Our overall goal with Waveplace is to teach children to become digital storytellers. Just what that means, and can mean, is really the crux of where we're headed. I've been thinking a great deal about this.

Most schools define computer literacy as being able to operate Microsoft Office and maybe do a little web design. They're missing the point. That's like saying, 'If you know which end of a book to hold up, and you know how to turn to Chapter Three, then you're literate.' Literature is first and foremost about having ideas important enough to discuss and write down in some form. So you have to ask, "What is the literature that is best written down on a computer?" One answer is to make a dynamic simulation of some idea that you think is important, a simulation that you can play with and that you can learn from.
- Alan Kay

To aid in my explorations, I've been researching the early days of film, learning how they created the conventions we now take for granted, such as reverse angle shots and zooms. To us it seems obvious, but to them, each baby step away from "point the thing at a stage and film the actors" was a breakthrough.

I've also been researching interactive fiction, which began in the 70s as text adventures, but has progressed quite a bit, though it's largely unseen unless you use the word "game".

What's the future of digital storytelling? How we will evolve past pre-computer modes of expression? What will our children's children look back on as obvious that we ourselves cannot yet see?

We've just posted two new videos from the St John Waveplace pilot, which concluded three weeks ago. The first shows mentoring during the pilot. The second shows students presenting their Etoys storybooks. 1) Scenes from the St John pilot (4 minutes) 2) The St John Storybook Awards (8 minutes) We will be posting the actual storybooks to our website soon. In other news, the Haiti pilot will resume next week, since things have calmed down in Port-Au-Prince. The kids and teachers are well....

Had a great trip to Saint John last week, finishing up our ten week Waveplace pilot with the fourth grade class at Guy Benjamin School. I got to teach the class one day, which was great fun, and for our last class, we had each student present their storybooks, then gave out four iPods as prizes. The judges were me, Dionne Wells (their principal), and Jamie Elliot (a local reporter). Mid-trip we presented the results of the pilot to the new USVI Education Commissioner by having A'Feyah, one of the students, sit with the Commissioner and show her what she...

Today's the tenth anniversary of our business, Immuexa Corporation, which makes custom-built software and websites. Ten years ago yesterday, I drove away from my job at Lotus Development Corp. Ten years ago this morning, we started Immuexa. Here's a photo from the tenth anniversary of my father's business, Arthur Falconer Associates, an advertising agency in Englewood Cliffs NJ. My father and mother are in the photo, which was taken a few months before the first moon landing. AFA went on for another twenty-five years before it folded up shop, though its spirit lives on within my two brothers and me,...

Today I read some very nice comments from a few of the people who donated their XO laptops to children in our Haiti pilot. Last week I posted photos of the children that got their laptops as well as a new video. The first donor comment was from Emily Davidow, who also blogged: Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program! Seeing the pictures and movie made me so happy. Looking forward to following the progress in Haiti and all your programs through the newsletter. The next was from author David Weinberger, who blogged as...

Just received some photos from the start of our Haitian pilot, along with some new photos from our St John pilot, which is in its sixth week. * Haiti photos * St John photos...

Today we're starting our pilot in Haiti, at one of the Mercy & Sharing schools in Port-Au-Prince. Our very own Bill Stelzer, leader of our St John pilot, will be teaching Emile Roulsa Jean and two others to become Haiti's first Waveplace mentors. They'll then start a ten-week pilot using the nineteen laptops we were able to receive in time. Our greatest thanks go to the ten kind souls who donated their XOs last weekend, along with David Weinberger, Jerry Michalski, and Wayan Vota for helping spread the word. David & Jerry are A-List blogerati and Wayan runs OLPC News,...

Just sent out a plea to forums and bloggers I know. David Weinberger not only posted it, but he's sending us his XO! Here's the plea: Waveplace is a non-profit starting an XO pilot in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, in ten days. OLPC was going to be giving us laptops, but it fell through, which is why I'm trying to get twenty XOs from elsewhere. Your laptop may end up in the hands of one of the most needy children in the Western Hemisphere. The school where the laptop will be sent is run by Susie Scott Krabacher, who has been the...

The holidays this year were extra fun for Isabel. Between Halloween, her two-year birthday, Christmas, and New Years, she's definitely caught on to the magic of costumes, candy, presents, and lights. Here's the story....

Great article about Waveplace in the St John Tradewinds. Talks about our Virgin Islands pilot, which is into its second week. We also launched our new website, which has a terrific new video from our trip to Haiti earlier this month....