A webcast of yesterday’s press conference in Tunisia announcing and showing the prototype of the MIT $100 laptop is available online. Some quotations from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s comments follow:
Perhaps most important is the true meaning of one laptop per child. This is not just a measure of giving a laptop to a child, bestowing on them some magical charm. The magic lies within, within each child, within each scientist, scholar or just plain citizen in the making. This initiative is meant to bring it forth, into the light of day. The laptops are to be financed through domestic resources, donors, and possibly other arrangements at no cost to the recipients themselves. They are to be distributed through education ministries using established textbook channels… When they start reaching the hands of the worlds’ children, these robust, versatile machines will enable kids to become more active in their learning. Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction or rote memorization. They will be able to open new fronts for their education, particularly by peer to peer learning…. The greatest national resource of any country is their children (starting at 1:24 mark of the English video)
A quotation from Dr. Nicholas Negroponte during the press conference, in response to a question about software that will run on the laptop:
The software that we are using will be open source, and open source is the key to, in my opinion, to both innovation in software and innovation in learning technology. (starting at 11:58 mark of the English video)
He also reported that one company has given a firm bid quotation for how much they will build it for, it was for less than $110.
The World Summit on the Information Society hosted the conference where this announcement was made.
On this day..
- Share Your Ideas: Platforms for Publishing #globaled10 - 2010
- Privacy Implications of your Social Graph on Facebook #cwf2010 - 2010
- Advice for Parents: How to Encourage Creativity in Your Child #cwf2010 - 2010
- Amazing iPad Digital Drawings at the Creativity World Forum #cwf2010 - 2010
- Legos, Creativity, and the Oklahoma City Lego Store - 2010
- Are We Ready to Innovate? Closing Creativity World Forum Session #cwf2010 - 2010
- imagination conversations: a project of the Lincoln Center Institute #cwf2010 - 2010
- The Power of Deep Structure by Andrew Zolli #cwf2010 - 2010
- From Imagination to Innovation: Creativity World Forum #cwf2010 - 2010
- Take the Dan Pink Challenge: Make Time for Non-commissioned Work - 2010
