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One Laptop Per Child – the View from 1978 Basser Seminar 26 July 2009 Basser School of Information Technology University of Sydney Lee Felsenstein Fonly LLC Palo Alto, California [email protected] What do you mean “revolution?” Event that: Overthrows an existing order Involves efforts of large numbers of people Opens long-term possibilities in an unexpected manner What Existing Order? The Computer Priesthood IBM hegemonic Large machines – high cost Proprietary software, OS, hardware, support Software prepared by experts to lessor's specifications “End User” always a business or government agency Opening shot - TV Typewriter (1973) Build-it-yourself article Complex documentation sent to interested correspondents ($2 fee) Normal response – 20 10,000 paid responses! Large pent-up demand – But for what? Ideology - “Computer Lib” Ted Nelson (1974) • Modeled after Whole Earth Catalog • “You Can and Must Understand Computers NOW” • Started thousands off to learn about hardware and software Breakthrough - Altair (1975) • Incomplete kit offered for less than cost of CPU chip • Runaway best seller • Users embarked upon learning project of unknown duration and scope • Nearly empty box Clubs and Shared Software • Necessary mutual teaching • Software seen as means to end of having working computer • Altair Basic widely shared – became the standard despite Gates' complaints Interoperability - CP/M • Gary Kildall, PhD (pictured) • Allowed software to run on various computers • Enabled the personal computer industry (Harold Evans) • No computer company had previously seen the point Interactivity • Shared Memory Display (VDM-1 shown) enabled fast user interaction – Computer games! • Visi-Calc spreadsheet arguably an interactive computer accounting game • No computer company had previously seen the point Growth and Triumph – IBM opens up • 1976 – Sol-20 (complete system) • 1977 – Apple II (graphics) • 1981 – Osborne (portability, bundled SW) • 1981 – IBM-PC – adopts open architecture OLPC definition – basics 1 • Originated by Prof. Nick Negroponte – Inspired by Cambodian kids using laptops in school sponsored by N. & E. Negroponte • Premise – Education is only way out of poverty • Premise – Only way to educate kids is to give them all laptops • Premise – Laptops alone, if designed right, will be sufficient to effect education – “Constructionist” (Papert & Kay) methodology – Children will explore world, “learn learning” OLPC definition – basics 2 • Implementation – Design superior laptop – Secure agreements with heads of state for massive purchases – Require all children be given a laptop – Manufacture in million increments › Drive price down to $100 – Done! OLPC - Assumptions • Mesh networking will compensate for lack of network access • Software applications will appear from 3rd parties • Crank- or pull-string-power generation will supply sufficient power • Colorful motif will prevent theft and black-market sale of computers • Teachers will “get out of the way” • Parents will not interfere OLPC – hidden corrolaries • No research – – – – “Enough is known already” Ethnographic research eschewed (IDEO) No existing body of data referenced No research report from Cambodian village exists • No pilot projects • Full-scale implementation or nothing • No implementation plan OLPC – what could go wrong? • Heads of state cannot dictate to education ministries – Bureaucracy has mass and inertia – India Ed. Min. declares OLPC “pedagogically suspect” • Infrastructure not included – Generator an afterthought – Network backhaul left to chance • Constructionism not shown to be effective – Talented teachers required OLPC – the View From 1978 • There's been a revolution overthrowing the order: – of system definition and implementation by priesthoods › Operating under cover of hierarchies › Surrounded by ramparts of propaganda › Unquestioned and unexamined – of institutions defined as end users... › ...and individuals simply subject to the results OLPC – the View From 1978 • The age of the Magic Machine is over • People know: – where software comes from – that submission is not required – that the priesthood is composed of mortals • People are as pragmatic as ever – They want to know how the new machine will help them, their families, their communities Kay's Hierarchy 1. Hardware 2. Software 3. User Interface 4. Courseware 5. Mentoring • • Each step harder than the one before “We should have started at the top and worked down” - Alan Kay, Tunis 2005 Negroponte on OLPC over time • “This is an education project. It is not a laptop project.” - Sept. 2005 • “...we remain firmly committed to our mission of getting laptops to children in developing countries.” - Jan. 2009 OLPC – out of the wreckage Only projects running are pilots – www.olpcnews.com OLPC has spun off software – Sugar Labs – www.sugarlabs.org More than 100,000 XO-1 laptops sold in US and Western countries (Give1, Get 1 – 2007 and 2008) Needed – connections between education geeks and computer geeks with XO-1's to work on top levels of Kay's hierarchy. Some Interesting Needs • A device to permit learners to achieve basic literacy in their own language on a standalone basis (no network needed) • A device to permit learners to achieve basic proficiency in arithmetic (no network needed) • A basic electronic book • A system for network availability supported by telecommunications revenues (village telecentre) • A system for battery charging without mains power (Low-power village power utility) Pursue the Hands-On Imperative!