• Moved to Sugar Labs
• Dedication
• Introduction
• I discovered this discovery
• Discovery: Preparation
• Discovery: Open your XO
• Discovery: Buttons and bits
• Discovery: Turn XO on, and observe
• Discovery: Turn XO on and start trying things
• Discovery: Button functions
• Discovery: Other bits of the XO
• Discovery: Icon Ring
• Discovery: List view
• Discovery: Help
• Discovery: Frame
• Discovery: Wireless networking
• Discovery: Browse
• Discovery: Good questions
• Discovery: Journal
• Discovery: Record
• Discovery: Paint
• Discovery: Write
• Discovery: Collaboration
• Discovery: Frame Again
• The Undiscoverable: Terminal
• Discovery: Utility Menu
• Pause
• Discovery: More Activities
• Discovery: Puzzles
• Discovery: Games
• Discovery: Turtle Art
• Discovery: Calculate
• Discovery: Measure
• Discovery: Etoys
• Discovery: Music
• What do I want to discover?
• Discovering childhood education
• Discovery: Hints
• Resources
• Discovery: Glossary

Discovery: Icon Ring

You remember back when you first turned on your XO? Maybe you had to give your name and get icon colors, but then you were at the Home View, with an XO icon in your colors, and a ring of other icons around it. We're going there again today.

If your XO is on but not in the Home View, you have to push a button to get there. Do you know which one? Yes? Good. Go there. No? Also good. Push buttons until you find the right one. Or if all else fails, restart your XO to get there.

Put your cursor over any icon. The XO in the middle, the three-ring notebook icon below it, or any icon in the ring. What happens? How long does it take?

The Undiscoverable: If you are used to other computers, it might occur to you to try right-clicking, or as we might say on the XO, O-clicking an icon. Children with no computer experience probably will not. Try it. Notes? Questions?

Can you tell what the icon represents? I mean, yes, you can see what it is a picture of, but what does that mean to you? Anything? Can you tell what each icon is for now? I could for some, but couldn't for others.

So make a list. Notes and questions, as usual. Some of the names are quite descriptive, while others are just—names. You can't tell what each does just from the icon and the name. If the icon and name tell you what they stand for, good. If you can guess what they stand for, do so. If they are completely mysterious, excellent! A question!

Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman wrote about this in his autobiographical What Do You Care What Other People Think? His father taught him that the name of something, such as a bird, conveyed no information. The question was what the bird did. So they would watch together. We, however, will point and click.

Point to icons until you find one that says its name is Browse. What does its icon represent? Why do you think that the developers chose that icon? Will it be easy for you to remember?

Now what do you think I would like you to do with Browse? You should be aware of three ways to activate it. If not, that is a question to explore. We will encounter others later on. You can explore activation now, or make a note to follow up on. Anyway, go ahead and activate Browse.

Hey, Google! With a search on just OLPC! Links! A menu! Arrow and star icons! A text field! Oh, yes, so much to discover! What does that mean, OLPC Library? What are these other controls? How much can I find out by just pointing at them? What happens if I click them? Other pages, fine. Oh, these controls control which controls I see on the top. Point, yes. Notes and questions. Click clickety click. More notes, more questions. Do you know how to stop Browsing? You should, if you pointed at everything. We'll come back to that.

Try a search on Google. It might work, and it might not. Why not? What do you want to do about that? We were just exploring Wireless Connections, weren't we?

Anyway, even if the Google search doesn't work, there are other links. Why would they work when Google doesn't? Hint: point your cursor at the text field at the top of the screen.

Explore as much as you like. Then Stop Browse, and return to the Home View.

There will not be a quiz on all of this. What we need is much more serious than that. I am going to expect you to be able to use all of this in further explorations.