Dec 12 2008
My first turtleart masterpiece
Nov 11 2008
David Cavallo’s Okawa series talk on OLPC and learning
This is a November 7 talk by David Cavallo, VP of Learning for One Laptop per Child. The presentation was part of the Okawa lunch series.
David’s talk:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
download (mp3, 61M)
QA session:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
download (mp3, 15M)
Recorded with in-ear microphones, listen with headphones for immersive 3d-localized sneezing sounds!
Oct 06 2008
OLPC Rwanda: The Laptops Arriving at Nonko
I am currently interning for One Laptop per Child, a non-profit organization with the goal of placing a laptop in the hands of every child. To that end, OLPC developed the XO, a low-cost, rugged laptop designed with developing countries in mind. It has a built-in camera and microphone, and a screen was specially designed to be sunlight-readable. The open source software stack installed on the laptop includes Sugar, a user interface designed for use by kids. You can also pour a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew on the keyboard and touchpad (water-proof), drop it to the ground from a meter (shock-proof), and then after accidentally leaving it in the desert for a week (dust-proof), throw it in the freezer. It will still be working — this thing is robust. The standard procedure goes: countries run a pilot program or two, consider the results, buy the laptops in bulk, and then distribute them to their primary school-aged children en masse.
The laptop:
(Some of) its robustness:
Near the end of 2007, OLPC tried something very interesting – running a program where donors in the United States and Canada could “Give One, Get One” (or, G1G1). Donors pay for two laptops (~$200 each); one gets delivered to the donor (or their child), and one gets delivered to a developing country.
The program, though it only ran for two months, may be considered a wild success. The orders resulted in thousands of Give laptops being donated. OLPC sells the laptops at price (in the G1G1 program and to countries directly), so the cost of two laptops was attractive to the donors, even as a “one laptop purchase”.
Set your mental image-clocks forward to September, 2008. I am in Kigali, Rwanda to offer my assistance to the local core team.
Two schools had already received laptops: Rwamagana and Kagugu primary schools. The laptops were in these schools as a direct result of the 2007 G1G1 program.
I met Juliano Bittencourt, the OLPC Learning Team person-in-Rwanda, the Thursday I arrived in the city. He helped me settle in. He had internet!
Monday. Kigali, Rwanda.
The plan was to go work with the core team, they were out doing Scratch lessons at their schools. Before I leave, though, Juliano calls and tells me to meet him… we are going to Nonko, a school I hadn’t heard of quite yet.
On the way, “they are deploying their laptops today”.
We arrive, and just in time. The laptop boxes (5 XOs in each) are almost completely stacked.
The ceremony is about to start.
I wondered how the kids followed what the speakers were saying. Even I was distracted by opening of the boxes. Then again, they could speak Kinyarwanda, the language of the presentations, and I couldn’t.
During the presentation ceremony, students performed one poem and two songs (with dancing).
Listen to one of the songs:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
It was then announced that the students would get to take the laptops home.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
(alt text: wild applause)
The laptops were handed out.
The laptops were registered.
The laptops are theirs!
After the deployment, the students have been accompanied by 3 members of the spectacular Rwandan Core Team, who have been leading projects with them and their teachers utilizing the activities Scratch, Paint, Write, Record and Speak. You’ll be very surprised to see what the kids have been able to do in just a couple of weeks with their laptops.
The core team and Juliano:
Oct 05 2008
Rwanda Linux Users’ Group
Today, at Bourbon Coffee in the MTN Center in Kigali, Rwanda, the first meeting of the Rwanda Linux Users’ Group was held.
3 members of the OLPC core team and 3 employees of Pivot Access attended. And me!
I met Chris Mutessa of Pivot Access at the OLPC Rwanda Workshop event on October 1st. He was running the LED-screen system. Chris uses Linux.
My first hint was seeing VLC on the computer that was running the big screen. My second was how well-versed on computer software Chris was in my initial conversation with him. Then he told me he uses Ubuntu on his own personal laptop, it’s on all of the computers (desktops and servers) at his full time job, and that the same went for all of his coworkers.
Let’s have coffee! I invited the whole OLPC core team.
The drinks were delicious, and the meeting was encouraging. The attendees created a mission statement, or goals for the group:
Rwanda LUG Goals:
- To foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- To promote Free and Open Source software in Rwanda.
- To engage Rwanda in the global Open Source community.
- To accelerate the progress towards the goals of Rwanda’s Vision 2020.
- To create a universal awareness of Rwanda’s technological potential.
If you are in Rwanda and are interested in finding out what Linux is all about (or are already using it), join the public discussion list. There was talk of setting up a website, a public forum for Linux support in Rwanda, and a software development repository for group projects.
