SqueakFest and other events

Dear Squeaklanders,

Several people have sent us email asking about plans for SqueakFest  
2008, so I thought it would be helpful to share the current thinking  
with the community.

You saw a few months ago that our most gracious host of past years,  
Columbia College, has decided to take a hiatus from hosting  
SqueakFest and allow for change and evolution of the event.  There  
has been interest from a few institutions to host future gatherings,  
including The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools which we find  
exciting (and we do love Chicago).

In addition, MIT will host their first large-scale Scratch gathering  
-- "Scratch@MIT" in July.  Please see http://scratch.mit.edu/ 
conference/ for more.   Given the overlap in community and interests,  
we've decided to skip a summer SqueakFest this year helping those who  
wish to attend the Scratch event to do so without conflict.  Several  
of us from Viewpoints Research plan to attend; so it may prove a  
great venue to gather, reconnect or meet new colleagues, etc., etc.

Additionally, I am excited to share that initial plans are underway  
for SqueakFest 2009 -- and in '09 plans are afoot to hold this event  
outside the U.S. --  in Brazil (!).  Now, and even more so in 2009,  
Squeak Etoys will be in use by hundreds of thousands of children and  
their teachers, etc. around the world.   Brazil is currently a  
forerunner in pilot programs and collaborations between K-12 schools  
and Universities, in after school community centers, etc., etc.  We  
are exploring combining SqueakFest with a very well known and popular  
"Ed Tech" Conference to provide even more leverage, exposure and  
overlap of communities.

A small organizing committee has already been established to plan  
SqueakFest '09.  If you are interested in participating please let us  
know.  We will soon begin fundraising to enable presenter stipends  
for travel.  Please let me know if you have ideas or contacts to help  
with this fundraising effort, or if you work for a company that might  
like to be a sponsor of the event, etc., etc.  We feel planning early  
will help ensure the most successful event possible.

Please share this information with colleagues who may be interested  
and might not subscribe to this mailing list.

thanks and cheers,
Kim



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