Also, making this laptop work will require a lot more understanding of people in the underdeveloped world by people in the overdeveloped world (and maybe vice-versa). For the project to truly "get it right," it must not only fit into the computer culture(s) that will inevitably develop around the new interface and apps, but the hundreds of different actual cultures of people who receive the machine as well. Otherwise, we're just foisting off one more set of one-size-fits-all computing preferences and practices on the rest of the world.
Sure this laptop will offer interesting learning opportunities to students, as advertised. But it will also have all kinds of unforeseen or unstated side-effects -- some good, some bad. I just came back from 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a rural African village without electricity, running water, or paved roads -- an ideal location for these computers. Given conditions there, I can imagine that...
1. These machines will quickly start to disappear from remote rural schools and a thriving black market for the device will appear in nearby towns. (Solution: Sell the damned things to the public too, like we've been asking for years.)
2a. They *may* soon be broken and fall into disrepair, since anything people are given free has less value to them than something one works for and purchases one's self.
2b. Conversely, they *may* be seen as precious objects that are treated with great care.
2c. Most certainly, siblings who don't have access to them will become insanely jealous, resulting in lots of sibling rivalry. Sorry, parents. 8-)
3. Rural areas will become vast sources of office labor in poor countries, as rural kids seek out government and corporate office jobs accessible to them with their typing, communications, and other office-related skills.
4. Interfaces mimicking the laptop's "Journal" interface will start to pop up for Linux and Windows users, especially in the countries that first get the laptops. (Current interfaces are vast overkill for the majority of users, who just want to browse the web, write a letter, read email. There is a great hunger for a simplified alternative.)
5. The $100 laptop will spawn a great rethinking of interface design. Other slimmed-down laptops will appear from other manufacturers. (Myself, I've been waiting for years for a Palm interface running on a 7x10x1/2-inch laptop at 640 x 480 with 30 hours of battery life. And I'd pay a lot more than $100 to get it!)
6. Kids who today walk five miles to dip a bucket of water from a stream will start to become programmers and develop new apps for the $100 laptop. The criticism we're hearing that "there's no software" for the device will sound silly in a few years.
7. Most certainly, the immense divide between rural and urban in the poor world will shrink a bit. And that may in the long run be more important even than the laptop's educational function.
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Also, making this laptop work will require a lot more understanding of people in the underdeveloped world by people in the overdeveloped world (and maybe vice-versa). For the project to truly "get it right," it must not only fit into the computer culture(s) that will inevitably develop around the new interface and apps, but the hundreds of different actual cultures of people who receive the machine as well. Otherwise, we're just foisting off one more set of one-size-fits-all computing preferences and practices on the rest of the world.
Sure this laptop will offer interesting learning opportunities to students, as advertised. But it will also have all kinds of unforeseen or unstated side-effects -- some good, some bad. I just came back from 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a rural African village without electricity, running water, or paved roads -- an ideal location for these computers. Given conditions there, I can imagine that...
1. These machines will quickly start to disappear from remote rural schools and a thriving black market for the device will appear in nearby towns. (Solution: Sell the damned things to the public too, like we've been asking for years.)
2a. They *may* soon be broken and fall into disrepair, since anything people are given free has less value to them than something one works for and purchases one's self.
2b. Conversely, they *may* be seen as precious objects that are treated with great care.
2c. Most certainly, siblings who don't have access to them will become insanely jealous, resulting in lots of sibling rivalry. Sorry, parents. 8-)
3. Rural areas will become vast sources of office labor in poor countries, as rural kids seek out government and corporate office jobs accessible to them with their typing, communications, and other office-related skills.
4. Interfaces mimicking the laptop's "Journal" interface will start to pop up for Linux and Windows users, especially in the countries that first get the laptops. (Current interfaces are vast overkill for the majority of users, who just want to browse the web, write a letter, read email. There is a great hunger for a simplified alternative.)
5. The $100 laptop will spawn a great rethinking of interface design. Other slimmed-down laptops will appear from other manufacturers. (Myself, I've been waiting for years for a Palm interface running on a 7x10x1/2-inch laptop at 640 x 480 with 30 hours of battery life. And I'd pay a lot more than $100 to get it!)
6. Kids who today walk five miles to dip a bucket of water from a stream will start to become programmers and develop new apps for the $100 laptop. The criticism we're hearing that "there's no software" for the device will sound silly in a few years.
7. Most certainly, the immense divide between rural and urban in the poor world will shrink a bit. And that may in the long run be more important even than the laptop's educational function.