Re: Invitation to visit Disney Imagineering

["Ian Bicking" <bickiia@earlham.edu>]

> You may remember the invitation I got from Alan Kay to visit Disney
> Imagineering to talk about using Squeak as a HyperCard/HyperStudio
> substitute for our purposes.  I'd really like to get seul-edu connected
> with Disney on this so we can have some input on the design and can test
> the program and provide feedback on what does and doesn't work in our
> context.  Unfortunately, I am not in a position to do this personally
> (time and finances don't permit).
> 
> Disney is in Glendale, CA.  I'd like for at least one and preferrably a
> few seul-edu subscribers to agree to visit Disney and find out how we
> can work together on this.  If you are within travelling distance of
> Glendale, contact me and we'll get something set up.  Please, folks,
> this looks like a great opportunity for us--let's go for it!

Just to, hopefully, increase enthusiasm for this, I'll note that Alan 
Kay and Dan Ingalls were both at Xerox PARC during the golden 
years, Dan being heavily involved in the creation of Smalltalk, and 
Alan known for such things as inventing the overlapping window 
metaphor.  John Maloney was involved in the Self project at Sun, 
which did all sorts of really neat things.  Hotspot is one of the 
legacies of this project, though what John did (Morphic) has mostly 
found its place with Squeak, not Java.

And there's lots of other very cool people there too.  If I wasn't half 
a continent away I would *love* to have a chance to visit them.  If I 
was only half a state away then I'd certainly find a way.


If people are interested I could set up a simple demo of Squeak's 
HyperCard-like abilities to download.  If you aren't familiar with 
Squeak, this could give you a feel, directed at the authoring aspect 
rather than the general programming aspect.


--
Ian Bicking <bickiia@earlham.edu>