OLPC / Ondalivre

Here is a question for you: 8 years on, would you recommend anyone start a new deployment with XO-1 laptops?

With the hardware now long past its life expectancy, spare parts hard to find, and zero support from the One Laptop Per Child organization, its time to face reality. The XO-1 laptop is history. Sadly, so is Sugar. Once the flagship of OLPC's creativity in redrawing the human-computer interaction, few are coding for it and new XO variants are mostly Android/Gnome+Fedora dual boots.

Finally, OLPC Boston is completely gone. No staff, no consultants, not even a physical office. Nicholas Negroponte long ago moved onto the global literacy X-Prize project.

That's not to say the OLPC idea is dead. OLPC Miami is still servicing the major deployments in Uruguay, Peru, and Rwanda, and has licensed commercial rights to the brand to Sakar/Vivitar, which introduced an XO Tablet for American children.

Yet let us be honest with ourselves. The great excitement, energy, and enthusiasm that brought us together is gone. OLPC is dead. In its place, is the reality that technology is a force in education, and we all need to be vigilant about when, where, and how it's used.

So take a moment to mourn the loss of OLPC, and then join us for the larger Educational Technology Debate on where all ICT4Edu efforts are going.

PS: A hearty shout-out to Mike Lee, Christoph Derndorfer, Brian Berry, Yama Ploskonka, Jon Camfield, and all the rest who made this journey the ride of a lifetime. Thanks, and see you on the next roller coaster.

My name is Lars Bo Andersen and I have spent the last five years studying OLPC and, in particular, one small project at a school in Nigeria (which I call Akila's school after one of the students).

I have written a PhD thesis about OLPC, Akila and the school which I defended at Aarhus University in Denmark on the 27th of February:

There is, amongst others, a chapter describing the theories and debates around OLPC, there is one investigating how the initiative rose to fame and there are several more specific investigations of the laptops at Akila's school (e.g. chapters 5 and 6).

In this post I would like to share some general thoughts with the OLPC News community and, if possible, have them debated in the comments.

Let me give away my position from the start: I was/am highly enthusiastic about the opportunities of new technology for learning (I have benefited from these my whole life). But studying OLPC and the project at Akila's school has convinced me that we need to fundamentally re-conceptualise what it is we do when bringing laptops, tablets, internet, etc. into impoverished settings.

What OLPC projects do, I argue, is not to bring in laptops, but to reconfigure already existing networks of relations between children, teachers, hardware, software, pedagogy, parents, poverty and so forth.

But my argument is not only that we should re-conceptualise what we do, but also what we bring. What is it, really, that we are working so hard to deploy/implement/sustain?

I argue that XO laptops (or tablets) too are networks of relations. Not objects, not tools, but networks of relations.

The various XOs are, in the strongest (ontological) meaning of the word, sitting on each their respective network within which several actors are busy deploying each their own variant of the XO. I have described these many criss-cross deployments as a development encounter.

At Akila's school, for instance, the different deployments running through the network make the XOs suffer from a multiple laptop disorder. The laptops have several different identities and logics, some of which are even mutually exclusive and in friction.

The point is that not only is Akila's laptop different from itself, it is also different from Negroponte's laptop, or the ones in Peru and Uruguay.

What laptops are and what they can do is the outcome of dispersed negotiation (in the network).

In fact, we readers of OLPC News are part of this negotiation. When I claim that laptops are networks, some of you may write (or, at least, think to yourself): "nonsense, that is not what they are; they are tools with which to learn; they are X, no, wait, they are X and Y, but, in either case, they are not networks".

This is not just your opinion, or mine, this is in very specific ways something we are working to realise in praxis.

In this outlook, the rational, modern world of stable identities (XO as formally described) causing well known effects (trojan horses, mega change, literacy, empowerment, digital inclusion, learning French in Paris...) has turned trickster.

The purpose, impact and logic of laptops are evasive and emergent - not beyond control and not within control.

Even Negroponte, when claiming that laptops (or tablets) are for helicopter deployments, must accept that it is not really for him to decide - he is not alone in the network. Or, that is, he may make helicopter deployments in Ethiopia, but not at Akila's school, in Uruguay and elsewhere.

The world is acting back at Negroponte just like the Nigerian teachers are acting back at the Sugar philosophy.

We (as in all of us working with OLPC projects around the world) invest ourselves in the network, we add to the laptop, and so too does children, parents, NGOs, Quanta, solar panels, satellites and everyone else.

Quanta adds assembly lines, some of you write activities, and I add a story about Akila to supplement Negropontes stories from Cambodia, Ethiopia and elsewhere.

By the way: how can satellites add to laptops? Well, the satellite-isp-company-network adds a rather substantial invoice to Akila's laptop each month in order for the laptop to bridge the digital divide.

So, what does this mean? That everything is relative and unpredictable?

No, but it is a call to attention that 'XO' is simply the name we give large heterogeneous ensembles (Sugar+Quanta+AMD+Plastic+Scratch+Akila+Teacher+Papert+Batteries....) in which the specific components differ from deployment to deployment.

I have tried to re-think (by way of many others) what it is that we do and what it is that we bring.

A good question to the community, besides from general comments, is, then, what do you think we do and what, really, are we bringing?

OLPC / Ondalivre war zum dritten Mal in Folge mit einem Messestand beim Welt Friedens Forum in Lugano vertreten. Das Hauptthema in diesem Jahr war «Ernährung und Armut». Zum Auftakt bauten Jugendliche symbolisch eine riesige 1.5 Tonnen Reisinstallation auf. Das Grundnahrungsmittel Reis wurde Ende des Forums an die Ärmsten im Tessin verteilt, ein Teil davon kam Senegal zugute. Ziel in Zukunft ist es, dass jedes Jahr ähnliche Projekte auf diese Weise in Lugano umgesetzt und finanziert werden.


Quelle: x-event.designo.ch
Datum: 19. bis 21. Oktober 2013
Autoren: Stefan Rovetto und Salomé Wagner


Home » Project » OLPC / Ondalivre » Interview, Berichte

Das lange Wochenende am 3° Welt Friedens Forum im Kongresszentrum in Lugano 2013 unter der Federführung von MaffeisNetwork und dem Culture Ticino Network Team lädt ein zu verschiedenen Initiativen, Workshops, Aktivitäten und Diskussionen mit Projektpartnern, Messebesucher und Besucherinnen zu den Themen Friedensförderung, soziale Gerechtigkeit und Umweltschutz.

Eine FriedensbotschaftWie jedes Jahr ist es nicht einzig die Aufgabe, beim Forum den OLPC / Ondalivre Messestand zu managen. Das Aufgabenspektrum ist vielseitig und abwechslungsreich. Das OLPC / Ondalivre Team interagiert Hand in Hand mit dem Culture Ticino Network Team und ist an der «Generazioni nel cuore della pace» mitverantwortlich für das technische Netzwerk, den Pressecorner und die Medienecke, hilft mit beim Generieren der Bild- und Videoinhalte, bereitet diese auf, so dass die Daten im Anschluss in die sozialen Netzwerke einfliessen können.

Die Aktivisten rund ums Forum helfen die Friedensbotschaft mittragen, helfen diese nach aussen in die Welt hinaus zu tragen. Ohne die vielen Helfer und Helferinnen könnte dieses Welt Friedens Forum in Lugano nicht stattfinden. Wer sind diese Leute, die sich in diesem Umfeld engagieren? Auf gut Glück picke ich eine Person heraus, es ist Salomé Wagner – und sie stellt sich an dieser Stelle gleich selber vor.
Salomé Wagner: "Jemand kennt jemanden, der jemanden kennt. Auch so kam ich zum Welt Friedens Forum. In diesem Fall über meine Schwester, die im Tessin lebt und sich für das Friedens Forum engagiert. Es war mir klar, dass ich mit meinen sprachlichen Kenntnissen und meiner Vernetzung in Social Media meinen Beitrag leisten kann. Gerade die eigenen persönlichen Netzwerke erlauben uns, Botschaften über Sprachgrenzen einzubringen, ähnlich wie ein Stein, den man in das Wasser wirft und immer neue, weitere Kreise zieht. Genauso sehe ich die Friedensarbeit von Culture Ticino Network: Ein dringend nötiges Puzzlestück, das sich einfügt in die Diskussion und allen Beteiligten die Reflektion über den Frieden und den eigenen Beitrag dazu ermöglicht.

Am Friedensforum habe ich mich auf die Begleitung über Social Media konzentriert. Kein anderes Medium erlaubt momentan, schneller Kreise zu ziehen und Botschaften an all die Menschen, die nicht vor Ort dabei sein können, zu schicken. Ich habe zwei eindrückliche Tage erlebt! Salomé Wagner, Social Media Consultant, Zürich."
Was hat OLPC / Ondalivre mit Friedensförderung zu tun?Mehr als zwei Drittel der Weltbevölkerung haben keinen Internetzugang oder ein Zugang zum Internet ist vorhanden, jedoch aus finanzieller oder technischer Sicht für die Menschen vor Ort nur eingeschränkt nutzbar, das Fenster zur Welt vielen somit verschlossen bleibt. Die Aufgabe der OLPC / Ondalivre Teams besteht darin, den Menschen, Schulen, Behörden und Familien Wege aufzuzeigen, wie es mit vorhandenen Mitteln möglich ist, die Zugangsmöglichkeiten zum Netz zu realisieren oder zu verbessern. Mit dem Ziel, dass freie Netze immer von Menschen in Eigenregie aufgebaut und gewartet werden. Die praktische Umsetzung der Idee von OLPC / Ondalivre übernehmen Teams und Communities in der ganzen Welt. Letztendlich soll ein individueller Mehrwert für die vor Ort ansässige Bevölkerung dadurch generiert werden. Das Wort «Mehrwert» ist nicht gleichzusetzen mit dem (Un-)Wort Fortschritt. Wird das Erzielen eines sog. Mehrwertes nur durch einen Rückschritt möglich werden – dann soll es so sein. Jedes noch so gut gemeinte Konzept muss von den OLPC / Ondalivre Teams stets hinterfragt werden.

Die gelebte NetzkulturDas Internet, die bewusst gelebte Netzkultur ist eine wichtige Stütze der Zivilgesellschaft, dadurch existierende Chancen-Ungleichheiten bei Minderheiten die Chancen der Benachteiligten verbessert werden. Menschen können sich damit zum Beispiel gegen Diktatur und Menschenrechtsverletzungen zur Wehr setzen. Der Dialog zwischen zwei oder mehreren Parteien wird jedoch nicht per se durch die Technik besser oder einfacher, im Gegenteil, die Art zu Kommunizieren muss von allen Generationen von Grund auf neu (in den Schulen) gelernt werden, die Technik ist als Ergänzung gedacht, ersetzt weder den mündlichen Dialog, die Körpersprache, noch alle die anderen Möglichkeiten des sich austauschen können.

Der vorbehaltlose ZugangDer OLPC / Ondalivre Projektidee zugrunde liegen die Grundprinzipen der (Meinungs-)Freiheit, Rechte (für Minderheiten) und soziale Gerechtigkeit wie vorbehaltlosen Zugang für alle, denn alle Menschen sollen einen universellen und offenen Zugang zum Inhalt des Internets bekommen, der frei von diskriminierender Vorzugsbehandlung, Filterung oder Kontrolle des Datenverkehrs aufgrund kommerzieller, politischer oder anderer Gründe ist, aufgrund dessen sich OLPC / Ondalivre Teams von den heiklen Allianzen wie A4AI, Internet.org distanzieren.

In diesem Sinne – con la solidarietà – LA PACE SI PUÒ FARE!



Bildergallery
Videos

Links
Generazioni nel Cuore della Pace | Culture Ticino Network | MaffeisNetwork SA

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Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Sugarizer: sugarizer.org/
Android on XO-4 Touch: wiki.laptop.org/go/Android

Resumen en español al final del artículo

Ahead of next week's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas - an event which OLPC Association has repeatedly used for making announcements in recent years - Brad Linder from liliputing.com reports that OLPC Association and Vivitar will release a slightly updated version of the 7" XO Tablet. Additionally they will add a 10" version of the XO Tablet to the lineup.

Brad's article says that the updated 7" XO Tablet is expected to cost $150 whereas the 10" version should cost $200. There's no information on when these new tablets will become available and if they'll also be available outside of the United States.

As the comparison table I put together below shows the hardware upgrades compared to the currently available 7" XO Tablet are quite small. In fact the only core component that received a significant upgrade is the CPU which is reported to be a quad core model with an unknown frequency as opposed to the currently used 1.6GHz dual core version. The front and back cameras also received upgrades to more up-to-date specifications. The 10" version is reported to additionally include a GPS module and a larger battery.

Brad also writes that:

Vivitar says optional accessories will include a wireless keyboard and a few things you don't normally see marked as tablet accessories, including a digital microscope with up to 300x magnification and a digital telescope with up to 200x magnification.

The addition of these accessories doesn't come as much of a surprise given that OLPC Association showed off a microscope (which upon closer inspection looks to be this $27 AGPtek-branded model) and the telescope designed by the French Academy of Science to Engadget all the way back in May of 2013. At the time they were discussed as accessories for the XO-4 laptops but I assume that the accessories will be quite similar to what was shown back then.

At this point it is unknown whether the new XO Tablet's will also come with an updated version of Android and/or additional content accessible via OLPC Association's Dream interface.

Overall the upgrade of the 7" XO Tablet is nice but very incremental and hardly anything to call home about. The introduction of a 10" version might potentially attract some additional buyers although the reported 1024 x 768 resolution is definitely on the very low-end for such a large display. I'd say that based on the currently available information these announcements don't significantly improve the XO Tablet lineup's value proposition compared to other consumer products. But then again, it's not like the upgrades hurt it either.

So if you're interested in purchasing an XO Tablet then I'd suggest taking a look at one of the dozen or so articles we've published in which different people shared their experiences and impressions of the device, software, and content.

Resumen en español: Por delante del Consumer Electronic Show en Las Vegas - un evento que OLPC Association ha utilizado para hacer anuncios en los últimos años - Brad Linder desde liliputing.com informa que la OLPC Association y Vivitar lanzará una versión ligeramente actualizada del 7" Tablet XO . Además se va a agregar una versión de 10" de la XO Tablet. El artículo de Brad dice que se espera que la actualizacion del 7" XO Tablet va a costar 150 dólares , mientras que la versión de 10" debería costar $ 200. No hay información sobre cuándo estas nuevas tablets llegaran y si también estarán disponibles fuera de los Estados Unidos.

En general, la actualización del 7" Tablet XO es bonito pero muy gradual y no muy excitante. La introducción de una version con 10" podría potencialmente atraer a algunos compradores adicionales aunque la reportada resolución 1024 x 768 es en la gama baja muy para una pantalla de este tamaño. Yo diría que en base a la información disponible en la actualidad estos anuncios no mejoran significativamente la propuesta de valor de los XO Tablets en comparación con otros productos. Pero al mismo tiempo no es que las mejoras lastiman tampoco.

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Resumen en español al final del artículo

photo by DustyDingo

As I sit here and go through our posts from 2013 instead of getting ready for tonight's celebrations I can't shake one thought from my head: It's been a weird year when it comes to One Laptop per Child.

And no, I don't mean that it's been a year in which nothing happened. However as you can tell from the low quantity of posts - in the past 12 months we've published only about two dozen articles - there haven't been too many things that got me excited enough to start writing about them. The reality is that much of what has happened has been somewhat depressing.

Even though many people within the global olpc community have denied it for much of the year it's now become painfully obvious that OLPC as an organization is very different today then it was back in 2012 and earlier. Of course different doesn't automatically mean worse but personally I can neither get excited about nor much believe in the value of the XO Tablet which is what OLPC Association in Miami largely focused on in 2013.

The core challenge that drives me remains figuring out how to integrate information and communication technologies in education in developing countries. We've learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't work through OLPC since it was launched all the way back in 2005. And I dare say the world is a better place thanks to the efforts of the organization, its employees and everyone involved in the global community.

However I feel that this year has shown that for many reasons we've reached an impasse.

OLPC Association as an organization is no longer looking at the right questions, doesn't come up with relevant answers, and has hence lost the capacity in terms of people and associated leadership role that the capital letter OLPC has had for the majority of the past few years.

As a lower-case olpc community and wider ecosystem we have not quite figured out how to deal with that change. Yes, people are working on interesting technology solutions, some of which might prove to be highly valuable down the road. But beyond that it's not clear who will solve - or at least try to solve - the tough challenges related to what I've called the six criteria for successful implementations of ICT for Education projects in developing countries:

• Infrastructure
• Maintenance
• Contents and materials
• Community inclusion
• Teacher training
• Evaluation

If we want to be successful we will have to address these challenges ourselves and head-on rather hoping for someone else to do it for us. After all that's the spirit that led to the creation of OLPC and everything that has happened since then in the first place.

The question - regardless of whether you're in Austria or Zambia - no longer is whether to use information and community technologies in education or not. It's about what technologies to use and even more importantly how to use them. If we want to have a say in answering these questions instead of seeing the world's classrooms filled with inappropriate devices and outdated pedagogy approaches we better up our game and focus on what's important. Else we'll find ourselves a couple of years down the road, standing on the sidelines, complaining about this missed opportunity, and wondering what we did wrong. And I don't know about you but that's not what I want to be doing come 2018.

With these thoughts in mind I wish all of you a Happy New Year and look forward to 2014! :-)

Resumen en español: Como ya estoy muy tarde para una fiesta no me queda el tiempo para hacer una traduccion al español pero si alguien tiene una pregunta que me avisan en un comentario o por correo electronico. Feliz año nuevo desde Austria!

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Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

More information available at: wiki.laptop.org/go/Android

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

More information available at: wiki.laptop.org/go/Android

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo:

Christoph Derndorfer posted a photo: