Squeakfest Uruguay 2011- Day 2, Steve's Talk

I just eperienced a wonderful virtual talk from Steve Thomas. He was able to start it interactively with the audience, even while he could not see the audience and they could not see him. But they saw his screen, and he played a game with the audience, having them suggesting numbers to win a tictactoe. It was amazing to see how the audience loved his talk, the little surprises his projects give and all his wonderful examples.

You can find more of it here: http://mrstevesscience.blogspot.com/
and here http://etoys4teachers.blogspot.com/

Squeakfest Uruguay 2011- Day 2

We arrived around 8:30 at the university for Squeakfest and I tested the internet connection for our online talks. Thanks to Bert and the technicians at the university, we got it connected. So Steve's and Walter's talk should be no problem.
I started a bit later than planned, at 9:30 with my presentation. It went well, but was an unusual experience for me. Because Valentina had to translate, I could only say 1-2 sentences at once. Usually, I start talking and get going. Now I had to stop all the time. But the audiencesat sat there, nodding, so they seemd to understand and agree.
Right now, Randy and Ricardo are giving a talk together. This is very nice, Ricardo is showing his Speech Bubbles, graphing tools, etc. which he developed in the GSoC-project. Randy gives the pedagogical background, with Ricardo translating. It is very nice to see how well they work together!

Squeakfest Uruguay 2011

Squeakfest in Montevideo has started today at 7:30 pm. We are in Aula Magna of the Catholic University in Montevideo, a verynice room, it actually looks like a church (and probably is). There are about 100 people in the room at this opening night. Many more are expected tomorrow, when participants from other parts of the country wil arrive.
Mariana Herrera, who organized the conference, opened it at 7:30, then MSc. Ing. Catalina Fellaggiwelcomed us at the university. I was the first to give my welcome speech, which main objective was to thank Mariana for all the work she did to make this happen. Valentina, a 17-year-old friend of Mariana translated my talk, she is really amazing! Then Enrique Verdes from the Uruguayan Linux User Group talked about the importance and possibilities of free software. Finally, Monica Baez from Plan Ceibal welcomed everyone and talked about the importance of educating the children for the technological age. All these organizations supported Squeakfest and helped tomake it happen.
I already met several people, Lino Bessonart, who will conduct the Etoys workshops tomorrow and on Saturday. Ricardo Moran, Gonzalo Zabala and the whole group of "Physical Etoys" are here. After 2 years, I met Marta Voelcker from Porto Alegre again. Right now, she is talking about "Education, Technology and Skills of the 21st Century". Fortunately, she gave me an overview of her talk before, because she is speaking Portuguese. This is very similar to Spanish, so the participants will understand it. Her talk will set the broader context for the then following focus on Etoys.
The conference is supposed to end today around 9:30 pm. Then we will go to dinner, which I have learned is the usual time people in Uruguay go out to eat. But probably I'll stay some time longer and try out the internet connection for the online talks that are planned for tomorrow.