ==
 
+(photos courtesy of Carla Crosa)
+
 || {{ pictures/sugar/deployment/paraguay/caacupe/scratcheros/00008.jpg | maxwidth=480 | The "Scratcheros": Nadia, Benedicto and Alberto}} || {{ pictures/sugar/deployment/paraguay/caacupe/scratcheros/1.00011.jpg | maxwidth=480 | Albertito, our youngest volunteer, helping one of our trainers }} ||
 
-Today I spent some time with three siblings of Caacupe who has impressed me and the educators very
+Today I spent some time with three siblings of Caacupé who has impressed me and the educators very
 much with their original creations in Scratch. Scratch is not a school subject, these kids are
 learning it on their own driven by their own passion.
 
@@ -42,8 +138,8 @@ learning it on their own driven by their own passion.
  * N: I learned the basics of Turtle Art at the trainer's course.
  * A: Yes, I learned it there too.
 
- * **What other activities do you like besides Scatch and Turtle Art?**
- * B: //Ablar con Sara// [Speak] and //Super Vampire Ninja Zero//, //Máquina de discos// (Jukebox).
+ * **What other activities do you like besides Scratch and Turtle Art?**
+ * B: //Hablar con Sara// [Speak] and //Super Vampire Ninja Zero//, //Máquina de discos// (Jukebox).
  * N: //eToys//, to edit photos. I need someone to teach me all the rest.
  * A: //Grabar// (Record), to take videos, interview people...
 
@@ -54,7 +150,7 @@ learning it on their own driven by their own passion.
  * (Mom: They need an automatic spell checker... and a **screensaver**, of course).
 
  * **What's the most annoying problem for you with Sugar?**
- * B: Can't use the "robot" function in //Ablar con Sara// (
+ * B: Can't use the "robot" function in //Hablar con Sara// (
  * N: I want bigger fonts in //Pintar// (Paint).
  * A: //Escribir// (Write ;-)