The month of May is almost over. There was a lot of happening. For those who missed (including me) EduJam in Uruguay and OLPC Summit, check out the blog and pictures at http://olpcuruguay2011.wordpress.com. Updates from Nick:
The map activity: Hola mapmakers!
As part of my Plan Ceibal work to get web activities playing nicely with recent builds of Sugar, especially the XO-1.5, I have updated the
Map activity. Download today: http://maptonomy.appspot.com/Map-12.xo. Your up-to-date XO-1, or any XO-1.5 (even HS), now can:
– Search and explore maps from Google and OpenStreetMap
– Write descriptions of places; plot lines and shapes
– Add photos, Wiki articles, olpcMAP dots, and WikiMapia places inside
your map view
– Use an online library to download maps used by
firefighters and biologists
– Collaborate with other XOs on the same mesh/Jabber network.
Collaboration shares the view, markers, and other map data. So several users can add points and edit each other’s descriptions. If one user visits the map library or imports a Google Earth points map, the points are shared with any connected laptops. Same thing for OfflineMap and mesh networks. We have a few XO-1.5s going to a school in the Congo this summer, and they are absolutely psyched about mapping!
From the Summit: We’re at the Uruguay summit now, about to have Adam say a few words about olpcMAP along with other communities’ favorite web tools. Etherpad is popular in South America.
I get to represent Uganda in a panel tomorrow, and then there’s the freeform “unconference” part where I know there’ll be a lot of
discussion about one of the Plan Ceibal projects. Also, we just got news here at Plan Ceibal that they are looking to buy
Kindles. They also have many teachers using the Intel Classmate laptops to view music and video. I don’t think there’s as much support for the XOs except that they are cheaper when you are giving them to all students.
New feature: For any future Jams, people can indicate if they are participating, like they did for eduJAM Summit: Go to http://olpcMAP.net/jam, use the search, open your marker, and select “Join Jam” (next to edit). We also have a page at http://olpcMAP.net/jam/es that’s in Spanish. Translation is welcomed.
Disclaimer: this is (a) experimental and (b) totally unofficial – not sponsored by ceibalJAM or Plan Ceibal.
SaigonOLPC 