: Name: Paul Hyland; Location: Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

I'm the executive producer for the web site of a nonprofit publisher of education news, information, and resources, I play in a band, and I work on analyzing and influencing the impact of computers on society. I love my partner in life and my daughter very much.

My Daughter

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Paul's Web Space 2.1

Politics, Culture, Technology

Stories about cool events I've attended, musings about social media and other technology, and commentary about people, issues, ideas, whatever. I've had a web site since 1994, at my own domain since 1997, and switched it to blog format in 2005. Now, in 2008, I've added labels, shuffled things around a bit and fixed some style and UI quirks - hence 2.1. Watch for more widgets and microformats....

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

OLPC - Give One Get One

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project yesterday launched the availability of production models of the XO laptop to citizens of US and Canada, but only for a short period of time. I'm buying one for my daughter Fiona under the Give One Get One (G1G1) initiative. I'm pretty excited about this myself; I've seen a pilot model, and I thought it was very cool if a little clunky (and I understand that a lot of that clunk has been worked out by launch). Actually, I've already had my picture taken with Fiona using the built-in camera. The reason for this program is to raise the money to send more laptops to deserving children in third world countries than their governments were willing to pay for today.

I participated in a very interesting conference call yesterday organized by Jerry Michalski (former editor of Release 1.0). He holds the weekly Yi-Tan Tech Calls for technology analysts, investors, and other interested parties to discuss the forces of change that are all around us. This call was entitled "You Buying an OLPC?" and it contained some very insightful analysis and commentary, kicked off by Jerry, with no particular guest but lots of participants. I learned, for example, about the Sugar operating environment and Squeak development environment (built in), and more on the built-in WiFi and mesh networking, video camera, etc. One common opinion was that while the OLPC might not last as a technology, some of the building blocks like Sugar and Squeak do look like they have legs. I've also seen with my own eyes the ruggedness of the machines, resistant to shocks, water, dust, etc. Read more about the technology and the environment.

One thing to think about (and a caution I have heard) is that these machines are meant for small children, and as we all know, the Internet isn't necessarily a perfectly safe place for small minds. Tellingly, the G1G1 Terms and Conditions contains this paragraph, which parents should heed:

10. The XO laptop is designed for easy-to-use wireless connection by children to the Internet and other networks. Internet access must be purchased separately through an independent Internet Service Provider (ISP). In selecting an ISP, you should remember that, in addition to the many wonderful sites and educational resources on the Internet and World Wide Web, there are places where you wouldn’t want your child to go and people you wouldn’t want your child to meet. That’s why many ISPs offer “filters” that assist you in monitoring and/or controlling your child’s Internet access. So your child can have a safe and healthful experience, OLPC FOUNDATION RECOMMENDS THAT YOU USE AN APPROPRIATE INTERNET FILTER, REMAIN INVOLVED IN YOUR CHILD’S USE OF THE INTERNET AND, OF COURSE, STAY ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATION.

Of course, that's only good common sense, but I'm glad that they spelled it out in their T&C document, which was a refreshingly plain-english read — not short, but understandable, and not too many words wasted.

What the heck, I'll buy it right now...there, it's done!

Link: http://www.laptopgiving.org/

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