User:Mchua: Difference between revisions

From OLPC
Jump to navigation Jump to search
mNo edit summary
m (whoops. olpc != sugar (copypasted from my SL wiki page))
 
(165 intermediate revisions by 21 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
__NOTOC__
= About me =


{{userboxtop}}
Electrical and Computer Engineering student at [[http://www.olin.edu Olin College of Engineering]] (Boston area).
{{user mail |mel|laptop.org}}
{{User support-gang |documentation, peripherals, new volunteers, grassroots }}
{{user irc |mchua}}
{{User community repair}}
{{User VIG}}
{{user en}}
{{user zh-1}}
{{user ja-1}}
{{user time zone|UTC-5|world}}
{{userboxbottom}}


My name is [http://blog.melchua.com/about/ Mel Chua]. I'm not active in OLPC these days since returning to graduate school; this page is more an archive than anything else. Feel free to [http://blog.melchua.com/contact/ contact me] with any comments, questions, or ideas you might have.
Homepage: [http://www.melchua.com http://www.melchua.com]


English is my native language. I have a basic understanding of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_sign_language ASL] und mittelstufe (B1-B2) Deutsch.
What... is your quest: In a nutshell, work on technology that teaches people how to design better technology; I'd like to become an electrical engineering or computer science professor someday, with research focusing on educational technology and engineering education.


== Quick reference ==
What... is your favorite color: Yellow.


You might be looking for...
Drugs of choice: Python, soy milk, and TAing intro engineering classes. Discussions on the future of education and learning, and where technology falls into this. I have fairly radical ideas about classroom structure (my preference: none), information distribution (my preference: everything is freely world-readable and world-writable) and student evaluation (my preference: feedback yes, grades no), but these ideas are still quite open and under formation and I love talking to people about these and related topics.


* [[User_talk:Mchua|My talk page]] - for leaving me a message.
I am Chinese and my family is from the Philippines. I was the first person in my extended family to grow up and be schooled outside the developing world, and the first to develop hardware, software, and participate in internet communities. This has shaped many of my attitudes towards education, technology, globalization, and development.
* [http://blog.melchua.com/category/olpc/ My Planet Laptop blogposts.]
* [[/Projects|My projects]] - to see what I'm working on, have worked on, or should/would-like-to work on.
* [[/Braindumps|My braindumps]] - Thoughts in progress that are not yet fully formed or ready to go to main wiki. Probably inaccurate, half-baked, or some combination of the two. You have been warned.
* [[/Templates]] - things I've made that may be useful for wiki-users, including Firefox bookmark shortcuts.


== Interests ==
* I am one of the coordinators of the OLPC Game Jam. [[GameJam]]
* I am (just getting started with) creating a framework for [[Curriculum_Projects]]
* I am interested in (and will probably work on) game development, the library, and local community facilitation (working with the Open Plans organization).
* I also program (primarily in C, C++ and Python, but can pick up other languages), build simple computer peripherals (primarily using PIC microcontrollers, though I'm looking to branch into other platforms), and am learning web programming and interface design. Feel free to grab me if you think I'll be helpful for a task. I live in the Boston area.


My volunteering interests include [[Community testing]], [[Support gang]], [[OLPC Chicago]], and the [[ILXO]] grassroots office in Illinois. I am an alumni from (and involved in the OLPC groups of) [[Illinois Math and Science Academy Chapter|IMSA]] and [[Olin university chapter|Olin]] as well as [[University chapters]], [[Boston pilots]], and [[Grassroots]] in general. I ran the first [[Jam]] in [[Game Jam Boston|Boston 2007]] and continue to assist with coordinating and presenting at Jams and other events. On the technical side, I'm a wiki sysop and create documentation and templates on this wiki on a regular basis and generally like making it easy for new contributors to get started. I'm also involved upstream with [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mchua Sugar Labs], the project that creates the user-facing software that ships on OLPC's XO laptops, and with [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Mchua Fedora], the project that creates the underlying operating system that ships on the same.
= To-do list =


== Current goals and projects ==
Note that this list probably won't make sense to anyone but myself, but this is a list of things I'd love to talk to folks about; if something is cryptic and you're curious, give me a ping and I'll explain.


I tend to set my goals in 6-month cycles. This list is super-flexible; stuff changes all the time, random cool ideas come up, and so this has deliberately been planned with lots of wiggle room. As things change, I (usually remember to) edit this page to reflect that.
== talk to people ==


My current goals are working with OLPC's software upstreams - namely, Fedora and Sugar Labs - to build capacity there and give OLPC a richer selection of resources (both code and people) to draw from as a downstream that is doing great things.
* andy - caslin + nfte
* fisher - pypercard
* talk to josh about getting teacher user groups over summer
* sj - whole earth catalog orphan
* josh - free textbook project
* 5-ee: have I got a sabbatical for you / gawad kalinga
* [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/contribute.html mutopia project]


My last cycle focused on (grassroots) [[Boston pilots]] and having them running as a self-sustaining, scalable, distributed, and well documented model that can be adapted to other locations. Much of my initial focus was on the [[Cambridge Friends School]] deployment, as it was the first in the area to go live. It's an example of a deployment with no full time deployment employees (or indeed, employees at all) anywhere; this is a model optimized for a $0 manpower budget.
== check out schools ==


== History ==
* cambridge montessouri
* waldorf school in boston
* cambridge friends


I've been an OLPC intern (content and grassroots) twice (summers of 2007 and 2008), an employee once ([[Testing|QA]]/[[Support]] engineer for 3.8 months between 2008 and 2009), and - what I consider to be my most important role - a volunteer since January 2007. There is an archive of [[/Weekly updates|weekly updates]] that sporadically describe in more detail what I was doing at any given point in time.
== talk to teachers ==
* teachers (early childhood esp)
* teachers of teacher (edu profs)
* homeschoolers/unschoolers
* non-school teachers
* distance learners
* distance teachers
* textbook writers
* textbook publishers (stephanie! brother!)


[[category:OLPC interns]]
== things to think about ==

* how to make teachers feel safe?
* tracy kidder for olpc
* laptop as a peace corps project?
* Open Plans + OLPC = awesome
* From sj We should write a short whitepaper on our annotation/comment system and send it to the w3c referencing Annotea, what we took from it, and what we didn't like about it.
* read up on crossmark

Latest revision as of 21:52, 29 November 2013


@ mel
laptop.org
help@ This user is a Support gang volunteer.
Specializes in: documentation, peripherals, new volunteers, grassroots
IRC Nick: mchua
Nuvola apps edu miscellaneous.png This user is a spare parts hound.
Olpc Pirate Flag.png This user is a member of the Volunteer Infrastructure Group.
en This user is a native speaker of English.
zh-1 这个用户是能够有助于满足于基本 水平的 中国人 。.
ja-1 この利用者は少しだけ日本語を話すことができます。
Nuvola apps kworldclock.png This user's time zone is UTC-5.

My name is Mel Chua. I'm not active in OLPC these days since returning to graduate school; this page is more an archive than anything else. Feel free to contact me with any comments, questions, or ideas you might have.

English is my native language. I have a basic understanding of ASL und mittelstufe (B1-B2) Deutsch.

Quick reference

You might be looking for...

  • My talk page - for leaving me a message.
  • My Planet Laptop blogposts.
  • My projects - to see what I'm working on, have worked on, or should/would-like-to work on.
  • My braindumps - Thoughts in progress that are not yet fully formed or ready to go to main wiki. Probably inaccurate, half-baked, or some combination of the two. You have been warned.
  • /Templates - things I've made that may be useful for wiki-users, including Firefox bookmark shortcuts.

Interests

My volunteering interests include Community testing, Support gang, OLPC Chicago, and the ILXO grassroots office in Illinois. I am an alumni from (and involved in the OLPC groups of) IMSA and Olin as well as University chapters, Boston pilots, and Grassroots in general. I ran the first Jam in Boston 2007 and continue to assist with coordinating and presenting at Jams and other events. On the technical side, I'm a wiki sysop and create documentation and templates on this wiki on a regular basis and generally like making it easy for new contributors to get started. I'm also involved upstream with Sugar Labs, the project that creates the user-facing software that ships on OLPC's XO laptops, and with Fedora, the project that creates the underlying operating system that ships on the same.

Current goals and projects

I tend to set my goals in 6-month cycles. This list is super-flexible; stuff changes all the time, random cool ideas come up, and so this has deliberately been planned with lots of wiggle room. As things change, I (usually remember to) edit this page to reflect that.

My current goals are working with OLPC's software upstreams - namely, Fedora and Sugar Labs - to build capacity there and give OLPC a richer selection of resources (both code and people) to draw from as a downstream that is doing great things.

My last cycle focused on (grassroots) Boston pilots and having them running as a self-sustaining, scalable, distributed, and well documented model that can be adapted to other locations. Much of my initial focus was on the Cambridge Friends School deployment, as it was the first in the area to go live. It's an example of a deployment with no full time deployment employees (or indeed, employees at all) anywhere; this is a model optimized for a $0 manpower budget.

History

I've been an OLPC intern (content and grassroots) twice (summers of 2007 and 2008), an employee once (QA/Support engineer for 3.8 months between 2008 and 2009), and - what I consider to be my most important role - a volunteer since January 2007. There is an archive of weekly updates that sporadically describe in more detail what I was doing at any given point in time.