Nicholas Negroponte, ex-head of MIT media labs and the driving force behind OLPC is claiming that his brainchild, the $100 laptop, is as vital to a child as a pencil. After a rash of recent press attacking the fundamentals of his project, Negroponte tagged the following soundbite to his response to those who doubt the project’s fundamental premises:
“I wonder if you would advocate one pencil per classroom, or a special room for all pencils, called a ‘writing room’.“
This is not the first time that his line has been trotted out by the OLPC. I came across this first whilst reading the FAQ section of their website:
Continue reading ‘$100 laptop is not a pencil’
Wow, more Mobile computer classrooms (MIU)… Somehow I missed a project run by Sun Microsystems. There’s not a lot about it on the page i found here and all the links are dead, however it seems fairly recent (0705 in the link could mean July 05?). I’ve emailed and will post more when I know more. Having said that, I’ve just found this link at Sun about the project expanding into Paraguay. Hmm, maybe I should persue this further.
UPDATE: The project is running and the page I linked to has been fixed. Here are a couple of links to videos of the “Sun Ray Bus”:
Low Bandwidth (Real Media)
High Bandwidth (Real Media)
It has been a while since I really thought about my idea to create a mobile computing classroom and I spent a bit of time online today and actually found a mobile computer lab for sale in the US.
Months have passed since I talked here about my mobile internet unit (MIU) idea, so I thought I’d update you a bit. As yet, the plans remain… plans. I contacted a number of people who were involved in a similar project in Malaysia and they have been keen to encourage me to look at the idea further. I still haven’t been able to fully cost how much a unit would cost and so today I set about searching the web for more information to help me get a bit closer to a final figure. The other day in town, I saw a huge truck that was being used as a mobile phone shop. I’m trying to get hold of the owner of the business to have a chat about it, but to no avail. I can’t seem to track him down. I’ll try and get a pic of the truck soon though as its exactly what I imagined the MIU would look like and I’m keen for others to see it.
Continue reading ‘Mobile Internet Unit available for sale’
This post springs from a comment in the previous thread. It also explains a project that I hope will fill my time while I’m here in Kenya.
There are many needs here in Kenya, the majority of which I am not really in a position to help with. A myriad western NGOs seem to be tackling two most prescient problems, poverty and disease. However, I perceived a growing issue in this country that could be addressed in a novel way. The digital divide, often talked about online from zippety 1mb ADSL connections can be observed widening here by the month. Not only that, but access even to low speed Internet is beyond many people in rural areas.
When it comes to facilities for schools, well you night as well forget about it. They can’t even afford books for their pupils.
Continue reading ‘An Idea’
High speed internet is prohibitively expensive. I’ve been looking in to it and the only ADSL available to the general public is Telkom Kenya ADSL. Their prices, as you can see from the link, are jaw dropping.
The price of a 512kbps connection is GBP208.00 per month. A similar service in the UK costs about GBP25.00 per month (I’ve used zen internet as a comparison as they have no data cap and no 12 month contract, just as Telkom offer. Otherwise, I could find even cheaper examples).
The digital divide can only accelerate if this is the price of high speed data connection in the “developing” world! Its encouraging to note the costs are falling though!
I think Hannah and I will be investigating ISDN connections. They’re expensive (but not extortionate) but may not be available locally!