Re: [Fwd: Kids Game Builder version 0.0.1]

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Chris Ellec wrote:
> 
> > From: aleris@iag.net
> >
> > In that spirit I guess I have a non-technical question.  What do we want to use
> > as authoritative sources of information?
> 
> It is actually a touchy subject. I'm glad somebody brought it up.  I think it is important to address the
> subject early on. Do we want our audience to be american children, or just children of any origin from
> any country. Obviously I favor the second solution. One obvious way to do this is to provide support for
> foreign languages, which shouldn't be too hard with the kind of database we talked about earlier.  
I agree.  The question of i18n (internationalization) is an important
one that we should think about going into this rather than as an
afterthought.  After all, we're not "market driven," so we shouldn't
ignore anyone out of hand.  If we do this right, it should be relatively
simple to provide localization info for each culture that then
integrates into the basic programs.

A more
> subtle way is with content. Using Tux as a mascot and other cartoon characters should appeal to almost
> any kids, right ? Well, how about a kid leaving in a city where there is no zoo, and he has never seen a
> real penguin before ? This might be a little far-fetched, but what I'm trying to say is that something
> that might seem like a given to some people might be completely lost on others, or might even be
> offensive to them ! Not to mention the influence you can have on kids, without even realizing it.
> 
I'm not sure that Tux is a problem, but I agree that we need to be aware
of cultural sensibilities in what we do.  I'll be awfully surprised if
there isn't some place in cyberspace that can review things for us with
a view to (as the old definition of "gentleman" goes) not
unintentionally giving offense.

-- 
Doug Loss                 The difference between the right word and
Data Network Coordinator  the almost right word is the difference
Bloomsburg University     between lightning and a lightning bug.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Mark Twain
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