Re: A teen's point of view
On Tue, Nov 28, 2000 at 08:43:39AM -0800, Sean 'Shaleh' Perry wrote:
> >
> > I am a teenager, and I don't enjoy using "office type
> > applications". My enjoyment comes from learning new things (because
> > I'm a geek!) and playing games. Perhaps distrabuting games such as
> > quake (although this is nearly impossible) and other games similar
> > would make debian enjoyable. I think that trying to integrate
> > things such as "Debian 2.2 Tour" (like the windows 98 tour) is a
> > waste of time, it will make us seems patronising to the users.
> >
>
> his point was, for many people in school applications to help with
> school work is important. This is true as much for high school as
> for college.
I too am a teenager. I remember many late nights trying to learn/find
a wordprocessor to type my papers with :-P Just last night, while
(foolishly) using kword for and important paper, I lost my finishing
touches and had to redo them (it crashed mid spell-check). I wish my
freshman high school "computer course" (Microsoft Works) had taught me
how to use LaTeX...
I suppose I am more geek oriented than most of the other teens I knew.
Most people I knew didn't care much about computers, and wouldn't care
much about free software.
>
> > Kids' natuaral curiousity will often persevere at younger ages more
> > than in the teens. I learnt BASIC at 12; admittedly not the best
> > start, but at least I got to vent my interest.
> >
>
> quite a few of my coding friends started off at similar points.
>
> I feel that Debian Jr. should not deal with teens much, if at all.
> Teens need to feel like they are cutting their own path. For me
> getting them using open software in Debian Jr. as kids preps them for
> being teens who can help code or simply spread the word. Quite a few
> of the people in Debian are actually high school age.
I totally agree with that.
My brother and I discovered linux together on our own. We were
building our own computer at the time and doing tons of research.
Gradually, we stumbled upon the free software community. Part of my
enthusiasm for it came from the fact that I discovered it myself.
Also, the good example of the many people in the free software
community who cared so much was (and is) quite inspiring.
I don't think there is much we can do to make Debian or linux in
general better for teens, outside of what we do now. More and better
games won't hurt though :)
We can though, be good examples.
Now that I think about it, as a teen bringing linux into the household
and tossing MS, it was (is) frustrating to try to teach my parents how
to do things. They truly want office software and the like and they
don't want to put up with things not working. They want the learning
process to be as easy as possible. But I suppose that's another can of
worms...
--
Pat Mahoney <patmahoney@gmx.net>
"We waste so many moments standing on convention"
-- Nick Hexum
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