http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/12/25/onelaptop.onevillage.ap/index.html
" Take Kevin, the aspiring trumpet player. Sitting in his dirt-floor kitchen as his mother cooks lunch, he draws a soccer field on his XO, then erases it. Kevin plays a song by "Caliente," his favorite combo, that he recorded off Arahuay's single TV channel. He shows a reporter photos he took of him with his 3-year-old brother. A bare light bulb hangs by a wire from the ceiling. A hen bobs around the floor. There are no books in this two-room house. Kevin's parents didn't get past the sixth grade. Indeed, the laptop project also has adults in its sights. Parents in Arahuay are asking Mendoza, the visiting psychologist, what the Internet can do for them. Among them is Charito Arrendondo, 39, who sheds brief tears of joy when a reporter asks what the laptop belonging to ruddy-cheeked Miluska -- the youngest of her six children -- has meant to her. Miluska's father, it turns out, abandoned the family when she was 1. "We never imagined having a computer," said Arrendondo, a cook. Is she afraid to use the laptop, as is typical of many Arahuay parents, about half of whom are illiterate? "No, I like it. Sometimes when I'm alone and the kids are not around I turn it on and poke around." Arrendondo likes to play checkers on the laptop. "It's also got chess, which I sort of know," she said, pausing briefly. "I'm going to learn." " Robert: "It's clearly stated on the OLPC site that they do not offer tech support because they hope users will become savvy enough with the XO to fix issues on their own. I think this is ... well, insane." I'd like to think that there's a future generation of nerds, who like me, got their start supporting & fixing their friend's computers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmYDgncMhXw Frankly, I think throwing kids in at the deep end of maker/hacker culture is a stroke of genius. Robert: "So far, a huge number of design decisions have clearly been made by the proverbial developer. " I'm sure you're aware Alan Kay is a principal designer on the project although I dont know the extent of his involvement. From the interviews I've read there's method to his madness, I might not necessarily agree with the result, but it's certainly not your typical OSS engineering centric featurefest. I would have to disagree with the thinking that Sugar fails because it does not "communicates how to make things work" Children learn best by exploring their world. regards -pauric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=23928 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
