one laptop + video conferencing = hotness
by Christopher Blizzard
Robert McQueen has posted a web log entry about getting video teleconferencing from the OLPC XO machine. This is pretty damn hot and I’m very excited about it. It basically sells itself.
I think we’re going to move as fast as possible to get the right software onto the machine so we can include a video conferencing activity. How cool would it be to be able to video conference from a laptop that only costs around $100 or so? We’re pretty close to making that a reality.
How sad is it that this is still so hard on a regular linux box… :)
No argument there. But we’re able to write our own drivers here and we’ve got most of the infrastructure in place so it just might work.
I don’t think that the concept of video conferencing is suitable for Child’s XO machine. Why not extend this idea to establishing a video classroom. This should be just right way for a educational project.
Africa is not the local ZOO
The exchange of arguments related to the pro’s and con’s of the OLPC crusade can be compiled to
” it is better than nothing ” whereas i would argue ” nothing better than nothing ”
It is in the line with the tradition of abusing a whole continent and the poor population of
the world, first we enslaved them, fair enough then is then and now is now, than we occupied
their land, stole whatever of any value, raped, abused, infections, religion, alcohol, and
disrupted the tribal based society in such way that their is no way back.Like Nobel Prize winner
Mr. Desmond Tutu said ” They came to our country and handed us the bible, asked to close our eyes
as to prey together, and when we opened our eyes they had taken our land, and we stood with there
with the bible in our hands”
Since 40 / 50 years a wide variety of assistance has been given with practically no result as
the NGO’s have been “digested” when it comes to projects sponsored, financed or donated more often
than not it is a waste of time and money.Civil unrest, wars, structural corruption and poorly
trained administrators, very poor education and on top of that the devastating impact of AIDS.
18 % HIV positiv, 1 million who even don’t know they are HIV positive, average age decined for
women to 53 and men 49 which is about 13 years less than 10 – 20- years ago.Last and not least
30 – 35 % unemployment and a new wave of youth to arrive.
Reason enough for digital assistance, no doubt, but not this way, just a few reasons :
- still a lack of classrooms, streaming water, toilets, books etc.
- children up and down to school with a laptop is too dangerous and will become a major source
of problems and conflicts with possible physical injuries, knives are very common here.
- At home on a good friday or saturday evening it is gone for a bottle of beer before you know it.
- A major part of the problem is the from the day kids are born and at 5 years are physically and
mentally already lightyears behind.5 years and ask to give red,blue,yellow the name of the color,
and when they go to school a large % is not able to pick it up and are sitting in total isolation
and leave school at 10 // 12 crime, prostitution, mother at 14 // 15 years.
To do a better job as parents they have to have access or be accessible via internet at home and
with the access the little ones can be stimulated to actively use and develop their brains and
curiosity and eagerness to know / learn more.
For the schools the laptop is a total waste “mesh” “videocamera” “wireless” for the sake of what ?
To benefit from technology adapted tuition material is required and the teacher must have direct
access to the screen of the 40 /45 pupils, which most probably the years after is less than half,
and each child could at its own speed and interest measured in time learn much more, others don’t
have to wait for her / him and the slower ones bot the constant pressure of hardly or nothing to
understand.
- Without a pre commitment from the government regarding the implementation of the equipment
the investment becomes a total waste.
Intel is and has spent and arm and leg in time and money to educate teachers which is a
serious investment, less flashy, it is the dirty job, yes indeed someone has to do it and
will be bottomline much more effective.
- in sofar one can attach any value to calculations made by the UN, the few who reach a respectable
age will cost on a day to day basis quite some money and let it be 200 / 300 USD more or less
it makes the 100 Dollar a joke, money from Google, help from a few others, an ex factory price,
not by far any close to the 100 Dollar when you add transport, importduties and VAT.
That brings me where it is actually all about, a combination of gifts,philantropy, a contract,
a popconcert, artists who have to sort of discuss with the G-8 the debts and are slaughtered
by the politicians, it is done with the best intentions but not functional.
Combining straight forward business with aid is not the way to do it as it undermines
the normal way of trade, business on one side and where and when needed assistance , food relief,
medicines, one day you pay and the other they are for free.The laptop in question should under
“normal circustances” cost today let say 250 – 300 usd and perhaps in a year 150 – 250 Dollar
One will never know, as without the crusade of Mr. Negroponti the laptop would not have been the
consideration to buy or not to buy in the first place and what is furthermore damaging is the
impression people get that something is done to address the digital divide issue and the same
sort of impression all of us have had the last 40 / 50 years.
The relation between donor and receiving countries must become much more a business model , not
for the sake of business but for the sake of accountability. When the local rulers are not hold
accountable the waste of good money and energy will be wasted and ultimately bring the poor not
a step further and what is really needed is P2P based help, the knowledge gap is enormous and
millions, often quite simple, questions remain unanswered as there is no infrastructure but slowly
more and more people will get access to the web and when for whatever reason someone has questions
and could obtain some information or advuse from the rest of the world
I’m sorry Peter but I can’t feel guilty for something in which I had no part.