Jonathan Austin on Birmingham, AL grassroots
**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Tue Jun 10 10:09:21 2008
Jun 10 10:09:21 * Now talking on #olpc-groups
Jun 10 10:09:21 * Topic for #olpc-groups is: The global channel for all local communities | Mailing List: http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/grassroots
Jun 10 10:09:21 * Topic for #olpc-groups set by crazy-chris at Tue Jan 1 19:24:10 2008
Jun 10 10:09:38 <_sj_> we should remind people coming to nyc this weekend about the jam
Jun 10 10:09:48 <_sj_> teachingmatters, unicef hardware hackers
Jun 10 10:09:53 <_sj_> openplans fans
Jun 10 10:10:03 <cjb> mchua: heading in now, be there a little after 11 I think
Jun 10 10:10:32 <mchua> cjb: hurrah! we've got a flexible schedule so anytime before noon is good
Jun 10 10:10:35 <mchua> _sj_: agreed
Jun 10 10:10:48 <cjb> great.
Jun 10 10:10:53 <_sj_> pip pip
Jun 10 10:11:01 <_sj_> food eaters
Jun 10 10:11:01 <kikka> heya
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Jun 10 10:21:52 * andreatl (n=alai@wireless-19-138.media.mit.edu) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 10:24:52 * mchua requests someone take notes here
Jun 10 10:27:51 * avoine (n=avoine@pdpc/supporter/active/avoine) has joined #olpc-groups
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Jun 10 10:31:35 * nlee is going to try and transcribe for the sake of mchuas hands
Jun 10 10:32:00 <nlee> talking about community outreach
Jun 10 10:32:04 * ccarrick (i=ccarrick@wireless-116.media.mit.edu) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 10:32:12 <nlee> churches, schools, foundations, good allies for a nonprofi
Jun 10 10:32:14 <nlee> t
Jun 10 10:32:40 <nlee> have to ID target audience [for us, underserved]
Jun 10 10:32:56 <nlee> what center for urban missions did: IDed person responsible for communication
Jun 10 10:33:07 <nlee> set up focus groups around birmingham, similar to now
Jun 10 10:33:37 <nlee> talked about problems, engaged adults [organizers] and children [beneficieries]
Jun 10 10:33:56 <nlee> got neighborhood presidents, schools, outreach to corporate community
Jun 10 10:34:19 <nlee> as well as pastors, and 'just regular people'
Jun 10 10:34:34 <nlee> discussed issues, find out - what do communities want? need?
Jun 10 10:34:54 <nlee> involved ~70 comms., all with their own issues
Jun 10 10:35:17 <nlee> ex. 1 comm. had transportation problem
Jun 10 10:35:27 <nlee> looked at these issues and based deployment on it
Jun 10 10:35:45 <nlee> dialogue helped to better suit the needs of each community
Jun 10 10:36:08 <nlee> have to look at current infra. - some might not have wireless, etc.
Jun 10 10:36:16 <_sj_> http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show/4219206
Jun 10 10:36:32 <nlee> schools need money, brought in outside help to ID resources
Jun 10 10:36:33 <_sj_> bjordan, ^^^
Jun 10 10:36:42 <bjordan> need acct?
Jun 10 10:36:44 <nlee> find sources of outside support for schools
Jun 10 10:36:50 * akeybl (n=akeybl@wireless-110.media.mit.edu) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 10:36:50 <_sj_> accts are free
Jun 10 10:36:53 <_sj_> morning ak
Jun 10 10:36:54 <bjordan> k
Jun 10 10:37:17 <nlee> generated publicity by going to local media, engaged them
Jun 10 10:37:43 <nlee> [press releases, talk about when deployment is planned for, increasing awareness of project in birmingham
Jun 10 10:38:23 <nlee> one of the things thats very important: birmingham is unique, since mayor is already committed, infra. already exists
Jun 10 10:38:40 <nlee> with any type of deployment, esp. tech, school systems are usually wary of outsiders
Jun 10 10:39:10 <nlee> birmingham has done a good job, bringing in outsiders to help with learning about XOs etc.
Jun 10 10:39:32 <bjordan> _sj_: their openID server connection is broken so I cant make acct
Jun 10 10:39:56 <bjordan> wait may have found it
Jun 10 10:40:13 <nlee> tie XOs into math and science camp context, bring into classroom context
Jun 10 10:40:23 <nlee> starting in mid-june, going for 8 weeks
Jun 10 10:40:38 <nlee> give teachers and students prep time for 15k laptop deployment
Jun 10 10:40:47 <nlee> will have experienced teachers /and/ students
Jun 10 10:40:54 <nlee> who will be able to deal with issues that may arise
Jun 10 10:41:27 <nlee> working to build infra. that will operate with little support [support-gang]
Jun 10 10:42:06 <nlee> one other thing learned: when running outreach campaigns, you do have to be intentional, let people know what laptops are for, ID benefits of the tech
Jun 10 10:42:30 <nlee> consider perceived value of laptops
Jun 10 10:42:49 <bjordan> brarg login is not catching
Jun 10 10:42:51 <nlee> you have to do a good job communicating how it will help/impact students' learning
Jun 10 10:42:57 <nlee> bjordan: :(
Jun 10 10:43:17 <nlee> this summer we want to a really good job demo-ing benefits of the XOs
Jun 10 10:43:38 <nlee> they have camera, internet - but what else is enticing about them? how will they encourage students to be exciting about learning?
Jun 10 10:43:43 <nlee> important things to consider
Jun 10 10:43:53 <nlee> sj: so we discussed yesterday what motivates people
Jun 10 10:44:10 <nlee> motivations to get involved usually not stats, specs, from demos
Jun 10 10:44:19 <nlee> what motivates people is different from that
Jun 10 10:44:47 <nlee> people start trying to articulate it, and end up talking about features of achieving goal, and not the actual goal
Jun 10 10:45:05 <nlee> jonathan: agreed
Jun 10 10:45:20 <nlee> may have single parent household, 5-6 kids
Jun 10 10:45:40 <nlee> really want to get _whole family_ involved, our mission is to involve whole person, whole family, whole body for positive change
Jun 10 10:46:19 <nlee> you have to get a good core group of people, volunteers [downside - only reliable up to a certain point, may lose interest, not getting paid, hard to keep engaged]
Jun 10 10:46:46 <nlee> always having to reteach a new set of volunteers, important to have a core group of stakeholders
Jun 10 10:46:49 <bjordan> _sj_: invite me to the map brian@laptop.org
Jun 10 10:46:58 <nlee> people who are benefitting from the tech and learning process
Jun 10 10:47:17 <nlee> from volunteer perspective, most involved going to be families, principals, school officials
Jun 10 10:47:28 <nlee> they want the project to succeed, will go the distance and see it through
Jun 10 10:47:54 <nlee> mel: sounds like 2 strategies
Jun 10 10:48:03 <bjordan> _sj_: "Share Map..." at bottom
Jun 10 10:48:07 <nlee> 1. high volunteer turnover - try to minimize and get long term volunteers
Jun 10 10:48:23 <nlee> 2. keep core group and having volunteers trained all the time
Jun 10 10:48:30 <nlee> what mix have you been using, what is good?
Jun 10 10:48:49 <nlee> jonathan: we get ~90% of volunteers through public awareness
Jun 10 10:48:54 <bjordan> _sj_: or I can invite you to mine
Jun 10 10:49:10 <nlee> but best strategy for us is to ID key stakeholders, people, foundations, businesses
Jun 10 10:49:17 <nlee> who will send their own people
Jun 10 10:49:39 <nlee> can always get a fresh group from them every 3 mos. or so, but the problem is having to retrain them
Jun 10 10:49:47 <nlee> so we made sure we had a good training program
Jun 10 10:50:05 <nlee> not side by side mentors, but structured training on core deliverables
Jun 10 10:50:18 <nlee> what is important to deliver - teaching them that
Jun 10 10:50:22 <bjordan> _sj_: found it, link is: http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show_public/4219206
Jun 10 10:50:32 * mchua notes that this is a good argument for coming up with meta-curricula and workshops for olpc-related skills
Jun 10 10:50:33 <nlee> make sure to have a volunteer training program led by stakeholders
Jun 10 10:50:37 <mchua> (as everyone here probably knows already ;)
Jun 10 10:50:39 <nlee> in birmingham, led by me
Jun 10 10:50:59 <nlee> someone who will be there throughout, and then on top good volunteer training
Jun 10 10:51:12 <nlee> ours is diff., streamlined to focus on deliverables
Jun 10 10:51:17 <nlee> minimizes impact of turnover
Jun 10 10:51:19 <bjordan> mindmap is now at: http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show_public/7305724
Jun 10 10:51:39 <nlee> if youre so heavily weighted on volunteer participation, if they leave it has a huge impact
Jun 10 10:51:55 <nlee> so you want to minimize dependency on volunteers, keep them focused on very specific things
Jun 10 10:52:07 <nlee> mel: do you have mul. programs for diff. kinds of volunteers?
Jun 10 10:52:12 <nlee> jonathan: yes and no
Jun 10 10:52:23 <nlee> we have 1 program and train them on 4 deliverables
Jun 10 10:52:28 <nlee> 1. understanding computers
Jun 10 10:52:34 <nlee> 2. understand structure
Jun 10 10:52:49 <nlee> basic computer skills and training, understand RAM, screen, hard drive
Jun 10 10:52:52 <nlee> file structure
Jun 10 10:53:00 <nlee> [generally universal]
Jun 10 10:53:17 <nlee> know how to browse the internet, internet safety, using google, etc.
Jun 10 10:53:23 <nlee> MS office suite
Jun 10 10:53:29 <nlee> how to design web pages
Jun 10 10:53:41 <nlee> let them use powerpoint, simple things for kids
Jun 10 10:53:46 <nlee> convert .ppt -> .html
Jun 10 10:53:56 <nlee> 4 deliverables for volunteers
Jun 10 10:54:11 <nlee> structured program for summer - morning teachers come in, focus on academics
Jun 10 10:54:22 <nlee> math, reading, science, social skills
Jun 10 10:54:27 <nlee> afternoon more art and tech.
Jun 10 10:54:49 <nlee> work in labs, design newsletters, let kids use computers and have volunteers [and some teachers] to learn how to do those things
Jun 10 10:55:08 <nlee> kids learned to produce music CDs, magazines - end of project goals
Jun 10 10:55:24 <nlee> in being able to do this, they were able to demonstrate working knowledge of the 4 deliverables
Jun 10 10:55:36 <bjordan> _sj_: invited meta.sj@gmail.com to mindmap
Jun 10 10:55:40 <bjordan> http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show_public/7305724
Jun 10 10:55:41 <nlee> could use comp., internet, office suit, etc.
Jun 10 10:56:01 <nlee> able to demonstrate things expected of volunteers by end of summer
Jun 10 10:56:39 <nlee> had volunteers come in throughout summer, some already very skilled, program structured so that every day kids worked on componenets, never had to start from scratch
Jun 10 10:56:55 <nlee> so sort of structured volunteer program
Jun 10 10:56:59 * mchua notes they *had* an outreach person
Jun 10 10:57:11 <nlee> people in charge of outreach constantly looking for new volunteers
Jun 10 10:57:43 <mchua> like hr, but for nonemployees
Jun 10 10:57:50 <nlee> main difference between this and OLPC is that the Center, in sponsoring position, /had/ a person who was there who did outreach, kept up with communities, taught them how to form communities
Jun 10 10:58:04 <nlee> how a grassroots org. should be formed, supported them
Jun 10 10:58:08 <nlee> mchua: ...
Jun 10 10:58:52 <nlee> groups were similar, as extensions of main organization, all equipped with tools and materials to do their own recruitment, training, etc.
Jun 10 10:59:14 <nlee> at the top of the center we had a structured program, and person running it, that could set up successful ind. groups
Jun 10 10:59:39 <nlee> what kind of training was involved?
Jun 10 10:59:53 <nlee> jonathan: we used an approach similar to a nonprofit
Jun 10 11:00:21 <nlee> there needs to be a clearly defined leader, roles of individuals defined
Jun 10 11:00:45 <nlee> could be 3 people, could be 30, but need someone who is leader, in charge, cant have everyone doing their own thing
Jun 10 11:01:01 <nlee> so, one clearly defined leader and roles delegated to others by leader
Jun 10 11:01:29 <nlee> leader would either be chief outreach person, like neighborhood president in one case, who had VP and they worked together, played off each other
Jun 10 11:01:40 <nlee> depended on situation and group involved
Jun 10 11:02:01 <nlee> even stakeholders not always the same as leaders, like in this case
Jun 10 11:02:25 <nlee> where leader was not tech-savvy, but didnt need to be - needed to know about the program and have people could do it
Jun 10 11:02:48 <nlee> had scheduled meetings once a month with comm. leaders, talk about issues and problems, address them as a group
Jun 10 11:02:55 <nlee> helped with cohesion between different sites
Jun 10 11:03:06 <nlee> main thing we trained them on: how to structure group
Jun 10 11:03:17 <nlee> created a program replicable in nearly every environ.
Jun 10 11:03:44 <nlee> 4 deliverables, so anywhere we had a lab, group, we gave them descriptions [NOT job descriptions]
Jun 10 11:04:00 <nlee> format: couple pages, saying 'these are the things you need in this situation'
Jun 10 11:04:59 <nlee> structure was just needed a person in charge, other people with responsibilities
Jun 10 11:04:59 <nlee> helped have a constant flow of volunteers to help at Center
Jun 10 11:04:59 <nlee> people would work in their own space but also come to main org. to help out
Jun 10 11:04:59 <nlee> started reaching critical mass of volunteers
Jun 10 11:05:38 <nlee> [question - didnt catch]
Jun 10 11:05:38 <nlee> people had funds set aside for things like internet, general maintenance
Jun 10 11:05:52 <nlee> for those who didnt have that, we had general director focus on tech. related grants
Jun 10 11:06:37 <nlee> once you get comm. buy-in, see the benefit of the program, you see a flow of resources - human, financial, computers, whatever
Jun 10 11:06:51 <nlee> people saw the value of our programs, not just the people recieving, but comm. at large
Jun 10 11:07:12 <nlee> orgs. too, began to support different grassroots groups, got money to start hiring people part-time
Jun 10 11:07:33 <nlee> energize people, keep them motivated, they work hard and stick with it
Jun 10 11:07:42 <nlee> initial grant was $1.1M matching grant
Jun 10 11:08:04 <nlee> so we had to raise a lot of money, which we did through grants, and comm. private and public
Jun 10 11:08:18 <nlee> but money is always an issue, especially with a large scale deployment with lots of unknowns
Jun 10 11:08:29 <nlee> and were talking about these 15k laptops, thats a large deployment
Jun 10 11:08:37 <nlee> need to have infra. already in place to support
Jun 10 11:08:54 <nlee> sj: so a number of people here this week are thinking about starting groups, can you talk about resources for that?
Jun 10 11:09:01 <nlee> jonathan: so, fundraising... is fun
Jun 10 11:09:08 <nlee> *laughter*
Jun 10 11:09:23 <nlee> its not the easiest thing to do, but its very rewarding
Jun 10 11:09:57 <nlee> depending on how the org. is structured, if its a nonprofit, you can always get money directly, or you can get a sponsoring org. [a nonprofit you can be a program for]
Jun 10 11:10:41 <nlee> like we had these 'labs', all were ind. groups, some were churches, some were just comm. groups without any special status, so the Cente was the supervising agency and wrote grants for the labs
Jun 10 11:11:26 <nlee> allocated resources and had stakeholders give info. and put it in form of proposals for them and submitted them
Jun 10 11:11:37 <nlee> to places that had money or other resources
Jun 10 11:11:50 * RabiKarma (n=RabiKarm@wireless-68.media.mit.edu) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 11:11:55 <nlee> sought funding from lots of places, lots of contrib. from churches, fed. gov., local gov.
Jun 10 11:12:15 <nlee> sometimes didnt need to be nonprofit, lots of times did, so sponsorship helped with that
Jun 10 11:12:25 <nlee> city also had special projects funding that helped
Jun 10 11:12:32 <nlee> really have to look at available resources
Jun 10 11:12:50 <nlee> advice: go to comms. and look at nonprofit resources, local resources
Jun 10 11:13:04 <nlee> if you dont have status, partner with nonprofit group that does
Jun 10 11:13:21 <nlee> theres a lot of opportunity for funding, theres a large pool of money for tech. initiatives
Jun 10 11:13:43 <nlee> anybody in here, im sure, could write a grant, should also seek out support of local churches
Jun 10 11:13:54 <nlee> one of the most untapped resources, they put money into their own communities
Jun 10 11:14:10 <nlee> also schools and businesses, even if they dont have money they can provide other resources
Jun 10 11:14:33 <nlee> of course money is the biggest, were going into these comms. becauase of this but resources are big too
Jun 10 11:15:03 <nlee> i believe that a lack of money in comms. is one of the main reasons why theyre in the shape theyre in, lack of financial resources is why we have digital gap in our comms.
Jun 10 11:15:36 <nlee> people know the issues exists, comms. know about this and will be receptive to programs when you have a good exampel of whats going on adn what youre trying to solve
Jun 10 11:15:57 <nlee> money is a project in itself and want someone to do that, not just fundraisers, but people raisers
Jun 10 11:16:20 <nlee> money is one of main goals, but recruiting people too, people have resourcse, connections, networks, that can bring in more
Jun 10 11:16:31 <nlee> but people have to know what your need is
Jun 10 11:16:49 <nlee> peope dont feel good asking for money, you have to demonstrate need and show them why you need money
Jun 10 11:17:08 <nlee> sj: you dont have to look at it as fundraising, lots of orgs. want to do what youre doing on the ground
Jun 10 11:17:23 <nlee> there are lots of diff. types, if youre clear about, people will want to help you
Jun 10 11:17:39 <nlee> people have to see what youre working on, how far youve come, and will want to back you, help out
Jun 10 11:17:42 <nlee> and then youre good
Jun 10 11:17:54 <nlee> christoph: but its much different between US adn europe
Jun 10 11:18:14 <nlee> weve talked to some people, been in the media a lot, and weve only gotten few k euros
Jun 10 11:18:26 <nlee> sj: do you have budgets and projects listed?
Jun 10 11:18:40 <nlee> cristoph: no budgets, but projects listed
Jun 10 11:18:46 <nlee> sj: so thats more like pitching for money
Jun 10 11:19:02 <nlee> even in countries where people dont donate you can get people behind you
Jun 10 11:19:18 <nlee> christoph: but we have no budget because we are doing it for $0, but this is not ideal
Jun 10 11:19:31 <nlee> someone: people are valuabe to
Jun 10 11:19:33 <nlee> *too
Jun 10 11:19:59 <nlee> jonathan: you are providing a service, and regardless it is a quantifiable service, you can put a $ figure to it
Jun 10 11:20:29 <nlee> in an ideal situation how much would it cost to have this run? it may be hard to get funded over there, but can also look to US orgs. that fund specifically outside the US
Jun 10 11:20:42 * isforinsects (n=isforins@unaffiliated/isforinsects) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 11:20:45 <nlee> weve done projects where weve gotten funding for projects outside US
Jun 10 11:20:51 <nlee> like running things in africa
Jun 10 11:21:10 <nlee> christoph: but everyone wants to donate to africa, south america, but we are ~8th richest nation
Jun 10 11:21:16 <isforinsects> cd: everyone wants to donate to affrica, its harder to get money
Jun 10 11:21:37 <nlee> francesca: and jonathan is talking about things that enrich comm., people have a vested interest in their own comm.
Jun 10 11:21:42 <isforinsects> fem: schools parents teachers churches, volunteers, easier to get them to volunteer when they have a vested interest
Jun 10 11:21:54 <nlee> isforinsects: want to take over?
Jun 10 11:22:08 <isforinsects> nope!
Jun 10 11:22:29 <nlee> francesca: if you think about things less like 'were in austria' and more like 'were helping people in places like africa'
Jun 10 11:22:48 <isforinsects> cd: activity handbook, how do you quantify it's value
Jun 10 11:22:57 <isforinsects> officially a society for research and development
Jun 10 11:23:05 <nlee> ak: do you have nonprofit status?
Jun 10 11:23:15 <isforinsects> when it comes to grants, when you're applying, 2 months of paperwork with a lawyer,
Jun 10 11:23:32 <isforinsects> tried to apply for funding from veniena
Jun 10 11:23:37 <isforinsects> they hit it back into our court
Jun 10 11:23:41 <mchua> cjb has arrived!
Jun 10 11:23:52 * nlee passes the ball
Jun 10 11:24:02 <nlee> isforinsects: [youre going faster than me anyway]
Jun 10 11:24:37 <nlee> ...: if you can get local rotary in austria or nepal?
Jun 10 11:24:45 <isforinsects> rabi: they are very strict about how you can spend the money
Jun 10 11:24:57 <isforinsects> more funding that can go elsewhere.
Jun 10 11:25:18 <cjb> 'lo all
Jun 10 11:25:22 * cjl (n=chatzill@12.44.50.248) has joined #olpc-groups
Jun 10 11:25:22 <isforinsects> this is something that OLPC should look for/at, to find these grants and then work with grassroots to satisfty
Jun 10 11:25:31 <isforinsects> hello cjb and cjl!
Jun 10 11:25:46 <isforinsects> rabi: very difficult to get that initial funding
Jun 10 11:25:51 <isforinsects> the first $10k
Jun 10 11:26:39 <isforinsects> Rotary intl: given very many contacts and fundraising opportunities, recently had meeting with Duke U's president, but because it was piggybacked with a rotary-member's meeting they were able to squeeze in.
Jun 10 11:26:41 * morgs (n=morgs@ubuntu/member/morgs) has left #olpc-groups ("Leaving")
Jun 10 11:26:46 <isforinsects> via members and connections
Jun 10 11:26:57 <isforinsects> a lot more pitching to get someone to pay for people's time
Jun 10 11:27:12 <isforinsects> but if you can convince someone that what you're doing is good, they're going to give you money
Jun 10 11:27:21 <isforinsects> cd: there is just geinerally more money in the US than around the rest of the world
Jun 10 11:27:34 <isforinsects> cd: I just think that it's a very different environment.
Jun 10 11:27:59 <isforinsects> birmingham: we were the agentsy that inniated the whole project, took it upon ourselves
Jun 10 11:28:03 <mchua> cjb: you're on as soon as this discussion is over
Jun 10 11:28:13 <isforinsects> to start these labs ourselves, and then try to get funding
Jun 10 11:28:21 <isforinsects> fund someone's time, fund the group, etc
Jun 10 11:28:30 <mchua> (thanks for coming to teach us The Way of The Pippy)
Jun 10 11:28:30 <isforinsects> acted as the group raising the money once the labs were in place
Jun 10 11:28:39 <isforinsects> (seth +1^)
Jun 10 11:28:40 <cjb> mchua: sure, no rush, I don't have that much to say
Jun 10 11:28:48 <cjb> mchua: will it be okay to co-opt the projector?
Jun 10 11:28:55 <isforinsects> it's about how olpc wants to interact with these grassroots groups around the world
Jun 10 11:29:10 <mchua> cjb: you'll have to armwrestle bjordan for it ;) should be fine
Jun 10 11:29:17 <isforinsects> there is a lot of pr around the world, olpc could really easily the person to secure funding for an individual group
Jun 10 11:29:23 <bjordan> you got it
Jun 10 11:29:24 <isforinsects> sj there isn't a sturucture for this now
Jun 10 11:29:27 <cjb> hm, he looks sort of buff
Jun 10 11:29:36 <cjb> I nominate SJ to arm wrestle for me
Jun 10 11:29:40 <isforinsects> sj: bit of a break, introductions
Jun 10 11:29:43 <isforinsects> cjb is here
Jun 10 11:30:19 <isforinsects> Sj: for groups that want to be sustaining, ... a group can write out some notes from Austria
Jun 10 11:30:52 <isforinsects> Sj: there are lots of group that give money to anyone in the world, if we can arrange some way to handle these funds (Funder > grassroots), because that's not something that OLPC wants to do
Jun 10 11:31:04 <isforinsects> SJ: it's about working on relationships over time
Jun 10 11:31:24 * avoine has quit ("Ex-Chat")
Jun 10 11:32:03 <isforinsects> Birmingham: all of it boils down to relationships, even with funding agensys, once you get the ear of the people you're seeking, you start to dev relationships which bring other relationships to the table.
Jun 10 11:32:39 <isforinsects> Break for donuts...
Jun 10 11:33:00 <cjl> mmmmmm, donuts. . .
Chris Ball on Pippy
Jun 10 11:46:24 <mchua> it is now pippy time!
Jun 10 11:46:28 <mchua> who is taking notes?
Jun 10 11:46:43 <isforinsects> cjb: teaching python by example
Jun 10 11:46:47 <isforinsects> mchua, I will
Jun 10 11:47:04 <mchua> isforinsects: thanks!
Jun 10 11:47:08 <isforinsects> How to teach people how to use python, because python=ftw
Jun 10 11:47:25 <isforinsects> Learning 'raw_input'
Jun 10 11:47:36 <isforinsects> code screen has color coding, examples on the lft
Jun 10 11:47:40 <isforinsects> output on the bottom
Jun 10 11:47:57 <isforinsects> Tried to show examples of basic programming constructs
Jun 10 11:48:02 <isforinsects> Show off the IF statement
Jun 10 11:48:35 <isforinsects> fem: it's all in english!?
Jun 10 11:48:58 <isforinsects> cjb: homunq working on localize the text of the python
Jun 10 11:49:11 <isforinsects> not always needed to translate if, else, print()
Jun 10 11:49:16 <isforinsects> you get the hang of it
Jun 10 11:49:33 <isforinsects> There's nothing stopping me from making my examples in another language
Jun 10 11:49:46 <isforinsects> Not all of it is critical
Jun 10 11:50:07 <isforinsects> cjb: exp exp exp
Jun 10 11:50:19 <isforinsects> Folding? Iterating?
Jun 10 11:50:25 <isforinsects> Getting something to do something multiple times
Jun 10 11:54:11 <mchua> fem: why are they ordered this way?
Jun 10 11:54:20 <mchua> chris: alphabetical order... we didn't have a better way back then
Jun 10 11:54:29 <mchua> seth: can you make a way to install/uninstall different modules/libraries of code?
Jun 10 11:54:31 <mchua> chris: ooo
Jun 10 11:54:36 <mchua> chris: that's a neat idea
Jun 10 11:55:23 <mchua> isforinsects: transcribey?
Jun 10 11:56:00 <isforinsects> mchua, ...I can't talk and type at the same time...
Jun 10 11:58:17 <mchua> isforinsects: you're not talking now ;)
Jun 10 11:59:35 <isforinsects> pippy can save bundles or pippy files
Jun 10 11:59:46 <isforinsects> pippy is a snake that ate a kitten
Jun 10 11:59:52 <isforinsects> kittens are fluffy
Jun 10 12:01:07 <mchua> isforinsects: what was it that chris said "if anyone wants to help me with X, that'd be great"?
Jun 10 12:01:49 <isforinsects> sorry, missed it
Jun 10 12:02:11 <mchua> chris: the activity saving is useful - maybe you want a program that updates all your school's XOs,but you can save that script as an activity
Jun 10 12:03:48 <mchua> alex: is this efficient code, to write your scripts in pippy?
Jun 10 12:03:52 <mchua> chris: it's efficient of your time.
Jun 10 12:04:20 <mchua> isforinsects: this /is/ important to transcribe, b/c we don't have intro to pippy materials written anywhere
Jun 10 12:05:11 <mchua> chris: view source key in pippy works - fn + space
Jun 10 12:05:18 <isforinsects> activies created in pippy have view source working !
Jun 10 12:05:20 <isforinsects> w00t!
Jun 10 12:05:34 <isforinsects> and now pippy works with the view source key... viewing in pippy~
Jun 10 12:06:49 <mchua> FOOD HERE
Jun 10 12:23:41 <bjordan> mmmm
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Cliff Schimdt on Literacy
Jun 10 13:07:21 <mchua> akeybl: can you trascribe cliff's talk instead, since kim couldn't join us?
Jun 10 13:07:27 <akeybl> yup
Jun 10 13:07:31 <mchua> akeybl: thanks!
Jun 10 13:07:40 <akeybl> Cliff Schmidt is here to talk about "Using Audio Technology to Reduce Global Illiteracy, Poverty, and Disease"
Jun 10 13:07:44 >nlee< can you email them back that we got it and they're awesome and thank you? :)
Jun 10 13:08:28 <akeybl> Org: Literacy Bridge - Talking Book Projet
Jun 10 13:08:51 <akeybl> How does a person get knowledge - literacy is the key
Jun 10 13:09:38 <akeybl> knowledge should be gotten even before literacy is taught
Jun 10 13:09:43 <akeybl> that's where audio comes in
Jun 10 13:10:18 <akeybl> working in Ghana w/ local organizations
Jun 10 13:10:47 <akeybl> talking book device (small electronic device)
Jun 10 13:10:52 <akeybl> and an authoring tool
Jun 10 13:11:07 <akeybl> both have been created to facilitate the movement of knowledge from gov (etc.) to the people
Jun 10 13:12:03 <akeybl> 5 continents working on the project with a pilot in the north-western region of ghana
Jun 10 13:13:58 <akeybl> places of illiteracy many times have no electricity
Jun 10 13:15:07 <akeybl> blindness also makes the audio devices make sense
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Jun 10 13:16:44 <akeybl> Adult literacy is very important - "before, we used to be cheated, and we depended on others to read to us" (quote from adult who was newly literate)
Jun 10 13:17:23 <akeybl> currently, you try and get as many people together in a group to educate them about malaria, AIDS, farming, etc
Jun 10 13:17:41 <akeybl> but of course, people many times can't get away from their work
Jun 10 13:18:17 <akeybl> reading doesn't need to be a prerequisite for the spread of knowledge
Jun 10 13:18:50 <akeybl> $5 hopeful price point - down to $10 for a large number of units
Jun 10 13:19:09 <akeybl> 100,000 units more specifically
Jun 10 13:21:28 <akeybl> shipping: currently whole units, hopefully will just send parts in the future to create a market around the building of units
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Jun 10 13:22:37 <akeybl> uses D batteries, as they are used in current radios
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Jun 10 13:23:58 <akeybl> already piloted the units a little to see how people take to them, and whether kids can handle them
Jun 10 13:25:33 <akeybl> every device can copy content to another device over USB
Jun 10 13:27:14 <akeybl> units are colored blue, orange, and green based upon feedback
Jun 10 13:28:23 <akeybl> 10MB/hour of content
Jun 10 13:30:11 <akeybl> audio menus, voice tagged content help find the correct audio file
Jun 10 13:31:24 <akeybl> speech recognition is a possible feature in the future
Jun 10 13:32:22 <akeybl> branch libraries (where the kiosks reside) are major distribution points, but can also send audio files between each other
Jun 10 13:32:42 <akeybl> sneakernet style (usb sticks through ground transportation)
Jun 10 13:36:06 <akeybl> the controls changes depending upon the content
Jun 10 13:36:16 <akeybl> for text, can go wordxword or linexline
Jun 10 13:38:05 <akeybl> most of the time though, goes forward 1 minute, back 15 seconds
Jun 10 13:43:55 <akeybl> help button can be used for direction at any time
Jun 10 13:44:25 <akeybl> http://literacybridge.org/
Jun 10 13:46:42 <mchua> looking for andreas - supposed to call in
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Classroom roleplay
Jun 10 13:56:04 <mchua> classtime
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Jun 10 13:56:36 <cjb> huh, what kind of class?
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Jun 10 15:51:06 <mchua> cjb: we were pretending to be 8 year olds in a classroom learning scratch
Jun 10 15:52:22 <cjb> mchua: oh ;)
