Author of machiavelli.net, proud father of three, interested in shaping network society. Welcome to my blog.The Politics of One-Laptop-Per-Child
The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) has been able to capture the imagination of the world in a surprising way. Nicholas Negroponte and his team have understood the politics of networked life in a way that not many others have. Starting out with a slogan “a $100 Laptop for the developing world” they created an eco-system that potentially will change basic education.
There is a fun review of it in “Freedom-to-Tinker“
I’ve spent all of my life around computers and laptops. I’m only 12 years old though, so I’m not about to go off and start programming a computer to do my homework for me or anything. My parents use computers a lot, so I know about HTML and mother boards and stuff, but still I’m not exactly what you would call an expert. I just use the computer for essays, surfing the web, etc.
Over the last few days, I spent a lot of time on this laptop. I went on the program for typing documents, took silly pictures with the camera, went on the web, played the matching game, recorded my voice on the music-making application, and longed for someone to join me on the laptop-to-laptop messaging system. Here is what I discovered about the OLPC laptops:
My expectations for this computer were, I must admit, not very high. But it completely took me by surprise. It was cleverly designed, imaginative, straightforward, easy to understand (I was given no instructions on how to use it. It was just, “Here. Figure it out yourself.â€), useful and simple, entertaining, dependable, really a “stick to the basics†kind of computer. It’s the perfect laptop for the job. Great for first time users, it sets the mood by offering a bunch of entertaining and easy games and a camera. It also has an application that allows you to type things. The space is a little limited, but the actual thing was great. It doesn’t have one of those impossible-to-read fonts but it was still nice. When the so-so connection allows you to get on, the internet is one of the best features of the whole computer. With a clever and space-saving toolbar, it is compact, well designed, accessible, and fast.
