“OhBoyObama! is the grassroots think tank of the Obama administration. Created by Obama supporters during the general election of 2008, this forum now serves as an online sounding board for those who have ideas or suggestions about how the administration can lead us to become “a more perfect union.”
These types of efforts combined with the Obama administration’s approached to transparent government and community contributions to legislation are great steps towards a more digital democracy
I had the pleasure of hearing Matt Keller discuss the One Laptop Per Child project which is building and distributing the “$100 laptop.” Here is a talk by Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Laboratory, on the same topic.
I had the opportunity to go to a really great panel discussion hosted by the Americas Society and Council of the Americas about rolling out connectivity technology in developing nations. A few notable points from each speaker:
Evan Hansen
Editor-in-chief, Wired.com, Opening Remarks
Connectivity provided by the “broadband” model goes against the basic nature of the internet, making us stick to the phone company model, as access is meant to be created through a series of connections, not one large controlling provider
The telephone model is dead, it’s amazing that we still pay for it considering such developments as Skype
Governments should provide a base level of connectivity, allowing for ubiquitous connectivity
FON is the largest Wifi hotspot provider in the world, and is creating a network sharing system for communities
What is the business model for ubiquitous connectivity?
The phone is the new PC, with mobile technology allowing countries to leap frog previous infrastructure costs
The future is wireless and mobile
Matt Keller
Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, One Laptop per Child
These laptops promote rational critical thinking, and when children explore programs and programming for such fields as mathematics, rather than rote learning they are “thinking about thinking”
At first encounter, a child can open one of these laptops and have them on in 8 seconds
Children in developing nations are taking these laptops home and then teaching their parents
Currently mesh networking and adhoc networks are being used
Mesh networking allows for easy student collaboration in the classroom
Tarkan Maner
President and CEO, Wyse Technologies
In developing countries not only infrastructure is required, available content (such as current market rates of crops) needs to be digitized and made available
Radios are being used in devices to receive and share connectivity
Eduardo Saravia
Marketing Director, Telefónica International Wholesale Services, USA, Inc.
We need self-sustinable and self funding models
Visionary leadership and Political will needed for developing countries to catch up
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