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?

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