The grassroots bootcamp continued today with:

  • A Alabama deployment) on training volunteers, getting funding, and building local communities. This led into side discussions on grassroots finances and more...
  • Chris Ball gave us all a crash course on Pippy, a learn-by-example programming Activity, and how it can be used to develop Activities and scripts for the XO. Again, the topic was so compelling that a cluster could be found huddled in the back corner talking about internationalization of Pippy, even after plates of food had been placed less than 10 feet away.
  • Special guests included Pam Cooney from World Computer Exchange and Cynthia Solomon from the OLPC Learning Team, one of the co-creators of Logo.
  • Cynthia and Francesca Slade also led a roleplay during the afternoon where the rest of us pretended to be 8-year-olds learning Scratch (actually learning Scratch in the process). I don't know about the rest of the "students," but Chris Carrick, Nikki Lee, and I ended up engrossed in exploring forensic ballistics* with a Scratch activity that Chris had created to go alongside...

All this and more (including - yes, you guessed it, transcripts!) are available here.

*we were strange 8-year-olds, yes.