[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content? ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
Hi Jan, in addition to carrying CD's around, there is a significant social impact associated with the freedom toaster concept. The freedom toaster alerts society to the fact that they do not need to purchase a non-free software license in order to have a fully functional computer system. It informs society about freedom of choice, especially that there is no need to be tempted into using illegal copies of software for lack of money. The freedom toaster is about emancipation with the added benefit of saving considerable costs in bandwidth. When you combine this with projects like Tuxlabs which put old computer hardware to good use, widening access to ICTs in ways which were not possible before -- that's a significant innovation. Moreover, with projects like Wikipedia, it is possible also to provide remote rural schools running open source thin client labs, access to a local version of the largest encyclopaedia developed in the history of human kind. There are innovative projects like MobileEd which harness the potential of Mobile telophony combined with the amazing world of wikis. This is qualitatively different from what has gone before all possible because of a commitment to the essential freedoms :-) Cheers Wayne 2009/11/16 Jan Visser > After further reading I think I understand the concept better. But it’s > still the problem that even when carrying CD’s around to places like the > ones I described, the assumption is that you’ll find some minimal > infrastructure and equipment there that allows you to play them. But I > agree, it solves at least a significant part of existing problems. Regarding > the other part, read my post below. And I’m interested in additional > thoughts from others. > > > > Jan > > > > > -- > > *From:* wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto: > wikieduca...@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Jan Visser > *Sent:* Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:06 PM > *To:* wikieducator@googlegroups.com > *Subject:* [WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all > the free content? > > > > Wayne and Kirby (others?), > > I agree regarding OLPC and the (limited) practice emerging from it. It’s a > different use of the technology than what’s normally being done. Papert’s > work from a long time ago is, I assume, still an inspiration for those > alternative uses. It’s therefore different also from the underlying > philosophy of WE and most OER initiatives. > > > > I took a look at the freedom toaster. I’m not sure if I understood the > concept well. How is this different from just building your own computer or > acquiring one built by others and having it at an affordable price, loading > it with whatever you want to load it with? I’m thinking of places where I > worked in remote regions in the DRC. Schools with nothing. Stones for kids > to sit on; a piece of blackened scrap wood to write on as a chalk board; > teachers and students with no access whatsoever to even the most basic > sources of information; no electricity supply, except for the occasional > portable generator if at all. Preloaded OERs would have to be transported > with the device that contains them from wherever there is a possibility to > upload them (the nearest village or small town with (irregular) Internet > access and basic electricity supply to where they are actually needed. That > may involve someone having to walk for half a day, carrying some small > device, like an iPod, with all the stuff on it and requiring no more than a > photovoltaic charger or something of that kind to run it. An iPod-sized > screen may not be ideal for reading, but it may work. Somewhat larger > devices (Archos, electronic book readers) might do a better job. > > > > Content must be thought of having the available technology in mind. If > reading extensive documents from a small screen is not an option and > printing out documents is also impossible, audio perhaps is a possibility. > Or audio files enhanced with sketchy verbal and graphic information. > Surprisingly or not, cell phones—shared by many—are in those circumstances > often more likely to be found than any other piece of transportable > hardware. If they are of the kind that is capable of uploading and playing > songs, their memory capacity could also be used for uploading learning > resources in audio format. Just an idea. My main point is that circumstances > vary widely and there has been little progress so far in preparing the local > environment to be able to explore creatively the (limited) technological > resources available. From what I have seen of it, OLPC is possibly one of > the global initiatives best placed to foster such development at the local > level. > > > > Thoughts? > > > > Jan > > > > -- > > Jan Visser, Ph.D. > > President & Sr. Researcher, Learning Development Institute > > E-mail: jvis...@learndev.org > > Check out: http://www.learndev.org and http://www.facebook.com/learndev > > Blog: http://jvisser-ldi.blogspot.com/ >
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content? ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
Hi Jan You have reminded us of the range of learners to be helped. Expanding mobile phones capabilities bypass many of the problems that you describe and we are seeing amazing progress there. We can be working to immediately benefit learners in less challenging situations. There is an enormous opportunity to work with learners who do have some connectivity and access to online content, although perhaps this is shared or limited by time or location. Providing content and pedagogy with multiple access and delivery options expands the population that can benefit. But, we need to keep the millions of learners in the "tail" in mind as we go forward. Thanks ..Valerie On Nov 15, 3:19 am, "Jan Visser" wrote: places like the > ones I described, the assumption is that you'll find some minimal > infrastructure and equipment there that allows you to play them. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content? ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
After further reading I think I understand the concept better. But it's still the problem that even when carrying CD's around to places like the ones I described, the assumption is that you'll find some minimal infrastructure and equipment there that allows you to play them. But I agree, it solves at least a significant part of existing problems. Regarding the other part, read my post below. And I'm interested in additional thoughts from others. Jan _ From: wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto:wikieduca...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jan Visser Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:06 PM To: wikieducator@googlegroups.com Subject: [WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content? Wayne and Kirby (others?), I agree regarding OLPC and the (limited) practice emerging from it. It's a different use of the technology than what's normally being done. Papert's work from a long time ago is, I assume, still an inspiration for those alternative uses. It's therefore different also from the underlying philosophy of WE and most OER initiatives. I took a look at the freedom toaster. I'm not sure if I understood the concept well. How is this different from just building your own computer or acquiring one built by others and having it at an affordable price, loading it with whatever you want to load it with? I'm thinking of places where I worked in remote regions in the DRC. Schools with nothing. Stones for kids to sit on; a piece of blackened scrap wood to write on as a chalk board; teachers and students with no access whatsoever to even the most basic sources of information; no electricity supply, except for the occasional portable generator if at all. Preloaded OERs would have to be transported with the device that contains them from wherever there is a possibility to upload them (the nearest village or small town with (irregular) Internet access and basic electricity supply to where they are actually needed. That may involve someone having to walk for half a day, carrying some small device, like an iPod, with all the stuff on it and requiring no more than a photovoltaic charger or something of that kind to run it. An iPod-sized screen may not be ideal for reading, but it may work. Somewhat larger devices (Archos, electronic book readers) might do a better job. Content must be thought of having the available technology in mind. If reading extensive documents from a small screen is not an option and printing out documents is also impossible, audio perhaps is a possibility. Or audio files enhanced with sketchy verbal and graphic information. Surprisingly or not, cell phones-shared by many-are in those circumstances often more likely to be found than any other piece of transportable hardware. If they are of the kind that is capable of uploading and playing songs, their memory capacity could also be used for uploading learning resources in audio format. Just an idea. My main point is that circumstances vary widely and there has been little progress so far in preparing the local environment to be able to explore creatively the (limited) technological resources available. From what I have seen of it, OLPC is possibly one of the global initiatives best placed to foster such development at the local level. Thoughts? Jan -- Jan Visser, Ph.D. President & Sr. Researcher, Learning Development Institute E-mail: jvis...@learndev.org Check out: http://www.learndev.org and http://www.facebook.com/learndev Blog: http://jvisser-ldi.blogspot.com/ _ From: wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto:wikieduca...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Wayne Mackintosh Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 1:05 AM To: wikieducator@googlegroups.com Subject: [WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content? Hi Kirby, Wow -- its a small world :-). I'm a South African by birth and very familiar with both the Freedom Toaster and Tuxlabs projects -- both inspirational projects. We can learn a lot from these projects and find ways to collaborate. I've always maintained that real ICT innovation in education will come from the developing world. Africa launched a continental information society initiative back in the mid 1990s, long before other regional collectives. Designing within constraints results in real innovation :-). I too have my reservations about the XO project -- however, the strength of the OLPC initiative lies in the projects foresight to think differently about ICTs in education -- namely starting from a pedagogic foundation rather than attempting to replicate existing PC technology. Off to take look at the CS Unplugged' curriculum -- thanks for the link. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 kirby urner On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:17 PM, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: > Hi Kirby, > > You make a good point about the potential abundance of access to digital > content. However, in reality I think we are a long way off from a world > where w
