[iDC] One Laptop Per Child - MIT/Negroponte Initiative

[education manager]

The Article is representative of many 'feel good' articles related to the XO
that have come out over recent months. There is no doubt at this time, I
think, that the MIT project has, probably inadvertently, had a profoundly
positive effect on the computer industry. The laudable, if impossible goals
originally set by the OLPC team (once $100 laptop team) forced every single
serious player in the market place to offer an entry level computer offering
that will allow a whole new group of people to enter into the computer
marketplace. It will take a significant and currently unseen commitment from
government to bring us the other half of the equation (connectivity) which
will fully emancipate the rest of that portion of the market place. The
innovations in power consumption and the popularization of mesh networking
and rebranding of the linux desktop also have the possibility of offering
serious positive dividends down the road.

The actual results of project depend on what article you are reading.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL19821905.html This article, about
surfing porn with the XO has not necessarily included itself in advertorials
like the one written a few months back in the NYT.
http://davecormier.com/edblog/2007/10/05/olpc-one-laptop-per-child-advert-ical-in-the-ny-times/.
The current article in question from the Chicago Tribune is very interesting
not so much in what it speaks of 'child' enthusiasm but what they don't
speak of 'student' enthusiasm. The results they are talking about are very
exciting and definitely transformative. But how exactly is it
transformative? How exactly will the education system be able to adopt
itself to the new changes? What will a 2 1/2 day training course be able to
do to train someone in one/one laptop usage? Who will prevent older
siblings, other people or even military organizations from using the video
recording or valuable mesh networking systems for uses other than education?

Whatever plans may have been secretly cooking up at the Media labs in terms
of a comprehensive idea of what it will 'mean' to give laptops to kids in
developing countries, we have yet to see more from Bender/Negroponte than
'That's exactly what we intended' and 'the kids will know what to do'. The
funny thing about that is that if this plan was being rolled out in a first
world nation I would be cheering it along apace. The market forces involved
in putting $200 laptops in a village where pencils are hard to come by
concerns me however.


These laptops will probably
 1. subvert power structures within classrooms by making kids the experts
 2. ditto for families
 3. be a valuable commodity
 4. allow kids to learn how to do basic computer repair
 5. allow kids to learn really cool computer things
 6. support linux desktop development
 7. allow kids to learn how to use video (this is very good and potentially
not so good)

These would be goals I would very strongly support in my own culture and the
educational projects that I am currently involved in (see
http://livingarchives.ca, http://youthvoices.net). I worry about their
possible impact in unfunded schools and in highly hierarchic cultures...

Oh... and again. 2 1/2 days of training is ridiculous. This program will
drive these teachers to distraction, and will waste essential funding on
more windmill tilting.
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