{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277","repository_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277/events","html_url":"https://github.com/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277","id":158742392,"number":277,"title":"Should we change the story behind the lesson?","user":{"login":"iglpdc","id":1700319,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1700319?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc","html_url":"https://github.com/iglpdc","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/iglpdc/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/labels/discussion","name":"discussion","color":"0000FF"}],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/milestones/2","html_url":"https://github.com/swcarpentry/git-novice/milestones/Version%205.4","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/milestones/2/labels","id":1159386,"number":2,"title":"Version 5.4","description":"Issues and PRs to resolve for Version 5.4 release. ","creator":{"login":"gvwilson","id":911566,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/911566?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson","html_url":"https://github.com/gvwilson","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/gvwilson/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"open_issues":33,"closed_issues":19,"state":"open","created_at":"2015-06-10T22:35:44Z","updated_at":"2016-06-13T20:40:10Z","due_on":"2016-06-14T04:00:00Z","closed_at":null},"comments":2,"created_at":"2016-06-06T18:25:15Z","updated_at":"2016-06-13T20:48:23Z","closed_at":null,"body":"We periodically get concerns about the story behind the lesson (Wolfman and Dracula research planets), [the most recent is discussed in this thread](http://lists.software-carpentry.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-May/004473.html). I'd say the more frequent complains are the story being a bit \"childish\", in the sense of not serious enough of a scientific setting, or disconnected from the rest of the workshop, in the sense that the story uses `.txt` files instead of  \"code\".\r\n\r\nI'd like to open a discussion on whether we should change the story or not.\r\n\r\nSome points I think are worth to mention:\r\n\r\n- I think the lesson should not have any coding involved. This reduces greatly the cognitive load of the lesson, allows to alter the order of the topics in the workshop, and is agnostic about programming languages, so I'd prefer to work only with `.txt` files;\r\n\r\n- typing is hard, specially if you are trying to understand how Git works at the same time, so the least typing the better;\r\n\r\n- no extra tools (other than Git and a text editor) should be required: it's already hard enough to get all Git installations working in a workshop;\r\n\r\n- having a closed, non-personal story is really important: learners should be focus in learning Git and not spending time on writing prose or code. I think that stories with open tasks, such as \"write a brief bio about yourself\" or \"let's add a file with some comments about our favorite movie\", are distracting and hard to complete by some people."},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/comments/225703709","html_url":"https://github.com/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277#issuecomment-225703709","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/swcarpentry/git-novice/issues/277","id":225703709,"user":{"login":"guyer","id":1830725,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1830725?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer","html_url":"https://github.com/guyer","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/guyer/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2016-06-13T20:48:23Z","updated_at":"2016-06-13T20:48:23Z","body":"I get some snickering every time I teach the lesson, but nothing more than that, and I don't think any of the critique stickies have complained about it. I did get one learner recently who wanted to see git applied to a simple scientific code, but I agree that the cognitive load on that is high."}}
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