The advance of technology in the last 10 years has given us a gift.
We have the opportunity to rebuild the collaborative social structures that have been lost in our communities. But this is not about simply rebuilding what we came to accept before; instead, this is a chance to build a new social fabric, and to build it in a defining way. A fabric that connects people as neighbours even though oceans may separate them.
Geographical and political borders are losing their relevance. The young people of today will be living and working in a world that is very different from the one we know. Competition is increasing. Our work and ideas travel around the world in an instant. Our young people will be competing and collaborating on a global scale. They will need a technology education that not only gives them the resources to perform their work, but gives them the tools they need to help them create.
The open-source model is built around the idea that technology is transparent, allowing the best ideas to win in an open, collaborative environment. Also fundamental to this model is the idea that open-source development should contribute to a body of knowledge that others can learn from and build upon. It's a philosophy that celebrates sharing, and one that gives back more than it takes.
One of the most exciting projects I've seen in many years, and one that demonstrates the opportunities offered by the open-source model, is the One Laptop Per Child project.
The goal of this project is stunning in its scope. To put laptops directly into the hands of millions of children around the world. To give them access to the wealth of information, educational applications and teaching resources available online today. And to give them a tool to help them communicate, create and share.
One Laptop is a non-profit organisation led by Nicholas Negroponte, designed to create extremely low-cost laptop computers that can be powered without electricity and run free, open-source software. Red Hat is proud to be a key contributor.
In creating the laptop, the design challenges the organisation has had to consider are significant. For example, how to provide power and network access in areas of the world where electricity and running water may not exist. How to ensure the device can run on as little power as a human can generate manually. How to create a display screen that can be viewed in direct sunlight. How to design a device that can withstand some of the world's harshest climates. How to produce it at such a low cost that even the most impoverished nations can afford it. And how to design a laptop and the software it runs on so it can be put directly into the hands of children.
In the past year, I've seen the One Laptop organisation and the Red Hat team work hard to overcome these challenges. The laptops will use human power for electricity, whether by hand cranks or pull-cords, and they'll use mesh networks to connect to one another and to the internet. The device will be specially designed to protect it from harsh elements such as heat and sand, and to reduce the need for service. There are no moving parts inside the laptop and the case will be sealed when closed.
To encourage curiosity and open learning, the system itself must be open so children can see technology work from the inside. The laptop's software will be open source. It will run an operating system that is Linux-based, a smaller version of the Fedora operating system. It will also feature an entirely new interface and desktop suite for children.
I believe One Laptop has the power to level traditional barriers to access. So no matter where in the world you are — even in the poorest and most remote areas, where even basic necessities are scarce — every child has the opportunity to connect, learn and participate in a global society in ways that were once impossible.
More than ever, I believe the philosophy of open source is changing the world.
We believe a key part of our mission as a company is to strengthen the social fabric through the democratisation of content. To encourage an environment where the work we create is free from conditions of artificial control. Where individuals can access global sources of information — bypassing the traditional gatekeepers. We now have to work to keep open other sources of content: music, text, images, video — even ideas.
The lessons we have learned about the power of collaboration can now translate beyond building software. It is time for us to take our process and share it with the world. To change lives through teaching people how to build and connect ideas, as the open-source movement has learned to do. We believe the open-source community can play a prominent role in developing the necessary tools and promoting the means of collaboration. I am honoured that our company has been able to serve the One Laptop Per Child initiative and contribute to open-source software globally, and look forward to new, collaborative opportunities on the horizon.
Biography: Matthew Szulik is chief executive officer of Linux distributor and services company Red Hat
Talkback
OK. The concept is fantastic. However, in a sense this is equivalent to teaching kids how to drive on a cardboard car in bicycle wheels. Would you really like to have one for your child, in London, New York or Paris ???? ....or is it just "reserved" as "charity" to "3rd world" people ???
I think the $100 laptop is a great technical challenge and is probably a lot of fun for all the people involved in the project. I also think that it will solve a lot of the challenges involved in creating a piece of kit at the smallest possible cost.
The problem with it is that the people you intend it for as it says in the article may not even have running water. If someone is not even prepared to give $20 per child for the basic neccessities of life ie running water, inoculation against disease, etc then this laptop idea is never going to happen.
I know education is very important and a key part of the growth of any the 3rd world countries, but I think the $100 laptop would be a much better proposition if it had a shovel attachment at one end.
This is a fairly length reply but please stick with it: I have lived and breathed this project for a little while now. I write in reponse to the suggestion of "shovels not laptops" and to further develop some of the key points that Red Hat's CEO Matthew Szulik brought up.
The minimum order is 1 million laptops. The delivery of those laptops will represent the largest single human network ever created in one go. It will form a network with phenomenal potential. Networks succeed if they have a shared reference point which holds emotional import: see Facebook, Friends Re-united for online examples and think of any association or membership. The emotional reference point provides the essential component for active engagement.
The laptop itself is an object to which the kids will have great emotional attachment: the head of the project, Nicholas Negroponte, reported an almost 0 breakage rate after 2 years with a pilot project in Cambodia. Why? Because the kids treat the laptop as their most valued possession and so take good care of them. The new type of education that they will all be receiving will also be a shared reference point.
I think it is time the debate stopped focusing around whether or not the capability exists to produce the laptops. Let's start from the assumption that they have been made and 1 million kids in Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand, China and Lybia have them. Assume a network with the tools to facilitate communication between the teachers and the students of those countries: what is the likely results of relations between those countries in 10 years time?
Taking the 6 countries above, that’s 6 million kids who have access to the largest ever encyclopaedia and the largest search database of information ever: Wikipedia and Google. And who have the capability to communicate with each other and the world as if next door.
Let's assume wireless networks because quite frankly, they are not the major obstacle. What projects could happen using the laptops? Kids go to a nearby farm. During their visit they can all see each other's laptops on the mesh network. They can question the farming techniques using Google and Wikipedia, and they can collaborate on exercises. Now take the event set up to a museum, into the streets near a school to talk about history where it happened or to the local blacksmith who makes shovels.
What about e-mail exchange programs? A kid in Argentina with a kid from the UK. One week they mail in English the next in Spanish. When I was at school the exchange program was for a privileged few. This route would provide access to all who have a laptop.
What about recording the BEST teachers of maths, science, farming techniques and make the same audio recording available to 1 million kids? All kids, the same education from the best teachers. Part of my future plans include filming every lecture at my old university: Cambridge UK. I think it insane that for any given lecture the buildings are paid for, 40 students' places (of whom on 20 turn up) are paid for, the lecturer is paid for and yet there is not a camera filming it. And a lot of the cost is covered by the tax payer. MIT have taken the lead in doing exactly this in the US and hats off to them. The days of streaming such video content to the $100 laptop are not here, but they will be.
Now, what happens when you emerge from 12+ years of education taking for granted being networked to your classmates and the globe and receiving an education well above that which the teachers at your school could have given you without the laptops? What happens to social consciousness when kids can't be left out and know how to educate themselves? The very psychology of sensing both those close to you and on the other side of globe is what is needed to start seriously tackling the major issues of our age: global warming, war, poverty, famine....... It is the greatest means to those ends I have come across to date.
A new global
......i think I must have exceeded the limit in my last post and so the last part was chopped........So to continue where I got cut off:
A new global culture is emerging that does not have a country. It is defined by groups of interest: you can spend time and communicate online with those groups who share your interests. You may be a member of 10 groups with members from 100 countries. I think if these $100 laptop kids are able to be part of that developing culture then they have access to the world stage in way that they have never had before. I think that if you have friends in lots of countries then the likelihood of those kids growing into adults who understand, and care about on a personal basis, the needs of those other countries is greater.
Let's not forget that they own the operating system. Let's not forget one of the greatest capacities of human kind: a child's ability to learn a language. I have never forgotten seeing a documentary of a group of deaf orphans in Nicaragua. It was post civil war and the kids came from all parts of the country. They had different types of sign language but slowly learnt each others’. We were told by the narrator of the documentary that we were about to see the best "signer" in the world: a 4 year old kid, apparently with a grammar to his sign language. He had pulled together all the different sign languages and mixed in his brain’s propensity to develop language skills. Now what happens when that same propensity for language learning and development goes to work on Linux? .....kids can do things that the matured minds and billions of Microsoft could never dream of.
Given that they are on a mesh network, is it not likely that they will build tools for self-organisation? Tools for educating those that come after them even better? What are the long term social, economic, political and environmental consequences of that?
I am in Argentina at the moment and trying to organise an event. To me it is THE event that should be happening now. My suggested keynotes would be from the 3 people I think at present have the most potential to shape human evolution: Kofi Anan, Al Gore and Nicholas Negroponte. There would be 6 streams.
One = networks. Networks are the cultural capital of our age. I think the founders of Facebook, MySpace, Blackboard, etc should present on what they have discovered within their networks - the largest human networks ever established.
Two = learning and technology. the governor of Maine on how the project worked there, the constructionist education camp, founders of Google, Wikipedia.
Three = the laptop itself: talks on how it works, issues surrounding distribution, maintenance, long term, Linux, etc etc
Four = UN and Heads of Education. The UN Development team, the Heads of Education from the countries thinking of buying the laptops.
Five = long term. Respected thinkers on social issues and their thoughts on the long term impacts of the project.
Six = innovation: as above, what projects could be worked across this new network? Museums visits, e-mail exchange for languages, etc etc.
This event should be PUBLICISED AND OPEN FOR THE PUBLIC TO ATTEND. Ideally it should find a means of broadcast to as many locations as possible. One of the major advantages of the $100 laptop project is one of its major disadvantages: there is no sales, marketing or research team. That gets the cost down but it means Negroponte's most efficient means of making it happening is to keep discussions to heads of state. None of the people who would be affected by it know about it. The above event should happen whether they end up getting the laptops or not. The success of the project lies as much on implementation as it's technical accomplishment. Sucessful implementation depends to large extent on decent preparation. Preparation is lagging too far behind. I think this event would be the catalyst to start addressing that and move the debate from the technical
....chopped off again in my last post. It may be lengthy, but then this is possibly one of the most important projects in human evolution and the modern era. To continue from where I got chopped off by the limited posting system after part 2 of my reply.....
This event should be PUBLICISED AND OPEN FOR THE PUBLIC TO ATTEND. Ideally it should find a means of broadcast to as many locations as possible. One of the major advantages of the $100 laptop project is one of its major disadvantages: there is no sales, marketing or research team. That gets the cost down but it means Negroponte's most efficient means of making it happening is to keep discussions to heads of state. None of the people who would be affected by it know about it. The above event should happen whether they end up getting the laptops or not. The success of the project lies as much on implementation as it's technical accomplishment. Sucessful implementation depends to large extent on decent preparation. Preparation is lagging too far behind. I think this event would be the catalyst to start addressing that and move the debate from the technical to the social world.
I also think that documentaries should be being made concerning the imminent arrival of the laptops in all countries looking to buy them and be aired on TV to bring greater public awareness. The documentary producers should also be prepared to continue longitudinal studies on the impact of the laptops in order to assist the future adopters of one laptop per child.
I read a blog recently that mentioned that the departments of education would own the project. I just can't believe that to be the case. If you have a network of a million kids who own the laptops and the operating system then it is pretty clear to me who will own this project. Once they have it, you try taking it away from them.
I can’t think of any project which in its fulfilment is more likely to turn the wheels of global democracy.
I see the short term argument for shovels, but I think the long term argument for this project is much more compelling.
I do hope to hear as many replies as possible.
Joey Baxter
Hey Joey,
Thanks for your Talkback - one of the most comprehensive replies we have ever had I think.
We'd be interested in running this as an opinion piece. Are you involved in the OLPC directly?
Could you mail us with your name, exact job title, employer name and a decent digital head shot please to following address.
andrew.donoghue@zdnet.couk
many thanks
Andrew Donoghue
Executive Editor
ZDNet UK
This is the first time I have heard about this but it sure seems like a dumb idea. If my government bought laptops to give to kids, I would be really mad. The last thing I want to see is tax revenue going to a project like this. Now if the project is going to act as a charity and donate laptops, I'm ok with it. The last thing anyone needs is a government mandated laptop program. This is an example of socialism at it's worst. At least this project may help people realize why government run health care and education are a bad idea.
Basically, government would be deciding that all children need to have laptops. Not just any laptop, they would need this particular laptop. But what if I didn't want my child to have a laptop at all? What if I wanted to provide my child with food and shelter instead? What if I had the means and I wanted to provide my child with a better laptop that possibly ran Windows or some other OS? This is a prime example of Equality vs. Quaility. The government would be deciding to use tax resources to give every child an equally crappy laptop. Some children may want a better laptop and still others may not want one at.
I can respect the technical challenges that need to be overcome to create such a laptop. I just can't respect governments buying laptops to give to children. It is unethical. For this project to be a success they need to find a way to pay for the laptops that does not involve accepting funds from governments.
I fully agree with the article - but what about their safe introduction to the internet ?.
I run a couple of UK web companies - one a specialist niche designing "child-safe" protected websites aimed at foundation to Key Stage 2 level children. See http://www.sites4kids.co.uk
The concept is to give them their own safe website - which they can initially use as their own personalised area for fun, but then developed to accomodate educational development.
I am currently starting to develop a complementary directory on the site also - primarily aimed at promoting European sites (as European Internet child-safety still tends to be marketed more at high level.
So bring it on lets open the debate for laptops for all children !