This topic has been floating around the web for the last two years or so however, I have found that there are not a lot of folks that know about what Nicholas Negroponte is doing to change the world, one child at a time.The name: OLPC "One Laptop Per Child".
The mission: to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education.
Through Nicholas' grand vision, he has banded together a cadre of technology professionals to create a laptop that is rugged, cheap, open source, and most of all: child friendly. He has partnered with a group of countries around the world to deliver a cost effective laptop to children that may never have had the opportunity to even touch or see a laptop, let alone own one.
Currently a person can go online and pay $399 to send one laptop to one of these countries, and send the second to a child or person of their own choice. It is also possible to purchase one or a million (or somewhere in between), and do with them what you please. For example, Birmingham, Alabama's new mayor has pledged that he will work to ensure the city purchases 15,000 laptops to outfit all of the children in the city's elementary schools.
There are other computer makers who have begun making competitive laptops and selling them to 3rd world countries. What makes these laptops terribly unique is the effort that went into making them. Beyond the amazing development process through the non-profit org, these laptops run on very little power, use a "mesh" network to enable many laptops to have internet through one single wireless or wired connection, and can be charged with almost anything. They were specifically designed for one purpose in mind: the mission above. Not to make money or build marketshare, but for the better good of mankind.
No comments:
Post a Comment