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OLPC Project Rollout Begins In Uruguay
Acer500 writes "The One Laptop Per Child project became a reality Thursday in Uruguay, as the 160 children of school number 24 in the humble town of Cardal received their XO computers. The learning tools came directly from the hands of president Tabaré Vazquez. It has become a matter of national pride that Uruguay is the first country to realize the project's goal. The target is that by 2009, every school-age child in Uruguay will have one, and an initial 15 million dollars have already been allocated to the project.
From the newspaper articles: 'The happiness of having a PC in their hands, some of them for the first time, had the kids in ecstasy, which didn't wait to turn on their computers, introduce their personal information (required the first time they're turned on), choose the screen colors, and start experimenting with them. What initially made them more enthusiastic was the possibility of taking photographs and filming each others with the included webcams.'" More information below.
According to the unofficial blog of the Uruguayan project, named proyecto Ceibal, the infrastructure for wireless is not yet in place but will be provided in the next few days by the national telco ANTEL. No photos of the event have been posted online, but you can see an institutional video on Youtube. One interesting point is that it has not yet been decided that the XO will be the laptop of choice for the entire project. Two other companies want to be considered: Intel, with their Classmate PC, and Israeli-manufactured ITP-C. In a press conference, Intel manager for the southern cone Esteban Galluzzi went as far as to compare the XO to a Pentium II, and stressed that the Classmate is able to run Windows XP. As advisor and local guru Juan Grompone stated, 'who will ultimately benefit from this is education?' This will be an interesting test to see if the OLPC project meets its intended goals of 'learning learning'. Let's hope this project is the means that will foster among some of the children the desire to learn and to tinker."
The Web in the air of Cardal
Near 40 niños of the Italy school they received its computers of the hand of several authorities of the government. In one week the niños podrà n to accede to Internet from all the points of the city
In the middle of great expectation and much alegrÃa of the niños, president Tabaré Và zquez next to a great retinue of authorities left inaugurated the experience pilot of the Ceibal Plan in the Italy school n 24 of the city of Cardal (in Florida), the one that in the prÃximos dÃas quedarà connected to Internet by means of mbricas connections inalÃ, in order that the students can accede to the Web from their homes.
In a brief speech during the act, Và single zquez refirià to "the importance" of the Ceibal project and asegurà that "cumplirà with the cronogram of arriving itself at 2009 to all the schools from paÃs". The agent chief executive prefirià to yield its time to one of the niños, that articulà words that moved to the presents.
To I finish of the act, Và zquez was consulted by the present journalists on if to raÃz of cuts in the RendiciÃn de Cuentas it were going to be all the money for the plan. Và zquez asegurà that was not going to lack the money. "the USS 15 anticipated million està n in the budget", asegurà the conductor of the Uruguayan government.
Under the glance of many parents, some from the windows or accommodated in algÃn rincÃn of the halls class, about 40 niños of 3 and 6 año received their computers X-O. DonaciÃn of Nicholas Negroponte is of 200 units. The rest of the students of that school of cardal recibirà its computers in these dÃas.
AlgarabÃa to have a PC in its hands, some for the first time, dejà won the boys, who did not hope to ignite his mà quinas, to introduce their personal data (the first time that ignite it is necessary to put the one name and to choose the colors of the screen) and to put themselves to experiment with the X-O. What mà s entusiasmà was to be able to remove photos and to film themselves with webcam that come including.
The niños by this week podrà n to sail in Internet from the Italy school, where instalà a servant to provide itself with conexiÃn in the classrooms, that in the prÃximos dÃas extenderà to the rest of the city so that the niños can be connected to the Web dese its homes. For mbrica it utilizarà tecnologÃa of conexiÃn inalà - it does not need cables that proveyà ANTEL with colaboraciÃn of UTE.
One of that mà s divirtià giving the PC was the minister of EducaciÃn and Cultura, Jorge Brovetto. Ademà s of this jerarca, también was present the minister of Industry, Jorge Leprosy asà like the minister of GanaderÃa, José Mujica, next to their wife LucÃa Topolansky.
También participated in the act the director of EducaciÃn of the MEC, Luis Garibaldi, the president of the ANEP, Luis bal YarzÃ, the president of the LATU, Miguel Brezhner, the Intendant of Florida, Juan Giaccetto asà like industralists of INTEL and Microsoft, that lanzarà n its own pilot in the department of PaysandÃ.
ProducciÃn: Cecilia Pérez and Pablo Solari, envoys of the Observer to Cardal
(It observes)
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Lets see. OLPC is a little less than $200 per laptop, or the Classmate PC at about $400 per laptop. Multiply it by 2 million children... more than a 400 million dollar savings! I wonder which way the more cash strapped countries are going to go?
I would love to get my hands on some of these to see how well they work as a learning tool. The price point puts them in line with many other learning tools on the market for children. The open source platform makes them much more expandable. And, as they become more widely used, the software available for them will become much more diverse and powerful. I wonder if the Intel proposed alternative includes an Operating System in the price.
InnerWebFreud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.
I find it interesting that Intel immediately jump in with "the ability to run win xp" as a major advantage. Leads me to ponder.
A lot has been said about the OLPC project sticking to open platforms, which may partially be a cost issue and partially an idealistic one. The real question is what is really best for the project? Sticking to open platforms, and open source or completely custom solutions, or a system that allows the use of windows xp?
I say windows and not os x, not because it's particularly better, thats an argument for a different time, but for the next question - is it better that the platform be completely open and/or custom, or that it corresponds to the most used operating system? The system that is used by a large quantity of consumers, the largest perhaps, and the platform that is the target of choice for people trying to make money of these consumers.
The real question is what is better for the students in this country. Not what is better for Microsoft, Intel or indeed Linux and the Open Source movement. Is it enough to give these students a computer, or should we be giving them a computer that gives them the potential to learn the systems in use by a majority of the world?
I guess the other side of the coin is this - if computing technology is about to find it's way into the hands of a lot of people who previously had no access to it, is that going to swell the marketplace such that what was previously a huge market share advantage could well be diluted by the choices made by this project? Every child in Uruguay is a lot of people - and its only a start. When other countries continue, the choice of operating system to learn might not seem quite as trivial as it may right now.
Doublethink is basically the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both
So how many of these new adventurers at the thin end of the open source wedge have contributed source code?
Come on, children! THOSE LAPTOPS WERE FREE FOR A REASON! ~cracks whip~
As a geek I luv computers, don't we all? But my gut tells me that tossing devices that, let's face it, require many branches of support like a species at the top of a complex food chain, will be about as successful as tossing paper money on them, them being poor children.
Don't misundertand, this isn't the arguement that we shouldn't travel to space, or not do other things, because somewhere in the world is a child is starving. No, my concern is for accomplishing the goal of this project, which I assume is, to help them prosper. You know, teach a man to fish instead of just giving him one fish.
Computers are excellent at doing many types of tasks, but lousy at others. People aren't poor because they don't have a laptop. In fact, I think most studies have shown that laptops actually have little or a negative impact on helping children learn. No, people are poor, in our current world and time, are poor because they don't have opportunity. Opportunity to exchange their own effort, work, or goods with other people.
Why? Because either someone prevents them, by means of a gun and or a system that makes it impossible to be free to do such exchanges. Sometimes I think people toss that word around like it's some etheral ideal that everyone knows they are supposed to say they value, but then go right on and act in contray ways. No, freedom is a very very very important ideal, an ideal that cannot be replaced by a 100 dollar laptop.
"They shouldn't spend *any* money on education until all poverty is solved"
Not so fast, let's see how this works out first, OK?
Education is the greatest basis for fighting poverty in a 3rd world country. Think better educated people -> more efficient entrepreneurs / companies -> more money in the local economy -> more taxes -> better healthcare and services etc. Uruguay could possibly have just made the first step to become the next India (IT-wise)!
BUT the greatest thing is that with more literate & educated people, the less likely they will endure another dictator. And that should happen *everywhere* else, not just in Uruguay! Without education, you could wait forever for all poverty to be solved.
Isn't the idea that instead of constantly giving them fish, we *teach* them to fish?
I think you have a wide education (educación) because of your words (palabras), I see how educated you are. You can do a more in deep research before you write (escribir). Uruguay has an excellent level of education, I studied in the Uruguay's public education system, it doesn't means that I'm more educated than people like you but a little bit more respectful. No se, pero al parecer a los yankees les falta un poquito de cultura y respeto por los demás. Sin ánimos de ofender a nadie. Saludos a los compatriotas Uruguayos. Arriba los sudacas!!!
Now for just a little more the government can hire half the Uruguayan software industry to create fabulous educational software in collaboration with talented teachers and researchers, and since they are the first then they can release for free or even sell it (making money to invest back into educational software development while also being cheaper for another country to buy than make themselves).
It would be fabulous to release that as open source, if only the programmers and others involved in making it can be somehow reimbursed or have their living expenses paid for which might not be a bad idea either. Also, it would be probably very cheap compared to first world rates. I'm thinking computers can be much more useful in education and maybe this will even result in a computer-based, self-paced learning curriculum in many languages.
Maybe a lot of geeks here wish that sort of thing was available when they were in grade school. If it could be released as open source then talented kids could learn in more depth or follow their interests, or even learn in more than one language at once, so instead of the problems that come from skipping grades there could be perhaps ordinary lessons plus self-paced directed or inquiry-based learning. Not just browsing wikipedia but enough for a child to learn from.
A similar thing written at adult level would also be fabulously useful. It appears some of this idea is in the encyclopedia of life that just won funding based on a "wish" speech at TED. The first thing needed is linux hacking for elementary school kids. Maybe before that an auto-restore, auto-backup extra partition?
What initially made them more enthusiastic was the possibility of taking photographs and filming each others with the included webcams.
COOL! We're raising a new generation of myspacers!
Go, Uruguay, go!!
Sorry, but I think the venerable fish is becoming exhausted. Here's World Lingo's version, with my own small tuneups.
The Web is in the air of Cardal
About 40 children of an Italian school received its computers by the good will of several authorities of the government. In one week the children should be able to connect to Internet from all the points of the city.
In the middle of great expectation and much joy of the children, president Tabaré Vázquez stood next to a great retinue of authorities of School #24 of the city of Cardal, which inaugurated the pilot program of the Ceibal Plan in the Italian school (in Florida). In the next few days it should be connected to Internet by means of wireless connections, in order that the students can accede to the Web from their homes.
In a brief speech during the act, Vázquez talked about "the importance" of the Ceibal project and assured that "she will fulfill herself the deadline of 2009 to cover all the schools of the country". The agent chief executive preferred to yield his time to one of the children.
At the end of the act, Vázquez was consulted by the present journalists on the matter of cuts in the budget, and if she were going to be able to supply all the money for the plan. Vázquez assured that she was not going to lack the money. "the US$ 15 million are predicted in the budget", assured the conductor the Uruguayan government.
Under the gaze of many parents, some from the accommodated windows or in some corner of the halls class, about 40 children of 3rd and 6th year received their computers X-O. The donation of Nicholas Negroponte is of 200 units. The rest of the students of that school of Cardal will receive its computers in the next few days.
The chance to have a PC in its hands, some for the first time, excited the boys, who did not hope to ignite their machines, to introduce their initial preferences (the first time that boot the machine it is necessary to put the machine name and to choose the colors of the screen) and to prepare to experiment with the X-O. What further it excited them was to be able to take photos and to film themselves with on-board webcam.
Later this week, the children should be able to connect to the Italian School, where an official arrived to provide the school with connection in the classrooms. In the next days this coverage is supposed to extend to the rest of the city so that the children can connect themselves to the Web from their homes. For this, wireless connection technology will be used, supplied by ANTEL with the collaboration provided with UTE.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Regards,
E. Schrödinger
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
My first computer in the classroom was an apple ][, followed by the various 68000 based macs. If I can play math, language, and geographical games on a low end 6502 or 68000 based machine, surely to god kids can learn today with "only a P2." And none of them ran Win XP either.
I know why Intel spreads the myth that you need power to use a computer. They're in the business of pushing high end processors that most people don't need.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
They allow people to communicate, simple but for most who earn a $1 a day or less this was previously impossible.
They are spurring innovation in Banking, micro-finance, and enabling new kinds of transactions
Text messaging, SMS, is still the cheapest way to get a message across - be it a pricing report for harvested crops, or a simple message to a family member in an isolated village.
True that developing countries are plagued by tyrants, corrupted governments, and other nasty people, but when people are given the power to communicate they can mobilize and share information, get organized, and that is real power.
Access to the internet is the obvious next step. "FREEDOM" just doesn't materialize, people have to fight for it, and in order to do that they need the tools. Even if there is one OLPC laptop in a village, that single laptop will open MANY doors to many people who previously had no opportunity or voice.
Nature Magazine has a cautious news story lauding the OLPC while pointing out what nay sayers observe. One concern is that the way they are achieving the price point is to push the marketing, distribution, and maintenence cost onto the buyers (the governements) and that they need to reach scale quickly, which while it probably will happen governments are demurring. If this roll out is a success it may be a big shot in arm convincing the hesitant governments. Perhaps the easiest places to get support will be one-man governments; Would-be "populist" quasi-dictators like Qudaffi is a prime candidate for a large purchase.
There's also an interesting interview with Ron Minnich of LinuxBios, who points out that the OLPC will be a major roll out for OLPC in end user hands (rather than embeds). He says that LinuxBios enables such insanely better power management than traditional bios that it's going to knock everyone's socks off. It will wake instantaneously and conserve power.
Even when operating this thing is miserly: 2 watts.
One of the suggested alternatives in the Nature Article put forward by a prominent nay sayer in India (who will not be going forward with OLPC) are that set-top style web-based apps are a better idea. I Don't actually see how. All the set top boxes currently are more expensive, don't have a screen, the screen will be too far away for it's resolution, and they don't have Key boards. So the OLPC looks pretty good.
The OLPC will automatically detect networks. I wonder if Ron Minnich managed to slide in his other project which is BPROC/Clustermatic which is used at Labs like Los Alamos to create high performance self configuring clusters with minimal cluster operating system overhead. Such a system could provide some incredible computing horsepower despite the low performance of the individual nodes.
Another thing I wonder about is printers. In the developed world anyone who can afford a computer can afford or get access to a printer so paper has never really been factored out of computing. INdeed computers if anything, are an organized way to generate more not less paper docs. In the countries using OLPC, printers won't be available. We may see the rise of paperless computing finally.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
The OLPC project is trying to make the world a better place, not make the United States more dominant.
On the other hand, uneducated farmers working 60 hours a week to feed themselves in Cambodia don't help the US economy much - do they?
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
What initially made them more enthusiastic was the possibility of taking photographs and filming each others with the included webcams.'"
What could possibly go wrong?
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
Just put a 10$ 1GB SD card in the SD card slot under the screen, and the OLPC can boot into a light, customized 3$ Windows XP OS. Microsoft has been working for the past year on adapting a Windows XP light version to run on such cheaper hardware, the OLPC hardware specs are totally sufficient for running a thinned down version of Windows XP. Microsoft certainly has the means and the will to provide such Windows XP on a 1GB SD card option, which each child could after some time and as SD card prices drop get one, and have a choice a boot-up for which OS to use.
And there in is the reason the XO is a superior solution. All the criticism of the OLPC XO and the benevolent offers of "superior" Windows based machines with $3 OS licensing fees is based off the need of a few greedy thugs to build their markets. The objective of OLPC is not to build a market for Microsoft and Intel to sell their products and introduce developing nations to the proprietary software licensing treadmill, its about instilling the ability to learn at an early age so these children will grow up with the ability to improve their living conditions. As Negroponte has already stated "An educated and creative population is, without a doubt, the best path to global health, wealth, and peace."
While I'm sure a more expensive Windows based machine could be used for the same purpose, the initial experiments that led up to OLPC used Windows based laptops, the XO and its software were designed from the ground up to serve the specific purpose of "learning learning" while the so called superior solutions being pushed by multi-billionare corporate CEOs and the like are designed to help themselves break into new markets where their current products are simply too expensive.
These wealthy individuals who lack the knowlege and experience of the people who developed and run the OLPC should simply STFU and let the professionals do their job.
As someone that has a XO (OLPC) I'll say that it is way better than any cheapie laptop I've seen. If it was available for retail purchase here in the US I'd buy several to pass out as gifts. The quality is great and it really has a lot to offer for such a low price tag. I mean it comes with the ability to participate in a mesh network and be connected to a normal wifi AP at the same time, has a decent built in camera, has a pad for pen input, is very durable, is very lightweight, stays cool, has a decent battery life, has features that make it usable as an ebook or handheld game, the software is custom written to take advantage of the laptop and work within its limited specs, and is just pretty damn cute. Every kid I've tested it on has loved it as have most adults. And remember that they actually plan to get production costs down to under $100 per laptop and then start distributing low-cost add-ons such as an OLPC printer. Your average cheapie laptop is not going to be the same.
That said, I can't believe they are distributing the XO to kids already. The software is not done at all. IMO the software is barely usable thus far. Work on the software is progressing pretty fast, and in fact that is why I have an unit, but I would not yet be distributing them with the software in it's current state. I hope they have easy access to the units being distributed so they can be updated as needed.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Hi! I am the mantainer of the blog referred in the article, http://olpc-ceibal.blogspot.com./ First of all, I'd like to invite you to see some pictures of the launching of the project in my last post (I decided to include some contents in english on the blog).
I have seen many interesting comments here. Many of them are part of a discussion that exceeds uruguayan experience, as they are the technological apsects (using XO, Classmate, ITP-C...? using laptops or desktops...?), educational aspects (which contents to use, if all the children will be interested) and, obviously, economical aspects (is it worth spending so much money?... how much will the project really cost?). I just would like to make some comments:
- Not only the educational aspects of the project have to be analyzed. The project also changes the "digital gap", taking into the information society many children and their families.
- The technologies used are not as important as the agreements we have to do for using these technologies. License costs and their renewals, as well as intelectual properties of the contents generated must get up in the table.
- The real effect of a project like this will not be seen in the next days, months, neither in a few years. Maybe in 10 years we will be able to start doing a comprehensive analysis of results. Now we are making "futurology", so it is normal having different views. What is important in this step is the conviction and honesty of stakeholders to try to make things as good as possible.
Regards, Pablo Flores
I'm disgusted to see that you are wasting time on slashdot while there are still homeless people in places like Africa and America.
You shouldn't spend *any* time on slashdot until all poverty is solved throughout the whole world.
Fun aside.
If the 14 people at OLPC uses there time on educating the childen of the world,
then that is what they have chosen to do and not for you or everyone else to decide.
If you would like to start the "one house per child" project then go ahead,
don't wait for anyone to start it for you.