Library
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Contents
A library of content
The home page of the Browse activity is titled "OLPC Library". It displays an expandable navigation box that links to available content on the XO — textbooks, maps, images, music, etc.
Content providers can package content materials into "content bundles" that users or deployments can install on the XO. Installing a new content bundle updates the navigation in the browser's home page. Creating a collection describes how to make a content bundle.
The "ship.2" and "8.1" releases (distributed with the 2007 Give One, Get One laptops) included a default content library. The 8.2.0 release has a Software update control panel that can install and update "activity groups" that include content, such as Activities/G1G1/8.2.0.
A future library activity
See Dynamic library for future (possibly release 9.1.0) plans. In the future browsing the Web and browsing the library may be separated.
The Library activity will be an activity for browsing books and media in Sugar. This should provide an intuitive way to search and browse through different kinds of text and media, including granular reference works, classical texts, image galleries, audio books, and videos. It should display rich information about highly collaborative materials, with ongoing updates, version #s, and dozens of authors.
The activity should make it easy to search for and request new materials for the library from outside sources (international digital libraries, regional or national repositories, the local mesh). It should provide a way to publish new material for others to access. And its infrastructure should allow users to change its layout and what kinds of data it displays.
Initial purpose and goals (from 2007)
An intuitive interface for finding media
The Library should provide a layer of abstraction on top of the available reading, editing, and searching activities. It should offer a single place to look for information and media, though there may be separate text-readers, video-viewers, audio-players, and editors for each of these materials.
Through the default interfaces, we can suggest some of the useful metadata that can be filtered up to the highest levels of indexing and browsing.
Initial targets
The simplest initial targets are a library of image-light books, in text or crossmark; a subset of these available as audiobooks; 5000 encyclopedia entries; 1000 dictionary terms, with words in 10 languages; a library of images, each with short metadata strings and sources; and a set of short videos.
Repositories
for notes on an international library catalog for childrens materials, see Library catalog
FEDORA (the repository backend, not the Linux distribution; see the 2003 trademark dispute for a cute story) is a good modular and scalable system for providing access to large collections of materials.
- Fedora appeals to me because it is a pure web service. OLPC could develop a very intuitive front-end for kids without compromising the back-end reliability and power. Here is an install guide I put together for a very basic install of fedora. I installed fedora on top of Ubuntu 7.04 Berrybw
