I was asking our Intel ethnographer, Tony Salvador, his thoughts on youth’s ideas of the future from the World Mural Project.

Tony has some thoughtful insights that made me even more appreciative of the youth’s ideas, here are some of his thoughts:

“It’s interesting to see that not too many of the concepts were self-centered.  Much of their care and concern is on world peace, greener environment, better healthcare, or improvements on issues around them in the community issues; not about their stereo system or their playstation.”

“I suppose these ideas reflect things they know or that are important to them: a strong sense of community and civic awareness.  There is relatively small number of entries on how computers affect them on a personal level.  I’m pleasantly surprised that most of the entries are not on selfish needs, but improvements about someone else, communication with one another or general issues in the world.”

“Many ideas seem readily attainable, for example, the small phone/watch that co-opts the hand signal for “call me.”

“You can clearly see a lot of influence of TV and movies from the responses of the youth and kids.”

“You can see there is a desire to go somewhere, aspirations of having or experiencing “the far away” – events they can’t get in person.”

Here’s also a video that Tony shared his thoughts on technology in classrooms that we did a couple of months ago:

The school that me & other Intel volunteers were involved in for this project was K.R.Puram government school in Bangalore, India. As you can see below, the imagination & effort put in by the 15 year old kid to create this art-work was really wonderful!

We also got good co-operation from the art-teacher & principal of the school, who together motivated the kids to unleash their imagination. We Intel volunteers helped in having a small recognition event at the school for the kid who made this art-work & also portrayed this at Intel campus during 40th year anniversary celebrations!

In the end, what really counted was the satisfaction in the face of the kid to be part of a world-wide project, involving ~70 countries!!

The University of California, Berkeley alumnus is now an Oakland, California-based Favianna. She helped Intel collect artwork from Computer Clubhouse students from 21 countries. She created an engaging digital romp through regions that opened up to artwork from students from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, the U.S. and other parts of the world.

All of this as a way to celebrate Intel’s 40th birthday. Looks like the future’s in good hands!

Here’s a video of Favianna’s unveiling, which I shot using my nifty Flip cam.

Today, he visited the Computer Clubhouse in East Palo Alto to participate in the Intel 40th celebration and interview Intel’s Bruce Sewell.

David Louie’s Intel @ 40 report aired tonight on KGO-TV’s (ABC) 6:00 p.m. newcast.

Listen to Rita’s Podcast interview as she talks about the unveiling the Intel World Mural.

That’s all shaping up to be the World Mural Project…it’s finally born!

Young people are very creative in telling us how they see computers in their lives in the next 40 years, but I’m still blown away by the great variety ideas coming in – some of them quite feasible in the foreseeable future, others very futuristic – but it’s 40 years away! Anything that seems impossible now could be something standard in our dailies lives 40 years later….the new norm.

And I’m excited to say the Intel researchers are already working on a number of technology areas that are similar with what the youth envisioned.

The World Mural Project won’t be possible if not for the creativity and enthusiastic participation of the youth and kids around the world, the mentoring by clubhouse coordinators, constant dedication from our volunteers and direction from our amazing artist Favianna.  THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL!

Happy Birthday Intel!  I hope you like this birthday present that our youth and kids have given you for your 40th birthday.

Racheli Eliyahu, an Intel volunteer who supported the clubhouse in Israel (Kiriat Gat), has the following experience on the project to share:

Welcome to the Global Village Kids World

The project in Israel was done with the clubhouse schoolchildren together with 6 volunteers.  The Intel volunteers led the project and after a few meetings they came up with many interesting ideas.  At the end, we decided to combine diversity and technology and to show the world its importance and relevant value.

Our project describes the many cultures around the world and how they come together to be one piece 40 years from now.

It will give people the option to meet your friend in other land and to play football inside the computer whenever they want to, just think about the options to be in a clubhouse in one place and by the power of the computer chip in few seconds you can be there and play together.

The real dream is to be inside the computer – for example, Natali from Russia wants to meet Rachel from Israel and play together she can do it by the power of a computer chip.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother
What will I be
Will I be pretty
Will I be rich……

When we were young, we were not afraid to dream, to imagine and to believe all the possbilities for our future. It’s touching to see how the World Mural Project has done a little to encourage our youth to dream a better future, hopefully that will inspire them to create a better world for all of us.

And believe me, I know this song becuase I like oldies :)

  Alvaro Luna Says:
July 8, 2008 at 5:43 pm eWhen I asked our members the question at the center of our mural, our conversation took me many years ago when my dad asked me the same and I though what a great moment in time we have today with this project.
As my single story has been part of my life but isolated from many other stories like mine, we have the opportunity today to share with members no just from our own clubhouse but from people around the world what their expectations are. We will have a chance to some day in the near 40 years to review our ideas and see what was possible; it can give us a common vision of what world we would like to have and finding ways to make it happen.
After so many movies of destruction and fears of apocalypse, there is hope to see that we can dream and strive positively for the future of mankind.