While the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative from the Media Lab
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is laudable, it is unlikely to succeed without suitable support mechanisms to help the developing world exploit the technology.That's the opinion of a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that deem the scheme well-intentioned but doomed to failure if the right infrastructure is not put in place.
Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of MIT's Media Lab, announced the $100 PC project and the formation of the One Laptop Per Child not-for-profit organisation to great euphoria at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2005.
More details emerged on the 16 November at the International Telecommunication Union's World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, when Negroponte announced that his group was working closely with manufacturers and should have an order placed by February or March 2006.
The $115 laptop?
However he admitted that the price may rise to more than the magic
$100. "We're not even going to promise they're $100," he said. "They
may be $115. What we're promising is that the price will float down."
The aim of the $100 laptop initiative is to provide each child in the developing world with a laptop that can also act as an e-book, a tablet PC and a TV in a bid to help bridge the digital divide.
The benefit of such devices over more traditional educational materials, Negroponte believes, is that they can become "both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to 'learn learning' through independent interaction and exploration."
Nonetheless, he is adamant that this is not a technology-based project, but an education-based one, although "not teaching or education as we know it".
"Only a part of learning comes from teaching. A lot of it comes from exploration and interaction due to curiosity. That's how we learned to walk and talk and it's the kind of learning that kids do very well so this is a tool to make it more continuous and seamless. At age six, we say 'learning that way, learn via books and teachers', but there's another piece that's very important," he says.
Free textbooks
The intention is for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation to
sell the machines directly in consignments of a million or more to
ministries of education, which will distribute them for free. Initial
orders, however, will be limited to one million each for the five pilot
countries — China, Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa.
The preliminary goal is to have initial units ready for shipment by the end of 2006 or early 2007, but manufacturing will not begin until between ...
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Talkback
Sounds to me like this is a great idea for providing laptops to cash strapped education services more in the developed countries and for infrastructure providers in the rest of the world...
I'm sure these would be great cost rudcers for a lot of NGO's that already have a need for laptops, rather than just throughing them at schools in africa to be yet another peice of technology they have little use for as they lack more basic facilities, such as buildings and teachers.
Not that I imagine IT manufactures really want to see a loss of market that they already have... rather than the potenial growing of the market they don't have... lots of african children seeking to upgrade later in life.
Good idea, shame it won't be used where it can do good now rather than maybe possibily later.
Wouldn't it be nice if through the reduction in NGO costs they could help assit with the more basic aspects of getting these children an education so that they could use these devices in the future.
"The aim of the $100 laptop initiative is to provide each child in the developing world with a laptop that can also act as an e-book, a tablet PC and a TV in a bid to help bridge the digital divide."
I'm glad to see people are concerning themselves with the problems of the developing world, however, considering that £15 is enough to provide one person with enough clean water for drinking, hygeine and sanatation in the developing world, I think that there are better things to spend $100 on!
Agreed, the developing world needs food and other basic things, you cannot eat a laptop, these people are on a different planet, $100 a person can do a lot more essential things than provide tv and the internet
The OLPC project is not attempting to solve all of the problems in developing nations. They are trying to provide kids with "a window to the outside world and tool with which to think" so that they can help themselves.
This is free, but it's not a hand out -- it's a hand UP.
Also, don't assume that every kid in developing nations is starving -- it's flatly not true. Of course there are a huge number who do need adequate food, water, and sanitary accomodations -- but if you are truly concerned then you'll get involved with one of the many organizations already dedicated to alleviating these needs. They can always use the help.
Also, this laptop will do quite a bit more than provide internet access. It will allow kids to create and share, it can be used as a tool to help them learn to read and write, it will be a means of communication first locally and eventually globally... the possibilities are limitless, especially as more kids get involved, play with the code, and teach their fellows.
This is not a tool for a vague future, it's the tool of tomorrow. Putting off its implementation would postpone dealing with educational needs just as it has been done for years now.
For now, if you think it's a good idea then lend a hand in its creation and implementation, help it become a reality.