erika.whillas.com

One Laptop Per Child

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.

The Digital Divide: Propects and Challenges for Technology Advancement in the Americas

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

Minority Report Style Device

Ted.com

“A wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment.

At the MIT Media Lab’s new Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes researches the tools we use to work with information and connect with one another.

Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.

…The computer is no longer a distinct object, but a source of intelligence that’s embedded in our environment”