Talk:OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/The Journal

Tagging and Meta-Data

Maybe I misread, but it would seem that many of those tags and meta-data descriptions will be generated in some automatic way (particularly the later). If that were the case, there should be some considerations for language and cultural issues.

By this I mean that a meta-data description has cultural values and idioms attached to it. You can't do a simple translation of the term as it will lose all value. There's a local (even community) sense in which foreign words could be translated or adapted (ie: "to 'boot' a machine" is sometimes translated as "'bootear' una maquina"—technically a barbarism, but used nontheless). There should be some way to control the way in which those tags are generated or used... --Xavi 23:28, 6 February 2007 (EST)

Automatic Backup and Restore

Would it be possible to backup to another laptop? Or use another media (instead of wireless communication with the server) to transfer things to and from the server? For example two siblings, one of them is sick the other goes to school transporting data/homework/etc. of the sick child to and from the school? Similar to Motoman but also active for this kind of 'transparent' backup.

We've had discussions about implementing a "suitcase" or "messenger" activity, which would allow a child to port another's stuff around, essentially acting like email by foot. Both ends would be electronic, but the gap between the non-connected networks would be bridged by physical movement. If this becomes reality, then I'm sure the ""recipient" could be set to "server". - Eben 12:24, 9 February 2007 (EST)

On a side issue, will the child be capable of explicitely deleting (personal) stuff stored in the server? We've all written/drawn things we don't want around... not even in a backup... ;) --Xavi 12:37, 8 February 2007 (EST)

This is a good point, and I'm not sure the exact answer yet. What I do know is that everything the child makes will be assigned a scope - kind of like privileges - that determine who can see it. This can be private to themselves, open to all of their friends, any private group they are a part of, their class, or anyone. This will add security to the backup, even if it's not removable. We'll see. - Eben 12:24, 9 February 2007 (EST)

Additionally, what about taking advantage of relatively free online data storage services. Google, Yahoo, and other big portal companies offer rather larger repository serives. The network model means that most children will eventually be able to link to the big world wide web through chained paths, so a model of periodic large backup would be very nice. --JCFrench

This is already in the works. It wasn't included as part of the initial description because its still in early development and we're not sure exactly how it's going to function yet. The school server will still be the first step, since it will give kids access to everything at least from school, but eventually even the server will reach space constraints. - Eben 12:24, 9 February 2007 (EST)