[Aslug] Fwd: Python Aboriginal ebooks for 3K OLPC laptops

[Dennis J]

Hi all,

== Background ==

In the late 1980's (over 20  years ago!) while teaching out at Umpangara
(near Papunya) I developed proof of concept demos of interactive
language learning software with digital sound, scanned colour photos,
and activity scores, etc. 

The main multimedia machine distributed out in NT schools at that time
was the Amiga 500, and that was the platform used. The whole interactive
multimedia show could be run off either 1 or 2 (I can't quite remember)
720k floppy discs.  

The project was called the Vernacular Spectacular interactive language
learning software project, and many of it's aims and ideas parallel
those discussed in these recent threads.

As well as digitising hard copy vernacular stories into interactive
computer format, with attendant language exercises, there was a
component which involved producing hard copy stories with barcodes under
the text which could be 'played back' or 'read' by scanning the barcode
under the text, etc.

== Development method ==

Given the relatively small market and the nature of the needs that such
projects target, I think an open source method of development is the
most rational. This allows resources to be focussed on primary needs,
not on packaging, marketing, and call centre help desk infrastructure,
etc, which all goes along with a commercial development.

== Databases and Moodle ==

For databases to hold student progress information, and other database
type info, I think the moodle cms/lms (course management system/learning
management system) ( http://moodle.org ) has a lot to offer. All the
student tracking side of database development is already done, and what
would be needed would be to develop a module/plugin (
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Guidelines_for_contributed_code )
that links in with the student tracking system. There is a massive
international community involved in moodle development, so there is a
lot of active interest in creating language learning resources in
moodle, and chances are there are already some modules that come close
to many of the needs associated with creating Aboriginal ebooks, etc.

== No coding needed ==

In fact, basic interactive multimedia vernacular language eBooks and
language exercises can be created in Moodle right now, out-of-box, no
coding needed. All that's needed is to get familiar with the multimedia
capabilities of moodle, and to assemble your digital assets and
resources.

== Flexibility of deployment ==

Moodle can be run with the learning activities coming off a server on a
local area network, or from a server on the internet, or the whole
package can be run off 'localhost' on individual machines. (That is, the
whole learning management system can be packaged and run off standalone,
individual computers). This provides maximum flexibility in terms of
deployment options, as the final product can run on linux, mac, and
windows machines, it can can be run over the internet to distributed
users with internet access, or it can be run in remote communities that
do not have internet access.

== Future proofing content ==

Moodle has a lot of momentum behind it, many very big universities
around the world have adopted it, so any work put into it has a higher
chance of surviving and still being usable over time as underlying
formats and operating systems change. That is, the strength of the
moodle community means moodle will be ported to new environments, as
they emerge, and the job of moving any content you may have created can
'leverage' all the porting efforts of all the other users and
developers. Contrast this with the demise of the Amiga, and all content
there, as well as the demise of Hypercard and all language learning
content in that format, etc. In this sense, the open standards and open
source foundations of (most of) moodle are the best 'future proofing'
any language learning project can have.

== Proprietary closed source dependencies ==

Having said that, currently multimedia content in moodle is handled by
the "Flash" browser plugin. While the moodle flash applets are 'open
source', the rest of the Flash ecosystem is proprietary. With the advent
of html 5 and the 'video' tag, this could change. Though it is early
days with regard to html 5.

== Brainstorming at a meeting ==

The original plan I had for the Vernacular Spectacular project was to
get all interested parties together for some meetings to brainstorm
ideas and thrash out needs. That part of the project never happened, but
we could still try it now, at one of our ASLUG meetings?

Dennis


----- Original message -----
From: ninti at internode.on.net
To: aslug at lists.linux.org.au
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:56:55 +1030
Subject: Re: [Aslug] Fwd: Python Aboriginal ebooks for 3K OLPC laptops

Mark, you've obviously put a fair bit of time into your project already.
Great 
effort. 
 
Some comments: 
 
Linux provides a wealth of possibilities for what you're trying to do,
in terms 
of databases, programming languages and other underlying technologies.
For 
example, given the likely size of the datasets, SQLite could be a very
good match 
to your requirements. 
 
Another difference with Linux is that not only could your project be
freely 
available, but so could the underlying operating system required to run
it. 
Having a free application that requires an expensive operating system to
run on 
isn't ideal. 
 
To get a lot of traction in the Linux community, I think you'd need to
consider 
releasing your project under an open source license and, obviously, use
open 
source technologies. Neither of these preclude using Windows as an
underlying 
operating system, but obviously most Linux users prefer to build things
for 
Linux. Most things built for Linux can be ported to Windows however, but
there is 
not as much energy around to do so. 
 
Making your application open source would mean that any interested
person could 
extend/improve your application, and add content/modules/data to it, on
the 
condition that all improvements and additions were as freely available
as the 
original application. Good open source projects grow exponentially
without the 
restrictions of closed source. 
 
Flash plays on Linux but is not 100% kosher as it isn't open source. As
far as I 
know, Flash programs can't actually be created on Linux ... but I could
be wrong, 
as I don't follow that particular technology. In any case, a proprietary
software 
purchase would be involved, which goes against the Linux grain. 
 
I guess a pertinent question right now is whether GCompris is a viable
option for 
your purposes. 
 
My 2 cents ... 
 
Mike 
 
 
 
 

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