Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
> Reinvent the word, not the concept, because the word "telecenter" does not convey meaning > to anyone who doesn't already know what it means. Whereas "community computing center" > does convey meaning even if you never heard the phrase before. IMO a Telecentre is best defined by the societal context in which it exists - Telecentre's in affluent society's tend to the model of an Internet Café - in less affluent places, as centres of civic interest and engagement, a communications centre, somewhere to meet, to train, to plan for business opportunity. A library and perhaps even a medical centre. In the later context computers may be less important than other of the services provided by a Telecentre. Don ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
Re: [DDN] Fw: Re: PhD research on OLPC
Hello Sarah, Yes what you said is true. The point however is how you can improve on the current bad situation it already is. Let me give you a very simple contribution of a simple OLPC laptop or rather we should use the term ULPC - Ultra Low cost PC rather than One Laptop Per child (which I do agree with you would be silly and does not work ) Let us take the extreme example of a remote village without electricity and like you say does not even have a single toilet. Now, how can the government start to improve their current situations without huge investment of manpower (manual) and the likes for the whole country? With a single ULPC powered maybe by a low cost solar panel (since a single ULPC would not need so much electricity unlike the entire class with ULPC linked with satellite disc etc). If there is a simple dial up Internet connection available that would be great to provide instant update of contents. Let us say , this village does not even have that. What can a laptop do? Assuming one is able to provide the laptop, we can assume that software can be preinstalled into it. If software contents that have very small footprints that would be even better because much much more contents can be placed into the laptop in initial installation to be updated through say pendrives later. With a laptop (without projectors of course), at least a good number of people in that remote village shall be able to learning something. Get trained in the proper methods of agriculture for one, proper storage etc. A teacher shall be able to have access to right contents and be able to teach / pass on the knowledge to others like peer coaching even though that teacher does not have that skill initially. This may not be the ideal situation but I strongly believe the best solution under the circumstances of remoteness, poverty etc is the best solution. In fact I would say, the first laptop with its supporting equipments like solar power etc would be the first necessity for that village... not toilets nor how to irrigate their fields. Knowlege and able to reach out to the most remote is the first goal. The rest would take care if itself. That people in the village would start to learn how to read, how to irrigate their land etc not because some government teams came to teach them ...but from the little box you call a laptop. If there is a simple dial up connection available and contents have very small footprints , it can do wonders especially to the little children of that remote village. Alan www.paperlesshomework.com Oh, yeah! Just go spend a few days in an African village and then come back and tell me what it is you think you can sell there. Composting toilets? (50% of Ghanaian villagers have NO toilets of any kind and use the bushes.) Solar lanterns? Some unknown majority of Ghanaian villagers use KEROSENE (a dangerous poison) to "light" their homes. Post-harvest processing equipment? A big part of every harvest rots in the marketplace because the village doesn't have canning or bottling or packaging equipment. Foot-operated irrigation equipment? 99% of African farms are watered only by rain, only in the rainy season. School uniforms and notebooks for all children, including girls? AT least 1/2 of African girls don't go to secondary school. I bet there are 100 other appropriate, low-cost products that villagers would buy before a laptop computer Sarah The narratives of the world are numberless. . . . there nowhere is nor has been a people without narrative.--Roland Barthes Sarah Blackmun-Eskow President, The Pangaea Network 290 North Fairview Avenue Goleta CA 93117 805-692-6998 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.pangaeanetwork.org -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of arthur richards Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 5:14 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net Subject: [DDN] Fw: Re: PhD research on OLPC I think quite frankly in the developing world where I was brought up and come from an OLPC is not the first need, it is not the second, it is not the third, nor the fourth need nor the 10th most important need! Business people want to sell and still have their heads in the sand that a parent or government is going to squander $100 or $200 to buy a laptop when that parent does not earn that in one year! Wake up guys! Go to where you want to sell these things and come back. You might just change your mind. Arthur --- On Mon, 22/9/08, Joel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Joel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" Received: Monday, 22 September, 2008, 1:55 PM On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 5:09 AM, Cindy Lemcke-Hoong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > what is the different between telecenters and 'community computers'? If they are the same, for search purpose, perhaps we could keep to the same terms? > Cindy In the 3rd world
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Hello steve, I do generaly agree with your views except that I would like to change this little bit.. You said " The real choice is between online learning or no learning." It would be more appropriate to rephrase it as The real choice is between online/offline learning throug ICT or no learning." This is because to say online learning is the only choice for ICT in Education is not exactly right. More learning today are learnt through offline than online... in many homes and schools around the world. More people are offline at anyone time than online. Another thing, having a computer or two in a telecenter does not mean only 1 or 2 students may benefit. That is the old model. Today telecenters can make use of 1 or 2 computers to serve entire class of students using projectors etc. So it depends on how you use the computers. Having one computer for each(as originally intended in the OLPC) is good but in more cases than not ...impractical in third world countries (in fact I really doubt any third world country). The real issue of the digital divide as far as schools are concerned today is the inabilities to reach out to the unreached anytime any place and any cost. We can talk until the cows come home about other issues highlighted by many contributors here, without this being solved first, we are like trying to teach the rural folks to run before they able able to walk. Hence to really close the digital divides among nations around the world, look into issue of reach... then we can start talking about pedagogy. Read an article about our initiative here and perhaps most will understand what the world is doing and what she lacks as far as trying to reach the unreached 5 billion. http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/270167 Meanwhile we should not forget about the environment impact our current schools are contributing to the deteriorating environments filling land fills with millions of tons of paper wastes. This in spite of all the high techs. Read about about a Practical tech not high tech article by a 14 years experieced ICT journalist. www.paperlesshomework.com/surf Regards Alan www.paperlesshomework.com An elearning solution for rural areas where online/CDs cannot reach. Get the latest happenings through paperlesshomework tool bar www.paperlesshomework.communitytoolbars.com --- On Sat, 10/4/08, Steve Eskow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Steve Eskow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008, 3:55 AM Hi Tom, Sorry to be so slow in responding. For some reason I missed this message of yours when it arrived. Perhaps it would be useful to put the matter of moving out of what Bourdieu called "the scholastic enclosure" into the new spaces of communication technology into an action research mode. For example: we know that the poor nations aren't going to meet the Millenium Development Goals for education by erecting buildings to teach and house those now left untaught. The real choice is between online learning or no learning. One question, then, for research is how to bring computers and students together. Sarah talked about "community computers." I've used the term "social computers," to contrast with the taken-for-granted rich country assumption of the "personal computer." The "telecentre" is one approach to the "social" computer, and it has clear limitations. We can put a computer in a school, a church, a kiosk, a cafe and it can serve one, three, five students. Will such an approach do the job? We don't know for sure, but we can try, keep careful records and report results. On the matter of pedagogy: perhaps we need a transitional strategy, rather than insisting that all existing syllabi and curriculum materials and instructional strategies are hopelessly inadequate, an approach guaranteed to frighten or threaten or anger many of the faculty whose support we need. I, for one, would rather make existing instructional strategies made available via ICT than nothing at all. Again, we encourage an action research approach, and we report on how well the traditional pedagogies do when compared to the new ones that seem more authentic and relevant to us. Steve On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 9:19 AM, tom abeles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Steve > > You are right, there are transitions and there are different models. What > might be appropriate today in Ghana might be different, today in the US. The > approach of education planners is to want to eventually find the one global > model. Yet with technology, as you suggest, there are many models for > learning including different approaches from didactic, sage of stage, to a > problem-based-learning model as examples. The difference, today, seems to > me to revolve around the ability of the knowledge to come to those that need > it when and where they need it. Information packages nicely and doesn't > ne
Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC
Thank you, Joel, for pointing out all the taken-for-granteds implicit in the advocacy of OLPC. Sarah The narratives of the world are numberless. . . . there nowhere is nor has been a people without narrative.--Roland Barthes Sarah Blackmun-Eskow President, The Pangaea Network 290 North Fairview Avenue Goleta CA 93117 805-692-6998 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.pangaeanetwork.org -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Joel Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 10:57 AM To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [DDN] PhD research on OLPC Hi, Cindy! My post was not intended as a response to your inquiry (to which I extend my apologies), but to segue BACK to the topic (OLPC) by relating it to telecenters. Personally, I am in favor of both developments. BayangPinoy has been working for the implementation of community/telecenters in the Philippines for over 10 years now, and we actually look forward to a $100 PC as something that a community of 100 families can afford 5 units of (as the HW component of the telecenters). FYI, my post was intended to point out that "community centers" (and telecenters) are focused on COMMUNITY, while OLPCs (P - PERSONAL) and other computer technologies are focused on individuals that can afford at least: a) $100 for a computer, b) $20/month for "acceptable broadband", c) understands English (to maximize the value of the material available on the internet) d) has access to electronic bank accounts or credit cards (to be able to participate in ecommerce), and presumably: c) understands English (to maximize the value of the material available on the internet) d) has access to electronic bank accounts or credit cards (to be able to participate in ecommerce), e) has the time / motivation / (?luxury) of "catching up" to all the background knowledge that is a prerequisite of a "point-and-click" networked system. These items (a-e) are definitely not easy (or even possible) for the majority of the citizens of under-developed countries. Regards, J Galgana BayangPinoy Organization, Inc. On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Cindy Lemcke-Hoong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello Joel, > I think you misunderstood me. I was only asking for clarifications of the differences between the term 'community computers' vs. telecenters. If you read any of my previous posts you would understand that I am not supporter of OLPC. > > To my understanding 'community computers' is no different than telecenters. Just another new terms that says the same thing. > > Telecenter has been in existence for more than 20 years and there are many well researched documents written on telecenter. Why reinventing the wheels? > > Cindy > ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ___ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
