Thanks, Sayamindu. I've put bookreaders, improvements to core activities (should offline email be there?) and schoolserver-related work near the top of the OLPC list at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Summer_of_Code/Ideas
Activities that can be used immediately in the field would make excellent OLPC projects -- core sugar updates will not be usable until someone's willing to modify their entire system, whereas something that can be downloaded individually for a few students or for a class offers more possibilities of field feedback over the course of the summer. As for community building via gsoc - connecting students with people using these tools in classes in the field is a good way to get them hooked, and to provide a satisfying capstone to a summer's work. Mentors - don't forget to sign your name next to projects you are interested in, or to list projects you'd be glad to mentor on the project page[s]. That is a sign that draws students to indicate /their/ interest and helps favored projects stand out from the crowd of ideas. SJ On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Sayamindu Dasgupta <sayami...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 3:19 AM, Jameson Quinn <jameson.qu...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> I will link to this thread (in IAEP) on the GSoC project ideas page. This >> page is the primary location where prospective GSoC students will come to >> learn about out project, and so I want them to get a feel for our community >> discussion of priorities. So please, in this thread, try to be a little bit >> more explicit and foot-noted than you would be otherwise, so they can >> understand what we're talking about. >> >> The primary purpose of GSoC, as others have pointed out, is NOT to do the >> things we're too busy to get around to. It is primarily a community-building >> exercise: to get students engaged in helping Sugar, and get mentors engaged >> in passing on knowledge to new community members. If somebody develops an >> educational game that only blind 3-year-olds use, but FINISHES it, has a >> great time doing it, and becomes a long-term contributing community member, >> then that would be a total GSoC success. However, that being said, we'd >> still prefer projects that help acheive our highest priorities for Sugar. >> >> There is no absolute ordering of Sugarlabs' priorities. Different members >> will not agree perfectly on what steps will do more to help our educational >> mission. So the list below is just my version. Community: Please respond >> with your thoughts. Students: I'll link what I can in the list, but I can't >> find good links, or even any links, for everything. If one of these ideas >> intrigues you, please, come ask in IRC (#sugar on freenode) - we'd love to >> try to point you in the right direction, and help you cut your ideas down to >> a reasonable GSoC size. >> >> My first priority is things that will have a strong effect on the long-term >> rate of development of Sugar. I'd put just 2 things in that category: easier >> sugarizing (primarily from AJAX, Flash, and legacy Linux); and a structure >> for sugar unit tests (IMO we will never get good enough software quality for >> wide adoption, running on multiple distribution without automated testing). >> >> My second priority is things that will improve on sugar's key promises. An >> easier and better way to handle files: versioned datastore, improvements in >> creating and using tags for the journal, file picker dialogs, and home view. >> A simpler and safer security model: getting Rainbow into the Sugar platform >> and improving it's coverage of the Bitfrost ideals. A simple and >> discoverable, yet powerful, UI overall: improved accessibility, discoverable >> keyboard shortcuts. Ubiquitous connectivity and collaboration: multi-pointer >> sharing, auto-collaborating data structures, viral/peer-to-peer activity >> distribution, shared journals. Useful in the classroom: a one-click workflow >> for getting AND turning in homework. >> >> My third priority is activities to better cover the core functions. Reading: >> an improved Read, which handles true ebook formats. (PDF is made for >> printing, and deployments have asked for this.) > > Regarding support for more Ebook formats, in case it is relevant, I am > working on a sugarized FBReader[1] activity at the moment. I should be > able to do a preliminary release by tomorrow. (I was planning a > release tonight, but my main workstation seems to be incredibly messed > up, and won't boot, so I need to fix that first) > > Screenshot at http://dev.laptop.org/~sayamindu/fbreader_sugar_v2.png > Thanks, > Sayamindu > > [1] http://www.fbreader.org/ > -- > Sayamindu Dasgupta > [http://sayamindu.randomink.org/ramblings] > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep