Bridging the digital divide
It has been lauded by governments and statesmen across the world, but the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) with its aim to spread access to education by supplying children with affordable laptop computers has not been without its critics or obstacles.
Set up by former MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte in 2005 the original plan to create a "$100 laptop" has had to be revised during development, with the price of the device currently $188. Bill Gates once dismissed the proposed laptop as nothing more than a gadget, and despite being backed by the UN, securing orders for the rugged, brightly-colored laptop has not been so forthcoming.
In The New York Times Negroponte admitted, "I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a cheque written."
Orders for the first batches of the XO laptops have been secured for Uruguay, Peru and Mexico. However reticence from aid agencies, rival technology companies and some politicians towards the project has centred on the question of whether buying a laptop for each child is the correct use of resources in countries where classroom facilities are minimal.
While Libya announced it would buy 1.2 million of the XO laptops in October 2006, other countries including Nigeria, Brazil and Thailand that had previously expressed a great interest in the project have revised their view.
"What is the sense of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don't have seats to sit down and learn; when they don't have uniforms to go to school in, where they don't have facilities?" Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachuku, Nigeria's education minister told the BBC.
"We are more interested in laying a very solid foundation for quality education which will be efficient, effective, accessible and affordable."
For the OLPC team, scepticism and opposition towards the project has been unsurprising.
"The immune system of the status quo is very robust, plus education tends to be the second largest bureaucracy in any country. There are a lot of vested interests in the status quo of industry to keep momentum around projects that are deemed bigger, faster and more expensive," says Walter Bender, president of software and content for One Laptop per Child.
Creating a new area for technology
Running free-open source software, the XO laptops have wireless broadband Internet and also connect to each other creating an ad hoc, local area network. They are also designed to be extremely power efficient, enabling the use of innovative power systems, such as solar, hand-crank and pedal-power.
Beyond the concept of education for all, providing affordable computing for developing countries is a potentially lucrative market, one that OLPC has inadvertently helped develop.
OLPC is a not-for-profit organization, but Intel has developed a rival machine to the XO called the Classmate, which unlike the XO has a hard-drive and uses Microsoft software and not open-source Linux.
Initially Negroponte said Intel should be "ashamed of itself" for producing a rival product, but the role of the commercial sector will be paramount for success of the idea behind the OLPC .
Intel is now on the board of the OLPC alongside the likes of Google and current processor-makers AMD.
"Depending on how you count there are at least a billion kids out there in need of an opportunity for learning. That's a big number and nobody is going to do it on their own. So the extent to which the commercial sector is stepping up to plate to look at this problem is only good for the kids. Our mission is not laptops, it's learning, so it's only good for our mission," says Bender.
Is connectivity more important than a laptop?
Since Negroponte presented the idea of to the World Economic Forum in January 2005, technological developments have given more weight to those who question whether one computer for each school child is the best way to spread the tools of education.
MIT professor and Principal Voice Neil Gershenfeld is one such critic, who believes that the future will be more about providing accessible connectivity.
"The notion of one person equals one computer and one box, only makes sense if you don't have connectivity. I think OLPC needed to happen to bring us to this point, but there's a chance to look at the next stage in computing, where it's not this monolithic thing you settle in front of in a room, but everything comes from the bottom up."
One way to cheaply provide this connectivity is through "thin client computing" enabled by a piece of low cost hardware to turns regular PCs into a network. At a cost of around $10 a thin client device fitted into a computer can host a number of simultaneous users, who only need a keyboard, screen and mouse to get the benefit of a full computer operating system.
Mass production of the XO laptops began in China in November 2007, but Gershenfeld, whose FabLab project is based upon principals of harnessing local knowledge and production believes that making the XO computers and shipping them from one factory also misses a trick.
"There's the notion that you don't have to develop them through AMD or Flextronics and send them out, but there's a different model where you can locally develop and produce them, they don't have to be all the same, and the skills and the economic can be local, so you can have an ecology of computing."
Founder of Wikipedia and Principal Voices Jimmy Wales is a skeptic of the project, but he still believes it has had an important part to play in broadening technology's application.
"People actually understand and believe that putting technology in the hands of the world's poorest people is actually worth doing and within reach. That's enormous. Even if the device and approach to the project turns out to be wrong, they've still launched us on this idea, and various other organizations might actually deliver the technology they end up using."
For Bender, while the mid-term goal is to create laptop that costs $100, the ultimate goal is education: "We're going to continue to push on the education agenda and make sure we're building a community that can really take advantage of these laptops, so over time you'll see more of a focus on the education mission and less on the engineering side; that's the natural evolution of the mission."
What do you think?
OLPC in instinct seems to be a wonderful project grabbing worldwide attention, but would it not be a million dollar question to ask what level of achievement the project team anticipates down the road. Putting an awesome amount in purchase of XO laptops would yield much less of gleam assumptions.
The ground realities must be taken in consideration while embarking on any large scale project particularly the one like OPLC. I endorse the eye-opening comments and suggestions posted by majority particularly of Dharmendra Nathoo from South Africa.
Nonetheless, in parallel to criticism and skepticism, sincere efforts by people like OLPC team should be appreciated which would certainly help them explore new trails exemplifying the true spirits of making significant contributions to humanity.
Mr. Negroponte's idea was an extraordinary one. Now it is time for the kids (and their communities) to make it work as an ordinary tool. But my question is; how they...and what for...Who knows?
I think it's brilliant. Sure there may be a lack of basic necessities, which is definitely a problem and needs to be sorted out, I don't deny that one bit, but instead of everyone always focusing on the negative and being critical in a situation just maybe the world would be a better place if we focused more on the positive out of situations.
Here someone is providing children the means to combat their fear of computers. Children don't just like games and that from computers - I know I have two of my own. They love also learning new things, so my hat off to the implementation of One Laptop per Child scheme. I think it's a brilliant concept and idea and it can only benefit the children's knowledge and comfort around technology. There will be hurdles, there always are, but at least someone is trying to do something out there.
I come from a country where almost a majority of children are privated of education and this money helps so much here.
I question the sustainability of the whole OLPC project. This to me seems like a short-term solution for a problem that is not solved with giving computers away to children. I agree with the other comments that suggest giving them classrooms, study materials and teachers.
I think that the OLPC is a great idea, but not just on its own, it needs systems in place plus of course classrooms, desks and chairs. I think that a lot of governments are being hypocritical with this talk of that they cannot get into the OLPC while their children do not have classrooms yet there is nothing much that they are doing to remedy the situation.
What's more a lot of them are "seriously considering" the Intel alternative despite the fact that it is more expensive, uses more energy (how do you maintain that with no electricity grid in place?) and has recurring software costs. I think that this is the case because Intel can afford to "convince" governments to consider their project whereas OLPC can not why would it make sense to buy the classmate even if you've got a thousand dollars to spend per child? Just one OLPC laptop per 50 pupil class is a start and it lays the groundwork for more without necessarily taking away all the classroom and desk building resources.
The purpose of the project is right, but people should care for children's basic health, education, not the laptop computer. In our country, the computer is supplied in almost every family. Most of citizens and children can use computer. But there are also poor children in South Korea - they don't have food to eat, houses to sleep in. So it should not be the computer, it should be the food and basic things to be provided.
It's great and I know that it will help each child to be equipped to know how to use the laptops and their knowledge about information tech will increase. This is because as we all know the whole world is going into IT. So it's good for it to be introduced in schools.
I believe this laptop is a great idea. It can become the entire classroom/library - far cheaper that building a library building and buying books as it hosts an electronic library. Poor nations are behind in terms of technical skills because they don't embrace technology easily. USA has spent a great deal of money with NASA they could have spent it somewhere else within their. Africa for once cannot afford to loose this opportunity to develop computer skills at very early age even though one is poor.
First things first.
It is a good idea.
It is really very good effort by OLPC to make the developing countries' children aware about digital technology and education. There are lots of children in the remote area of Nepal who can not go to school because of their parents' poor financial situation and parents do not know what will happen to study rather then they have to work for making their livelihood. Anyway it will be good for children they can have this computer and they can start studying but how this will work to those areas where people can not afford $100 to have this computer? There must be some kind of help from governments.
I knew about a computer before my parents had a TV. It helps to have exposure. What if laptops will never be that cheap again?
The OLPC is indeed a very good project. I have no doubt that this will work in the developed countries. For the developing countries, some basic environment for successful implementation are lacking (power, classroom environment, poverty etc). If support for these challenges are considered in parallel to the project then the majority will benefit.
I think this is a great idea and many children will get a chance to explore the world of technology and will also be cheap enough for all. By the way I am 12 years old.
Just go ahead and mass produce the damn thing and don't fool us with the excuse that it was meant to help poor kids. Sell it to whoever wants it, not just targeting the poor. Many kids in U.S. need laptops too, and they find it more useful than us. Wait and see Africans come up with their stuff...
The OLPC project is a well-intentioned project in the spirit of "If you build it, they will come." The fundamental weakness is sustaining the underlying foundation of power sourcing, maintenance and classroom environment, as well as keeping the idea interesting for users by the right localized-language interface and software. Otherwise, it will be a flash in the pan.
I came from a country where almost a majority of children are deprived of a quality education by the state and their government. Although the OLPC proposal is for a good cause, I don't think that it's proper right now to implement this project considering the situation of the education sector in some countries of Asia and Africa. What's the use of having more laptops when the scarcity of rooms, chairs, books, and teachers have not been solved?
The idea is good in enhancing learning. But I also agree that this would not become effective if the basics are not met, i.e. conducive classrooms, chairs and tables.
It's good for business people, but children are only interested in games, give them school rooms instead.
As a citizen of a developing country, South Africa, it never ceases to amaze me how lazy people are when it comes to performing any task with pride and a quality mind-set. It's no rocket science that great achievements manifest when people work in a concerted, co-ordinated
unified team instead of individually. So in the case of the OLPC campaign, one group is trying to solve one small problem. Why not take your intellectual heads out of the sand, and look around with a greater vision?
Instead of just a computer, or solar panel, or solving some other technology problem, ask yourselves how can we make a greater impact
in empowering people in developing countries - why not put together teams that can design and construct a complete new city with schools, hospitals, infrastructure instead of this obsessive compulsive focus on your small little techno gadgets.
When I see a product or service or a solution that has been created that involved a lot of people to make it happen, then I have more respect for that group because I know that it requires heavy project management, commitment & co-ordination to pull off a success of that magnitude.
It's a good idea. But first teach children the alphabet, math, skills their with the languages then later it will be easier.
XO laptops will not be successful in developing countries. In countries like Pakistan education has been commoditized. Only private institutions will be able to afford this technology. I have personally done a research on government schools; students there do not have proper classrooms, educated teachers, clean drinking water. So before introducing XO laptops we need to solve basic problems.
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