The $100 laptop project initiated by the MIT Media Lab under the leadership of Nicholas Negraponte is an extremely important project with tremendous implications for education, literacy, the digital divide, and economic growth across the globe. While the project has moved forward this week with additional agreements and press announcements, it is important to clarify the goals, scope and timeline for the project. This is the laptop design announced in October 2005:
The goal of the project is to provide a laptop for every student in developing nations that can serve as “both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think.” The laptops will run Linux (a free, open-source operating system,) and batteries will be charged by either electricity or an integrated hand crank. The One Laptop Per Child non-profit organization is working with the United Nations and education ministries of developing nations to make this dream a reality. Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan has been selected to manufacture the laptop.
It should be emphasized that these laptop computers are “not yet in production and will not be for sale.” The OLPC organization is not taking “sign-ups.” OLPC and the UN are negotiating with national education ministries interested in providing a laptop for EVERY student in their country. They are expecting shipment of the laptops starting in late 2006 or early 2007. National ministries of education will purchase and distribute laptops to students and teachers: they will not be actually “for sale” on the open market.
We are in the midst of a fundamental revolution in the way information is produced and shared. The Internet and web 2.0 technologies are pivotal reasons for this revolution, but Moore’s law (the regular doubling of computer processor power and reduction in costs) is also a critical factor. Built on these technologies, Google (and other search sites) continue to “flatten the world” thanks to searchable, digital information. People with access to the Internet today can literally “publish at will” text for a global audience. The capabilities to publish audio and video at will are continuing to develop. Although significant restrictions to blogging and idea exchange still persist, the speed and evolution of these developments in knowledge sharing are nothing short of revolutionary in the same way that Johann Guttenberg’s printing press was in the 1450s. Implications of these trends for not only education, but also the causes of human rights, social justice, and democracy worldwide are potentially enormous.
To learn more about the project, view the video of the OLPC and UN press conference in Tunisia from November 17, 2005, and listen to the audio from Nicholas Negraponte’s speech at the MIT Emerging Techonlogies conference from October 4, 2005. We live in exciting times!
On this day..
- Cross Examination Debate Flow Template for Numbers in iWork '09 - 2012
- Teach Your Students to be Digital Artists (and learn from Kevin Honeycutt) - 2012
- Blog comment moderation: How and Why? - 2010
- Crescent Public Schools: The Eyes of Oklahoma Are Upon You! - 2010
- Present at OSSBA in August 2010 - 2010
- eDiscovery requirements and archiving student email - 2010
- iPhone iTalk Application: A Great Event Recorder - 2009
- Comparing Broadband USB Options for Laptops - 2009
- Podcast224: An Interview with Patrick Henry - 2008
- Updating goals - 2007
