The OLPC Meme That Would Not Die

Posted February 7th, 2008 by Taran

This whole OLPC shenanigan keeps coming back like a boomerang on one email list or another that I am on, so I'll just post what I posted on one list here and refer people to it should I have to.

There are more cheerleaders than anything for the OLPC, so I don't expect this to be a popular post. However, it is a realistic post.

Given the caliber of responses and the fact that I have more time right now than when I initially responded, and also because I am not accustomed to being in such good company when I express my own opinions on things related to technology and humanity, I'll expand on this. I have quite a few different perspectives on this due to the nature of being me, so I will categorize them and list them such that they are easier to follow.

Digital Divide (I have been accused of being a Digital Divide Activist)

The 'digital divide', in a geopolitical context, falls mainly into capacity building which includes human capacity building as well as infrastructure. The OLPC claims to be useful for the next generations, at least one. An infrastructure does not last for one generation, or two, or three. It is a platform on which further capacity is built.

The 'digital divide', on a nation scale, can be demonstrated even in 'developed nations'. Yet the name 'developed nation' is a misnomer in that it implies a static position due to the relative nature of 'developing nation'. The digital divide in a socioeconomic context is about the rate of positive change in development, and a lesser developed nation must have a higher rate of change of development than a nation that is 'developed'. That positive increase in rate of change that an underdeveloped nation must gain must come more from within than without such that the infrastructure grows along with it.

The Premise of the OLPC in the context of the Digital Divide is that governments - that could not effect positive change in building and maintaining adequate infrastructure to allow greater rate of change - can somehow purchase a better positive rate of change from the very nations that the underdeveloped nation is striving toward. In essence, the 'developed nation' is still developing faster than the underdeveloped nation behind the illusion or progress.

Education (as a former teacher at The University of West Indies School of Continuing Studies):

[perhaps reiterating other's points]

Modern education, which has strayed from its German roots, is more about training for jobs than it is actual education and teaching critical thought. Training people in Information Technology, which I have done, is very nice and can give one some very warm fuzzy feelings. However, one gets cold pricky feelings when one encounters former students unable to get a job. Creating highly trained unemployed people is not what I consider to be a good thing, and the OLPC does not offer anything to assist with that.

The Wikipedia, which I used to advocate (separate story), is an interesting resource but it is not static. It changes from moment to moment. Even packaged with a static version of the Wikipedia, the OLPC only allows a snapshot of the past knowledge available in the Wikipedia. This cycles back to the digital divide in a nation context as well as the geopolitical context.

The educational infrastructure likely does not exist where the OLPC will go. I know for a fact that in the Caribbean Examination Council regions (CXC) that there are computers all over - but the only syllabus that uses them is 'Computer Science'. This means that students who do not take Computer Science are not likely to use a computer, yes, and maybe the OLPC could help with that - but without any supporting syllabus, the OLPC will be a great way to learn about Copyright Law. The Hard Way.

Even in 'developed nations', there has been no tangible positive use of education in classrooms that has been displayed *consistently*. Recommended reading: 'Devices of the Soul' by Steve Talbott.

Technology: (I have a history in the media and outside the media for surfing the bleeding edge)

The OLPC is antiquated already. It brought a revolution, but commercial manufacturers are so close to it at this point that in 2 evolutions of Moore's Law (Observation, really), 2-3 years, the OLPC will be antiquated and the money that could have been spent on infrastructure will eventually enter landfills where all the lovely stuff can seep into the water supply - just as donated machines do now. I've seen it in Guyana, I've seen it in Trinidad, I've seen it in St. Lucia, I've seen it in Jamaica, I've seen it in Nicaragua, I've seen it in Suriname... I have seen it.

When the OLPC first started, mobile phones were the obvious target. Blatantly obvious.

Bandwidth and Bandwidth cost are increasingly a barrier of entry as the global utilization of bandwidth increases. At the CARICOM Internet Governance meeting in 2005, CARICOM members communicated the problem - all of them - of the expense of bandwidth. I was the idiot at the back of the room who asked, "Isn't CARICOM supposed to leverage itself as a collective to negotiate pricing?" In 2007, I could not attend the meeting, but I heard that the same people said the same things. Clearly, technology is not the problem there, and I imagine it is the same elsewhere.

Broad Statement: The OLPC's goals as stated from the start were never realistic, but were exactly what many politicians needed to win elections. Saying, "We will spend 100 million dollars on technology for children!" really swings a vote more than, "Over the next 4 years we'll be building our infrastructure so that at the next election whoever you decide to vote for will win the election and I will be without a job".

Lastly, Context

The OLPC, to me, has always been a political machination, a technological illusion, and while good things may come of it... I shake my head. It really used to wound me. I remember getting a Simputer - something MIT claimed it could not do - and thinking it could help change things. When I got it, I was in Guyana. I played with it. I edited the Wikipedia with it (the image on the Wikipedia for the entry is one I gave the Wikipedia). It was awesome for me, as a bleeding edge sort of person - but when I tried to connect it to the human side of things, I could find no connection that was sustainable. In India - whee it was designed to be used - it fit the context.

And so, I still have it - the power supply killed by a power fluctuation in Guyana (yes, I know about the OLPC's power, but that is not the point). It collects dust, but I keep it as a reminder of why context is so important. And the OLPC, for all its marvels and marketing, lacks context.