Comments on: context of use http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/2006/05/context-of-use/ I love you. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:08:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Joe Buck http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/2006/05/context-of-use/comment-page-1/#comment-433 Joe Buck Wed, 17 May 2006 16:40:09 +0000 http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=196#comment-433 Third world kids aren't so different from American and European kids. Make a good machine for a first-world kid, then try to make the software run well with less memory and a weaker processor so that the third world kids can have the same experience. Kids want to create with words and pictures, and they want to communicate with other kids. They love to learn, but they do better if the learning can be open-ended. They also like games. My eight-year-old girl's favorite activities on the net are mostly written in Flash, and there's a lot out there. Many of the Flash games at sites like nickjr.com and americangirl.com are fast to load and simple for a young child to play, showing very good design. Third world kids are more likely to need to share a computer; it would be nice if we had something better than the log out/log in model. Why can't sessions be frozen and saved, and pop back up almost instantly when child B gives the machine back to child A? We can save the setup of some apps but not all, and the apps still have to restart (slowly). Third world kids aren’t so different from American and European kids. Make a good machine for a first-world kid, then try to make the software run well with less memory and a weaker processor so that the third world kids can have the same experience.

Kids want to create with words and pictures, and they want to communicate with other kids. They love to learn, but they do better if the learning can be open-ended.

They also like games. My eight-year-old girl’s favorite activities on the net are mostly written in Flash, and there’s a lot out there. Many of the Flash games at sites like nickjr.com and americangirl.com are fast to load and simple for a young child to play, showing very good design.

Third world kids are more likely to need to share a computer; it would be nice if we had something better than the log out/log in model. Why can’t sessions be frozen and saved, and pop back up almost instantly when child B gives the machine back to child A? We can save the setup of some apps but not all, and the apps still have to restart (slowly).

]]> By: Federico Mena-Quintero http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/2006/05/context-of-use/comment-page-1/#comment-432 Federico Mena-Quintero Wed, 17 May 2006 01:21:32 +0000 http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=196#comment-432 So you are doing *gasp* actual user-centered design, instead of just banging together some code! Amazing :) Really, free software needs more of this. The software in OLPC is going to be so much better than our regular desktop software because of this kind of work. So you are doing *gasp* actual user-centered design, instead of just banging together some code! Amazing :)

Really, free software needs more of this. The software in OLPC is going to be so much better than our regular desktop software because of this kind of work.

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