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

Mon Dec 31 18:18:20 UTC 2007

Happy New Year!!

I've been watching this list for ages, and I've finally felt like I should
contribute my perspective.  I've put a short introduction at the bottom of
this letter.

So I've been living in India since June, and I've got to say, things can
seem pretty messy.  Poverty is so common, so pervasive, so intrusive, that
all one can do is blind one's self to it.  How can I pass so many lepers,
amputees, bloated-belly naked children, and homeless families in one day, if
I don't blind myself to misery? (Jesus christ, it really is crazy)

 The Indian government reports (via economist)
<http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9643312>that
77% of the country lives on less than 20 Rupees per day (55 cents).  Holy
crap.  This in a country with more billionaires than Japan! Wealth and
poverty live side by side in Bombay, perhaps more starkly than anywhere in
the world.  This all disturbs me.  So maybe it is out of a disturbed mind,
but let me share a few things that make sense to me now, against the odds:
*
1. Video games and online social networks can be of immense educational
value, albeit indirectly.*  The reason for this is the proximal value of
internet access and computer literacy.  A 'killer application' (with network
effects) like social networks or online multi-player video games could
dramatically boost demand for internet access in India (which is currently
dreadfully low!), resulting in the rapid growth of computer literacy, which
might just be more useful for social mobility and on-the-job performance
than a high school education.

China is providing a nice model, where the market for online games has shot
from 50 million US$ to 1 $bn in about 6 years.  This seems to have massively
increased demand for computers and internet access among the lower-middle
classes, resulting in a massive growth of technical literacy in those
groups.  Since I believe that internet/computer literacy the best route to
increased economic opportunities in the developing world, you'll understand
why I think kids playing cricket would be better off playing games online.
Which I admit sounds a bit crazy.

Here is a lovely piece of evidence that modern technologies can have a
positive social impact: a recent study by Robert Jensen and Emily Oster on
the impact of TV hours on social attitudes towards women and the education
rates of young girls.  http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13305  This paper is,
I think, very important.  You can read a review in Slate here: How TV is
empowering the women of India <http://www.slate.com/id/2172474/>

*2. Most people in the world will first encounter a "computer" and "internet
access" in the form of a mobile phone with a data connection.* So again, if
we believe that computer/internet access is important to economic  and
social advancement, we can't just think about the traditional form factor of
PCs and laptops.  I love the OLPC, but at the same time, I have to feel that
mobile phones are an existing infrastructure that also (desperately!) needs
"good content" to promote development goals.

As you may know, India is the fastest growing mobile market in the world,
with over 8 million new users per month.  As you travel through the cities
and the rural areas, it is astounding to see so many (relatively)
impoverished people using mobile phones.  If you made less than $100 a
month, it might seem unaffordable.  But the massive competition among mobile
phone corporations has resulted in incredibly cheap phones (as low as $19
for a new phone) and services (1 cent per minute is not uncommon).

Mobile telephony relies on an invisible infrastructure that now reaches most
people on the planet, literally providing a direct connection between the
most remote villages and every major market in the world.  This has brought
significant economic AND social improvements, and many more will follow.
Fisherman make more money, rickshaw drivers make more money, farmers make
more money, and family members can travel to cities and make money (even
without breaking regular communication with the traditional family unit).
But it also increases the ties between people, making it easier to meet
friends, stay in touch, and maintain social capital. These values are harder
to measure, I know, but people really do seem to love their phones for a
good reason. There is a lot more to say, but I'll hold off...  But check my
occasionally updated blog at www.revolv.in for some more pictures and stats.

*3. The design and marketing of appropriate technologies is the most
sustainable and effective route for promoting social development.  *
I truly believe that mobile phones are significantly contributing to
development in India, even though this is an industry entirely run on
profit.  Nokia is not giving away phones and vodaphone is not giving away
service.  But they are designing it to fit the needs of the people, giving
people the ability to improvise all number of uses of the phones to improve
the state of their lives.  The more phones sold, the more profit made, the
more people benefited. This is a highly sustainable model, no?  (Yay
capitalism!)  We can certainly start our designs with a social need, figure
out a product that best addresses this need, then design the product to be
as desirable, useful and profitable as possible.  I think this brings the
greatest impact.  There are lots of middle class Indian's who could afford a
$180 laptop, so is OLPC marketing this right?

As a caveat, I should mention that there is certainly evidence that mobile
phones can slow
development<http://www.springerlink.com/content/b41h16111r7258xg/>(and
many other examples of technology just *ruining* societies..), but
perhaps all the more reason to emphasize that *design details* can have a
significant effect on the social utilization of any technology.  So this
aspect of Social Design might be important to teach at more of our
universities, no?

*Introduction: *
I am a graduate student and MFA candidate at UC San Diego, studying social
design and relational aesthetics. I received my undergraduate degree in
Cognitive Science from Yale University. I have been living and working in
Bombay, India since June, working on an internship "Mobile Phone as First
Computer," for Qualcomm.

If everything goes well, I'll be teaching a course remotely from India to
students in San Diego this winter:  *"Developing Technology for Developing
Economies"*  www.design4dev.com
Feedback is welcomed.

Back to Goa madness....  15 minutes to go...  Happy New Year!

Derek Lomas

+91 98 2021 4917

On Dec 30, 2007 9:47 PM, Fatima Lasay <digiteer at ispx.com.ph> wrote:

> Negroponte and co. are pushing dangerous drugs in 'third world countries.'
>
> Microsoft Windows XP for the '$100 laptop' already nears testing phase and
> will be pushed to kids in our countries
> (
> http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71789/Microsoft-Windows-XP-for-the-100-laptop-nears-testing-phase
> ).
>
> And soon our kids will have even broader access to decadent Internet
> social
> networks as online video games are integrated in social networking tools
> (
> http://www.gmanews.tv/story/69824/Online-video-games-meet-social-networking-tools
> )
>
> Negroponte and co. are making it harder for us our struggle and efforts to
> become truly independent economically, technologicaally, culturally from
> the horrendous culture of Amerika.
>
>
> Regards,
> Fatima
>
>
>
>
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