Scratch

WingsGames wrote:

Important!
Artists, how's the art coming? Reporters, how're the reports coming? Writers, how're the articles coming. Everyone who's still working should answer this.

Tomorrow I'll add some finishing touches to the King Fanta, Blu_Spy, and muffin banner. On the draft, do you need headings for the columns instead of the buttons?

Okay, here is some info for the war between Blue_Spy annd Fanta...

It started when KingFanta apparently stole MuffinMaster's muffins. So, Blue_Spy was MuffinMaster's servant and then LordCocacola came in and was against everyone. He later joined KingFanta. The projects were filling up the front page, and pinky9123 protested against it. Later, I did to and got like 6 supporters. Then, it sounds like Blue_Spy fired the X (MuffinMaster's secret weapon) at MuffinMaster. MuffinMaster asked for peace, and the war seems to be at a close.

chongyian wrote:

That's interesting, but I just looked through their projects, and it is not that awesome

I don't think it's awesome, I think it was annoying.

Zangooser wrote:

First draft of the Welcoming Committee article:

Scratch has forever been an open, welcoming community, but sometimes new members feel outcasted and confused about Scratch. All of this is about to change, as the Scratch Team announced that they were restarting the Scratch Welcoming Committee.
What is the SWC? A better question would be who is the SWC. Scratchers from throughout the globe are making projects that welcome and support new Scratchers in a friendly, helpful way. In the projects, Scratchers express their favorite thing or things about Scratch and give their best to the new members. The Scratchers who choose to make this project are also asked to go above and beyond when helping new Scratchers, asking that project creators "reply to [New Scratchers'] comments on your projects, answer their questions, and encourage them as they begin Scratching."
The Scratch Team has created a gallery exclusively for friendly introductory projects for new Scratchers (look for the gallery called "Scratch Welcoming Committee!") and have also provided a few remixable projects for those who wish to participate but aren't feeling especially motivated.
The Scratch Team seems to be supporting the Committee whole-heartedly, with the majority of the Team sporting banner proudly announcing the SWC.
If you're interested, check out the official explanation of the SWC at http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Welcoming_Committee

Scratch on!

I'm not feeling especially great today, writing-wise, but I know I had to get this done. If you feel that you can revise this or even rewrite it, feel free, as it's likely going to turn out better than mine. XP


@ bertdog
I was looking at your interview questions for FuzzFerretTM, and (no offense intended) I think you should be asking more relevant questions. This next part is going to be rude, but I'm just going to spit it out: I don't think people care what someone else's favorite food is. Unless they're starting a Society for Mac 'n' Cheese Lovers (hehe, I might join), no one's likely to use that information.

I believe that the questions should be related to upcoming projects and ideas, such as:
-Are you working on anything right now?
-What inspired you to make these things?
-Have you ever felt like giving up on a project, but then someone supported you and urged you to finish? What would you say to that person?
-When did you start making sonic animations (or whatever FuzzFerret makes)?
-What would you like to say to other Scratchers who are interested in the same thing that you are? (ie, animations / games in Scratch)

Just a few suggestions. 

WingsGames is this okay? If it is, change it to done...

Can I write for this? http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Community_Guidelines

Last edited by chongyian (2012-08-19 17:49:07)

chongyian wrote:

Can I write for this? http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Community_Guidelines

Zangooser wrote:

WingsGames wrote:

Important!
Artists, how's the art coming? Reporters, how're the reports coming? Writers, how're the articles coming. Everyone who's still working should answer this.

I've posted the rough draft for the main page, if you haven't seen it already. I'm not doing much artwise; the only bits I've made are for the Ask Scratchy column and the front page. I can't make humans very well, so I'm not sure if I can help with making art for any of the interest stories. I can, however, make images for the Buzz, the Spotlight, and Scripting Success. To give other artists a chance to work, though, I shall only do one of those. Which one should I make?

I think Scripting Success. If it's doable, could it be a tornado of Scratch Blocks? If it's not, that's fine (you're the artist!).

A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed.
Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages.

Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks.

The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT's Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video.

"Computer programming has been traditionally seen as something that is beyond most people - it's only for a special group with technical expertise and experience," said Professor Mitchel Resnick, one of the researchers at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT.

"We have developed Scratch as a new type of programming language, which is much more accessible."

Child's play

The explosion in broadband connectivity has fuelled the growth of websites that offer rich media experiences, including video and animations.

"These days, kids interact with all kinds of dynamic things on screen but it is usually a one-way street - they are usually interacting with things that other people have created," said Professor Resnick, who also invented Lego Mindstorms, a robotics toolkit often used in teaching.











With Scratch, our goal is to allow people to mix together all kinds of media... in creative ways



Mitchel Resnick


"With Scratch we want to let kids to be the creators. We want them to create interesting dynamic things on the computer."

The program works by making the act of creating a computer program more like building with Lego bricks.

"Kids make programs by snapping blocks together," said Professor Resnick, whose position is in part supported by the toy company.

Objects and characters, chosen from a menu and created in a paint editor or simply cut and pasted off the web, are animated by snapping together different "action" blocks into stacks.

"They don't have to worry about the obscure punctuation and syntax common in most programming languages," he said.

Each block contains a separate command, such as "move" or "play drum" and each action can be modified from a drop-down menu. Blocks can only be stacked if they fit together.

So, for example, if someone wanted to animate a cat walking across the screen they could modify the move block to tell the cat to walk forward 10 steps.

If they then wanted the cat to bang a drum as it walked, they could stack the play-drum block underneath, choosing a sound for the instrument and how long each beat should last.

Other actions, such as speaking, changing colour or triggering music, can then be added to complete the animation.

Mix and match

Scratch is inspired by the method hip hop DJs use to mix and scratch records to create new sounds.







Users can share their creations on the Scratch website


"With Scratch, our goal is to allow people to mix together all kinds of media, not just sounds, in creative ways," said Professor Resnick.

"We want people to start from existing materials - grabbing an image, grabbing some sound, maybe even bits of someone else's program and then extending them and mixing them to make them their own."

Digital creations can then be shared on a site where users can watch other creations and even borrow elements from other Scratch projects to act as raw materials for their own.

"Kids like to share stuff on the web and I think that is a very strong element of Scratch," said Professor Nigel Shadbolt, of the University of Southampton and President of the British Computer Society (BCS).

He believes that it will be a useful tool for teaching children about computational thinking and enthusing "the next generation" of IT professionals.

"The thing that's very difficult for children encountering programming for the first time is that it is very unforgiving," said Professor Shadbolt.

"A program doesn't congratulate you for the 90% that you got right. It fails for the 10% you got wrong. So an environment where you are essentially assembling components that can only be configured in set ways takes some of that hardship away."

And for those that want to get stuck into something that looks more like traditional code there are sites like HacketyHack.

The site teaches children to code in a language called Ruby. There are seven free lessons, including one that allows them to develop a blog with just six lines of code.

"All of these environments are about getting kids to approach the world in a systematic and a structured way," said Professor Shadbolt.

Scratch is now available to download for free and works with both Apple Macs and Windows PCs.

A version of the tool is also currently being developed for the XO laptop, designed by the One Laptop Per Child Project.


BBC News

Last edited by chongyian (2012-08-20 05:52:45)

Is there anything I can do at the moment?

I don't want to be a reporter. I'll still be an editor of something.

If Friday comes.berberberber(I don't know if there are 3 ber's or 4)should write what I have got for the spotlight.

JH1010 wrote:

Is there anything I can do at the moment?

At this point, we're more just wrapping up articles and getting the art in. You can just relax, maybe brainstorm some future articles.