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Poor People Need The $100 Laptop Because It Can, Like, Do Stuff
from the what-a-vision dept
Nicholas Negroponte's been talking about his vision of creating a $100 laptop for the world's poor for quite some time now, and says that the first batch of devices could reach users in the middle of the year. It's never been clear to many people just why this project is so important, mainly because Negroponte and his group haven't clearly explained its benefits, particularly to the countries they expect to buy the machines, some of whom say their resources are better spent on more teachers and classrooms. Negroponte's in the news again, talking up the device, or XO, saying that despite its meager specs, it's actually better than a "real" laptop, and that he'll give up his current laptop for one. He also derides current uses of computers in education, saying that it's "criminal" that kids are being taught how to use applications like Excel, Word and PowerPoint, instead of "making things, communicating, exploring, sharing". Again, it seems like Negroponte's a little bit out of touch and very obtuse in his communication. It's not hard to see why schools in developing nations would want to teach kids how to use office applications, since they likely see it as a skill that will serve students well down the line, particularly when compared to the much more nebulous activities Negroponte mentions. He's right in that there's much more computers can offer than word-processing and spreadsheets. But to sell developing nations on the XO, he's got to make it much more clear what kids can do, and why it's beneficial, not just talk in abstract expressions in an attempt to sound visionary. Still, it remains unclear exactly why his special efforts are needed, when the market is driving down the price of "real" laptops pretty well on its own -- keep in mind, too, that the $100 is just a target that can only be reached once economies of scale kick in, and the XO will initially cost more.
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Re: Negroponte's lack of decency,accountibility,mo
The "100 Dollar "One Laptop Per Child" slogan which was
catapulted by Negroponti on a "Nolens Volens" basis is
extremely harmful and serves no purpose other than the
worst sort of ego tripping over the backs of people who
struggle on a day to day basis to survive.
To survive on a day to day basis for a substantial number
of people in Africa,Latin America,Indo China and not
necessarily limited to these regions and taking place on
a smaller scale in countries which are technically speaking
not at the bottom of the pit are deserving more respect
than what Mr.Negroponti is willing to grant them.
Each and everyone as individual or on corporate or
governmental basis who is willing to participate in the
discussion how developing countries can be assisted
to level the playing field and create fundamental
and sustainable conditions which allows them to
participate in the global economy.To achieve this a
massive number of structural problems needs to be
adressed whereby education and access to information
are of key importance and the amount needed to
lift up the quality of tuition as well as infrastructure is
in most of the developing countries simply not feasible
and is not only a matter of money let alone a matter
of the availibility of pc's for educational purposes.
The last 50 years fortunes have been thrown at
developing countries without any results , supply a tractor
and not the diesel makes that a 50.000 usd machine
functions 2 days and month later at best taken apart
for spares and old iron.
All sorts of initiatives which aim to bridge the gap
between the the digital divides without any form of
coordination and cooperation is first of all a destruction of
capital and secondly gives the false impression something
is done to bridge the gap.The 100 dollar OLPC initiative
of Mr.Negroponte equals the lowest lack of respect and
compassion for people who literally fight for their survival
from one day to the other, he is creeping over the backs
of the poor to gain attention and publicity,no one came
even close for the "slut of the year" award in 2006 and
he is well underway to achieve the same for 2007.
To start with the 100 dollar benchmark which he tagged
without even being nor coming close and surrounded by
all sorts of ridicolous arguments and are causing all sorts
of problems for other initiatives and the figure of 100 is
missleading and should never have emerged.
It is not about 100 or 200 dollar for a laptop which was
developed with financial gifts from Google and free
software related services of Red Hat and others and not
following the normal path of calculating Costs Of Goods.
A company like INTEL is spending an arm and leg on
educational projects which are less sexy and don't draw
the sort of attention but are much more needed and
valuable and INTEL is not mixing charity and Costs Of
Goods.
Moore or Moors Law explains the 18 months or so cycles
roughly doubling strength and halveing the price and
size of processing power will with or without OLPC
continue to decrease computer related products.
The worst part is the lack of any scientific proof or
sense to give laptops as a kind of toy and the children
will ultimately figure out how to play or operate it and
are without any practical value or relevance.
Every dollar spend regardless by who is taking a dollar
away of the investments needed for implementing an
infrastructure which provide access to broadband based
information for the poor and not only today but as a
regular service for the lowest possible price allowing
even the poorest people to have in house access to
the web and this is what is ultimately and urgently
needed and this will provide the access for schools and
if local government succeeds to adapt educational
methods and material more focusing on individual skills
development in stead of having to deal with classes of
40 / 45 children with a fixed in house computer
infrastructure is something else as a challenge when you
know that at this moment streaming water,books, toilets
and classrooms are the day to day challenges.
By just throwing in a few million laptops which in a year
will have dissappeared and or non functioning will be the
outcome and increase the gap.
All initiatives and investments so far only confirm another
law. Charity, philantropy, aid to developing countries
is a dead end street.Mixing charity and market driven
way of doing things is hindering developing countries
to become accountable and frustrating those who
provide funds and witness that in 50 years nothing other
than the tractor as example is replaced by OLPC.
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