Oh, you're one of those, are you? I was only quoting Picasso--"Good artists borrow, great artists steal"--but may I ask you to clarify whether you believe such concepts exist as "identity theft" and "theft of services"? Thanks.
Something's the matter with your sig line... it's telling me content restriction is good. Did you mean something like "content restriction [actualization/attainment/allowance/acceptance/ adoption/approval/...]"? Annulment is pretty much the exact opposite of the word you want there. Unless you're pro-DRM, which doesn't seem to be the case.
Apple might already be using icc to compile parts of OS X, for all I know, but a big problem with blindly substituting compilers is that gcc and icc expect different command line arguments. Thus it'll take some time to rewrite the makefiles, retarget the Xcode projects, and whatnot to be icc-aware. At least, that's how I understand it--hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to correct my mistakes.:-)
The effect is real, but I doubt it's enough to refute the conclusion that America maintains its lead on innovation and research. It would be a more compelling counterargument if English weren't "the international language in the academic world," as the Jiao Da study notes, and if the English-language science, literature, medical, &c. journals weren't constantly packed with contributions by English and non-English speaking researchers alike. But you do raise a good point.
While cell phones are inexpensive and there is growing convergence between the technologies of telephony and computing, there are some differences that make the distribution of cell phones the wrong path to follow. Remember, this is not just a connectivity project; it is a learning project. The display is tiny. Even if the information is beamed to a TV set, their are still two major problems: (1) half of the children in the world don't have electricity at home (and thus no TV); and (2) standard TV resolution is too low for reading books or looking at webpages for an extended period of time. It's possible with HDTV, but HD has very limited presence in the Third World and it is too expensive. Cell phones are very limited in terms of their ability to foster a wide range of express and, unlike computing culture, which is as much about creating as consuming, phone culture is service oriented: you use a phone, you do not transform it. It is not a "thing to think with."
That's a very insightful point, but what if the funds aren't available to do both? The best argument I can think of is that since mobile telephony seems to be spreading on its own, that is, without the help of governments and NGOs, the OLPC initiative is where developmental aid should be directed. But then, I have to ask, why not direct those limited resources at broadening access to telephony even faster?
An entire library of information is great for education, but you won't be able to do much with that education unless you're able to communicate with the world beyond your village. A mobile phone is much better suited for that purpose.
To get onto the Internet with a hand-cranked laptop, you'll need a cellular connection anyway. Land lines throughout central Africa are horrendously expensive and unreliable. And besides, a cell phone with access to an entire world of information, that lasts two weeks on a single charge, is much more helpful than a portable encyclopedia you have to crank every half hour. Most places do have access (within walking distance) to electricity--it's just, again, unreliable.
The more you learn about the $100 laptop, the more it seems like the result of well-intentioned people having absolutely no clue what people in developing economies actually want or need.
Adding on to that, check out Celtel, "Africa's favourite mobile phone network." The BBC gives them a cursory profile, noting that the vast majority of their customers are prepay--not monthly or yearly.
I don't think so. They probably mean it's targeted towards prepay customers, rather than anyone on a recurring billing cycle. Many mobile networks in central Africa, to name one developing market, are prepay-only.
Intuitively I'd agree (as a U.S. citizen, too!) but surprisingly, the data disagree: "America boasts 17 of the world's top 20 universities, according to a widely used global ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. American universities currently employ 70% of the world's Nobel prize-winners, 30% of the world's output of articles on science and engineering, and 44% of the most frequently cited articles. No wonder developing countries now look to America rather than Europe for a model for higher education." Here's the full article.
I don't disagree that the current administration seems to be doing everything in its power to cripple American innovation, research, and creativity.
Well, my Javascript's on, but I'm not even seeing the tags displayed. But since "tagging is only open to subscribers and some users," I guess I must not be one of the "some users." I wonder if it has anything to do with my (apparently) being blacklisted from moderation, for reasons unknown.
OK, but that wasn't really my point. If it helps: s/GIMP/open-source software/, s/sucks/difficult to get help with/, s/painting/creative right-brained pursuits/.
Well, it's not like you can't tinker with Windows at all. A curious kid is going to find stuff to play with, whether it's Legos, or the written word, or computers. And in the case of computers, I don't necessarily see that the particular OS is important--I'm a lifetime Mac user, for example, and there's an enormous community of Mac geeks who love exploring and customizing every technical, behind-the-scenes aspect of the system. I can only imagine it's the same, if not more so, for Windows.
So if tinkering's easy on any platform, why not go with Linux? Only because Windows is the platform that best accommodates everyone's interests to begin with. Linux might have a decent office suite nowadays, but what about music composition? Illustration? Podcast creation? Even just looking at the free tools, the software available for Windows is much more accessible to non-geeks than the stuff out there for Linux desktop environments. And the geek, if so desirous, can install a different platform later.
You raise a lot of good points, though, so I reserve the right to change my mind later.:-)
What are you talking about? Do you seriously still believe that laptops are a better value proposition than cell phones, as far as donations to developing nations go? Or are you just mad that you don't get to proselytize a computer project?
America isn't North Korea, and I bet these kids have a lot more experience with PCs than you (or the article submitter) realize. It's rare to find a school or library system entirely bereft of computers, even in the boonies. In urban areas I've been to, they even tend to be Macs.
Don't assume that just because kids are economically disadvantaged, or from a "bad" neighborhood, that they're stuck in the dark ages.
Power sources like that do exist, you know. With a few turns of the crank, you can power a cellphone for a couple days, or you can power a laptop computer for fifteen minutes. Do you really imagine phones, in these situations, aren't a better value than computers?
But it's rare to find places, even in central African nations, with no access to electricity at all. Typically you'd charge your phone or laptop on your weekly trip to the nearest town. The $100 laptop seems to be the result, more than anything else, of not having a clue what people in developing nations actually want or need.
Actually, laptop computers are not nearly as effective in poverty reduction as mobile phones (of which, for $100, you could buy enough to supply a village). In a "third-world hellhole," to use your terminology, economic and political opportunity is all about connectivity and sharing limited resources, and telephones encourage both of these far more effectively than do computers. Connectivity should be obvious; after all, mobile phones were designed to facilitate communication. Mobile phones are also easier to share, because they can be passed around to everyone in a family, or a village, with much less hassle than a laptop computer.
You mentioned, too, the unreliability of infrastructure in the developing world. Show me a laptop whose battery lasts as long as a mobile phone's, or recharges as fast during the short intervals the grid is up. Show me computer connectivity as dependable as wireless cellular networks, in areas of the world where copper gets torn up for resale within days of its being laid.
But you shouldn't take my word for it. Google it. Or read these articles for a good summary.
Well, tinkering and tweaking may teach you to be a better geek, but for someone who's just trying to do something creative in a non-geek area of expression, being forced to tinker and tweak can be really frustrating. What got my goat was that the original poster pointed to this as a benefit: "Frustration builds character!"
My feeling is that we geeks will always find things to tinker with--some kids with donated PCs will undoubtedly download a Linux distro and start hacking away. Other kids might want to write the next great American novel, or even just read it on the internet. Erecting roadblocks to these aims, even in the name of computer literacy, won't help anyone.
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Oh, you're one of those, are you? I was only quoting Picasso--"Good artists borrow, great artists steal"--but may I ask you to clarify whether you believe such concepts exist as "identity theft" and "theft of services"? Thanks.
Something's the matter with your sig line... it's telling me content restriction is good. Did you mean something like "content restriction [actualization/attainment/allowance/acceptance/ adoption/approval/...]"? Annulment is pretty much the exact opposite of the word you want there. Unless you're pro-DRM, which doesn't seem to be the case.
You should change the url in your sig to "Too many replies beneath your current threshold."
...Opera and Firefox, of course, having "nicked" it from iTunes via Safari. There's no such thing as innovation, great artists steal, blah blah blah.
Apple might already be using icc to compile parts of OS X, for all I know, but a big problem with blindly substituting compilers is that gcc and icc expect different command line arguments. Thus it'll take some time to rewrite the makefiles, retarget the Xcode projects, and whatnot to be icc-aware. At least, that's how I understand it--hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along to correct my mistakes. :-)
"Troll"? How can the truth be considered "troll"? Any mods care to explain?
The effect is real, but I doubt it's enough to refute the conclusion that America maintains its lead on innovation and research. It would be a more compelling counterargument if English weren't "the international language in the academic world," as the Jiao Da study notes, and if the English-language science, literature, medical, &c. journals weren't constantly packed with contributions by English and non-English speaking researchers alike. But you do raise a good point.
That's a very insightful point, but what if the funds aren't available to do both? The best argument I can think of is that since mobile telephony seems to be spreading on its own, that is, without the help of governments and NGOs, the OLPC initiative is where developmental aid should be directed. But then, I have to ask, why not direct those limited resources at broadening access to telephony even faster?
An entire library of information is great for education, but you won't be able to do much with that education unless you're able to communicate with the world beyond your village. A mobile phone is much better suited for that purpose.
To get onto the Internet with a hand-cranked laptop, you'll need a cellular connection anyway. Land lines throughout central Africa are horrendously expensive and unreliable. And besides, a cell phone with access to an entire world of information, that lasts two weeks on a single charge, is much more helpful than a portable encyclopedia you have to crank every half hour. Most places do have access (within walking distance) to electricity--it's just, again, unreliable.
The more you learn about the $100 laptop, the more it seems like the result of well-intentioned people having absolutely no clue what people in developing economies actually want or need.
Yeah, unless you're on MySpace.
Adding on to that, check out Celtel, "Africa's favourite mobile phone network." The BBC gives them a cursory profile, noting that the vast majority of their customers are prepay--not monthly or yearly.
I don't think so. They probably mean it's targeted towards prepay customers, rather than anyone on a recurring billing cycle. Many mobile networks in central Africa, to name one developing market, are prepay-only.
Intuitively I'd agree (as a U.S. citizen, too!) but surprisingly, the data disagree: "America boasts 17 of the world's top 20 universities, according to a widely used global ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. American universities currently employ 70% of the world's Nobel prize-winners, 30% of the world's output of articles on science and engineering, and 44% of the most frequently cited articles. No wonder developing countries now look to America rather than Europe for a model for higher education." Here's the full article.
I don't disagree that the current administration seems to be doing everything in its power to cripple American innovation, research, and creativity.
A postmodernist would be totally cool if that's your outlook. Glad it works for you! :-)
Well, my Javascript's on, but I'm not even seeing the tags displayed. But since "tagging is only open to subscribers and some users," I guess I must not be one of the "some users." I wonder if it has anything to do with my (apparently) being blacklisted from moderation, for reasons unknown.
I keep reading comments about this new tagging system, but I'm not seeing the tags. Where are you finding this stuff? Is it subscriber-only?
OK, but that wasn't really my point. If it helps: s/GIMP/open-source software/, s/sucks/difficult to get help with/, s/painting/creative right-brained pursuits/.
Where'd you DJ?
Well, it's not like you can't tinker with Windows at all. A curious kid is going to find stuff to play with, whether it's Legos, or the written word, or computers. And in the case of computers, I don't necessarily see that the particular OS is important--I'm a lifetime Mac user, for example, and there's an enormous community of Mac geeks who love exploring and customizing every technical, behind-the-scenes aspect of the system. I can only imagine it's the same, if not more so, for Windows.
:-)
So if tinkering's easy on any platform, why not go with Linux? Only because Windows is the platform that best accommodates everyone's interests to begin with. Linux might have a decent office suite nowadays, but what about music composition? Illustration? Podcast creation? Even just looking at the free tools, the software available for Windows is much more accessible to non-geeks than the stuff out there for Linux desktop environments. And the geek, if so desirous, can install a different platform later.
You raise a lot of good points, though, so I reserve the right to change my mind later.
What are you talking about? Do you seriously still believe that laptops are a better value proposition than cell phones, as far as donations to developing nations go? Or are you just mad that you don't get to proselytize a computer project?
America isn't North Korea, and I bet these kids have a lot more experience with PCs than you (or the article submitter) realize. It's rare to find a school or library system entirely bereft of computers, even in the boonies. In urban areas I've been to, they even tend to be Macs.
Don't assume that just because kids are economically disadvantaged, or from a "bad" neighborhood, that they're stuck in the dark ages.
Power sources like that do exist, you know. With a few turns of the crank, you can power a cellphone for a couple days, or you can power a laptop computer for fifteen minutes. Do you really imagine phones, in these situations, aren't a better value than computers?
But it's rare to find places, even in central African nations, with no access to electricity at all. Typically you'd charge your phone or laptop on your weekly trip to the nearest town. The $100 laptop seems to be the result, more than anything else, of not having a clue what people in developing nations actually want or need.
Actually, laptop computers are not nearly as effective in poverty reduction as mobile phones (of which, for $100, you could buy enough to supply a village). In a "third-world hellhole," to use your terminology, economic and political opportunity is all about connectivity and sharing limited resources, and telephones encourage both of these far more effectively than do computers. Connectivity should be obvious; after all, mobile phones were designed to facilitate communication. Mobile phones are also easier to share, because they can be passed around to everyone in a family, or a village, with much less hassle than a laptop computer.
You mentioned, too, the unreliability of infrastructure in the developing world. Show me a laptop whose battery lasts as long as a mobile phone's, or recharges as fast during the short intervals the grid is up. Show me computer connectivity as dependable as wireless cellular networks, in areas of the world where copper gets torn up for resale within days of its being laid.
But you shouldn't take my word for it. Google it. Or read these articles for a good summary.
Well, tinkering and tweaking may teach you to be a better geek, but for someone who's just trying to do something creative in a non-geek area of expression, being forced to tinker and tweak can be really frustrating. What got my goat was that the original poster pointed to this as a benefit: "Frustration builds character!"
My feeling is that we geeks will always find things to tinker with--some kids with donated PCs will undoubtedly download a Linux distro and start hacking away. Other kids might want to write the next great American novel, or even just read it on the internet. Erecting roadblocks to these aims, even in the name of computer literacy, won't help anyone.