Jacques Wainer wrote: I am somewhat surprised by the lack of critical perspective regarding the $100 laptop, in this group.
Some points: - efficacy. As it has been point out, there already exists the $100 used/refurbished laptop, the $400 new low end desktop, the $50 used refurbished desktop. The main problem is not the price of the computer, but the existence of trained teacher that can make a good use of the equipment. - security. Bandits will form a line in front of schools to rob the students laptop. If they are only marginally useful they will be selling for $50 in every street corner. Some of the vendors will not be thieves but the children parents. - ecology. For how long can a battery can be recharged? My cheap battery lasted two years but I did not recharge it a lot, most of the time I am plugged to the outlet. What to do with 150 million or so heavy metal batteries in third world countries, in 2 years? All your points are well taken. To them I would add, the issue of dexterity. Remember those huge pencils in first and second grade? Kids under ten have them for a reason; manual dexterity is not really developed enough before the age of ten or eleven to use a keyboard efficiently, from what I am given to understand, much less a teeny, tiny keyboard. That pretty much rules out palm-sized devices or laptops with smaller keyboards for primary school aged kids. The battery issues that are raised are important as well. Discarded batteries are a hazard. Access to steady voltages is dodgy. Along with developmental issues there are ecological and infrastructural problems that need to be addressed on a case-to-case basis. This requires lots of planning. As many have brought up on this list over and over again, in a plethora of contexts, just throwing hardware at folks is not a good thing. Jesse Sinaiko - Chicago, IL _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
