Ideas for activities
From Olpcaustria
If you are thinking about contributing to the project and want to develop an activity you may find it hard to identify what's already there and what's missing. This is a highly incomplete list of ideas for applications which are not known to be in development. Please feel free to add to this list, modify it or add comments if you know of some development efforts.
- An app that helps kids develop the motor skills for writing with a pencil by utilizing the unique XO trackpad. Maybe even something like a "color by numbers"-activity for starters. Or maybe something similar without the numbers.
- Keyboard driller (like Cuetype)
- Astronomy software (maybe a port of Stellarium)
- translation widget
- Flash Card application (like Mental Case)
- Collaboratively designed multi user 2d dungeon.
- Podcast maker
- Create and share crossword puzzles
- Collaborative Genealogy application
- Diary program
- A Software to make and share tests and quizzes
- Comic creation software
- Stop Motion Animation using built-in camera
- Twext implementation
- World Of Where Clone
- Incredible Machine Clone
- Notebook/Personal Wiki
- An Outliner (like OmniOutliner)
- Musical Notation tool
- collaborative phone book app
- community white board (craigslist-style)
- Trading space for goods
- Weather information
- Economy simulation game (alá Lemonade Stand)
- Stock trading game
- Blog posting front end
- A great (source code) text editor
- Cross platform instant messenger built on libgaim
- An implementation of Context Free Design Grammar (graphics programming language) - possibly with some cool ui to make it more accessible to novices.
- Chess game
- A tool to make statictics
- Simple image manager and editor
- (S)FTP client
- VNC Client/Server
- Fancier calculator with more scientific functionality
- Graphing calculator
- Port of VLC
- Writer's software (ala WriteRoom, Ulysses or Scrivener)
- Framework/example application for language learning
- MP3 player
- IRC client
- Usenet client
- Address book
- Simple 3D editor and raytracer, maybe POV-Ray, Yafray, Art of Illusion (Java) or maybe even Blender (Open GL-heavy)
- Calendaring app
- An app to learn about time zones
- Framework/example application for SIGN language learning, particularly for deaf pupils who can't express themselves.
- Application that helps deaf people learn to vocalize
- Application that visualizes sounds as they happen in the world and in the laptop to make them accessible to deaf people (e.g. alarm sounds)
- Application/Framework to help deaf people learn to lip-read
- Sign language dictionary with search features
- App for Voroni Cell exploration See a cool blog post about it and take a look at some fantastic examples
- Fractal generator
- An implementation of Processing
- A port of Pure Data
- App for creating and sharing Howto-Instructions (instructables.com - style)
- Gapminder implementation
- Karaoke software, could help in language-learning
- Gap-text activity
- Characters handwriting learning activity
Think about it
[hints from user BlankVerse copied from the discussion --Schmofu 19:15, 20 February 2008 (CET)]
the sum may be more than the parts
Some of the above could be combined. For example: There is a diary suggestion (#10), and a calendar suggestion (#45). What might be more useful is to combine the two ideas and create a diary/calendar/to-do list type of program.
the XO is not the limit
Some ideas are not bound to the XO. Like extending the above example: Once the school servers are up and running, then it might be useful to create a calendar server program that allows coordination between students and teachers on homework assignments, timetable etc.
This could even be useful for all kinds of schools, universities and so on.
