Shift in emphasis to age 8 and under
In the discussions we've had on irc (irc.openprojects.net, channel
#debian-jr) we have repeatedly had to re-ask the question:
What is the age range for Debian Jr.?
This has come up most recently in the context of discussions about making
a menu system that works well for children. It was suggested that by the
time children are nine, they are perfectly capable of navigating around
the "full" Debian menu so there is no need to cater to the nine-and-older
age range.
It also came up earlier regarding logos. There was some concern about
children over eight not wishing to identify with anything "childish".
So, although I am unwilling to abandon our original mandate to reach
"children aged 1 to 99" I must concede that for practical reasons our
"first product" needs to be focused on age eight and under. That is not
to say that older children won't also make use of or appreciate the work
that goes into this initial effort. But our *primary* audience will be
this age range.
I imagine that the foundations laid by this initial work can then be built
upon to make something a little more advanced, perhaps aimed at ages 9
through 12. And after that, I'm not sure what to do for teens ... it
seems that by this age, making a "version of Debian" for them would not be
the primary work. Not being a teen or parent of a teen, I'm having a
harder time visualizing what "Debian for teens" would actually be.
In any event, although I welcome some discussion on "Debian for ages 9 to
12" and "Debian for teens" for future consideration, I am primarily
interested in hearing comments on this first idea, that "Debian Jr." =
"Debian for age 8 and under", the outcome of which will be some updates to
the Debian Jr. web site and logo page to reflect this shift of emphasis.
Once we have settled who our primary audience is, I expect it will be
easier for us to produce something that is both coherent and limited
enough in scope to be achievable in a reasonable period of time.
Ben
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
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