Re: Debian Jr. Little Big Picture
On Thu, 7 Sep 2000, Jeffrey F. Cuff wrote:
) Hi. This list has finally entered my field of awareness and I've scanned
) through the backmail, so I'll add two centicents[TM] worth.
)
) My own kids are Gr. I and IV and I often wished for something like this,
) particularly when they were younger, but also these days when they are
) feeling the lure of MS Magic Schoolbus-ilk CDs (about which I could
) easily fill 64K with ranting (:but won't:)).
)
) Some introductory thoughts about the big picture:
)
) 1. "Real" (nontech) parents' computer systems
) 2. Software (or at least an OS) that grows with the child
Nautilus looks as though it should be able to accomodate that (if it ever
appears).
) 3. Facilitating sibling and peer shared experience
Like shared whiteboard type things?
) 4. The "educational software" scam and user expectations
) 5. What kids need for a real good GUI
Probably the best WM for kids is Window Maker. Big icons, no text.
Microsoft's Creative Writer is very good as something to emulate.
) 6. Multimedia underpinnings
Like having, say, icons that animate and/or play sound by way of providing
feedback?
) 7. Open content edugame authoring env and load and go CDROM protocol
How about the story telling things they have at MIT's AI lab? The child
types in a story, and the program replies with one of a similar theme.
E.g. one was called Aesop and replied with one of Aesops fables. Another
was a rabbi.
) 8. School curriculum tracking and the subject tree
) 9. Report and project writing and research
SEUL Edu are working on these things (http://www.seul.org/edu)
) 10. Lighting those LEDs; simple hardware/robotics projects
Yeah, my 3 year old loves them. Maybe something like a letters and numbers
game where the lights make a certain pattern for, say, spelling certain
words the right way.
) 11. "SharingNG" : helping future linux/open dvls
Huh?
)
) So much for a top-of-my-head outline. I'm sure there're missing topics,
) but this is my roadmap on a napkin.
)
) Hello world. Glad to sign on to this list.
)
) PS If you want to check out one parent's (reasonably successful) attempt
) to innoculate his kids against the Pokepidemic, check out www.smoos.com.
)
)
--
"The Information Superhighway made it possible for the average person
to find out what some nerd thinks about Star Trek"
http://lit.compsoc.com/
http://www.litsu.ie/
Reply to: