olpcMAP June Update June 21, 2011

olpcMAP is on vacation, because Nick is in Los Angeles, Adam in Haiti and I’m still here but working full-time on The Ultimate Answer project.

From Nick:

“I am getting settled in now in California -over the weekend I finally got a room and found places near the house for food and shopping.  Sunday I went to the library to see about volunteering with technology there.

It is different to work here because the team I’m on-doesn’t get assignments; we do independent research. That includes interns. The main team is awful busy because a conference is coming up in San Diego(11-15 July). The other intern is doing his phd in mapping at USC and some open source work. We got a couple more interns this week, so the department finally had a meeting so we could see everyone and what they’re working on. Lots of crazy ideas. I shared a couple of projects, my boss asked some questions, and this afternoon I got to meet the main Esri guy in that field, for some help with that particular idea.

One of these weekends I’ll have to try going to Los Angeles to see the national parks and the major attractions. Sometimes I see cool projects like out-the-window.org and wonder if I could visit their shows. Another project might send me to Oklahoma to meet Cherokee Indians. That would be awesome.”

From Adam:

“I’m just getting rolling for many more trips to Haiti the coming year, this 1st trip now will be about scouting out different OLPC/OBPC (One Bike Per Child!) possibilities and reconnecting with many great education NGOs I’ve met over the past 17 months since the earthquake.  I’ll be assisting Tim Falconer (Waveplace Foundation) on new content plans, and John Engle (http://www.haitipartners.org/the-blog/) on many exciting developments around the 1500 kids at his 6+ growing “participatory leadership” schools.  Among many other educators I seek to connect, towards transforming Haiti’s schools in coming years / generations — thanks to the global Haitian community in Miami, NYC,Boston and Montreal especially.

I’m also working out very preliminary Haiti volunteer hub plans, for the many strong volunteers who’ve requested to join me in Haiti over the coming year, which should work out given great community accommodations I’ve uncovered — if you invest+demonstrate your worth, and understand Haiti’s risks.  A work trip as early as August might even make sense, if you can stand the heat — or later, after hurricane season, much more comfortable.  Flights are less than $400 from NYC or Miami.  Contact me privately for details in coming weeks/months, thanks so much!

During June 17 to July 4 I’ll need extra help from all volunteers backstopping OLPC/Sugar’s global community support (monitoring http://RT.laptop.org, answering emails, using sound+proactive judgment when I/others are offline for 72hrs, etc).

Thanks all for your priceless contributions, checking in on this mailing list, on live chat at http://forum.laptop.org/chat — and blogging at http://planet.laptop.org now emerging as a powerhouse community voice. * Di Ou Mèsi Tout * Merci a Tous * Gracias Todos * ”

From me :

I’m working on The Ultimate Answer project which is essentially about the interactive formula for happiness and meaningful life. I’m in the process of testing the first version of the tool in Excel and will be organizing 3 live group testing sessions: Boston, June 22, Los Angeles, July 6, and Cambridge, MA, Aug 10. The website is in progress, and the blog is one month old. Interestingly enough, my parents were the first testers of the idea, and my mother who is not technology savvy didn’t reject it immediately, which gives me hope.

I plan to meet with Nick in Los Angeles and go hiking, while I’m California till July 10, which will be International Happiness day. Check out their ambassador’s map http://happinessday.org/en/ambassadors

Happy Summer Solstice!

More Girl’s stories June 1, 2011

There are twenty four girls in Mai Am Shelter right now. Here are more stories:

Vo Thi Thuy (1992) came from Thua Thien Hue.  Her father abandoned her when she was little and her mother was disabled and sold lottery tickets in a wheel chair.

Thuy has just finished her final year 12 with average grade.  She is about to start studying economics at a technical college in Go Vap for four years.

Nguyen Thi Kim Hau (2002) likes to sing and draw.

Hau has no father and her mother died of Aids.  She was found under a bridge over a canal in district 1.

After her first year in the Home Hau finished Class 1 passing with excellent and in June 2010 she graduated from Class 2 also with excellent.  She enjoys maths.

Nguyen Thi Tien (1992) is Ha’s big sister.  She comes from Quang Binh. Her father was an alcoholic who couldn’t work and regularly beat them, so her mother and the children escaped and came to Saigon to find work as servants, but had nowhere to live.   Tien has just finished Class 12 with average grade.  She is studying accounting.

Nguyen Thi Kim Loan (1992) has no father and her mother sells lottery tickets.  She likes to listen to music and watch tv. 

Loan has been in the Home since soon after it began 13 years ago.  She finished Class 11 in 2009 with average grade and graduated from Class 12, the last year of school, in 2010 with above average. Now she wants to be a nurse and will go to nursing school for 2 years in district 4 (4 million dong fee).  She has Christian principles and is committed to wanting to help sick people get better.  She will make a wonderful nurse.

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (1998) is 12 and finished Class 4 with excellent grade in 2009 and Class 5 also with excellent in 2010.  Ha was abandoned by her father, her mother works  as a cleaner in a restaurant.  Her sister is handicapped.   She likes to play the piano and sing and enjoys maths.

Tran Thi Ngoc Oanh, nickname Tien, is now 10.   (On arrival she was said to have been born in 2000.)  She has no father and was abandoned by her mother.  Her grandmother was too poor to take care of her.  She likes to draw.  She’s a real character, always laughing and mischievous.  She wants to be a kindergarten teacher.

Tien  finished Class 2 with above average grade in 2009 and Class 3 also with above average in 2010.  She enjoys maths.

 Nguyen Thi Bang Phuong (2002) was abandoned by her father who is a Swede, and her mother was very poor.  She came to the Home in February 2008. She finished Class 1 with above average grade in 2009 and passed Class 2 with excellent this year.
For those, who don’t know much about this shelter read my earlier posts (Jan-Apr 2010). All girls sleep in one room on bunk beds, they cook and clean themselves. They wear donated clothers. They go to school and support each other. If any of you want to be pen pals with the girls (must be in Vietnamese), they would appreciate it. It is hard to replace a real family but kind words will help them to grow in life and become mature individuals.

If you are interested in learning more about the shelter and want to help the girls have education, food and clothing, feel free to contact Celia at celia@primenz.com or just leave your comment to this blog post and we will contact you.

olpcMAP May Update: Part Two May 29, 2011

Disappearing markers: The latest update to Google AppEngine should help us store all of our markers, without worrying about them disappearing on us. http://googleappengine.blogspot.com/2011/05/app-engine-150-release.html

They’re announcing a couple of things at the Google I/O Conference and
we’ll have to go over their blog posts in the next few days to find out
how it can help olpcMAP.

Still interested in getting it on WikiMedia ToolServer, though.  Bastien
(Wikimedia) was very interested in the possibility when we talked.

Collection: Here are the XO maps of the world, Uruguay, and La Rioja in Argentina:

* http://i.imgur.com/fsF2W.png
* http://i.imgur.com/hQR6y.png
* http://i.imgur.com/FcH99.png
Interactive map (random URL is random)
http://www.openheatmap.com/view.html?map=DeclassifiedEfrainsChiselled

Summary: As part of my Plan Ceibal work, I have significantly updated the OfflineMap activity.  Built-in maps library, compatibility with Google Earth files, measuring tool, extensions for users with internet connections, and other features and improvements.  I’ll upload it when I get home.

Nick finally flew back to his homeland after two months of working for Plan Ceibal. We (OLPC family and blood related family) met at Royal East in Cambridge to celebrate his return. After just one week at home he will move on to bigger places and things. He will do an internship in ESRI, then possibly Facebook in the fall and starting Jan 2012 he will participate in Code for America fellowship program. He said:” This is exactly the opportunity I’ve been looking for – one that combines civil engineering with technical, computer-sciencey stuff.  I don’t know which city I will be working for, but much of next year I will be at the program’s office in San Francisco”.

OLPC Foundation (Boston office) has moved to its new office in Cambridge. Happy Memorial Day weekend to all!

olpcMAP May Update: Part One May 28, 2011

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.

April olpcMAP update April 10, 2011

April news from olpcMAP:

1. The demo of olpcMAP will be presented at the Boston New Tech Meetup on Tuesday, April 12, at 7:30PM. http://www.meetup.com/newtech-73/events/16943664/

2. Social enterprise venture: olpcMAP presentation will be given on Wednesday, April 13, at 7:30PM, at OLPC office:

   1 Cambridge Center, 10th Floor
    One Laptop per Child
    Kendall Square
    Cambridge, MA  02142.

Join us and 20+ others from Tufts/MIT at the OLPC Foundation’s headquarters this Wedn evening 7:30PM led by me and Adam.  Questions for discussion:

    * Why should we volunteer, and for what, over the course of our lives?
    * What makes volunteering around ICT4D / ICT4E (*) so incredibly challenging?
    * Is “DIY Foreign Aide” a voluntourist joke, or a material change in 3G intl development?
    * Where can community tools like http://olpcMAP.net unleash grassroots power in this decade?
    * What volunteers have managed funds+community to unlock their global volunteer experience?
    * What’s behind trendy corporate social responsibility / service learning leadership buzzwords?
    * With 2 million XO laptops distributed, how do volunteers actually engage to prove themselves?
    * What differentiates our social movements from yet another Twitter/Facebook marketing campaign?
    * How did Mike Lee (in attendance from DC!) build http://olpcLearningClub.org far beyond so many others cities?
    * What can the Mideast’s Arab Spring teach US–conquering our own fears–converting self-organized aspirations to proven opportunity?

We will raffle off a RED XO Laptop to the person who asks the most genuinely eye-opening question.  By popular vote when our Wedn April 13 event ends by 9PM!  But you MUST arrive on-time at 7:30PM as the 1st floor security desk will in fact close after that time.  Hosted in conjunction with Tuft Univ’s http://compasspartners.org/meet

3. The latest thing is the news page, that was just launched by Nick, and we already added some events and updates to it, including Linuxtag event by Christoph D. The main idea is to have one stop shop for all events, meeting, news, jobs, internships, for OLPC/Sugar community, and edutech community.

How it works now: you need to type your topic in the box next to post word and then create your name and message with the link to the main page or how to contact if applicable along with the main theme (from drop down menu). We will enhance it by sorting events in chronological and geo order. Add your event/opportunity now : http://olpcMAP.net/news

4. olpcMAP will turn 6 months old on April 22, 2011. It looks more mature, check it for yourself: http://olpcMAP.net :)

5. Finally, Nick Doiron is in Uruguay doing an internship for Plan Ceibal in Montevideo. He is working on getting an open mapping program called gvSIG onto the blue XO for 7th grade and above.  ”It goes beyond the Map activity.  You can highlight all schools with <1000 students, or color each state in Uruguay to show the population density, or see how firefighters and farmers can use maps to make decisions.  The project has the support of the national Department of Transportation”.

Nick will be meeting others in Uruguay for Conozco School Tour from April 30- May 5, http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Conozco_Uruguay_Tour  and then the Summit May 6-8, http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Uruguay_Summit_2011.  Already more than 30 people signed up and it is going to be a great opportunity to witness nation-wide OLPC deployment. Christoph D will  be reporting daily about the upcoming events in Uruguay.

PS Mike Lee and Christoph D are finalizing their own map jams in coming weeks, check for updates on http://wiki.laptop.org/go/olpcMAP

OLPC DC Club: Plans (Part Five) April 1, 2011

polyachka: So what are your future plans with DC OLPC club ?

curiouslee: We would like to do a deployment in the DC area.

polyachka: that would be good

curiouslee: But hope for that has dimmed a bit because of the change in DC govt.

curiouslee: Also, XOs are relatively hard to get and there are still many barriers with Sugar.

polyachka: barriers like what?

curiouslee: The Sugar brand and information materials need an overhaul.

curiouslee: Running Sugar outside of the XO (which itself is hard to get in smaller quantities) is difficult.

polyachka: so what do you think is in future for both OLPC and Sugar?

polyachka: should they both re-think their strategies and become for-profit?

polyachka: offering services to the developed countries?

curiouslee: They would need more capital to restructure and then ramp up as for-profit. I can’t imagine how that would happen.

polyachka: but if they pursue the idea of constructivism, then it could revamp educational system worldwide

curiouslee: Constructivism is one approach of many. It’s not popular everywhere.

polyachka: why not popular?

curiouslee: Constructionism is not known everywhere not because it is not good. There are many other schools of thought.

curiouslee: Every country has entrenched beliefs.

polyachka: I thought that constructivism is not popular as not many believe that children can progress without much supervision

curiouslee: That’s exactly right. A lot of places approach education through rote learning and total control of the children.

polyachka: too bad, i still hope that right amount of education blended with technology can save the world

curiouslee: I hope for the same thing!

polyachka: why were you in Boston the other week?

curiouslee: I wanted to visit the Computer Clubhouse an attend the volunteer meeting at OLPC.

polyachka: thank you for coming

polyachka:  we all admire your DC club and Adam secretly wishes there was a person like you in Boston to have a big OLPC following in Boston

curiouslee: If I lived in Boston, there would definitely be a big group!

curiouslee: Believe me, there have been months where I didn’t want to organize.

polyachka: but you still did and that counts!

polyachka: Thank you so much for answering all my questions!

curiouslee: Ok thanks!

Different strategies (Part Three) March 27, 2011

polyachka: So what do you think should have been done differently at OLPC or by OLPC?

curiouslee: They should have worked harder to build a stronger coalition of other partners.

polyachka : And that was not done because marketing strategy was different – go direct?

curiouslee: Yes. OLPC felt their way was best–go direct to governments and work top down.

curiouslee: Very few at OLPC had any idea of how to build a lasting non-profit.

curiouslee: Was crazy mix of educational idealists and tech dreamers.

polyachka: so how can you marry the two -techies and teachers?

curiouslee: I think the teachers, as you call them, lost. Techies now rule OLPC and Sugar.

polyachka: So how to build a long lasting non-profit?

curiouslee: Aside from Nicholas, OLPC needed a “servant leader” in their management.

polyachka: so what does it mean servant leader?

curiouslee: Definition from wikipedia: Servant-leaders achieve results for their organizations by giving priority attention to the needs of their colleagues and those they serve. Servant-leaders are often seen as humble stewards of their organization’s resources (human, financial and physical).

polyachka: what do you think about hardware part. Is it up-to-date?

curiouslee: Hardware is not up-to-date at moment. XO-1.75 should catch up.

curiouslee: OLPC doesn’t feel it needs to keep current because they are shifting to serving the most remote areas.

polyachka: Is it due to the lack of resources at OLPC or vision?

curiouslee: Move to remote areas? Lack of resources yes, I think. Best to go where there is little or no competition and greatest need.

polyachka: what about Intel computers? Are they more up-to date but serve to remote areas as well?

curiouslee: Intel computers like classmate are not power efficient at all and not daylight readable. Also, the educational software is often included as an afterthought.

curiouslee: I have two classmate laptops.

curiouslee: They are miniature office productivity machines.

curiouslee: OLPC wants to focus on original “no school” scenario.

polyachka:  does it mean that no teachers are needed and no curriculum for Sugar?

polyachka: i thought it was proved that it doesn’t work

curiouslee: That varies very widely based on local culture. Adult and teacher presence is essential.

curiouslee: There are plenty of small school houses with no electricity or teachers teaching under a tree.

polyachka: but they all need curriculum

curiouslee: Sure.

polyachka: and who is working on it?

curiouslee: In the larger deployments, there have been contractors or Ministry of Education staffers working on curriculum.

OLPC DC Club, Love and Hate (Part Two) March 25, 2011

polyachka: So can you please tell me again the story of how you got involved in OLPC together with Wayan, I heard it at Boston OLPC meeting briefly but didn’t write it down?

curiouslee: Sure.

curiouslee: Wayan started having bar meetups in DC in fall of 2007 before G1G1. A couple of us had beta XO machines to show.

curiouslee: Then G1G1 happened in Dec 2007 and there was suddenly a huge local user community. So we started monthly meetings in Jan 2008.

polyachka: so you started those meetings in 2007 to help educate users of XO?

polyachka: help them with support or other goals too?

curiouslee: Yes, monthly meetings to support users with tech needs. We also tried to network people interested in deployments. We connected interested python developers and started Sugar Labs DC.

polyachka: why Wayan was so interested in it?

curiouslee: Wayan was working in ICT4D and was very skeptical of OLPC claims. He had much more time in 2007-2008 (no kids!) and started OLPC News web site.

polyachka: it seems that his relationship with OLPC may be described as love-hate, or is it a media trick?

curiouslee: That site got him onto the famous 60 minutes news segment about OLPC.

polyachka: so what is he trying to do with his blog?

polyachka: why is he doing it? for fame and glory?

curiouslee: Wayan got some fame. He felt the OLPC movement (and NN) needed a critic.

curiouslee: He says his mission was to “call bullshit” on NN and Walter’s wild claims.

polyachka: job well done

polyachka: but i think he loves OLPC deep in his heart and maybe wishes he started it

curiouslee: Yeah. At his core, he likes the OLPC mission, but hates how it has been implemented.

curiouslee: He realized early that it was less about OLPC movement than the interesting people around it that one can meet. Almost doesn’t matter if OLPC succeeds.

polyachka: are you saying even if OLPC fails it was still a very inspiring venture?

curiouslee: What endures will be the community around OLPC and Sugar Labs.

polyachka: but will those last?

curiouslee: Yes, even if for some reason it shuts down, much of the community will stay together and move on to related projects.

OLPC DC Club (Part One) March 24, 2011

I met Mike Lee almost 1.5 year ago at NYC OLPC meeting. I remember that all attendeeds were divided into three groups (teachers, techies and promoters), and I was in the promoters group, that was led by Mike.  I remember him explaining to us how we can get involved into helping OLPC with marketing efforts. I really liked that he is people-focused and has a great personality. Since then we’ve met several times and I was lucky to interview him last week to learn more about his work and OLPC DC Club that he runs:

polyachka:  Good morning, Mike! How are you?

curiouslee: Doing fine. Going to Philly tonight thru Tue for conference.

polyachka: How was your OLPC meeting yesterday? Did you have an agenda?

curiouslee: Actually good turnout of 12. We shared favorite Sugar activities in screen.

curiouslee: Physics and Speak were popular. Also Record and TurtleBlocks.

curiouslee: Jeff Elkner wants to organize a DC eduJam.

polyachka: When?

curiouslee: Maybe September. He wants to avoid conflict with other events.

polyachka: And the people who attended the meeting, what are demographics?

curiouslee: Some retirees, two teachers, two programmers, 3 high school students

polyachka: pretty good representation

curiouslee: Only one child–mine.

curiouslee: Harriet Vidyasagar of OLPC India attended for first time

polyachka: oh, nice

curiouslee: Harriet lives 5-minute walk from my house!

polyachka: so Harriet doesn’t live in India?

curiouslee: Both places. She travelled back and forth extensively, but recently retired

polyachka : so how big is the OLPC community in DC area, if you combined all regular attendees?

curiouslee: There are about 30 regular attendees who make it 4x a year or more. There are 175 people on our email list. Scratch Day was biggest event last year with 75 people

polyachka: when was Scratch day?

curiouslee: Scratch Day 2010 was May 22. There’s a blog post with the announcement and some photos on Flickr.

polyachka: what other events do you hold or host?

curiouslee: We hosted documentation jam and have informal meetups on some weeknights at bar or restaurant.

polyachka: those must be well-attended

curiouslee: Weeknight at bars–typically a dozen people. A different group of people than weekends.

curiouslee: We also had booth at NECC 2009 education conference in DC and TEDx MidAtlantic 2009 Baltimore.

polyachka: So howcome you go to some expos even outside on DC when it is OLPC related, is it more your personal interest or you do it because you run this group?

polyachka: Personal interest. Most club members do not have time or money to travel out of the area for OLPC.

March olpcMAP update March 18, 2011

1.  Search made easy: now people come up first! Nick has rewritten search so that names take precedence over group names, and group names take precedence over descriptions, so these searches now show what you’d expect, and more common names (such as “Haiti”) still show the whole country in Google Maps.

2.  New way to move your markers or change your name on the map. And that is how:

* Don’t do it in Internet Explorer, it will not work, do it another browser.
* If you created a brand new marker, you can click and drag marker until you have left the page.

 * If you have an older marker that you want to move: click Edit, then click the new link on top of the window: “Change Name or Location”
* On the new page, click and drag your marker
* Follow the “Click to Confirm by Email” link above the map (this e-mail goes to the contact address for the marker)
* Check your e-mail and click to confirm (it’ll take you directly to your newly-placed marker)

3.  Profile pages: profile pages are different from markers.  It is easy to see all information about the person or deployment on the page and in the future pages will enable creation of groups. You can find a link to your profile page in your marker’s “Bookmarks” section. For example, Nick’s page is http://olpcMAP.net/page?id=359001

4.  We now have Featured articles or markers on the map’s homepage  http://olpcMAP.net/home If you want to suggest somebody’s blog post, article or a volunteer/deployment to be featured on the map, email us the link to a blog or website, or just the name, and we will feature them! Please, use beautify@olpcmap.net

5.  New view is http://olpcmap.net/?view=alt together with local views like http://olpcMAP.net?go=Jamaica&view=alt This view enables you to hide either volunteers or deployments by clicking the checkboxes in the upper left.  That’s also where you can check to view News/Articles. It’s possible to do geographic searches of news, just like we do with go=Jamaica, but until we have many news items, we show the most recent 100.

6. You can add more news/articles at http://olpcMAP.net/share/news  They become part of Shared and the news layer at the same time!  We post it openly at http://olpcMAP.net/geonews

7. It took several months to process, receive and upload all video interviews from SF OLPC Summit in Oct 2010, but finally it is all done. Please see all 28 interviews uploaded to youtube under user verhovzeva. Links to the Interviews were also added to interviewees’ markers on the map. Enjoy!