The XO Laptop For Needy U.S. Students

I was getting ready to send out a YouTube video plea to Mr. Negroponte and the OLPC to please bring the XO laptop G1G1 program back to the U.S. when I found this Washington Post story. "OLPC America plans to combat digital divide by distributing low-cost laptops to needy students in the U.S." Here is another link on this story from the BBC.
This is great news. I wish them well. There is definitely a need to close the gap in the digital divide in this country as well. I am hopeful that the original intent of the OLPC, to bring education to children in developing nations, will also continue to move forward.
And once again, I have to ask, are there implications here for higher education? Things that come to my mind: 1) Young students with access to these machines will grow up learning in very collaborative ways and this will have an impact on the types of learners they become. 2) They will have a foundational understanding of technology far beyond todays traditional college students and they will be open source program developers as well as users of these programs. 3) Their expectations regarding learning environments will be much different.
I'm sure there is more. I'm still thinking about this. How about you?

A Librarian Reviews XO Laptop

I just uploaded the video below to YouTube. It is my attempt to provide an overview of this amazing little machine and its cutting edge technology. I wish all the best for the One Laptop Per Child Foundation. Nicholas Negroponte is a true visionary and I applaud his efforts to help provide an education to children in developing nations. I wonder if he and others working with the OLPC realize how much they are educating adults in this nation as we partner with them to help bridge the gap in the digital divide.

Ebook Reader - Not a Kindle, Not a Sony - It's An XO Laptop Reader!

Here are a couple of links for those who would like to see what others are saying about this:
The first one is from O'Reilly radar, by Mike Hendrickson and titled "OLPC and the Kindle." The other post titled "XO Laptop as PDF Ebook Reader: A First Look" compares the XO laptop ebook reader with the Kindle, Sony, and iPhone readers.

Below is my latest YouTube video showing off my very own XO laptop ebook reader. If you aren't familiar with the XO laptop or the One Laptop Per Child Education Project responsible for the XO, then please check my other posts on this topic including the New York Times video review of the XO by David Pogue.

Lastly, I'm an academic librarian and would be interested in any thoughts regarding the XO Laptop and higher education. Most will agree this machine, and others being produced based on the XO, will help provide an education to children in developing nations and thereby help close the gap in the digital divide. As a librarian interested in Web 2.0 technologies, I can easily see the value of the mesh network. I would love to see this technology on college and university campuses; it seems a perfect fit. Any other thoughts?

My Very Own XO Laptop Video/ OLPC

This is my first attempt at creating a video. I was inspired by my little green and white machine. My XO and the One Laptop Per Child Education Project really is wonderful and well worth learning some new technologies to promote! Please take a moment to view my one minute video on the XO laptop. Let me know what you think about the XO or if you have any questions about it at all. I will be posting a video review of my XO later this week.

The XO Laptop, Higher Education & Mesh

My XO continues to amaze me. I haven't had as much time as I would like to spend on it, but I am continually impressed each time I use it. One thing I have learned for sure- my little green machine has an incredible wireless range (approx. 3 times that of most laptops). I was in a Peet's Coffee shop two days ago, which had no wireless connection for their customers, along with two others who were working on their laptops, but not online. It took me two minutes to connect to an open wireless network a couple of blocks away. Others looked perplexed when they saw what appeared to be a green and white toy machine connected to the Internet, which they could not access. I told them that the next time they were able to get online they should google "One Laptop Per Child" and learn how to get the most advanced technology available. And that's what I want to discuss in this post.

I plan to meet up with a couple other XO laptop owners soon so we can all mesh. What is mesh? Well, here's my earlier post on the mesh network to check out if you are unfamiliar with the term. Be sure to watch the short video.

Now I'm not a techie by any means so keep that in mind, but I'm trying to understand some things. Why don't our expensive computers contain mesh networks? Doesn't this make perfect sense, especially in the context of higher education? Isn't collaboration more important than ever when it comes to research? Once I saw how the mesh network worked, I imagined the students at my university using this technology for course projects (with profs and librarians meshing right in the middle of them and assisting as they work), and then I imagined university students from all over the country being able to mesh, and then I thought of the global community. It blows my mind that a computer that cost under $200. to build contains these advanced open source technologies. Is open source the answer? If so, why isn't higher ed totally embracing the open source community? Maybe even leading in the open source movement? Perhaps this is already happening and I'm simply unaware? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

My XO Laptop Has Arrived!

My new XO laptop in Powell's Books, Portland, Oregon, USA on Dec. 20, 2007. It is amazing. Beyond what I had hoped for. It works wonderfully. It cost under $200 to build and includes cutting edge technology (Mesh!) which doesn't exist in our most expensive laptops. It runs on Linux, a free and open-source operating system. And it's revolutionary interface, Sugar, promotes collaborative learning. I paid $399. for this machine as part of the OLPC Give One Get One program, in which I receive one machine and a second machine is donated to a child in a developing country. That feels pretty good as well. I can't imagine an educator who would not be excited about this. If you want to know more, here is a link to my YouTube playlist of videos on the XO Laptop and OLPC. It's not too late to order one, the deadline has been extended through Dec. 31, 2007.

Google, OLPC, and Unicef Collaborate - Primary Sources

From the FAQ Page:Our Stories™ is a new project that encourages people to interview friends and loved ones, and to share these oral histories with others. Our three founding partners, UNICEF, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), and Google, have come together to help create, share, and grow a global collection of personal stories collected through recorded audio interviews.
Last night I tried this site and listened to the short stories of three young boys from Tanzania. It worked wonderfully and was interesting and inspiring. This will be a hit with the young and old from all corners of the world. Great collaborative project.

Work in Higher Ed? Librarian? Give/Get an XO Laptop and Let's Mesh!

The OLPC Give One Get One program has been extended to December 31st. Mine will be arriving very soon and since there has been an extension I thought I would put in a plug to others, especially librarians and those in higher education. Invest in this product if you possibly can! Not only will it benefit a needy child in another country, the XO laptop you receive will benefit you and/or the child in your life as well. And best of all, we can mesh! Oh, and if you haven't heard of the wireless mesh network, which connects all other XO laptops within range together, which in turn connect others, and so forth on these machines then please watch the video below. And Sugar, "the interface that graphically captures fellow learners and teachers as collaborators, emphasizing the connections within the community, among people, and their activities," is amazing - check out this demo. Librarians regularly seek and discuss new collaborative technologies. This is the sort of thing that those of us in higher ed will want to take serious notice of for a number of reasons. See my other posts on this topic, including a short NYtimes video review of the XO.

My XO Laptop On The Way!

Yesterday I received my confirmation number in writing and today my "Welcome to the OLPC Community" letter arrived.
Most exciting to me as an educator is that I am now a part of a OLPC global community. From the welcome letter:

We also hope to bring together the world's educators and software developers into a volunteer, global community that will provide essential feedback about how to improve the XO, as well as help create dynamic, open-source educational content that will engage and inspire children all over the world.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

At exactly 3:00 A.M. PST, my XO laptop was purchased. Here is a picture of it on the production line (I'm pretty sure one of those is mine!). I wanted to be the first one so I started calling at 2:58, but didn't get through my first attempt. Oh well. They are hoping (but not guaranteeing) they will arrive before Christmas).
OLPC Give One Get One
One Laptop Per Child Foundation
How might this change our world? Implications for higher education?

Want to know more? Check out this four min. video review by David Pogue of the New York Times