This paper will investigate the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, and will explore the possibilities this innovative program holds for real change in the world.
If one turns a critical eye upon the world, it is easy to see the disparity between the so-called “first world” and the “developing world”. The over-whelming poverty so rampant in the developing world (and in poor rural and urban parts of the “first world”) brings with it a host of problems, from hunger and sickness, to despair for the hope of a future. One of the key factors hindering change is in the area of education. The OLPC program is meant to provide real and abiding change to this situation. As the ‘Vision’ section of their website notes, one in three children in developing countries does not complete the equivalent of fifth grade due to lack of resources available for education. (¶ 1) What could the future hold if these over two billion children were given the opportunity for a real education?
The OLPC project is the brainchild of one of the founders of and former chairman of the MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte. Negroponte’s idea was to design a computer that could be made with very little monetary cost; earning the program it’s moniker “the $100 Laptop” as described by the MIT Media Lab & $100 Laptop web site (¶ 1).
The laptop as envisioned would be a rugged unit that could survive in conditions typical in poverty-stricken areas and would rely upon innovative technologies to provide networking, Internet connectivity, and power capabilities in parts of the world where it is common for there to be no running water, much less Internet, phone or even electrical access. In his speech before the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference (2006), Negroponte tells us of a lesson learned from earlier attempts at introducing laptop computers in Senegal. The children, “even though English was not there language, the Latin alphabet barely was their language, but they could just swim like fish, they could play these like pianos.” (time: 3:30) He goes on to describe a more recent project he did in conjunction with Bill Gates. He describes a village in Cambodia that has “no electricity, no water, no television, no telephone, but has broad-band Internet now.”
Broadband Internet access in a hut with no electricity is possible because of wireless Internet connectivity, broadcast from a central location such as the village center. The laptop is equipped with a new type of network technology called “mesh networking” which connects each laptop one to another as both a transmitter and receiver, the more laptops on the network, the more interconnected they all become. If even one laptop on the network has access to the Internet, than that access is shared across the mesh network, granting all laptops on the village network an Internet connection. Such Internet access would typically be located at the school or village center. A visual demonstration of this concept is very helpful to understanding its connective power. The OLPC website offers such a demo linked from its ‘Hardware’ page (http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/ ).
Another key component is the long-life batteries used in the laptops, which are charged during the day while the children are gathered at school in the village center. Future versions of the laptop may even integrate solar cells into the lid of the laptop so that the laptop can be powered solely by solar power.
Through introduction of this tool and its supporting infrastructure into poor areas, a broader connection with the outside world can be established. Imagine the possibilities for learning (not to mention the growth of a feeling of global citizenship) offered by linking children all over the world, in countries both developed and still developing. As Fisch and McLeod state in the video “Did You Know 2.0” that, “Kids who have never held a textbook will now hold the world, and be connected… to you.” (time: 5:50) The children will be ambassadors to the world.
The Global Kids Network website is a good example of the type of organizations already in place that are working to unite children from the world over in an online community. They work with organizations such as UNICEF, Public Broadcasting, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other sources of inspiration and funding to, as their Online Leadership page describes, “find and support ‘pockets of innovation’ for increasing digital literacy”. (¶ 2) Imagine for example, children in a village in Thailand with global pen pals their age in schools in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, France, China, Russia, Israel, Palestine, Iraq… truly anywhere in the world, perhaps even working collaboratively on school projects, all connected digitally to each other and to the resource-rich Internet. The possibilities for positive change are staggering.
OLPC is not without its critics. In the article “Let Them Eat Laptops”, Peter Steven describes the opinion of certain factions within some developing nations that believe programs such as OLPC to be “ a Trojan Horse, driven by the English-dominant internet, determined to sweep poor children into the maws of consumerism.” (¶ 7) However, Steven also states, “In December 2005, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that OLPC holds great promise.” (¶ 5)
Other problems have arisen around the issue of the cost of the laptops. According to the ONLINE article by Fischman (2007), the price of each unit has not quite met the $100 mark, noting that the production cost is currently around $175, but he quotes Negroponte as saying that “The price tag, however, could be down to $100 by 2009”. (¶ 5)
It is hard to evaluate the success of this initiative to date as the program is literally just launching the production of the laptops. A recent brief article in The Online Reporter (2007) declared the “$100 laptop to go in to production” with three million units ordered and new alliances between OLPC and Intel. The first units are expected to be in the hands of the children of developing nations by the end of the 2007. (¶ 1)
There are seven countries lined up to receive the initial computers China, India, Thailand, Egypt, Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, with the possible addition of the state of Massachusetts which must jump through governmental red tape and do a bid for the project and has not yet set approval for the laptop program. It would benefit school districts in any poor area, be it rural or urban to encourage their school boards to investigate becoming involved with the OLPC project. Negroponte states that OLPC would be more than willing to work with states to introduce this program as well.
In conclusion, the One Laptop Per Child initiative shows great potential for providing the tools for educational change on a global scale. As it is deployed in the coming year and expanded upon the results will be seen.
References
Fisch, K., & McLeod, S. (2007). Did You Know 2.0. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Fischman, J. (2007). ONLINE. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(41), A32-A32. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from EBSCOhost
Fletcher, G. (2006). It’s a Vision Thing. T H E Journal, 33(13). Retrieved September 8, 2007, from EBSCOhost
Global Kids Network. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.globalkids.org/
MIT Media Lab & $100 Laptop. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
Negroponte, N. (2006). The vision behind One Laptop Per Child (video). TED Talks. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/41
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a $100 laptop for the world’s children’s education. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from http://laptop.org/
Steven, P. (2006). Let Them Eat Laptops. Alternatives Journal, 32(3), 6. Retrieved September 7, 2007, from EBSCOhost
$100 laptop to go in to production. (DIGI GRAMS) 550. (2007). The Online Reporter. Retrieved September 8, 2007, from Thompson Gale.
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