I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I’ve often wondered if the olpcnews.com site, which popped up some time after the project started to gain momentum, might have backing from one of those many groups that wants the project to fail. Then a comment in one of the posts about the videoconferencing caught Chris Ball’s attention. Interesting excerpt is here:
…You said that in your capacity as director of Geekcorps. One of Geekcorps’ technology partners is the “Intel Emerging Markets Group”. You may remember one of Intel’s products for emerging markets…. the Classmate PC, which runs Windows. You might say that’s “the same software… enjoyed by Americans,” though I would dispute the word “enjoyed”.
And sure enough, if you go to the geekcorps site, you will see Wayan’s name right there as “Geekcorps Director.” Look at the partners page and you will see this:
Geekcorps has partnered with Intel Emerging Markets Group in Intel’s “Discover the PC” initiative focused on delivering products and technologies that are specifically designed to meet the unique needs of people in emerging markets.
So does Intel fund that site? Maybe not. But certainly one of the main posters on the site, who uses a classic model of “agree, and then disagree by playing fast and loose with facts and rhetoric” model of posting has what appears to be a close connection with one company who feel that they have a lot to lose if we succeed. That’s something that should have been clearly disclosed on the “About OLPC News” link. At worst, it’s a pretty crappy move on the part of a major corporation. At best, it sure feels like Astroturfing.
So a conspiracy? Probably not. But it sure feels like one.
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I’ve been reading that site for a while, and concluded they were probably gaming me 2-3 months ago. In particular, their pattern of what they attack and what they applaud is very unusual. My thought had been that it was Microsoft-backed, but Intel makes just as much sense.
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I’d rather avoid this becoming a pile on if at all possible. Yeah, the site’s content is questionable, but it’s often complementary as well. I posted that because I thought it was a pretty strange connection, but if you don’t have new facts I’d rather avoid just more speculation.
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If the OLPC folks don’t like this, simply create a high-quality OLPC news site, and encourage lots of respected people to link to it, with the string “OLPC news” in between the “A” tags.
Google will then show the good site over the astroturf site.
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olpcnews kinda feels like mozillaquest to me. maybe a olpcnewsnews is needed
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Yeah, I was the one who finally came across that quote from Wayan Vota and left that comment on his site, right before pulling it out of my RSS reader’s queue. All I really have to add is that I’m disappointed with myself for falling for what could be (not saying it is, but it’s too close for my comfort) astroturfing for this long.
If nothing else, the Mozillaquest comparison is apt. But the only reason I was there is that the only RSS-readable news sources that are about the OLPC and nothing else are Wayan’s site, and the actual developer blogs like this one. So I’m back to using Google Alerts for the more mundane, non-technical news items like what’s being deployed where.
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Thank you Chris! I’ve been saying that OLPC News was up to something for a while now, and there’s the proof.
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I’ve once seen a Google adsense for olpcnews.com, and thought it strange. A blog advertising itself? A guy at the Brazilian olpc mailing list saw it in another context, and took a snapshot of it:
http://picasaweb.google.com/joseantoniorocha/OLPC/photo#5007561381810757682 -
“…thought it strange. A blog advertising itself?” This isn’t strange, of course. I meant, paying ad space to advertise.
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I first discovered olpcnews two months or so ago, because of the Google AdWords adverts that show up when you google for OLPC:
“OLPC: Scam of the Century”
“Is the $100 Laptop Ready?”
“Real? Ready? Right?”That’s a bit extreme for simple headline-baiting-for-ad-views
At the moment they seem to be using these more tame ads:
“Will Kids Hack $100 Laptop Code?”
“Price Increase with Libya XO Order”
“News + Information + Commentary”
“See Prototype – Know Who Ordered”
“Quanta Building Test $100 Laptops”Maybe they are just the headlines on olpc news at the time, and maybe it’s just that they became tamer, but it was a real turn-off for me. I notice that the actual headlines are still rantingly negative.
You have to trust peoples’ judgement. This is obviously deranged and people will recognize that. And the guys employer will probably recognise that too.
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I don’t think that this is a conspiracy or anything close to such a thing.
Personally I knew that Wayan Vota was working for Geekcorps and writing for olpcnews as I had briefly met with him during Computex 2006 back in June. Geekcorps as an organization is also working together with HP and VIA Technologies. And also Intel apparently. But does the fact that his employer partners with a number of companies that are also dealing with ICT in the emerging markets really disqualify his opinion on the OLPC project? I don’t think so.
While one can debate the site’s writing style and non-scientific (and at times non-constructive) way of criticizing, I strongly believe that they often raise very interesting and valid points. All in all olpcnews does provide a badly needed “other perspective” on the whole project. Most other publications (on- and offline) reporting on the OLPC project don’t seem to know anything about the emerging markets, or ICT and its impact on societies.
It would have made sense for the olpcnews about-page to include that Wayan was working for Geekcorps. That way everyone could have known “where the comments were coming from”.
Just my 2 euro-cents…
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It may be counterproductive to drive more traffic to a site you criticize.
As far as I see, they are fond of the technology but skeptical of the
non-technical side of the OLPC project. And with the scarce information
about grandiose intentions at laptop.org, it’s little wonder. Just because
they’re not “true believers” does not mean that they don’t have valid
questions. -
They don’t have to be true believers they just have to quit spreading FUD, from where I stand OLPC News was setup with a deliberate purpose in mind, and that purpose was to muddy the waters around the Children’s Laptop.
Remember MozillaQuest in the old days?
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Christopher,
Astroturfing? Ouch. That’s pretty cold.
As stated on the OLPC News About page:
“In addition, the opinions they express here are theirs respectively and do not represent the views or opinions of their friends, family, neighbours, acquaintances, or employers.”
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Actually, re-reading you post, I can’t be sure if I should be offended or flattered.
Offended that you would think my personal integrity could be bought by anyone – my employer or Intel – or flattered that a small hobby of mine, blogging about OLPC, could be worthy of such attention.
I think I’ll go with flattered. Thanks for believing OLPC News, and all those that write and comment on it, matters.
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Wayan,
Your integrity suffers because your reporting, rather than being critical is often inaccurate. Your integrity also suffers from lack of full disclosure. You use a look and headline which leads people to believe your site is some how connected to the OLPC project and only on the eleventh paragraph of your about page is it pointed out you have nothing to do with OLPC. You buy google ads that show up when anyone searches for olpc, and may I note those ads don’t disclaim connection to the project. Even if you are not being directly influenced by anyone it is still pretty telling that you have been hostile towards the OLPC project but have not fully disclosed your connection with an entity that feels it has a lot to lose if the One Laptop Per Child is a success. I have no problem with your views, believe me I have people who are close to me who have been critical of the project. What really is the problem is the way you present them by doing a little as you can to disclaim affiliation with the actual OLPC project.
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I find olpcnews’s sniping to be rather tedious and unconstructive. Often it is uninformed, but I can’t really blame them — it’s not easy to know all the plans for the laptop project. That they incessantly refer to their core criticisms (with extensive use of the strike tag) is where it gets tedious, and by doing it in passive-aggressive asides it makes it hard to discuss the issues honestly.
That said, they do aggregate useful news, and I find things out from that site that I don’t find by tracking mailing lists, IRC, or other parts of the community. For instance, it’s the only place I’ve seen a mention of Seymour Papert being in an accident.
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Trackback from Belly Button Window on December 23, 2006 at 8:22 pm
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I also wouldn’t see any “big” conspiracy around this – much more magaziny headlines to get a buck from that news site.
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I’ve found the OLPC’s Wiki is a great place to get OLPC news. you should advertise it as such.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/News
Also Mirror a copy on the wiki with the title OLPCNews to help Google help you.
Keep up the good work Chris.
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When you host a themed-website, any association by the writers with an organization known for disparaging the theme of the website should be disclosed. Bottom line, ‘nuf said. It builds confidence in the source — once shaken it takes a long time, if ever, to regain the trust that was automatic before questions were raised. I had no reason to distrust Wayan and OLPCNews until now. Now that there is a question, however well- or mis-founded, it will be there in the back of my mind, each time I visit the website.
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I’m a daily user of the OLPC news forums, and an OLPC give one get one donor. OLPCnews is fair look at what’s going on with the actual situation. The OLPC non-profit has bungled almost every step of the process so far and olpcnews is just reporting on it. If you brose the forums (which are the main portion of the site after all) you’ll see just as many positive discussions going on.
And to the writer: Are you a G1G1 participant? From the article I guess not. If you had(or as many of us are, still are) dealt with the nightmare that actually getting your XO in your hands is, and keeping it working after you do, then you would understand why the site tends to have such a negative slant.
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I’m sorry, I’m a bit lost here. (although I’ll also grant a certain naivete). What organisation is it which is presumed to want to ‘muddy the waters’ surrounding the XO, and for what purpose?
I trust you’ll note that am continually quotable, on the OLPCNews site, as disparaging the XO. And I do of course have an alernative to propose, as can also be observed.
I wonder if that means I am part of the conspiracy which is being suggested? Eh?
Personally, if I were in Wayan’s shoes, I should be offering someone a major clack round the ear-hole for impugning my honour. But then I’m also old, and old-fashioned.
Martin Woodhouse
Become a Friend of Gnome!
Watch as I Grow
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