Very good Terry,
I agree in general terms to your note below.
In following your analogy in the new direction you suggested, my comment is
that we need to be also "breaking ' ground -- 'forking' the earth-- turning
the soil as well [even ' at first'] so as to give the seeds every chance
for growing.
My problem is that as great as is [& it is]the $100 lap top and the one for
each child etc, concept; they are not getting the best opportunity for
success because the basic foundational - preparatory work is not being
done-- instead, everybody is into the 'tangibles' first -- the things they
can point to & say "I did that" Spade work does not lend itself to the lime
light or the cash register
On a slightly different issue:
And if we are addressing the "Digital divide" then we must begin to
encourage both the production of hard & soft ware in a more diverse
pattern. An example, [no politics intended here] Cuba has done some great
innovative work in medical technology that is just not getting the
widespread recognition & support that it ought -- from both sides of the
"digital divide'--- WHY??? The Simputer does not have/never had a chance if
its not "first" world made and supported.
Development will not be as complete and as accelerated as it ought if it is
not given an equal chance. Your comment "For any program to work, and move
into many different villages and areas, the "seeds" need to be able to be
sown without ICT people on the ground going around a whole country setting
up low-level infrastructure" is real but both the foundational work and the
"opportunity" has to be in place
It is at events as that from which the 'lean green $100 machine' was
launched that we need to seize the opportunity to influence leadership on
the foundation needed for sustainable growth. That's how I see it
Errol Hewitt
At 12:22 26/11/2005 +0100, you wrote:
At 03:54 PM 11/24/2005 -0600, David wrote:
Why does a laptop prevent children from working together? I would argue
that an affordable, real laptop with useful features would be an
incredible boon to community technologists. Firstly, because community
networking, via laptop or desktop, is still networking between members of
a community...meaning that it is a collaborative process instead of an
alienating one.
I've been following these discussions, and I think it's time to try to
bring ALL the good ideas to bear on the issue of using ICT's in
appropriate ways to improve the lives of people, and especially to support
children and their education.
I think that the Mesh Network feature of the MIT/everychild laptop is one
of it's strengths (and one that can and will be used in other efforts). It
is a network that will work for community-based collaboration for
education and other goals. For any program to work, and move into many
different villages and areas, the "seeds" need to be able to be sown
without ICT people on the ground going around a whole country setting up
low-level infrastructure.
Let's take this discussion in a different direction for a bit.
Suppose you want to cover a new field with grass.
- You could put a good piece of mature grass in the centre, and allow and
encourage it to grow outward.
- You could take a larger number of very small grass seeds and plant them
widely throughout the field.
(This is an imperfect analogy, of course, but follow it with history for a
bit...)
My father was There when the first radio sets were built in America. The
radio "Boom" of the early 1920's was largely a do-it-yourself effort where
many people built their own receivers. By 1925 there were ready-made sets
in stores across the country. The NEW ability to "be connected" was very
powerful in that time and place. (My Dad became a Broadcast Engineer as a
lifelong profession).
I was There when the first personal computers were designed and
built. This was largely a do-it-yourself effort, with communications thru
startup magazines like "Dr. Dobbs Journal of Computer Calisthenics and
Orthodontia". I wirewrapped a 6502-based machine and typed in the hex
code to load Tom Pittman's Tiny BASIC. I quit Broadcasting and went to
work for IBM in 1974. IBM made two attempts at a personal computer; the
second one is the one that came out as ready-made sets in stores across
the country. The NEW ability to have a computer as a tool for one's own
use was very powerful in that place and time.
I believe that real change and real impact only happens when the seeds are
sown widely, and that the time has come when this can and will be done. I
think that the countries that will have a wide success in using ICT's to
benefit their citizens will have BOTH a movement to provide infrastructure
out to TeleCenters or similar functions, AND a widely-sown grassroots
effort to have millions of computers directly in the hands of
children. Seymour Papert's vision of the computer as "The Children's
Machine" (Title of his book) will come true in the near future.
The $100Laptop as envisioned by MIT is not the only way to do this, but
it's definitely in the right direction, in my opinion. Look at
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ Read who the principals are.
Those people DO know what they are doing, and have a track record of
successfully to pushing Technology to a real product.
As another principal of the $100 laptop project, Alan Kay, famously said
about 20 years ago:
"The best way to predict the Future is to Invent it"!
This Year, Right Now: I think we should all be behind the TeleCentre type
efforts, and the InfoYouth Centres that UNESCO is helping to build. They
will work now, and start the OUT reach of technology in an appropriate
way. They will support the large numbers of computers in the hands of
children in the future.
What do you people out there who are actively working in the field think?
Regards, Terry King ...On The Mediterranean in Carthage, Tunisia
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.8/183 - Release Date: 25/11/2005
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.8/183 - Release Date: 25/11/2005
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org
http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE
in the body of the message.
