One Laptop Per Child News

OLPC: Please Pick a Mission Statement and Stick with It

2010-02-09T15:02:11Z

Back many moons ago, Nicholas Negroponte had a crazy idea that became the One Laptop Per Child organization with this bold, even revolutionary mission:

OLPC is not at heart a technology program and the XO is not a product in any conventional sense of the word. We are non-profit: constructionism is our goal; XO is our means of getting there. It is a very cool, even revolutionary machine, and we are very proud of it. But we would also be delighted if someone built something better, and at a lower price.

My thoughts exactly

Over time, the mission has changed, at least twice, or thrice. It seems we now have a fourth mission for One Laptop Per Child, as stated in its December press release:

One Laptop per Child is a non-profit organization created by Nicholas Negroponte and others from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture and distribute laptop computers that are inexpensive enough to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education.

But wait! We also have the choice of two more mission statements from the OLPC website. First, here's the mission from the vision page:

Mission Statement: To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.

Thankfully, that seems a bit more education focused than the press release description of OLPC. And its sure shorter than the mission statement on the actual mission page of the OLPC website:

OLPC's mission is to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education. While children are by nature eager for knowledge, many countries have insufficient resources to devote to education--sometimes less than $20 per year per child (compared to an average of $7,500 in the United States). By giving children their very own connected XO laptop, we are giving them a window to the outside world, access to vast amounts of information, a way to connect with each other, and a springboard into their future. And we're also helping these countries develop an essential resource - educated, empowered children.

So now we have at least two, if not three current mission statements, plus at least three previous mission statements. Which is telling. If you can't articulate a single, unified mission statement, and stick to it, how are you ever going to achieve it?

Peace Corps OLPC Merit Badge: Hardest Badge You'll Ever Earn

2010-02-08T15:12:53Z

While talking with some Peace Corps Volunteers in Mongolia about all of the funny and interesting things we've done, we started to joke, "What if we earned merit badges like the Boy Scouts?" Like the time you took a 40 hour bus ride in the middle of January.

Or when you helped slaughter a horse. And of course, living in a felt yurt called a ger in arctic temperatures. These are the kinds of things that are special about Peace Corps service, and serving in Mongolia in particular. People thought the idea was great, so our two founders Travis and Ridge gathered some friends together and decided to make it a reality.

Peace Corps Merit Badges are a fun way for Volunteers to commemorate their service, support small business, and share their experiences with others. A Volunteer's collection of badges is a tangible reminder of their unique experiences while serving and the badges can be sewn onto backpacks, satchels, or sashes and felt wall hangings in the shape of Mongolia (both of which we will be offering soon).

When people see them, they are guaranteed to start some great conversations. Our wide array of badges are handmade by our friends who are embroiderers in the eastern steppe of Mongolia and they can be shipped around the world. PCMB is run by Volunteers, and all profits are donated to our artisans and local charities.

We do not represent any official positions of the Peace Corps, but we fully support its mission to work toward world peace and friendship between the United States and countries around the world.

Our newest merit badge is the One Laptop per Child badge. OLPC has a growing presence in Mongolia - to date 10,000 laptops have been sent here and Mongolia was the first country to benefit from the G1G1 program. OLPC is a fantastic education program that both children and Peace Corps Volunteers love.

Many PCVs worked with OLPC when it first started in Mongolia and have continued to help encourage the project in this rapidly developing country. The merit badge features the OLPC icon and is hand-sewn on Mongolian felt, the same material that has lined the inside of gers for generations and helps keep children's XO laptops warm when they are not at home (even though, as you know, the laptops can withstand the cold no problem).

One of our fellow Volunteers, Ryan, has worked a lot with OLPC and incorporates XO laptops into his English lessons. We asked Ryan to share with us his experience with OLPC, here is what he had to say:

Earning his PC OLPC badge

"It may seem incongruous in a town without running water to see close to one hundred and fifty children toting laptops on their way to school, especially when those laptops are flamboyantly green and those children can barely peek out from layers of sweaters, jackets, hats and mittens that are meant to fend off the ensuing Mongolian winter. One Latop per Child chose the small town of Hatgal as a project site, however, so the scene has become common enough.

Unlike many schools in rural Mongolia, the secondary school that I work at has a fairly high number of computers that older students can use as part of the growing computer education program. Yet only through the efforts of OLPC can younger students begin to explore the world of computing. Even when the singular laptops prove difficult to incorporate into an established curriculum, 4th and 5th graders are given the opportunity to independently explore a range of programs that can be both fun and challenging.

So when they finally get into school and can take off their hats and scarves, you see that they're smiling."

We hope you enjoy the OLPC merit badge and share it with your friends and family. Peace Corps Merit Badges is all about helping our host country, sharing experiences and having fun and we would love for you to be a part of our project. Please visit our website, www.peacecorpsmeritbadges.com, to learn more and place an order for yourself or a friend anytime!

Patrick Olsen is Director of Communications for Peace Corps Merit Badges

OLPC S.P.A.M: Super Pixel Art Maker for XO Laptop

2010-02-04T15:01:44Z

Consider Yuriy Gusev. Born in the Soviet Union in the midst of the cold war, Yuriy migrates to Cleveland, Ohio to now make violins for a living. Several years ago, he gets into a pretty bad car accident that leaves him bedridden for weeks during which, due to boredom and a desire to not waste time, he picks up what is called "Pixel Art."

Yuriy Gusev's Pixel Art skills

"Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphic software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most old (or relatively limited) computer and video games, graphic calculator games and many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art".

Simply using a laptop and a graphic editing program called "Photoshop," Yuriy quickly acquaints himself with pixeling skills. Fast forward several years. He is now one of the best pixel artists in the world, commercially sought by many for his work. Look for yourself

Although it is a very basic form of digital art, it is still widely used in many games, web designs, as well as mobile softwares, establishing this as a viable art medium. Good pixel artists are still needed for development communities.

OLPC, having placed 1 million laptops in children's hands around the world, has opened a unique doorway for young artists to pick up and master such a skill as pixel art not only for creative expression, but also that which is marketable and profitable.

Many may argue as to why (or why not) OLPC is a success and continually discuss its consequent impact. However, at the end of the day, one fact remains and is most significant. There are now hundreds of thousands of children with XOs in their hand. Whatever the sentiment about the philosophy and operation of OLPC, 1 million laptops around the world provide an immense foundation and reason for developing such a useful tool as S.P.A.M.

S.P.A.M: Super Pixel Art Maker is geared specifically for the XO platform. With proper discipline, young users can produce professional level work simply utilizing XO and a copy of S.P.A.M. The goal of this pixel editor software is to be easy enough for kids to pick up and doodle, but be robust enough where serious users can make professional quality pixel art and animation that is commercially ready.

The above screenshot is a concept design of the Basic mode of S.P.A.M. The initial interface will consist of a minimal number of options with the familiar green color theme of the XO. The basic toolset is placed on the left hand side, icons illustrating the various functions of the toolset. A child will be able to draw immediately using the default canvas and a preset pencil from the start of the program.

The user can then switch to "Advanced Mode" where he will be able to access options more suitable for creating professional quality pixel art. The above screenshot displays the very different user interface of the "Advanced Mode." (All designs are subject to change).

Although the toolset on the left side is essentially the same, menu items are now available at the top of the screen that enable extra functions. The overall color palette of the interface is neutral grey in order to better facilitate the assessment of color tone, which may be hindered by the green palette of the basic mode. There is now an empty shelf with slots to store user selected tool sets. This mode also features a preview screen that shows 100% view of the image in progress. It also has a layer window, as well as, an animation frame editor at the bottom of the screen. More functions and tools will be available such as layer functions, export options, image filter options, etc. (All functions are subject to change).

Realistically speaking, if S.P.A.M could be used to help children in third world countries to develop real life skills (ie. pixel art skills), be inspired and encouraged by the possibilities it presents, than S.P.A.M would have achieved its purpose.

Two Concerns for the S.P.A.M project:

Creating initial interest in the product and drawing users to come back to build up their skills. This can be done by showcasing sample works and providing tutorials that feature master pixel artists from around the world. The sample works can be displayed in portfolio fashion which can be viewed by others, but more importantly by companies in need of pixel art related works. This will allow artists to be connected to the real world with real life possibilities of selling their work as a trade.
The lifespan of S.P.A.M.
- The software itself must be planned and built with the intent of migrating to upcoming versions of XO. Supplemental add-ons and updates, including a map editor, a sound and animation editor, and maybe even a simple game engine that utilize assets made from S.P.A.M can lengthen the relevancy of S.P.A.M. (All future plans are subject to change).
- In conjunction to developing S.P.A.M itself, a corresponding web community feature may be developed. Essentially, it will be like the Youtube of the pixel-art community. The user will have a personal page that also functions as a portfolio page. Pixel art/animation can be shared with classmates by forming class specific groups. and it could be shared all around the world. Simply put, the web community feature becomes the vehicle and 'social networking" medium for S.P.A.M ensuring a long lifespan of the software. (Feasibility of web community feature for XO is still being researched).

I am in the process of setting up a non-profit wing of my company that will focus on the development of projects helpful to communities through art education. S.P.A.M will be the first product to meet this goal.

The biggest obstacle we face in developing S.P.A.M is a common one: funding. We are currently pursuing several possible grant opportunities for the project. Please spread the word and stay tuned. We will keep you updated with our progress here on OLPC News.

By the way, Yuriy never had formal art training. Although he has amazing God-given talent, the only tool he had was his computer and a program to make his art. Could it be possible to replicate this pattern of success and skill in third world countries by giving children the proper tools? Many of them already have an XO in their hand. My greatest desire is to give them this formidable tool where they can learn to be the next Yuriy.

James is the Creative Director of Studio iGO, an entertainment development company. He is in the process of setting up a non-profit wing to develop S.P.A.M in full time basis.

Apple iPad and OLPC XO-3 Vaporware Product Line

2010-02-03T15:23:37Z

So, the XO-2 has moved from promise to hope to scrap, and has made way for a tablet-style, ~~iPhone~~iPad-like XO-3 (Read about the 3.0 model at Forbes and Engadget, with the now-in-production 1.5 and the in-planning 1.75 XOs, both using the current design but with faster processors.

iPad or OLPC?

OLPC, and Nick Negroponte in particular, love to use conceptual designs to create excitement. This works great in normal, commercial development a few times. Once you miss a few targets, people react very negatively too it, even if you do finally release a product. Why do you think Apple pairs announcements with already-planned release schedules?

In designing for development, even more than commercial products, this is irresponsible. First off, this is and remains vaporware with a fictional price point, and will suffer the same fate as the now-scrapped XO-2, in a Duke Nukem Forever-style race to keep up with technology, going from an initial break-out success to a scramble to license other, shinier technology and heap on endless improvements:

It was never completed. Screenshots and video snippets would leak out every few years, each time whipping fans into a lather -- and each time, the game would recede from view

Secondly, it begins to reek of the computer industry hardware upgrade treadmill instead of a socially conscious product line focused on long-term platform stability and improvement. Is an iPad-style tablet really innovative? Is it even remotely as rugged as the XO-1/1.5 model? A host of cracked and scratched iPhone screens would beg to differ. What would really be more valuable to schools world-wide who already face a choice between buying computers or hiring teachers?

Is it better to focus on building attention-grabbing, flashy technology better than continuing to improve around a stable hardware platform that's rugged, low-power and with a long life-span? Constantly dangling new, cheaper, better products that will come out in 1-2 years discourages developers from continuing to work on the current platform and fragments the worldwide community of hackers and tinkerers, and undermines the work already being thrown into the current OLPC model.

Forbes explains the OLPC product goals more:

In fact, that new form factor is just the beginning of OLPC's monstrous ambitions: It aims to make its tablet PC highly durable, all plastic, waterproof, half the thickness of an iPhone and use less than a watt of power, despite an 8-gigaherz processor. The price: an unprecedented $75.
Many of OLPC's goals, to be fair, are more imagination than road map. And Negroponte has a history of overpromising. The original XO never hit its original goal of $100, (it currently sells for $172) and another touch screen upgrade to the XO that Negroponte announced in May 2008 was quietly scrapped this year based on costs. [...]

Negroponte is more interested in pressuring the industry to make cheaper, more education-focused PCs than he is in manufacturing any specific machine. "We don't necessarily need to build it," Negroponte told Forbes. "We just need to threaten to build it."

At least they have a roadmap: First up will be the XO 1.5, a $200 laptop that will be available in January 2010. By early 2011, OLPC is looking to upgrade that to the XO 1.75, which will include an 8.9-inch touchscreen for $150 or less, before finally introducing the tablet-based XO 3.0 in 2012 for less than $100.

Regardless, this is certainly not a timeframe or a manufacturing goal that encourages anyone to buy anything currently released. The 1.5 should hopefully run all the 1.0 system tools, but who knows that will be available for the 1.75 and 3.0. It's taken three years to get bugs worked out of the initial XO software, with a ton of community support and a software spin-off. And besides, why even bother with the 1.5 if the 1.75 is going to have a touch screen and be available in just another year?

The XO-2 was announced originally in late 2007 but more formally in May 2008. The XO-3 instantly became the talk of the town at the end of 2009, beating Apple to the punch in announcing a tablet. I'm guessing we'll ride the XO-3 vision through late 2010 picking up some steam from Apple's iPad. We'll then get a design update to the XO 3.5, a tablet that has extra features like roll-up flexibility and will cost only $50, using the latest epaper technology.

Then in mid-2011, the XO-3.x concept gets scrapped (epaper licensing is too closed and expensive, the $50 has become $225. The XO-4 is announced, and it's a super-simple object that looks more like a paperweight than a computer. The XO-4 will have a low-power, high-contrast LED projector that you can project against any flat surface, and a motion-detection camera to capture keyboard/mousing options, somewhat like the coolest of the current smart-blackboard classroom systems. The XO-4 in turn will of course never be produced due to promising advancements in holography. In the meantime, the XO 1.9995 will be in production and actual use, using the "classic" XO-1 chassis and a more powerful mobile processor.

Boingboing ran an interesting story about travelers letting youth in India, who wanted to be computer scientists, play with their iPods and such, and later wondered if that was a good idea or not:

While we were there, we met a bunch of kids who lived with no electricity but told us that, when they grew up, they all wanted to be computer scientists. So we whipped out our cameras and iPods -- the closest things we had on hand to real computers -- and showed them how technology works. We figured they would enjoy it, and thought it could be a valuable experience that would stay etched in their minds as something to aspire to as they continued their studies.
Later, I found out that one of my travel mates thought what we had done was cruel. We had seduced these poor kids with luxuries they will probably never be able to afford, and sullied their pure, technology-free lives with the temptation of electronics.

If only questions like these got asked more before announcing new promises.

Originally published at JonCamfield.com. There's a great discussion on the XO-3 in the XO-3 OLPCNews post and also at Slashdot.

Quanta Files XO-1.5 Laptop Design with FCC

2010-02-02T15:36:58Z

In a sign that the XO-1.5 laptop is nearing reality, Quanta Computer has made filings with the FCC. While the filings themselves are pretty bland, just the label is visible, you can get more XO-1.5 details on the OLPC wiki, and watch this handy exploration of the XO-1 motherboard by Bernie Innocenti .

Want more XO-1.5 laptop news? Subscribe to OLPC News via RSS Feed, Emails or Twitter.

Apple iPad Versus OLPC XO Laptop

2010-02-01T15:14:58Z

Anyone interested in technology world-wide would have become aware of the announcement of the iPad tablet device this week. Coverage of it has been hard to ignore, and I know many many educators including myself have of course been very interested in its implications for education because of the success many have had in adapting the iPod touch for use in schools.

But in this post I'd like to reflect a little on the other great mobile education movement of the last three years - that of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) 'children's machine'. While even the latest version 1.5 of the XO laptop they build and supply has tech that is getting a little behind, it does have at least three distinct advantages over the iPod/iPhone/iPad platform:

1. Designed for children - yep, rather than being a consumer or business device that crafty educators are able to integrate into educational settings, the XO was designed ground-up to be in students hands. I mean its bright green! When a student first sees one, they know already this is for them - and that means their use of it for learning starts at a unique place. This is a factor not to be underestimated.

2. Automatic collaboration - while there are a growing number of iPod touch apps that can use wifi or bluetooth to do some basic screen-sharing or sending of files etc, another of the distinguishing features of the XO laptop is that sharing and collaboration is built in automatically to practically every activity, even the camera. Its not something students even have to think - 'oh can I work on this with someone?' (or two, or four etc), but is simply a matter of switching to the dedicated 'friends' screen and sending the invitation.

3. Dual screen modes - the announcement of the iPad means that one of the XO's advantages (larger screen) will shortly be neutered, but the ability of the screen to work as a regular colour LCD indoors, and a black and white screen outdoors with full readability in direct sunlight gives the XO a big advantage over the glossy iPad as far as true mobile learning goes.

4. Flash support. Ok I know I said three - but this one is not one of mine. I don't use flash hardly at all, but I know alot of educators that do rely on it for hundreds of interactive learning objects that are totally unavailable in the Apple mobile world. How long it takes for these to eventually be ported over to Java/HTML5 or turned into the mobile apps (via Adobe conversion software) that are becoming more of the standard for such software I don't know, but until then, educators are great hoarders, and so Flash support remains an issue.

Of course there are downsides to the XO laptop also (such as the aforementioned aging hardware, and the fact that a more natural touch-based version may be more than two years away). As a final note to this comparison, I don't know how many of the 140,000 iPod touch apps are educational, but a developer in that space recently mentioned a figure of 3-4000 to me. Anyone reading out there know how many XO activities (the OLPC name for apps) there are?

Jonathan Nalder writes uLearning Blog as a teacher in Australia

#olpc Twitter Chat! How can OLPC help Haiti?

2010-01-29T03:31:50Z

Nicholas Negroponte is making the case that we should donate our XO's to OLPC - broken or unused - for redistribution in Haiti.

Do you think that's wise? Shouldn't OLPC send new XO-1.5's to Haiti instead? Or are XO's even right for relief efforts? Is it now eclipsed by netbooks or iPads?

As I've said, I think XO laptops aren't right for relief efforts. Its not like XO's are easy to deploy, even when conditions are optimal. How does OLPC expect XO usage to flourish when schools are destroyed and teachers missing?

I believe OLPC should be empowering trusted and tested organizations like Waveplace Foundation, who have local capacity to incorporate XO laptops into existing and effective schools, not sending green OLPCorps volunteers to new, unproven sites.

But hey, I'm open to being convinced otherwise, and I'm sure there are many opinions on OLPC in Haiti. So let's have an open conversation around OLPC and Haiti via an OLPC News Twitter Chat!

Twitter Chats are fun, intense, and open for everyone to see. Also, OLPC is on Twitter, and so is Nicholas Negroponte. Maybe they'll join us this Friday at 3pm Eastern Time, and help us understand how OLPC is right for Haiti.

How can OLPC help Haiti?
an OLPC News Twitter Chat
3pm EST, Friday, January 29, 2010
On Twitter using the #OLPC hashtag

In preparation for this Twitter Chat, be sure to follow OLPC News and set up a TweetChat tracking the #OLPC hashtag. We'll start promptly at 3pm and cycle through these questions:

Just how many dusty XO-1's will OLPC's call generate?
Are XO-1's or XO-1.5's still relative in age of netbooks?
If so, are they relative to Haiti's relief effort?
How should XO's be deployed in rebuilding Haiti?
What technology support systems does the XO require?
Who might provide the XO-centric learning ecosystem in Haiti?

Suggest more questions via Twitter - add #olpc and @olpcnews to your tweet, and we'll put them in the queue.

Join the Twitter Chat - follow OLPC News and set up a TweetChat for 3pm EST.

Update: Here's the #OLPC Twitter Chat Transcript with gems like this:

8:16 pm	downeym:	Q2: Are XO-1's or XO-1.5's still relative in age of netbooks? or iPads? #OLPC
8:16 pm	joncamfield:	@olpcnews The XO is still pretty rugged; I can't imagine the iPad lasting a day without it's screen being scratched to uselessless #olpc
8:16 pm	rosamariatorres:	#olpc fans should read these "5 lies we tell ourselves (and funders) when developing new tech for ppl in need" http://ow.ly/16rSVh by @ict4d
8:16 pm	random_musings:	@jakedarnell Good idea but I don't think I've seen Skype working under Sugar (yet). Might work on DebXO or Ubuntu though. #olpc
8:17 pm	downeym:	Agree with @joncamfield on need for ruggedness in post-disaster environment. iPad? Seems way to fragile. #OLPC
8:17 pm	GregYohn:	XO-1.5's are about as powerful as my ASUS Ebox that use an Intel Atom processor. #olpc
8:17 pm	Mokurai:	#olpc #Haiti @olpcnews XOs don't need WiFi router or Internet to connect wirelessly over moderate distances, given line of sight.
8:18 pm	kara_h:	@downeym I agree, much as I love Apple the iPad would be the wrong tool for the job #olpc #olpc
8:18 pm	Mokurai:	#olpc #Haiti No Skype! Free software! Ekiga Softphone, or shared Record sessions.

eKindling and OLPC Philippines: Birthplace of Something Special

2010-01-28T15:12:51Z

Serene. Full-of-Life. Promising. Words to describe the community of Lubang, Mindoro. This small, and remote island is home to approximately 28,000 thousand people or Lubanguenos. It is also the birthplace of something special - the first OLPC and eKindling deployment in the Philippines.

A blur of XO happiness

In partnership with former employees of the National Computer Center, the municipality of Lubang and OLPC Friends, eKindling is working towards bringing the transformative benefits of XO laptops and innovative learning practices to the children of Lubang Integrated School and Maligaya Elementary School. When all things are said and done, educators and students will use 100 XO laptops to enhance their learning.

Most children, and even adults on this island have little or no exposure to technologies. Internet was only made available two years ago. Yet, many still cannot access the internet due to high connectivity costs.

However, during eKindling's first assessment visit to the island, Tessa Yuvienco and I observed the massive potential and innate talents that each student and educator possessed despite the absence of learning technologies in the classroom. We knew that this will be amplified once we introduce the XO laptops into their learning experience.

However, this goes beyond injecting learning technologies into classrooms. According to Mayor Johhny Sanchez of Lubang, this is about developing a "champion mentality" in the youth, the self-realization that they are super-children that can be the managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. We whole-heartedly agree.

Happy to learn learning

Through such learning technologies, we want to transform these children into digitally-literate, leaders that can solve the problems of the 21st century. Lubang island is filled with children that can change his/her community and the world.

But there's a lot more work to be done. We understand that the XO laptop is a tool, and we need to train the educators on how to facilate learning with it. Thus, selected educators will undergo a training/support program that will enable them to use the XO laptop and its learning activities to its full potential.

We also understand that this is part of the bigger picture of community building. Thus, involving the parent-teacher association and other community members early in the process is integral to the success and sustainability of the program. Tons of work! But work that is well-worth it.

Indeed, the future is brighter for the children and people of Lubang. However, there are communities throughout the Philippines and the world, where such transformative learning technologies are still absent. Hopefully, through your help as supporters, volunteers, entrepreneurs, marketers, funders, educators, designers, etc, we will reach these communities and afford them the same life-changing technologies and opportunities.

Ryan Letada's post OLPC and eKindling Philippines Rural Deployment: Birthplace of Something Special is republished here with permission

Waveplace Foundation: OLPC Haiti Rebuilding Done Right

2010-01-27T12:09:08Z

Last night, everyone who participated in the Give One Get One donation program from One Laptop Per Child received an email from Nicholas Negroponte asking for broken or unused XO laptops for Haiti.

Now I'm not sure what OLPC intends to do with our old XO's, but unless they're gonna donate all their collected XO's to Waveplace Foundation, it will be a waste. Why? Because Waveplace Foundation is doing Haiti rebuilding right.

I've always thought that Timothy Falconer had a good head on his shoulders when it came to OLPC - he's been smart to cut through the hype - but I was blown away when I watched these videos this morning.

Waveplace, like OLE Nepal and Plan Ceibal Uruguay, has thankfully ignored most of 1CC"s suggestions and is implementing with local values first. Values like:

Pay Haitians a fair wage for real jobs in education
XO laptops are not a panacea - they are one part of an overall solution
Haitians helping Haitians on a dialy basis, not foreigners
All content must be local - Kreyol in Haiti's case

Better yet, watch these videos of Tim explaining Waveplace Foundation's Haiti response plan and you'll see real thought and planning on using XO's in Haiti:

As you watch these videos, note all the groundwork that's gone into Waveplace Foundation's response. Note that Waveplace has local connections, staff, and knowledge. And note that they're not gonna hand out XO's to random children, like some others wanted to do. Or to aid workers, which I fear OLPC is planning to do.

If you want to donate your XO for Haiti, don't send it to OLPC. Send it to Waveplace Foundation (cash too). They're doing Haiti response right.

Defend the Truth with OLPC Jamaica's Music Video

2010-01-26T15:09:10Z

How is this for a creative use of XO laptops: the featured technology in an educational music video sponsored by USAID.

Delivered to Jamaica as part of a program with Charles Nesson of Harvard University, the XO laptops are nominally in Ascot High School to provide a creative outlet for 25 students in the ninth grade Students Expressing Truth (SET) programme. But in this music video they take on a life of their own:

Now if only that were the norm for OLPC related videos!

Boogie down with OLPC News via RSS Feed, Email or Twitter .

Children's Security is Now Possible with OLPC Bitfrost

2010-01-25T15:03:05Z

Computer malware is a big problem to society. When this is discussed in relation to children and the Internet (or politicians or parents), the advice has always been: updates, AV software, and firewalls for the computer and rules, restrictions, and filters for the children. With a special emphasis on installing more software and more updating. Illustrations of this attitude can be found in:

But, is user education working? Obviously, primary school children (and older) cannot be made responsible for installing and managing security updates, AV software, and firewalls. In this view, getting millions of children in developing countries on-line on laptops they have to use unsupervised at home seems to be nothing short of a crime against humanity. Yet, is it really impossible to create a computer environment that can not only be used safely by children, but also managed safely by children?

All these security advices are very sensible given the current ICT landscape. But, these advices can also be seen as blaming the victim by the commercial software industry. This has been doubly insulting as most security problems, eg, the mere existence of computer viruses, is the result of the (very) bad coding practices and short sighted design decisions of commercial software companies. As a result, the complete AV industry catering to end-users is widely mistrusted. Its very existence has been seen as a stopgap for irresponsible coding practices

Thank Ivan Krstić for Bitfrost

So it was a pleasant surprise to see the OLPC security model, Bitfrost.

Bitfrost was a design that started with a "the user cannot do wrong" approach to security. It showed how you could actually build a user-friendly computer that gave children full control over their laptop and, at the same time, made the laptop as secure as any security professional's private laptop could ever be. Here is a summary of the principles and goals of the Bitfrost design from the wikipage.

Bitfrost Principles:

Open design:The laptop's security must not depend upon a secret design implemented in hardware or software
No lockdown: Though in their default settings, the laptop's security systems may impose various prohibitions on the user's actions, there must exist a way for these security systems to be disabled
No reading required: Security cannot depend upon the user's ability to read a message from the computer and act in an informed and sensible manner
Unobtrusive security: Whenever possible, the security on the machines must be behind the scenes, making its presence known only through subtle visual or audio cues, and never getting in the user's way

Bitfrost Goals

No user passwords: With users as young as 5 years old, the security of the laptop cannot depend on the user's ability to remember a password.
No unencrypted authentication: Authentication of laptops or users will not depend upon identifiers that are sent unencrypted over the network
Out-of-the-box security: The laptop should be both usable and secure out-of-the-box, without the need to download security updates when at all possible
Limited institutional PKI: The laptop will be supplied with public keys from OLPC and the country or regional authority (e.g. the ministry or department of education), but these keys will not be used to validate the identity of laptop users
No permanent data loss: Information on the laptop will be replicated to some centralized storage place so that the student can recover it in the event that the laptop is lost, stolen or destroyed.

These are all rather common sense starting points for any security system. And anyone who has experienced the trials and tribulations of securing an off-the-shelve computer system will immediately ask why this is not implemented in all computer systems sold? This is not the placed to go down that road. Suffice it to say that the Bitfrost principles and goals are all feasible with today's technology.

The implementation details might seem rather arcane, but they follow logically from the above lists. The Bitfrost document is a good read for anyone who wants to get a feeling how computer security should be done. Below there are some other links for further reading on this subject.

Further Reading:

Ivan Krstić must be recommended for creating a design that includes most of the state-of-the-art security knowledge but is still feasible on a small device. The security models for Apple's iPod and Google's Android and Chrome OS follow a similar design (Ivan Krstić currently works for Apple), but Bitfrost is even less forgiving to security breaches.

I think that Bitfrost will be one of the lasting legacies of the OLPC. As evidence that you can design a computer platform from the ground up that is both secure out of the box, and can be used and managed with ease, even by a child. There is no excuse anymore not to produce usable and secure software stacks.

This post is part of the ongoing series, "What Have We Learned From OLPC?"

Moshi Rural Teacher Capacity Building Workshop

2010-01-22T14:53:09Z

While teaching in Luxembourg under the International Baccalaureate Program, my wife organized student community service projects in Moshi, Tanzania for seven years. Her students helped fund raise and build dormitories for girls at rural secondary schools and while there, interacted with their local counterparts. My wife established friendships with the community leaders and school staffs.

Now that we are retired and living back in the United States, we would like to help the rural Moshi primary and secondary school headmasters and teachers with a Workshop for Teacher Capacity Building.

Tanzanian school children

This past September, we spent four weeks in Tanzania to evaluate the feasibility of a such a teacher workshop. With a local committee of community leaders and ten headmasters/head teachers, we visited 22 rural Moshi schools. All faculty with whom we met agreed that this support to demonstrate modern pedagogical methods was urgently needed. The committee also briefed the Kilimanjaro Regional Education Officer.

While in country, we also vetted projects for a NGO; these visits reaffirmed our conviction that technology is lacking and a new approach is desperately needed. Tanzania has many attributes and is further developed and peaceful than some other African nations, based on its history and independence in 1964 under Julius Nyere.

An immediate problem for families is the availability of water, as we witnessed people moving water uphill in buckets on their heads or on bicycles; a condition made worse by this year's drought. However, looking forward and long-term, one would agree that the reeducation of rural teachers and the consequent better education for their students is the most important task for future Tanzanian improvements.

I am not a computer software/hardware or education expert, but I have used computers in professional capacities for simulations and business for many years. I worry that the OLPC idea, with great potential, is not being proactive in coordinating its efforts to achieve the best results possible from modern IT capabilities.

The Educational Technology Debate on OLPC seems to avoid the mention of what I would consider the major OLPC security problem even if it is a green color. With 1.4 million XO-1s distributed with a monetary value of about $200 each (3 months average family income in Tanzania), no mention is made of how many XO-1's have disappeared for parts or resale.

Furthermore, to operate a laptop, batteries must be recharged and most of the rural schools do not have electricity. I see no evidence that OLPC is coordinating with a solar power or alternate energy NGO. Why not?

Apparently, USAID is also involved in the effort to provide IT to developing nations. This organization is looking at details such as teacher development and continuous project assessment to promote student learning. Instead of standalone laptops, why isn't OLPC focusing on "Thin Client Laboratories" that require less power, cost, rework, and is the cheapest way for using IT for learning?

We are seeking funding and technology for the Moshi Rural Teacher Capacity Building Workshop. We plan to use the Second Chance Education Centre as the hub for the workshop which would include training of the teachers in the use of IT for their specific subject fields and for an overall English language immersion course. Sustainability is built into the project with the follow-up peer training by the Moshi teachers for their colleagues, for networking, and for resources.

As a result of the initiative in September, Second Chance Education Centre has opened their small library as a resource for the local school teachers. This library can also become a secure center for the issuing and signing out of laptops and projectors on a rotational basis according to the lesson plans of the primary and secondary school teachers.

We would appreciate contributions and donations from the OLPC community.

Tim Russell has applied for XO's from to the Contributors Program

Tossing the XO Laptop To Prove a Point

2010-01-21T15:35:48Z

One year ago, Nicholas Negroponte started tossing XO laptops in meetings and presentations to prove its ruggedness. Now others are replicating his stunt. Just check out T.K. Kang, Clinical Psychologist and CEO of The Nurturing Education (TyNE) as he tosses an XO in Hong Kong:

Oh and less you think T.K. Kang did that just once, think again. He says "I dropped the XO 3 times to prove a point and have to do this again for the camera". So yes, the XO laptop has amazing durability. Its almost unbreakable. Just don't give it a keyboard water test.

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Humane Communications over Human Networks

2010-01-19T15:20:44Z

My name is Jonah Bossewitch and I am a lapsed OLPCNews contributor who has strayed from the flock, but still has (a shaken) faith in OLPC miracles.

I was a bit startled by the suggestion that OLPCs could help Haiti relief efforts right now. I am struggling to imagine how the OLPC could help in a country that has very limited power, Internet, and resources.

Wayan did a really good job explaining why he thought the OLPC isn't the right response, and I would like to share with this community an approach that I think could provide genuine service and relief. If we momentarily imagine having solved Haiti's communications infrastructure problem - what next? Who would get to use it, and how? I am genuinely interested in this community's feedback and suggestions on how to improve this analysis, strategy, and proposal.

On Saturday I attended a barcamp-style CrisisCamp in NYC where volunteers from around the world gathered physically and virtually to brainstorm, organize, coordinate, and work to help alleviate the suffering in Haiti (CNN CrisisCamp coverage). When people talk about crowdsourcing relief to this disaster, CrisisCamps around the country helped assemble the the sources (and faces) in these mysterious crowds.

Self-Organized Collaborative Production and Action

It was amazing to see these strangers converge, congregating around the familiar communication modalities of wikis, mailing lists, irc, and now twitter and google wave. While these torrential rivers of information are overwhelming, some subcultures are developing strategies for managing and synthesizing these flows. A main organizing hub is http://crisiscommons.org/ , and the hashtags #cchaiti and #haiti are being used to 'tag' disparate social media around these efforts.

Today's NYC event drew over a dozen people, techies, community organizers, students, Hatians, UN reps, librarians, union workers, journalists, and beyond. I have been closely following ushahidi/swiftapp project, and their http://haiti.ushahidi.com collaborative filtering curation strategy is in full swing. Open Street Maps is proving to be an essential piece of infrastructure around mapping data, and the New York Public Library has rescheduled the launch of their amazing new map rectifying tool to help make sense of Hatian geography - shockingly, there are very few maps of Haiti, and their collection might significantly help when overlaid on satellite imagery. This can assist relief workers who need to know what neighborhoods are called, and which buildings were where, etc. If you are familiar with Hatian geography, you can help rectify maps here.

The Sahana Disaster Management Project is also looking for python developers to help scale their software.

Strategic Communication Flows

Strategically, I was struck by the asymmetry of information flows. Many of the efforts seemed to focused on collecting Hatian data, and representing it to Americans and NGOs working on the ground in Haiti. But, not too many Hatians have iphones...

There seems to be very little focus on creating flows of information back into Haiti - information from the outside world directed to Haitians, or, on creating infrastructure for Hatians to communicate with each other. Beyond that, I am not aware of any coordinated efforts to establish non-corporate-mediated, 2-or-more-way channels of information between Hatians and Hatians in the diaspora.

I was reminded of the recent Iranian uprising. A wonderful moment of microblogging glory, although few Americans appreciated how the Iranians were able to receive lifelines of information from outside of Iran (like where to find proxy servers), and were also using the platform to communicate with each other, within Iran.

I was struck by what an important role traditional mass broadcast media might play in a crisis situation. People on the ground need information, desperately. They need to know which symbols indicate that a house has already been searched, where the next food/water/medicine drop will be, and that the biscuits are good, and not expired. They also need entertainment, and news - à la Good Morning Vietnam. And messages of consolation, emotional support, solidarity, and even song and laughter. Maybe even Bryant Park style movie nights.

Hybrid Networks

Electricity and ISPs are largely down. There are trickles of bandwidth available, and some Hatians have made it onto facebook and cellphones.

So, what could a hybrid, analog-digital network look like? Low-power FM? High Power Copy Machines? Blackboards? Portable Video Projectors? Smartphones? OLPCs?!?

It's actually not that hard to imagine a hybrid network, composed of people, FM radio, Blackboards, printing presses, cell phones, SMS, projectors, and Internet. Really, whatever is available.

The Earth Institute and UNICEF Innovation has been deploying RapidSMS on the ground in Africa, and they are working in villages where a single cell phone operator brokers vital information to a blackboard in the town square, transforming a cell phone into a mass broadcast device. Reminiscent of the Wall Newspapers in communist russia.

And if there were a low power FM Radio station set up, the DJ could presumably retransmit messages coming in over the Internet (or, an OLPC mesh, I suppose) or the cell phones (kinda the reverse of the activist who retransmitted police scanner transmissions over Twitter at the G20 summit protests).

Hatians would know that if they needed to get a message out to a loved one in Haiti, they could get to the radio station and it might be transmitted, back into local community. Messages would travel over human and technological networks, routed intelligently by humans where technology leaves off.

What would the programming on this radio station look like? They could have hourly news and announcements, read out community messages submitted by listeners, convey messages of condolences and support from the outside world, play music, pray, talk radio, "call in" shows, anything really. Most importantly, this radio would be locally produced, with the local community deciding what to play. There was a precedent for local radio, KAMP, in the astrodome stadium after Katrina. The station was set up with the help of the fantastic Prometheus Radio Project volunteers, though authorities tried to shut down the "pirate" lifeline.

Turning Messages in Bottles into Skywriting

Today I met someone who is working with local Haitian communities in NYC. We are both very concerned with CNN dominated the coverage, frittering away their 24/7 news coverage on looping segments, and circling like vultures waiting for violence to erupt. We have to understand the danger of a single story.

We were both very interested in creating alternate channels of communication for Hatians to speak for themselves, and engage in dialogue with their relatives in the diaspora.

Here is one project we could run over the kind of hybrid analog-digital/human-machine sneakernet described above.

Hatians could send video messages in a bottle. The community here could gather to watch and reply to those videos. Say the videos and the replies were limited to 3 minutes each. The original message and the reply could be bundled and sent back to Haiti - not unlike sending a letter before the postage service - you would give it to someone heading to the recipient's town.

Initially, a few flip cameras on the ground in Haiti, with the video transmitted home over the Internet, or even back to the states by sending the memory cards home with a courier. OLPC video capture could possibly work here, but I wonder if a Flip or even an iPhone or Android is a better bet. Eventually, when bandwidth begins to open up, we might be able to imagine a live, synchronous, stream. But, before then, we can imagine ansynchronous video messages being sent back and forth, between Haiti an Haitian communities in the diaspora.

On the Hatian end, the replies could be projected and played back to groups gathered around projectors at night. On our end, distribution is trivial, but the message might easily get to the precise person it was intended for through community social networks. A Haitian could send a video message in a bottle to Brooklyn, and it would not take long for their relatives to know they were safe. Replies could include message of hope, compassion, and support.

Most importantly, independent lines of communications could be opened. As a secondary benefit, if the messages were disseminated publicly (say, on you tube), secondary waves of help could create journalistic highlights, extract crucial data to feed the informatics systems (sourced to the originating testimony), and we could start hearing each others voices.

At the moment, our aid feels like we are tossing a homeless person a few dollars while averting our gaze, when what they really need is for us to look them in the eye, recognize their humanity, and have a conversation with them. We are electronically strip searching the people of Haiti, when (forgive the Avatar reference) we need to see each other.

Theory and Practice

A few closing thoughts to this already rambling post.

I attended the event for many reasons including:

My research interests in distributed cognition, collaborative production, and collective action
A seminar I am participating in this Spring that is taking up the themes of collective memory, pedagogy, digital media, and trauma (using a the 9/11 Project Rebirth as a point of departure, but conceptualizing responses to collective trauma ranging from Katrina, to evironmental refugees, and beyond).
Because the situation is horrifying and desperate, and I have the sinking feeling that no one has a handle on how to help the Hatians. Worse, I fear that many are already beginning to view this event as a rhetorical chip, and angling to advance their own agendas on the wave of this shock.

The importance of mass media in creating a sense of (imagined) community is well theorized in communications studies. Haiti's physical infrastructure is shattered, but we can very quickly reconstruct its communications infrastructure and help them reconstitute their sense of identity and community.

Cultural theorists have criticized the pacifying power of mass media - but the UN is forecasting a sharp increase in violence, riots and rape - if ever there was a time to distract and pacify the populace - or should I say, provide them with a constructive channel for them to express and vent their energies?

If we want to turn this disaster porn on its head, we should just give Hatians the IP rights to all the images pouring out of their country now. The profits would be enough to rebuild the country 10-times over.

The only thing more important than food or water is hope.

[Special thanks to Mar Cabra and Rasmus Nielen for being a sounding board for some of these scattered ideas, and John Durham Peters, whose brilliant thought broadcasts on Broadcasting and Schizophrenia induced my thinking].

Donate Your XO Laptop to Youth Country Missionaries Club

2010-01-19T14:57:21Z

Youth Country Missionaries Club (YCMC) is an organisation started by the Youth due to the need in Nyendo Community. We are a group of 60 youth working and dealing with the problems of the children and youth in Nyendo Community.

We organize lots of programmes for the children benefits and as a result this have provided free education to the children in Nyendo Masaka. We have a variety of Programmes and Projects and our major project is through Sports.

Here we train the children in the community free sports and they get free scholarships in schools. So we provide free education. Our organisation would like also to bring OLPC in Nyendo Masaka so that also our children gets this chance.

We are working on more than 200 children and all of them are in schools. The XO laptops will lead to the development of the children in our community and this will improve on the poor science and technology we have here in Masaka.

We do request any one kindly to donate to our community organisation XO laptop. We shall welcome your kind donation.

For more information you can call our Organisation on +256785000376 or you can email us.

Thanks
May the Lord Reward you.
Moses Kasozi