One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

This is the first review I've seen/read about the XO laptop, from One Laptop Per Child in the NY Times article by David Pogue. Be sure to watch the video. From a design perspective, it seems wonderful. Cost-wise, in the realm of making a huge difference. They have even designed in alternate/supplemental power: there is an optional yo-yo power cord (1 min of pulling is 10 min of time) and a $12 solar hookup that can power and/or recharge the unit. Sure, there are a lot of people bashing the thing. But who else has come even close to bringing something that has the potential to reach really, really poor places?

During two weeks in November, the purchase price is $400, and is "Give 1, Get 1" - you get one and one goes to charity. Pretty cool.

Last comment added: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:04:12 PST

Comment 1 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

...oops. Login required. If you don't want to login to the NY Times site, go here for a pdf of the article. Also, a link to the video review. Sorry

Comment 2 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

BTW 11/12 is when you can start buying the computers (again, only for 2 weeks).

I'm buying one.

Comment 3 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I think the whole thing will go down in history as being one of the most stupid wastes of money ever. So many of the schools in their target countries have no power in the classrooms or the kids homes and the school kids struggle just to by the uniforms. Even if this is a mild success and not the waste I predict, there are so many better ways to make an impact on education with that money.

I dont even think there is reason to believe computers in US schools make much of a difference.

Comment 4 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

After just completing "The White Man's Burden" by William Easterly (and I would highly recommend it to anyone) I would think they will have to go a long way before it even approaches the most stupid waste of money.

Comment 5 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I ordered mine... fairly early on the 12th. I hope I'm in the first 20,000 who ordered, because that's how many they have in stock to ship within the month.

There's some very good information here:: http://www.olpcnews.com/

Comment 6 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Well I tested the concept with the OVC (Org for Orphans and Vulnberable Children NGOs) Kaduna back in March and every NGO there were extremely supportive of the idea of these. I do have some reservations with them, although they are perhaps not the ones that John mentioned above.

My impression is that the XO Laptop needs tailor-made software, so existing applications are not usable with the machine.

Security will be an issue here, where a $100 laptop is more than three months salary.

Also, when a family has ten children, will they get one each? This seems a bit wasteful (OLPC?). Most families share computers, from what I can gather.

Lastly, there is a lot of work going on with "acclimatising" PCs to be lower power and usable in the warm. such as at www.inveneo.org. There is also a UK laptop in development which does something similar, so I am told (no info yet, though). So my point is that an ordinary PC, with no need for proprietary software, has a lot of advantages. Current prices from Inveneo are affordable too (and not far off than the $400) so if people want to buy some PCs for our rural solar-powered cybercafe, feel free to do so!

Comment 7 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I ordered one early on the 13th....we'll see if they managed to sell more than 20,000 during the first 24 hours.

Comment 8 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

What is it imagined that children will actually do with these laptops? Are they able to connect to the internet?

Comment 9 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

"The XO laptop’s wireless antennae “ears” are made of rugged, dual-molded nylon plastic. When rotated up, the XO’s antennae are vastly superior to most conventional laptops’ built-in antennae, and help connect children automatically to the mesh network. When down, they keep dirt out of the audio and USB connectors and act as a locking mechanism for the laptop."

from the link above.

Comment 10 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Christina, the laptops will connect either with the internet, or with each other... so children will be able to talk and play with others up to about 2km away, powered from solar, or a generator that looks like a yo-yo. If five laptops are all in a line 1km away from each other, the five will form a 'mesh' that lets all of them communicate over longer distances.

The laptops are geared toward learning too. The 'touchpad' at the bottom can be used with a stylus to write words across the entire width of the laptop. Writing can be reviewed by teachers even if paper is scarce.

The microphone in jack also doubles as a place where a child can plug in a temperature sensor (or any other low voltage source of information) and use it to measure values over time.

But most of all, I'm hoping that it helps to bridge the 'digital divide' that currently makes the rich richer, and keeps the ability to compete out of the reach of the poor.

We might even see some new people on Ned!

Most likely, it will become an object that's often stolen or destroyed out of greed or jealousy.

Either way, (no matter who's hands they end up in) it's going to have a catalyzing effect on smart young minds all over the world.

Comment 11 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I know that surfing the Web is really slow for you Christina, but I'll link to a piece written by Ethan Zuckerman "One Laptop Per Child: Just what sort of content do you load onto these puppies?" in January. It's a pretty long post so I won't try to summarize all of it.

Something that Zuckerman points out is there is an educational theory behind the concept called Constructivism. The gist of the idea is education as a learner directed activity.

So the software running on the computer is called Sugar and the way the interface is constructed is to encourage learner directed learning. I'll snip a bit from an article about the software in InfoWorld:

Starting from the home view where they can specify user preferences like color, a child can then move to the friends view to see which of their friends are on the network and what they're doing. They can also chat with them. The neighborhood view shows everyone connected to the mesh network and the activities they're engaged in. At any point, the child can also choose to join in with group activities.

Each laptop can act as a node in a mesh peer-to-peer ad hoc network, so that if one laptop is directly accessing the Internet, when other machines in the network power on, they can share that single online connection.

The activity view allows a child to focus on a specific activity using the laptop's full-screen mode. There's also a journal view that can be thought of as another activity, where a child can see what he or she has created on the desktop, save and add to that content, and share it with friends.

Around any of the views is a frame equivalent to the menu bar on more traditional computer user interfaces. The child can click on people, places and things around the right, left and top sides of the frame, while the bottom side is reserved for accessing activities. There's also a context-sensitive search bar on the top of the frame so that the child can easily locate things on the desktop.

One of the selling points is the ability to provide textbok materials in an electronic form instead of printed. Clearly this content will be created in the countries which will be using the machines. Essentially on laptop will act as a server for the content, then the whole class can access the material over the mesh network.

But the hope is that kids will be able to take them home, and therefore discover for themselves what to do with these puppies.

Comment 12 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I've ordered one. Sounds as if there's not that much risk of selling out as they have extended sale to year end.

whether it turns out carzy or good there are some features that interest me

the wiki of application users is one of the most extraordinary wiki communities I know of - course always interested in your nominations

the idea of what is shared by a whole region of peers is something that interests me a lot; there are quite a few missing curricula at every age group -if one doesnt play with this to see what's possible, will we ever get new learning curricula out there in time to be sustainable

then again I also publish micro guides http://www.valuetrue.com/home/ga llery.cfm?startrow=3 on the edge of education entrepreneurship so I need to test the product

Comment 13 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

"Now extended thru December 31st"

Hmmm, wish they'd included a reason for that. Boy, I really, really hope that they did not have a challenge selling just 20,000 over the first two weeks...given the big media push behind the whole thing.

Comment 14 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

thought this might be of interest

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/techn ology/7115348.stm

Comment 15 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Evvy! Great report.

Comment 16 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Yes, I thought it was very interesting. Especially the part about the internet not being available anymore once the initial funding ran out.

I am glad to hear that they are using the computers to enhance their everyday school experience like taking notes, and using the encyclopedia software. That can help but I am still not sure if the expense will really be worth it in the long run. What I fear is that in a year from now these computers will be gone, or broken or simply not used anymore because of lack of training. Its a great idea but I am just not sure it is practical for the rural areas of Africa. I will keep watching the program though and hope to see some great results.

Comment 17 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I see great potential with the OX computer. My reasons for optimism has to do with ideas about learning. But I've been around education long enough to have a bit of realism about the difficulties of getting from good ideas to good practices. There are so many good ideas in the OX computer that I feel cautiously optimistic that good educational practices will be derived from it. But predicting the course of things is always chancy.

Juliana at Afromusing has a very interesting post I am in your OLPC, reverse engineering your Keyboardz with some great links. It looks as though the OX crew may have violated patents in the keyboard design.

Afromusing mentions that the idea of cultural sensitivity in technology was first written about by Koranteng Ofusu-Amaah. She properly links to the book, "The Best Technology Writing 2006" at Amazon where the essay can be found. Here's the link to the post at Koranteng's Toli--it's not about one laptop per child. But I want to post the link because Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah is a brilliant writer. His occasional posts are very worthwhile looking for.

And I cannot recommend highly enough just reading some of his posts. On the right sidebar is a link to The Things Fall Apart Series. Reading the whole series is an investment in time similar to a small book. But for those interested in finding some perspective about Africa, I can think of none better.

Comment 18 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I stand by my view that it will be a complete bust and another example of westerners with little experience in the developing world thinking "I know just what they need".

Comment 19 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

>>I stand by my view that it will be a complete bust and another example of westerners with little experience in the developing world thinking "I know just what they need".<<

We'll see John...

OLPC orders surge as Peru requests 260,000 XOs

Posted Dec 2nd 2007 7:50PM by Conrad Quilty-Harper

All steam ahead for the OLPC Foundation, which recently received an order from Peru for 260,000 of the little XO laptops. Also news is that Mexican billionaire and Negroponte's chum Carlos Slim has purchased 50,000 for his country. That's against a background of $2 million sales a day on the Give One, Get One program. Clearly, the OLPC Foundation is the most successful program out there for getting laptops into the hands of schoolchildren.

2 million a day in sales...wow!

We'll see what good sales numbers mean with regards to meaningful results over time.

Comment 20 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

>>Earlier this year, some of the pupils were found to be accessing pornography through the laptops.<<

One of the quotes from the article that says to me, kids are doing what kids do when having access to open technology and information.

Comment 21 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I've got their development environment running on my machine, and it's really big and ambitious. The device will get more and more useful over the years as the power of the included components is realized, and the whole package streamlined. (Yes, now it's big and bloated and slow even on my 2.6GHz Duo system)

But it's also powerful, there's unlimited fun-potential for many future hackers who learn to get to its innards.

My biggest disappointment is the cost of the satellite internet connections. The problem comes back to infrastructure, and the laptops might be the motivation for that infrastructure to be built. It might even be an essential tool for those who someday build the infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the laptops might be as much of a distraction as a tool in a disconnected classroom.

Comment 22 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jim - if we put them in US schools, with internet access, and more resources in general - do you think it would improve on existing teaching? Im not sure - my kids go to a good charter school and their computer integration is good, but the quality of what they are learning when they are using the computer is far inferior to what they learn the old fashion way.

Does the developing world really need to spend all that money on tools that are not that high return for us when they don't even have the basics?

I have no doubts they will be able to sell machines, but what if they had taken the billions invested and provided books and better training for teacher - which would be more ROI+?

Comment 23 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

>>and provided books and better training for teacher - which would be more ROI+?<<

An excellent question.

How would people go about comparing the results over a similar period of time of OLPC and Room to Read? Setting aside the fact Room to Read has been building libraries, schools, and providing scholarships for girls since 2001 and OLPC is really in a startup mode, how can the results of each be measured?

Comment 24 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

This is a personal note, but I think it demonstrates the doors it opens.

I am in a country where most all of the libraries contain only books in Thai (and that is not to say there are plenteous libraries...I have only seen two libraries that are not University or international school libraries and both of them were membership things.

However, the internet opens vast resources for me. Books, news, international culture, communications... I just got a couple of links from John Powers on phenomenal links to FREE international data sources for research and another link to university course work with texts, problem sets, answers and lecture notes. The other day I found a source of printable text books (either no copyright or CC). Text books are outrageously expensive in developing countries but printing is not nearly so. And on these XO computers, you don't even need to print them.

It is hard to keep kids away from games and there are plenty of games that are available that provide the repetition required to learn in much more interesting ways than doing 100 math problems a night. Learning packaged as games works for children of all ages.

Even if internet access is limited, the teacher can somehow get access to the information, burn it to CD and then upload it to the children's machines.

There are certainly problems (and remember that problems are often culturally relative) to be overcome in giving these children these kinds of tools but there are (and always have been) also problems with teaching children to read. (Witness my reading D.H Lawrence much to the chagrin of my father!)

Familiarity with and knowledge of computers can open new sources of income generation to these children that their parents never dreamed of and that won't necessarily draw them to urban centers and away from their families and cultures.

We need everyone to open their imaginations here.

Comment 25 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

The issue of the cost of textbooks is an important one. Also as one of the goals of the OX is to increase the number of school-age children attending schools--only about 50% in many developing countries go to school--the problem of costs is compounded. Kenya recently introduced free elementary education. The result has been to really stress the system, for example elementary school teachers with classes of 100 or more children with infrastructure--desks, tools, textbooks-still scale to 30+ classroom size. XO is proposing a life cycle of about five years for the laptops and offering considerable savings over traditional educational materials.

The XO is different from other low cost rivals in construction and software. The issue of stealing is something that was considered in the first place. Partly that's why the color. But also the structure of the software is such that it's not really useful for running traditional applications. I've read somewhere about additional security against theft measures, but not finding them now. But one of the selling points is these XO computers are not as marketable as other low cost offerings are by virtue of their software. They aren't an ordinary laptop.

The XO is designed for elementary school children. One of the main considerations is that they be safe, even when taken apart. Another is that they be durable in hot and dusty environments. There is a hard "desk" part near the keyboard to give children a place to write. One of the advantages of being able to take them home is the computer provides a light source for children to work after sunset.

All of the XO computers are WiFi enabled. Schools will have additional infrastructure to as Linda suggests enable teachers to provide content. The curriculum is purposefully left to the adopting countries. The school servers will also aid in the storage of content. Some schools will have access to the Internet via their server, others will not. But the system is designed so that all of the computers will work as networked devices. So even without the Internet the XO computers will allow, indeed encourage, children to collaborate and communicate with each other.

Comment 26 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

John, here's a link to the online notebook entry First OLPC deployment: now it’s real. (Dec. 1, 2007) by Ivan Krstić. He's security architect for the XO project, and was present at the first non-pilot roll-out of XO's, in Uruguay a few days ago.

He describes some of the project's anti-theft theft approaches, e.g. "one key protection feature deters XO theft in the delivery chain by deactivating the laptops when they leave the factory. Until they’re activated at the target school with keys that are delivered out of band, the laptops are non-functional bricks."

The piece also contains links to more well-written (and readable by a novice like me) info about Bitfrost, the XO security platform. I recommend a read, if you have the time.

Comment 27 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Jon for the link. Also for those who might be interested the OPLC Wiki is a good place to see various options about this security issue among other things.

Something that I hope is the people who are buying one and giving one will put the ones they buy to creative uses. It seems important that a bunch of people employ their creativity to finding ways to make the XO computer a powerful learning tool.

As far as it goes for using computers in education here in the USA one window into the world is Vicki Davis Cool Cat Teacher Blog. There are many other educational blogs, but Davis really seems to get at that mixture of good right thinking, church going, main street and mainstream, meets the wired world. She negotiates the terrain and it's easy to see her students really benefit.

Comment 28 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Children in Abuja have the best education that Nigeria has to offer and should make a successful pilot for OLPC.

What I am more interested in is what impact these XO laptops have on the lives of remote village children, not those that are exposed to technology every day of their lives (even if they are not allowed to touch it).

I have seen the transformation a few hours of PC time has to these neglected children and I very much hope that OLPC starts to focus on these, where the impact will be greatest.

Comment 29 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

anyone know how long it takes for the computer to be delivered in usa? have been waiting nearly 2 weeks

Comment 30 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I saw a delivery schedule where people who ordered on the first day should receive theirs by Dec 15th.

Comment 31 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

We eagerly await the reviews from people who have bought XO's - well done! My budget prevents me at this time, although I follow the progress of the OLPC project with great interest.

Ben, your comment about the transformative impact of computer time on children in remote areas, spurs my memory of your long-ago request, which I am probably now feeling confident enough to fulfill - that I launch a discussion group around the issues of telecentres and IT for development.

I believe I have sufficient feedback points in my bank, but I think I will also need ned.com members to sponsor it as well. Do you or anyone know, off he top of your head(s), how many I need (I couldn't find relevant info in the Help section)?

Would you be willing to sponsor me, Ben and other participants in this thread, if I kick it off?

Comment 32 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

You need 5 sponsors....I will be more than willing to be one of those.

Comment 33 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Me too :)

Comment 34 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I bought one too. Great reading this thread. I saw one at Barcamp Portland earlier this year, and I was lured in. I don't know if it will flop or be productive, but I commend the creators for their effort and big vision.

I am personally very excited to see Linux as the platform--so glad to get away from proprietary software...and, I can picture vast mesh networks making pipes and telcos less able to control and manipulate the internet. Long may internet freedom reign!

Many of you ordered before I did...can you let us know when yours arrives?

Comment 35 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Gayle and Linda! So, with Ben, I guess I need 2 (or do I count as 1?) more.

I'll go see if I can recruit elsewhere on ned.com - meantime, any suggestions for sponsors (or ideas for the thread) are most welcome!

Comment 36 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

just start the group and link to it for us here, Jon - we'll get you started!

Comment 37 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Christine - it's done. All interested folks - I've created a new group to house discussion about telecentres, ICT, and their role in development.

I invite you to visit the group here, and please consider sponsoring it, to make it fully operational.

[Edited by Jon A - simpler link to group]

Comment 38 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jon - you just need one more now. Cheers, G.

Comment 39 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Gayle - and John and Linda, and everyone who encouraged me!

As you rightly point out, I just need one more generous person* - anyone?!?

Comment 40 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

That may have been a record time in setting up a new group!

Comment 41 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Eric Hersman has a post reacting to John C. Dvorak's scathing criticism of OX computer in PC Magazine. (John, I'm sure you'll agree with Dvorak in tone and substance.) Hersman's post is Will No One Speak for Africa.

I'm a big fan of Hersman's White African blog. Part of that is being a fan of the African blogsphere. I love how much link love and sharing there is among so many of the African bloggers. Hersman makes the good point, a point he makes in many other contexts, that American media should provide voice to African speakers. So he suggests, let us hear two Africans discussing the merits of One Laptop Per Child. Since Hersman is engaged in conversation in the African blogosphere, he's well aware there's plenty of opinion about it among Africans.

I got a bit of pleasure in seeing in the comments in his threads people gripping about Dvorak who've in the past made points not so far from the ones he made in his article. But here's the thing, XO has been a topic of discussion in African blogs for well over a year. The discussion hasn't reenforced and hardened people's opinions, rather the discussion has made people more nuanced in their judgments.

Eric links to Dvorak's piece and also Bill Thompson's response to it at the BBC. I link to Thompson's piece so you'll all know where my sentiments are ;-)

Comment 42 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

There's a review by 9 year old Rufus here:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps /pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/technology/7140443.stm

Spoiler: He says, "It's Great!"

Comment 43 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Nice response by Bill Thompson, I like the quote:

Perhaps Dvorak's just afraid that a Nigerian schoolchild, empowered by the technology entrusted to them, will take him to task for his patronising attitude, or perhaps even turn out to be a better journalist.

Comment 44 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jim Carroll said:

There's a review by 9 year old Rufus here:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps /pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/ 1/hi/technology/7140443.stm

Spoiler: He says, "It's Great!"

This is a lovely review by Rufus, but I would like to draw the conversation back to the fact that he already knows/has experience about computers.

The most negative comment I heard about these laptops from the Nigerians I talked to was "I bet only the city kids get them; it's the rural children that are really desperate for them."

Of course, there's no internet in the rural areas, but all the other functionality they would love too and in my strong view, they would value these machines far more than Rufus, who has already been playing his consoles and now has a choice.

I put a new photo up on the Butterfly Project, which shows some children who had previously never seen a computer and how they "grappled" with the mouse for the first time.

http://www.nfiafrica.org/id1.htm l

The difference in living standards between the city and rural areas is so vast that at the very least an even-handed approach should be taken, when distributing these wonders. I did offer a rural project in Nigeria, but my emails to OLPC went entirely unheeded - at least so far:)

This "top down" approach is often taken, which simply causes the most disadvantaged to get.......well, more disadvantaged, impacting negatively on crime and most of the core civilisation indicators.

Comment 45 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Ben, those are great pictures, and thanks for leading me (once again, I believe I visited previously from onet) to the Nehemiah Foundation site. You are doing some fantastic work!

I certainly agree with your point that rural areas should be a priority.

I've been perusing Little Engines that Could, a report that surveys several inyternational ICT projects, issued jointly by a Canadian government development agency, the IRDC.

I think you will find the conclusions (sec. 7) support your assertion that ICT projects can have a huge positive effect on rural development:

"The fact of the matter is that the communities in which most of our telecentres arose would have been ignored by both public and private policy and practice in terms of access to the tools of the Information Society. The new capacity which telecentres bring to people in their communities would not have otherwise occurred precisely because these geographically and socially remote communities have been ignored for a very long time. They are accustomed to adopting end of product-life-cycle technologies, products and services which never give them an advantage. They are almost always in a "catch-up" position."

Comment 46 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jon Alexander said:

I think you will find the conclusions (sec. 7) support your assertion that ICT projects can have a huge positive effect on rural development:

"The fact of the matter is that the communities in which most of our telecentres arose would have been ignored by both public and private policy and practice in terms of access to the tools of the Information Society. The new capacity which telecentres bring to people in their communities would not have otherwise occurred precisely because these geographically and socially remote communities have been ignored for a very long time. They are accustomed to adopting end of product-life-cycle technologies, products and services which never give them an advantage. They are almost always in a "catch-up" position."

Thanks, Jon. It is great to find kindred spirits and definitive research too. Nehemiah Foundation works primarily in these rural areas and frankly are one of very few indigenous NGOs of any consequence I know of in Nigeria doing this type of work. Most of the significant NGOs are holing up in the cities in relative comfort.

One other thing which is relevant to the rural areas is that few have ever had any money to be corrupt with, so this really is not an issue. The rural NGOs are not good at managing money, but this is not the same as the blatant swingeing corruption seen in the cities, which is stopping the investment.

Comment 47 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I dont think we should blame every challenge on the laptop.

Specifically on nigeria rural issue, I know a missionary in london who makes fieldtrips into rural nigeria schools to debate what it is possible to do with computers once you first see them. To help children storytell what may be science fiction in rural but is alread science fact in city. It seems to me that this sort of curriculum needs to be evolved as much as other basic curricula. Whether or not she'd find it useful to take the laptop with her, I may well ask next time I see her!

Generally I think when you look at the varied digital divide programs coming out of west coast hi-tech companies (those with all yhe knowhow and much of the new economy wealth), they are rather half-hearted and in some cases glorified PR. At least negroponte has tried relentlessly to do something which starts a real journey, and with I assume much less resources than many of these west coasters.

Equally I am aware that finding the good stuff amongst the noise is hard to do. It would be great to hear if there's a digital divide program that inspires you particularly if you have no work relationship with it.

I expect things to change out of recognition within 5 years. Cos the dynamic of free universities, yunus and branson both getting into free universities will sort out the corporate PR merchants from those who truly want to see grassroots projects developed to narrow divides. The beauty of free university programs is they are heavily peer to peer and open sourcing. If one can find something that works in that domain it can spread even faster than spreadsheets. Which would be a huge liberation for youth.

Comment 48 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

>>Equally I am aware that finding the good stuff amongst the noise is hard to do. It would be great to hear if there's a digital divide program that inspires you particularly if you have no work relationship with it.<<

Some good points Chris. The one above and others as well.

Seems to me there is no one answer, and there never will be...to any of the challenges we all work towards. Integrated/meshed/various solutions seem to be what is needed...there is no one size fits all answer.

For education I do like the idea that buying a $400 box provides at least one child in a developing country access to a computer. Now if I had $12,000 I could build an entire library with Room to Read, an awesome organization building thousands of libraries and schools in small rural areas in developing countries. Of course with a few million I could go the Branson route ;-) Or if I have no money at all I can localize a solution and volunteer a couple hours a week and teach someone in Portland how to read. All these things (and more) under the label "Education/Literacy Toolkit".

Comment 49 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Hear Hear Mark! One of the great things about your Education/Literacy toolkit is that it suggests we are all life-long learners, that education is a collaborative and social activity with no limits to our imaginations of what to create.

Comment 50 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

There is no one answer, but what seems incredibly important to me is that we start monitoring the impact of these kinds of initiatives over time. What are we hoping to see happen as a result of these computers? Higher literacy rates? Higher school enrollment? Higher incomes earned? Better health and sanitation?

All things considered, this particular laptop is a great first effort, but it's got some challenges that remain to be overcome in future efforts, and there will be more efforts going on long into the future to connect Africa and improve access to technology. This project is not working in a vacuum. Critical analysis of these challenges in the press is an extremely important step, in helping the world who has an interest in connecting with Africa better understand the challenges that are still there. We mustn't see this particular product's deficiencies in a defeatist way.

A few years back, Life in Africa became one of the first Inveneo customers when they started selling their solar powered computers. We were guinea pigs, of sorts, with some of the first machines off of the assembly line after a 2 year pilot project with a single machine. Lots of bugs and things that don't work so well on our early machines have now been improved, and inveneo is selling hundreds of them across Uganda.

What I'm trying to point out is that technology product development is never a static process - there is no end point. So while this particular product may not be the one that solves Africa's connectivity challenges, I do salute it as a landmark effort that's brought the local connectivity context into clearer view for many people.

Comment 51 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

You're observations are very astute Christina. Typically in my short-attention span sort of way, I've located a link to post to this thread and reading a half a dozen or twelve articles while I get around to posting it.

I'm reading through one of those online discussions that takes off when a blogger says something that touches a nerve. This week Robert Scobel asked:

Any of you have any ideas on how to make business software sexy?

I'm am so out of it when it comes to technology. It's not only a matter of temperament, but also a matter of my age. Nevertheless, it's so interesting lending an ear to the discussions, because technology is changing so many thing, and changing the way we think.

On it's face Scoble's question seems rather unlike to result in a firestorm of comments. But that it did, and all the places that the conversation (James Grovener's pieces is fun and full of links) took is a glimpse into the many ways technology is changing us.

I really agree with Christina that XO is happening in a vacuum. But the project has tackled many issues that aren't so obvious on the surface about networked communications technology. The solutions that they've come up with so far are quite clever it seems to me.

Here's the piece at The Next Hurrah I wanted to link to because it's a good discussion of the mesh networks technology.

Part of what I love about the approach to the XO is that all along it's been intended for elementary school children. And, yes, one of the important results XO intends is to increase school enrollment and participation. But the machine is designed for children. So they've tried to make it safe and non-toxic. But most especially they've designed it to be hackable. This is brilliant. Who's going to predict the use children and others will design as hacks. As emptypockets post at The Next Hurrah suggests, the mesh network has implication for communications in the developing world far beyond the XO computer.

Comment 52 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

this goes a bit in parallel but is about impacts; as a micropublisher of collaboration wishes made by the world's deepest education and colaboration entrepreneurs http://www.valuetrue.com/home/ga llery.cfm?startrow=2

I am now quite closely networked with the Gandhi family responsible over the last 50 years for 250,000 children's education at http://cmseducation.org - one of their 2 daughters is now a professor at the london university institute of education- she studies impacts- so for example last time I attended a session there was a lady from india that has started a public monitor of how education varies all over india - in her words we thought getting every child a school was our goal until we found that with this survey some 5th graders still are not literate- the trick of this survey is its the absolute minimum to report back local variations; its done by citizens not government; its results are reported in ways so that the public gets involved in improving schools that are not up to scratch

another extraordinary finding from this family's devotion to montessori and gandhian type education is that what school experiences a child has up to 11 coolr the erst of her or his life in terms of loving or fearing all cultures; there is an open source program that any rich nation can now link into if they want cross-cultural harmony to be included with te other 4Rs

the new book by dr yunus is fascinating because it extends the phrase everyone's a changemaker to everyone changes capitalism- now we may be moving out of laptop's prime target since the everyones a capatilism changemaker is directed to , for and by all youth entrepreneurs; yunus has developed an entry game any 3 youth can play; Social Action http://grameen.tv/_wsn/page2.htm l commit together to one social goal for a year long periond and join in making a diary of your ups and downs at a worldwide web soon to be launched by yunus- perhaps its a pity that this social action game isnt also pre-programmed onto the laptop - does anyine know what bis pre-programmed or how one suggests getting new stuff onto as many laps as poss?

Comment 53 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

has anyone received their laptop yet?

Comment 54 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

nope. Waiting patiently....

Comment 55 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I have been reading White Man's Burden (since it arrived last week) and I would like to simply draw a parallel between the Planners and Searchers topic.

Consider how much overseas aid money goes into "planning", whether it be support for universities in training people how to do international development, the salaries for UK or US-based charity professionals and money for "World summits", with their accordant security. Since I have been signed up on the EU and DFID site, I have received free of charge around 20-25 large documents of 100+ pages, one or two of which bore reading.

To be honest, I think the whole thing is totally ridiculous, when hundreds of NGOs are on the breadline, with zero training, zero access to knowledge and only their own humane will to drive them forward in their objectives and, certainly in Nigeria, no overseas aid for NGO enablement, since it apparently "does not create enough of an impact".

OLPC is a project is clearly a searcher project. It actually does something for people. It creates that bridge of enablement, initially for children, but, I hope, something for adults in the near future too.

We need more professionals "on the ground" in support roles and not just those supporting government officials either. We need more internet access in rural areas and we need to establish bases of enabled intelligent people in the most impoverished places, urban or rural. Will the XO laptop be the thin edge of a beneficial wedge?

Comment 56 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Still waitin' too.

Comment 57 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Right on Ben - great point you make.

In my view, one of the key things here is that opportunities for education are important, and more aid resources should go directly to communities, who can probably decide best how to utilise them.

Comment 58 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

>>There is no one answer, but what seems incredibly important to me is that we start monitoring the impact of these kinds of initiatives over time. What are we hoping to see happen as a result of these computers? Higher literacy rates? Higher school enrollment? Higher incomes earned? Better health and sanitation?<<

Agreed.

What are the expectations? What are the metrics? How are they measured? Who measures them? When, where, and how often are they reported?

Comment 59 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jean Russell said:

has anyone received their laptop yet?

Got it. Have not opened it yet :-)

Comment 60 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Jon Alexander said:

Thanks Christine - it's done. All interested folks - I've created a new group to house discussion about telecentres, ICT, and their role in development.

I invite you to visit the group here, and please consider sponsoring it, to make it fully operational.

[Edited by Jon A - simpler link to group]

Jon ... I thought we got the 5 sponsors that you needed to make the group fully operational? It looks like we did. ("Active" status)

Have I missed something and/or do you need something else?

Comment 61 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

No - you're absolutely right, Gayle - the group is up and running fine.

Sorry, I edited an old posting. My bad move - I probably should have just left it alone. My apologies for the confusion.

Comment 62 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Babe ... NO APOLOGY needed here!!!!

Just checking that you didn't need something that had been missed.

Cheers, G :)

Comment 63 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Thanks Gayle ! Y'know, I am growing to love this ned.com place - people are so helpful and kind. And forgiving of little mis-steps.

I have learned so much here - and, if only I could get more of this kind of discourse in my life, who knows the heights that could be reached?

Wonderful to work with you - indeed, with everyone on this forum!

Comment 64 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Ben's great post really got me to thinking, of course I don't think straight. His observation is really important:

We need more internet access in rural areas and we need to establish bases of enabled intelligent people in the most impoverished places, urban or rural.

Recently John Udell wrote a piece Technical mastery requires social innovation. There's lots of perspectives it seems about every aspect of OX and the buy one give one program is no exception. What Udell is saying about software is that it isn't good enough to be simple, what's needed in addition is knowledge sharing about what we can do. So I hope that people in the West getting these machines with play hard with them and then be free with sharing what they learn about what people can do with them. It's the social innovation that really excites me.

There's a very basic computer called Alpha Smart Neo. It's so primitive and is used widely in education, I figured they'd be available cheap on eBay. To my surprise they are not, seems like there's a following for the machines. One of the reasons I find the machine so interesting is that it has an amazing battery life (300-700 hours)with three regular AA batteries. So it's a perfect tool for moving digital text between a school without electricity and a wired telecentre.

Somewhere along the line the company got sold. The old company had an active forum which was closed. But the forum moved to Flickr I love the group, it's such a motley crew.

The point about AlphaSmart, especially the Neo is it's primitive, and still there's so much knowledge sharing going on. This is an essential part if OX is to be truly successful.

Comment 65 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

For over a year now my hobby has been to search for education as the missing link. http://www.valuetrue.com/home/ga llery.cfm?startrow=2 -reprinting bursaries available if you want to copy our open source articles but add in community-up projects (need metric on how you will distribute to a club of several hundred community-up readers)

You certainly see : traditional white man's burden is in every aid thar comes as a boxed in goal - deliver this

never empower the locals to learn how to do and learn how to connect across boxes; never any of the soft infrastructure which 'development' of community capabilities involves

we invite you out of london to end whote man's burden by taking up yunus' collaboration call - he doesnt mince words; there is no more sitting on the fence about the accidental ruination that global down aid causes

Poverty exists because we have built our philosophical framework on assumptions that underestimate human capacities. We have designed concepts that are too narrow:

1 credit-worthiness which automatically eliminated the poor

2 entrepreneurship which ignores the creativity of the majority of people

3 employment which relegates humans to passive receptacles rather than active creators

4 development of institutions that are half-complete at best – eg banking and economic systems which ignore half the world ...

Poverty exists because of these intellectual failures rather than because of any lack of capacity on the part of the people.

Our collaboration cafe events have tried in previous seasons to invite author of white man's burden to participate. This time we will sharpen the invitation. We'll hold a cafe on the white man's burden then go and have a debrief with Dr Y -since I hear today that a visit by london Y-forum hosts to Dhaka has been turned into a trip to new york

// threads transatlantic collaboration cafe http://www.ned.com/group/network weavers/news/6/

008 world entrepreneur summits invites you to weave // events through year http://www.ned.com/group/communi ty-general/news/98/

london's attempt to pilot a benchmark for Yunus Forums which other cities readership groups can rapidly adopt and improve out of all recognition -coming soon

Comment 66 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I'm posting from the XO!

It's not easy to type on,,but my son Aidan loves it.

He's already played some music, done some drawing, and recorded his own voice (with mom's help)

Ned looks great on it.

It's fantastic!

Comment 67 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Holy cow. All three boys (9 to 14) went nuts over this box. They've been messing around with it all night, and now I just got it online. This is amazing. They ALL want this...the youngest wants an answer by tomorrow. I did not expect anything close to this. This is off the charts...unreal.

Comment 68 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Mark Grimes said:

Holy cow. All three boys (9 to 14) went nuts over this box. They've been messing around with it all night, and now I just got it online. This is amazing. They ALL want this...the youngest wants an answer by tomorrow. I did not expect anything close to this. This is off the charts...unreal.

The mean bit of me says that wouldn't it be good learning for them to give away their new toy to a child in Africa before they've played with it, not after they are bored with it:)

Comment 69 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Ben Parkinson said:

The mean bit of me says that wouldn't it be good learning for them to give away their new toy to a child in Africa before they've played with it, not after they are bored with it:)

I thought they already did give one to a child in Africa - wasn't it "give one - get one"? Share and share alike is pretty good giving. If each of us gave 50% most all of the mess would be gone.

Comment 70 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

What's cool about this to me is that it will not just be "a poor person's computer". Any kid and many adults will love this thing.

Yes, $400 for a $200 computer, and one is they are being shipped to various developing countries. Now... how these are introduced into local environments in developing areas will be crucial I suspect. If in a small rural village only 1 in 50 children get them, that could pose problems. I'm sure there will both good and bad stories when the computers are introduced into their developing world destinations. Let's hope...you know, more good...less bad.

BTW, when I looked at "the network" last night I saw many of my neighbors wifi signals (all locked)....but saw something else strange. I can't say for certain, but they said Mesh 6, and Mesh 14...I think, I'm pretty sure...they were other neighbors who also had a XO Computer and were showing up in the Mesh network. Wow.

Comment 71 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

I just installed a PDF reader and downloaded some Charles dickens ghost stories, and it works great as a reader. I can swing the screen into tablet mode, turn off the back-light, and read away...

It's a little heavier than a paper book, but I could imagine doing some lengthly reading this way.

Comment 72 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

That's so very cool.

Comment 73 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Hey folks - it's great to hear your reports about the XO! Keep it coming!

Mark, wouldn't that be neat if some of your neighbours also bought a "Give One - Get One" XO.

Something tells me that was a very smart PR move on the part of the OLPC project folks.

Comment 74 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

The difference in market placement from "a poor person's cheap computer" to an "ultra hip and cool computer" is huge.

I suspect I'll be ordering one more prior to 12/31 this year (then they are off the consumer market TFN).

Comment 75 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

This has sort of morphed into the "Daddy's of the Year" thread .. and it's lovely!!

Comment 76 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Is there any hint of when these might be available for $100, as originally suggested, as long as they are given to children in Africa, or is this too far down the strategic pile, as yet?

Comment 77 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Gayle Rogers said:

This has sort of morphed into the "Daddy's of the Year" thread .. and it's lovely!!

It is. It would be nice to give points to interesting threads like this (which we can do), but it seems a little "pointless" when those points simply fade away in a couple of weeks.

Comment 78 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Ben, what do you mean? (or more accurately, what have I missed?)

Comment 79 on One Laptop Per Child - XO Computer

Gayle Rogers said:

Ben, what do you mean? (or more accurately, what have I missed?)

I'm just commenting that points we allocate to threads fade away in time. I'm sure there is a good reason, but it does mean that the thread rating is a measure of recency more than quality.

Since points fade away on threads, it is also a little discouraging to allocate them.

Anyway, don't let me sidetrack things:)