The Common Good, Technology, and Education: The One Laptop Per Child

Initiative

Jan W. Buzydlowski, Ph.D.Department of Information Science

and TechnologyCabrini College

Overview

• Common Good

• Technology

• Education

• The XO Machine

• The Present

• The Future

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The Common Good

• “The sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily”– Vatican Council II, Gaudium et spes, n. 26;

cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1906

• Can it exist in technology?

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Common Good in Technology

• The Internet– PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL

COMMUNICATIONS, • “ETHICS IN INTERNET”

• Software– Open-Source

• Open Office

• Hardware– How?

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Technology and Education

• Where and how is it used now?– In affluent districts– In less-so districts– In impoverished countries

• Digital Divide

• One-on-One Computing

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Models of Education

• Constructionism– Self-discovery through doing– Advent of the PC

• Seymour Papert– Mindstorms, 1980– “A Thing to Think With”– MIT

• LOGO (Turtle Graphics)6

Common Good, Technology and Education

• The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Initiative– The XO Computer

• A.K.A. the $100 computer

• Started at MIT– Dr. Negroponte– Provide a machine (a thing to think with)

to every child in the developing world7

The Five Principles of XO• Child Ownership:

– I wear my XO like my pair of shoes. • Low Ages:

– I have good XO shoes for a long walk. • Saturation:

– A healthy education is a vaccination, it reaches everybody and protects from ignorance and intolerance.

• Connection: – When we talk together we stay together.

• Free and Open Source: – Give me a free and open environment and I will

learn and teach with joy. 8From http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Home

Child Ownership/Low Ages

• Designed for ages 6 – 12– Robust and friendly– Ownership

• Basic right• Comes with responsibilities

• Portable learning and teaching environment– For use in school and home– Develop a portfolio of work

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Saturation

• “It can be a whole country, a region, a municipality or a village, where every child will own a laptop.”– The community will share and no one will be

without

• Thus the $100 price tag– Allow for full coverage– Has been a hurdle to deployment

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Connection

• A MESH network– Connection to the Internet

• Access to a World (wide web) of information

– Connection to other students near by• Collaboration is built-in

• A Green Machine– Low power

• Yo-yo or solar generator11

Free and Open Source

• All software developed must be available for all

• Some software allows for the development of software– Programming is as important as

writing

• Currently now developed under UNIX– We are working on that 12

The XO Computer (Inside)

• Sub 500 MHz AMD processor

• 256 MB Ram

• 1 GB Flash– No hard drive

• Microphone

• Camera/video

• 802.11b/g and 802.11s

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The XO Computer (Outside)• Green and white rubberize case

– Water and dust resistant– Tumble resistant

• 7.5 inch screen– Backlit or not (Readable in sunlight)– 180 pivotable

• e-reader

• Touch mouse

• Three USB ports• Microphone/speaker jacks• Programmable buttons

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The XO Computer (OS)

• Fedora Linux– Sugar Interface

• Built on a journal paradigm– Not hierarchical

• Views– Home – Group– Neighborhood– Activity

» http://laptop.org/en/laptop/start/homeview.shtml 15

The XO Computer (SW)

• For exploring– Browse (Firefox)– Reader– News Read (RSS)

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The XO Computer (SW)

• For expressing– Tam Tam– E Toys (Squeak)– Word Processor– Record

• Voice, picture, video

– Draw– Pippy

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The XO Computer (SW)

• Other– Calc– Social Calc– Whatever the world comes up with

• Reader/Speaker

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Let’s See It in Action• http://www.ivr-usability.com/olpc/olpc.html

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Current Status

• After many pilot programs, it is being implemented in:

– Uruguay

– Birmingham

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Cons

• Criticized for being a toy

• Criticized for being an agent of capitalism

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The Future

• ClassMate is competition– http://www.classmatepc.com/

• Project Inkwell is the benchmark– http://www.projectinkwell.com

• Things to think with…– http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech197.shtml

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The Future

• "Laptops are the pencils for the digital age"– David Cavallo

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References

• Ethics in Internet – http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_ethics-internet_en.html#ABOUT%2

0THE%20INTERNET

• Alternate OLPC News– http://www.olpcnews.com/

• Deployment Guide– http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Deployment_Guide

– Alabama• http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4348733866.html?sp=0&kc=EWKNLLIN031108STR5

– Uruguay• http://radian.org/notebook/first-deployment

• Theft– http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Bitfrost#P_THEFT:_anti-theft_protection

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