[PB2K]

This initiative aims at providing 1 sub-notebook for every poor child on this earth.



Great idea
look at these specs

If only the rich countries would pay for all 100.000.000 @ 100US$ a unit, and take care of the rest it will be a success.

Please read the whole story on their website Hardware specification - OLPCWiki



not bad for a 100US$

[Doofy]

Never mind that some of 'em are starving - the important thing is that they all have their own MySpace profile, isn't it.

[PB2K]

shht

I am not too convinced either.

[rickey939]

I've already been there, done that...just with iBooks instead.

[PB2K]

i'm curious, tell me about the project with ibooks. where and when, for who?

[rickey939]

Originally Posted by PB2K 

i'm curious, tell me about the project with ibooks. where and when, for who?

An initiative was started for a suburb of Chicago (Schaumburg District 54) to give every 3rd-6th grader an iBook, as well as, all teachers and support staff. I was involved with the project from the ground up in 2003 through the end of 2004 before moving on. It was a huge deal and one of the nation's largest 1-to-1 iBook initiatives at the time, totaling about 6,000 iBooks and $15m overall spent on hardware, software, training. etc. etc. for the largest K-12 district in Illinois.

[SirCastor]

How can we not have had a topic about this already??

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Never mind that some of 'em are starving - the important thing is that they all have their own MySpace profile, isn't it.

There are already food programs in place. This program wouldn't replace a food program with a laptop--just supplement it. I think its a very positive step actually but I think it will fall victim to some of the same problems that all aid programs face. Like corrupt officials confiscating the computers and then selling them to the kids who are supposed to get them for free. That's almost a foregone conclusion.

There also needs to be a low cost program for kids in the U.S and U.K. too. There are plenty of poor children here and in other "developed" countries who don't have their own computer.

[turtle777]

It's abput time that the third world gets access to all that pron.
This will make the world a better place

-t

[Peter]

i think there is more important issues for 3rd world people than accessing the internet.

[PB2K]

good health, less day to day worries

i have trouble with projects aimed specifically at children. it bypasses the parents who are struggling to raise their children already. the western world shouldn't want to take that responsibility from them.

a third world parent might have to choose every day between spending 10c to a meal or a busticket to send the child to school twenty miles away. A gadget computer is WAY different than the daily worries

This project is too much western world's worries vs. those of the 3rd world

[besson3c]

According to the Wikipedia article:

Steve Jobs had offered Mac OS X free of charge for use in the laptop, but according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders, the designers want an operating system that can be tinkered with: “We declined because it’s not open source.”[22] Therefore Linux was chosen.

Smart idea.

[Gamoe]

Originally Posted by PB2K 

This initiative aims at providing 1 sub-notebook for every poor child on this earth.

I've been following this since it's public announcement. I was quite disappointed when they dropped the hand crank from the design, which was supposed to provide power to the unit in the absence of electrical power.

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Never mind that some of 'em are starving - the important thing is that they all have their own MySpace profile, isn't it.

Originally Posted by what_the_heck 

This will make the world a better place

Yes, it will if it works. It will finally give these people a voice on the Internet. The Internet isn't just for geeks anymore-- you know that. What this aims is to let these people catch up with the developed world and not have them fall further behind.

Internet connectivity can connect poor, remote villages with the rest of the world, perhaps even providing them some needed help in contacting the right people for their needs. At least they won't be silent anymore. And it will also provide them with vast educational and literary resources. That would be a Godsend to poor places without libraries and with poor schools. Who knows how much a child can be inspired by a book he'd have never had access to without the Internet or the computers?

This isn't magically taking away money for food and putting them towards computers. This is a different initiative, and I think it's a very good one, in theory. The places they are targeting are poor places but which have their basic needs already met, I believe.

[Visnaut]

I'm sorry, this is a ridiculous idea.

Wealthy countries would serve the world's poorer nations much more good if they empowered them to lift themselves out of poverty. In other words, stop giving handouts, and instead enable them to be able to provide these luxuries themselves when they have taken care of all the other ills that afflict them.

Things like lifting their debt, providing access to clean water and affordable and accessible medical care, and improving infrastructure and education go a much more longer way than giving them free laptops or soccer balls.

And in the meantime, if you want to directly help out these folk, consider something like those foster care plans, or my personal favourite: microlending.

[mduell]

They're not $100. The up front unit price is closer to $150 and the TCO is nearly a grand.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Peter 

i think there is more important issues for 3rd world people than accessing the internet.

I don't debate that. My comment was not prescriptive, but (perhaps) more prophetically descriptive...

-t

[Rev-O]

I gave my 5 year old daughter my 800MHz iBook G4 and Soundsticks.
Just trying to do my fair share.

[tie]

Why do kids need a laptop? It seems like a huge waste of money to me. Perhaps there is some cost savings on textbooks? I'm rather doubtful.

[Peter]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck 

I don't debate that. My comment was not prescriptive, but (perhaps) more prophetically descriptive...

-t

I agree with your comments 100%

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Visnaut 

I'm sorry, this is a ridiculous idea.

Wealthy countries would serve the world's poorer nations much more good if they empowered them to lift themselves out of poverty. In other words, stop giving handouts, and instead enable them to be able to provide these luxuries themselves when they have taken care of all the other ills that afflict them.

Things like lifting their debt, providing access to clean water and affordable and accessible medical care, and improving infrastructure and education go a much more longer way than giving them free laptops or soccer balls.

And in the meantime, if you want to directly help out these folk, consider something like those foster care plans, or my personal favourite: microlending.

And better communication with the rest of the world, more access to ideas, greater opportunity for commerce, and the tools needed to learn about the most important invention of modern times don't help the world's poor lift themselves up?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by mduell 

They're not $100. The up front unit price is closer to $150 and the TCO is nearly a grand.

How is the TCO calculated, and how does this pricing break down?

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by Visnaut 

I'm sorry, this is a ridiculous idea.

Wealthy countries would serve the world's poorer nations much more good if they empowered them to lift themselves out of poverty. In other words, stop giving handouts, and instead enable them to be able to provide these luxuries themselves when they have taken care of all the other ills that afflict them.

Things like lifting their debt, providing access to clean water and affordable and accessible medical care, and improving infrastructure and education go a much more longer way than giving them free laptops or soccer balls.

And in the meantime, if you want to directly help out these folk, consider something like those foster care plans, or my personal favourite: microlending.

It's going to take more than one strategy to lift nations out of poverty. On one hand you said wealthy countries shouldn't provide handouts, but on the other you list a number of very, very expensive infrastructure improvements which I agree with -- but yet you seem to contradict yourself. You made a lot of very broad statements such as "improving infrastructure and education". Providing a connection to the internet would certainly help with that. Not as effective as building a public school in their community perhaps--but then again no one is stepping up to pay for that.

I think some believe this is not worthwhile because they still consider computers to be luxury goods. As we know, that hasn't been the case for a long time. Also, these computers aren't new Macbook Pros they're handing out but stripped down computers that can access the internet.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by tie 

Why do kids need a laptop? It seems like a huge waste of money to me. Perhaps there is some cost savings on textbooks? I'm rather doubtful.

What is also never discussed is who is going to teach these kids how to make educational use out of these machines, and how will this be done?

Perhaps the greater draw and sex appeal in stories like this is simply having the hardware.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

How is the TCO calculated, and how does this pricing break down?

OLPC News: What is the Real Cost of the OLPC?

[Visnaut]

Originally Posted by nonhuman 

And better communication with the rest of the world, more access to ideas, greater opportunity for commerce, and the tools needed to learn about the most important invention of modern times don't help the world's poor lift themselves up?

I'm sorry to be blunt, but all that means jack **** when you can barely provide food for your own children or be able to send them to school.

The internet is not a prerequisite for a single one those points. You can't drop a laptop on a bunch of kids and instantly fix their most basic of problems.

Honestly, if a large portion of these people are barely even literate, what good is the internet to them? And has anyone thought of the costs involved in even being able to provide them with the infrastructure to be able to have internet access? And making it affordable?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the concept in and of itself is a bad idea. Basically my whole point is this:

Money shouldn't be going to giving more laptops to kids already in school.
Money should be going to putting more kids in school. And providing the means for them to continue their education. Period.

This means first providing the resources for these kids to be healthy and able to learn; improving agriculture and accessible health care and medication. And secondly providing accessible schooling; building more schools and implementing easier transportation to and from them.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by mduell 

OLPC News: What is the Real Cost of the OLPC?

Over 5 years they are nearly $1000/each, according to the article.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Visnaut 

I'm sorry to be blunt, but all that means jack **** when you can barely provide food for your own children or be able to send them to school.

The internet is not a prerequisite for a single one those points. You can't drop a laptop on a bunch of kids and instantly fix their most basic of problems.

Honestly, if a large portion of these people are barely even literate, what good is the internet to them? And has anyone thought of the costs involved in even being able to provide them with the infrastructure to be able to have internet access? And making it affordable?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the concept in and of itself is a bad idea. Basically my whole point is this:

Money shouldn't be going to giving more laptops to kids already in school.
Money should be going to putting more kids in school. And providing the means for them to continue their education. Period.

This means first providing the resources for these kids to be healthy and able to learn; improving agriculture and accessible health care and medication. And secondly providing accessible schooling; building more schools and implementing easier transportation to and from them.

I agree, and if better communication and access to things is really a viable argument, they don't necessary need 1 laptop per student.

[Kevin]

Cool, they can be traded for drugs.

[rickey939]

Originally Posted by Kevin 

Cool, they can be traded for drugs.

I was thinking for hot lunches.

[PB2K]

this notebook has all the specifications that makes US want one. It's obviously designed by someone from the 1st world.

just look at this, it's too complicated. it doesn't even exist in our spoiled culture !



The answers OLPC provides about a possible black market are unsatisfactory. There will be a black market that sells them to the highest bidder for sure. And they act like a giant order (1 milion units) from Nigeria is positive news, but if I read it right, Nigeria would get them for free. If you ask kindly they might even double that order ! Where is the sense in all this?

What's wrong in releasing the OLPC onto the western market first? That would surface any production errors, profits can be invested in further development of future OLPC, surplus can be shipped to the 3rd world, the experiences gained of throwing notebooks around to corrupt gouvernments can be learned from.

[Visnaut]

Originally Posted by Zeeb 

It's going to take more than one strategy to lift nations out of poverty. On one hand you said wealthy countries shouldn't provide handouts, but on the other you list a number of very, very expensive infrastructure improvements which I agree with -- but yet you seem to contradict yourself.

You're right, I didn't make myself clear.

What i meant by "handouts" was giving these countries the end product, not the means to acquire or produce it themselves. So for example, providing them food instead assisting in improving agriculture. Or in this case, providing them laptops instead of investing more heavily in education.

In other words, I think it's much more helpful to be providing them the means for them to sustain themselves. As the adage goes, "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime".

On a more broader scale but generally the same concept, I'm convinced government aid money is misguided and misplaced help. Instead of stuffing the pockets of corrupt government officials, it would be more rewarding to ask what these countries are in need of most, and then bring in equipment and professional training directly and teach local workers how to build roads, or implement water irrigation systems, etc., rather than just giving them a cheque and saying "Here ya go, build some schools".

Microlending is also a great way to help out people who would otherwise have no way to start a business, begin making profit, which in turn improves their life and their community, and in the long run, creates a wealthy, educated middle class which has much more sway with those in power.

That's the sort of help that I think is much more sustainable and actually desired by these people.

[hadocon]

Here is a pic of me using an early prototype OLPC - XO-1

[PB2K]

so what do you think about it?

[hadocon]

Originally Posted by PB2K 

so what do you think about it?

It's really cool, but needs work in a few areas. hardware, software etc... Give it another 8 months... Or wait for version 2

[besson3c]

I'm just not sold that there are any meaningful and worthwhile educational benefits to providing laptops and computer based training at this level, regardless of social class.

I would need to see some studies on how technology can be used effectively and its affects, how often it is used effectively, how teachers are being trained, and all of these sorts of broader questions. For the time being, I feel that many of these questions and issues are overlooked in these media pieces discussing the adoption of technology in K-12 schools.

[residentEvil]

Originally Posted by SirCastor 

How can we not have had a topic about this already??

we have, just not in the context that every kid gets one...

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...for+ever+child

http://forums.macnn.com/89/macnn-lou...for+ever+child

[talisker]

Originally Posted by nonhuman 

And better communication with the rest of the world, more access to ideas, greater opportunity for commerce, and the tools needed to learn about the most important invention of modern times don't help the world's poor lift themselves up?

I agree, but isn't this running before we can walk? If we're talking about every poor child, then we're including all those who don't have running water, proper medical care etc. Giving someone in that situation a laptop is just plain insulting.

Once you have provided these basic essentials then your point about communication etc make sense, but it still seems over the top to give everyone a laptop. Surely access to a communal computer with web access, and tv, radio etc would be more appropriate, and provide as much real benefit.

There's just something about this that seems slightly distasteful to me. Seems to be more about cool gadgets, and moulding needy children into little westernised consumers, than about actually providing the best solutions to their problems.

[Kevin]

"Let them eat cake!"

Just joking, just joking.

[Millennium]

I'm forced to wonder why this thing needs a stylus, a rotating screen, or a D-pad and "game buttons." How much less expensive could this have been if the fluff were eliminated? The money saved could then have gone into more basic necessities for the target audience, or even just into getting more of these out to people.

To be perfectly honest, I wonder if this will end up doing more harm than good. While increased access to information can be a Very Good Thing, it can also be very dangerous if not used properly. I'm not talking about content here; I'm talking about time. If this ends with a bunch of people in undeveloped nations starving to death while chatting on forums like this one or playing wireless link-up games with their D-pads, rather than starving to death while still putting forth some form of effort to survive, then what have we really accomplished? It's beads and trinkets and alcohol all over again: a dangerously seductive force applied to a people who are frankly still quite vulnerable.

It seems to me as though putting OLPC in undeveloped nations is a basically good idea, but it reflects a warped set of priorities. It should first go to more developed nations where even the poor tend to have access to basic survival needs, allowing them to boost themselves further, while we focus on getting undeveloped nations to that stage.

[Jawbone54]

Distribution, education, and keeping the kids from getting the things stolen (when you don't have a door, it's hard to lock one up) are all questions that come to mind. The whole thing seems somewhat ridiculous to me, personally. What is the objective here? Why not spend the same amount of money on feeding the kids?

[hadocon]

This thing will spurn communication. Think. Many of these people travel by foot. This means that the speed of information is also a walking pace. With the mesh networking as well as hacks like pringle-can antannae, villiages will be able to communicate instantly. No more need to walk for a whole day to a villiage looking for water when they dont have any left anyways... maybe one villiage has access to a visiting student from an NGO (help them educate, build etc.) Now with OLPC this person's knowledge can be rapidly distributed, cached and recalled at a later date.

The OPLC is exactly that, a PC. What do _WE_ use the PC for most in the west... Communication.

This thing is not designed to teach them python (although it can do that too) or to edit conf files for apache (although it can do that too) - Having free access to the world's knowledge can only be a good thing. Sure there are some downsides, like theft and whatnot - but that farking life. Everyone on this planet has to deal with negativity.

Also - we hear of atrocities like in Rwanda... but only years after it happens. What happens when the people in impoverished nations can finally have a voice for themselves via blogs etc? We can hear from the horse's mouth about what's going on. A good idea, no?

[SirCastor]

I'm interested to see the impact on the culture, and the culture's impact on the technology.

This reminds me vaguely of a story my dad told me about a relief group that went somewhere down into africa. They found that nobody there was drinking any milk, and of course that wasn't right, so they put together a huge project to bring milk to these 'destitute people'. The milk got there, and nobody drank it. It turns out that these people were lactose intolerant. No one had taken time to consider why they needed the milk, we just assumed that they needed it. (It ended up getting used for whitewash)

The OLPC is a great idea to make an inexpensive computer that everyone can use. I think it's wonderful. But I wonder if it will get thrown out the side window because these people haven't used a computer, and they don't feel the need to use a computer.

Of course, then again, I'm naturally picturing this thing floating around villages and thatched roof huts, rather than developed cities... oh well.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by hadocon 

This thing will spurn communication. Think. Many of these people travel by foot. This means that the speed of information is also a walking pace. With the mesh networking as well as hacks like pringle-can antannae, villiages will be able to communicate instantly. No more need to walk for a whole day to a villiage looking for water when they dont have any left anyways... maybe one villiage has access to a visiting student from an NGO (help them educate, build etc.) Now with OLPC this person's knowledge can be rapidly distributed, cached and recalled at a later date.

The OPLC is exactly that, a PC. What do _WE_ use the PC for most in the west... Communication.

This thing is not designed to teach them python (although it can do that too) or to edit conf files for apache (although it can do that too) - Having free access to the world's knowledge can only be a good thing. Sure there are some downsides, like theft and whatnot - but that farking life. Everyone on this planet has to deal with negativity.

Also - we hear of atrocities like in Rwanda... but only years after it happens. What happens when the people in impoverished nations can finally have a voice for themselves via blogs etc? We can hear from the horse's mouth about what's going on. A good idea, no?

Exactly.

This project isn't primarily about giving kids the latest and greatest in technology. It's about giving them a tool with which they can improve their lives through access to information that they never would have had otherwise. Almost every day there are stories about some kid in a third world country who used an old science text book to build some amazingly innovative thing that significantly improves life for him, his family, or even his entire village. (like this kid). Imagine what those kids could do with access to wikipedia rather than just a probably out-of-date textbook. Imagine how many other kids like that there are who just haven't had the opportunity to learn about these things.

That's what this project is for.

[Dark Helmet]

I'd say it is better to give poor kids $100 in food or clothes over the ability to write emo kids on Myspace.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

I'd say it is better to give poor kids $100 in food or clothes over the ability to write emo kids on Myspace.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by hadocon 

Having free access to the world's knowledge can only be a good thing.

True, but do these machines really provide meaningful access to the world's knowledge? Very little information is available on the Net in many of the languages spoken in most African nations (with the possible exceptions of Swahili and Afrikaans). Even when such information is available in native languages, undeveloped nations are not known for having high literacy rates.

That's my problem with this idea: while it is very good, doing it now is a case of putting the proverbial cart before the horse. No one disputes the benefits of free and open communication, but certain things have to be in place before those benefits can be realized, and they simply aren't there yet.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by hadocon 

Having free access to the world's knowledge can only be a good thing.

I'm sorry but if someone can hardly afford a $100 laptop what information on the net do they need access to? They are not going to be living in the slums in a shack and find out they can earn their collage diploma through the net.

All they will see is stuff they can't buy, places they can't go and write people they don't know 1000 miles away that they can never visit.

$100 is more than many make in a year. Save the money, buy them bottled water, clothes, medical care etc.

[Jawbone54]

I wonder what Support would be like.

That's a joke, but really, what would they do if the think is broken or has a defect?

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Millennium 

True, but do these machines really provide meaningful access to the world's knowledge? Very little information is available on the Net in many of the languages spoken in most African nations (with the possible exceptions of Swahili and Afrikaans). Even when such information is available in native languages, undeveloped nations are not known for having high literacy rates.

That's my problem with this idea: while it is very good, doing it now is a case of putting the proverbial cart before the horse. No one disputes the benefits of free and open communication, but certain things have to be in place before those benefits can be realized, and they simply aren't there yet.

Supply and demand. There's very few people in Africa on the net, therefore there's very little content available that will be useful to them. Put hundreds of African kids online and suddenly there will be reason for there to be content in African languages.

Plus I'm sure a lot of these kids also speak, or would like to speak, other languages.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

I'm sorry but if someone can hardly afford a $100 laptop what information on the net do they need access to? They are not going to be living in the slums in a shack and find out they can earn their collage diploma through the net.

All they will see is stuff they can't buy, places they can't go and write people they don't know 1000 miles away that they can never visit.

$100 is more than many make in a year. Save the money, buy them bottled water, clothes, medical care etc.

So there's nothing on the net other than things to buy and places to go? What good does buying them bottled water do, when it's just going to run out and they have no idea how to get more? If they have access to the internet they can learn about ways to purify their own water, and they can communicate with other people in Africa to spread that knowledge, or learn from other, or even just to barter the resources they all need to survive. $100 is nothing next to the value of knowledge.