[Showme-devel] Status of ShowMeBox at DebConf16 [was: Re: not attending debconf :-( ]

Sun May 15 19:25:02 UTC 2016

Dear Jonas, all

(it's a top post, deal with it.)

The immediate response to your email:
I think if Two Sigma is willing to sponsor the hackathon, it would be
in their interest to contribute to have Jonas and Siri here, as they
have been involved since the beginning and are proven to be good at
working with participants.

General question to Kris: Is Two Sigma sponsoring DebConf16? I might
run into issues with giving Two Sigma lots of exposure through the
ShowMeBox if they're not...

Regarding the ShowMeBox, I have two concerns:
1, Format of hackathon

We do not have an agreed format for what we are trying to achieve. I
am struggling to think how to include high school learners with what I
perceive to be quite a high technical content. This is a solvable
problem (see below).

2. Status of hardware, software

I am not clear on the status of the ShowMeBox, and how much
modification is allowed while it is still 'the ShowMeBox'. Said
another way, I think we are trying to do  a very technical complex
thing in limited time, which is doable, but with a whole lot of
unresolved idealogy as well. This is also fine in general, but not
with a limited timeline (in a nutshell I would diagnose that as the
'DebConf problem' :/ ).

2.1 Hardware: As I understand, if we don't use open hardware, Jonas is
not willing to call it the ShowMeBox. But there is not consensus to
get a) cheap, b) open and c) the technical specs required all in the
same box. Where do we stand here? Can we make a decision on what we
will use, and how many units?

2.2. Software: As I understand, Beaker is not available in the Debian
packaging, so if we use it, it's not the ShowMeBox. Do we have
something that's open and ready?

Related to this, I tried playing with Beaker, and while I can
appreciate it is a fabulous concept, I got very confused. While I am
certainly not a dev, I have been working with Sankey diagrams (slowly,
and step by step) (from https://d3js.org/), and I am concerned that if
we don't have a structured program for high school learners, this will
not be successful. I would suggest having some very simple format
where people with no prior experience can sit down and after,
effectively, three hours, have made something interesting (for them).
The closest thing I have seen that compares is from the Khan Academy
introduction to JavaScript, Drawing and Animation:
https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/programming
EDx has great courses too, but they're all a bit more advanced, and
usually linked to a specific time line (http://edx.org/)

An alternative to consider is a more open ended initiative that places
more emphasis on the information art exhibition, and whatever people
do can be displayed in this context. We can then use this opportunity
to bring awareness to the ShowMeBox and develop it as a more extended
initiative (which will include packaging Beaker into Debian, and my
personal 'agenda' of open hardware, and data visualisation in
general).

Perhaps we can all answer the question: Where do we want to go with
this in the long term? And using that, how do we best contribute to
this long term goal during DebConf?

For me, I want it to fit with ShackLabs:
http://merahmas.co.za/shacklabs and while any of the approaches could
work, I feel that a more low key, longer term approach with more
emphasis on the process and the relationships between people might go
further.

Then, the much overdue note on high-school learner involvement:

I made a fairly comprehensive list of groups in the Cape who may be
interested in the Debian Open Weekend, generally, and probably the
ShowMeBox. (https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf16/DebianDayMessy#Who_are_the_local_community_stakeholders.3F).
If we can say EXACTLY what we are doing, I am fairly sure I can get
people.

My two favourite options for collaborating wrt high school learners:

1. LEAP http://leapschool.org.za/
I visited the LEAP school in Langa, one of the oldest
townships/suburbs in Cape Town and close to UCT. A colleague of mine
doing research in (urban) mining is starting an initiative with them,
so as an outreach linked to the university they fit well. During this
visit, John Gilmour, the founder
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_rk1LwtzGo) expressed the importance
of the process rather than (only) focusing on the outcome. He
suggested having a longer working-together rather than a quick
focus-on-results. This was in February. I was keen to explore, but the
person at the school who I wanted to work with did not initiate
contact and I let it slip. These things take time, and more depth than
I think we can muster in a month. But it has long-term potential.

2. Code4SA http://code4sa.org/
I attended a water hackathon at the Code4SA offices (CodeBridge, in
Claremont. They code, and it's under a bridge). It was a one day
exercise, and while it was amazing fun, I was part of the
conceptualising component, and the people who knew how to code, did
the coding, so I didn't learn much of that aspect. For a development
conference, this would not be suitable. I did, however, meet Jen, who
works there, and who expressed a willingness to help. I am not sure if
Code4SA would need payment, as they are always stretched for time and
resources and may not have the resources for volunteering. I have
mentioned the initiative to them, and they are keen, but I have not
gone into details as I don't know what to tell them.

Lastly, my time availability: I don't have a lot of time, but I am
committed to this. My personal concern is that I don't have time to
commit deep thought to puzzle out what this should be. I have tried in
the last few months and failed. I only really have time to execute it.
That may be fine if we want a simple thing, but I am afraid that we
may want too much, too soon...

Regards
B

On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Jonas Smedegaard <dr at jones.dk> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Siri and I did not get travel sponsorship for debconf¹, and will
> therefore not attend Debconf this year.  :-(
>
> I can still prepare boxes (i.e. install system onto LIME2 hardware), and
> Two Sigma is still interested in sponsoring a hackathon².  But do we
> have time and enough people to organize an event by now?
>
> @Bernelle, Graham: What do you think?
>
> Regards,
>
>  - Jonas
>
>
> ¹ More specifically, only one of us got sponsorship, but we go as a team
> and cannot afford to pay half the travel costs.
>
> ² Two Sigma are willing to sponsor even without us using Beaker
> Notebook, which is not realistic to get packaged in time.
>
> --
>  * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
>  * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
>
>  [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private
>
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