Your independent source for news, information, commentary, and discussion of One Laptop Per Child's "$100 laptop" computer, the OLPC Children's Machine XO, developed by MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.
To me, Tim Russert was my favorite TV newscaster. Some of you may know that Tim Russert died on Friday from a massive heart attack but I only learned after his death about a One Laptop Per Child connection.
His wife, Maureen Orth, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia and together, they supported the Maureen Orth Foundation. I'd like for you to remember him by assisting his wife's foundation.
One of its initiatives, "Step by Step" is teaching English, teaching how to use Information Technology, and improving instructional techniques for teachers using XO laptops, along with other computers.
After hearing 6 hours of press coverage about him today since his death, I have not heard about this foundation. I cannot speak for his widow, but I think she would approve that you could donate money for her foundation assisting children near Medellin, Colombia.
Greg Yohn's baby was born in Cali, Colombia and he got an OLPC XO thinking his son could use the machine one day.
It's a fact: Colombia is a country with too many problems, among them: poverty, unemployment, guerrilla and narcotrafficking. The latter two have provoked an internal conflict between the Colombian army and rebel groups and criminals, leaving civilians inside conflict zones.
This fighting has damaged the infrastructure in schools, hospitals, roads and bridges, leaving entire towns isolated from the central government . We see these problems in all the country, but when we take a closer look into the individuals and communities, all these bad things seems to go away, because of the kindness and good and hard work of the majority of the Colombian people.
Shakira's foundation Pies Descalzos is implementing olpc for 700 children in Colombia
Colombia's most pressing tasks are to resolve the civil conflict and to straighten out the government nationwide. While this is necessary, when these security plans have succeeded we will still have poverty and lack of opportunities; but also we will still have plenty of talented people full of abilities. To that new people of Colombia, projects like OLPC should and will be aimed.
The second is facilitated by the Pies Descalzos Foundation (this is Shakira's foundation) in three schools in Bogotá, Barranquilla, and Chocó. The announcement of this pilot is in Pies Descalzos April newsletter. Pies Descalzos will pillot approximately 700 XO's. Colombia's central government is not involved in either of the pilots.
The good news about all the pilots is that they are going to be supported for local OLPC volunteers in union with pedagogical institutions (Alianza Educativa and FiPC) and OLPC officials. These three factors are in my opinion the key ones to have a successful deployment. OLPC has to integrate technology, education, and logistics, and beginning from that we can expect that OLPC will have a real impact on the education of the poor children in Colombia. Hopefully this can be the beginning for a non-violent future for all our people. We have to remember that the lack of opportunities leads to an uncertain future.
My personal opinion about the XO is good, but it needs to get proper support. I have a personal interest for the XO in Colombia, since my baby was born there in Cali, Colombia, March 6, 2008.
Doctors, nurses, architects, and engineers all wanted one after seeing my XO, but none were available in Colombia at that time. There was no G1G1 for Colombians, like for me in the USA. By the way, my baby Andres Felipe is a citizen now, since his Social Security Card came in the mail today!
I had children look at it in Cali and they were happy for 4 hours, but I was not trying to teach them school work. We used the Memory Activity for addition skills. They liked it when I showed them the Speak/(Habla) program, so they could hear Spanish or English words.
These children had no hopes of having a computer at their own home, but I was a bit handicapped with the XO, since my Spanish was less than fair. Some of the children wanted to see online the Dora the Explorer Spanish website, but the XO would not function there.
I found the Maya & Miguel PBS website that was able to be seen by the XO for good Spanish content. We used the XO for listening to MP3's with the Sonata Activity. They seemed a bit shy using the Record Activity initially.
The Governor of Caldas Province spoke in his press conference about 15,000 XO's coming to his Province. He was excited especially, since he expected them to be used for communicating nationally or internationally with Skype on the XO.
I now use a better option to talk to Colombia already for free by using Twinkle from the Terminal Activity. I call to Cali, Colombia for FREE 5 hours a week, but Skype would charge me to make the same telephone calls. I have used my VOIP provider to call for Free USA, Canada, Panama, Colombia, Hong Kong, China, S. Korea, Australia, & the UK, but they have many more FREE countries than I have friends to call.
Now, the children of Colombia will be able to speak to the world, so the Governor had a good reason to be excited having the OLPC XO.
