I’m still giving Diigo.com a try, so this is partly an excuse to try out the “send to blog” feature.
These are selected links to blogposts and articles about issues related to the One Laptop Per Child project, with my embedded annotations.
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graphpaper.com – Challenge: If You Can’t Say Something Nice about OLPC…
- Thoughtful and culturally aware criticism of the the top-down approach used in designing the OLPC XO and its Sugar interface. – post by enkerli
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The Fonly Institute: Problems with the $100 laptop
- Early critique of the OLPC project. Thoughtful, level-headed, prescient. – post by enkerli
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Create Digital Music » OLPC’s Sugar and Music Learning: Education, Not OS, is the Point
- Let’s use Sugar to create cool music tools which will help in learning. – post by enkerli
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OLPC News: OLPC Unveiling of the Next Generation XO Laptop
- Will we see major changes in the XO-2? – post by enkerli
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Thoughts from Tomi: Getting the right attention
- Thinking about the OLPC legacy. – post by enkerli
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The OLPC project and competition | John Carroll | ZDNet.com
- Did the OLPC project welcome competition, or not? Depends on which OLPC person you talk to. – post by enkerli
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Perspective 2.0: The emperor has designer clothes
- Discussion of the relationship between the design approach used and the lukewarm adoption of the OLPC XO. – post by enkerli
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Literacy before laptops | Comment is free – Annotated
- The tone of the main article seems fairly appropriate, in my mind. Take home message of “let’s move on to the more important issues?” – post by enkerli
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collapse of a well-meaning computer scheme
- Sounds harsh but is actually quite realistic. In fact, the “well-meaning” part depends on individuals’ actual intentions, a tricky subject. – post by enkerli
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implosion
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great masters of technological hype
- Though partly sarcastic, a recognition of Negroponte’s talent. – post by enkerli
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endorsed
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constructionism
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expensive gimmick
- OLPC members keep getting defensive at comments like these but the fact that the Indian government found the device expensive points to a disconnect in the ways the device has been perceived in different parts of the world. – post by enkerli
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no evidence at all that they will actually help
- Even if evidence is available to OLPC members, it has not been presented publicly. Evidence-based research needs not be incompatible with non-profit efforts. – post by enkerli
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article of faith
- Addressing the religious fervor with which some technology enthusiasts have been defending their ideas. “These effects are real because we say they are.” – post by enkerli
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learn about computers
- Though it’s not always a well-acknowledged point, the OLPC project’s goal was, in a way, to transform children abroad into something which could serve in “our” workforce. “Neocolonialism” is one way to put it. – post by enkerli
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don’t try to bypass the adult world
- Probably because of a “childhood is sacred” ideology, the OLPC project effectively sought to widen the generation gap in communities where they have been active. This seems quite detrimental to community-building but may, in fact, help in turning group solidarity into socially mobile individuals. Neo-liberals and neo-conservatives tend to like these types of social changes. – post by enkerli
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end up back in the mainstream computer industry
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ScribeMedia.Org | This is Not a Toy: The Little Computer That Could
- Behar’s enthusiastic presentation of some of the OLPC XO-1’s neatest features. The enthusiasm may be communicative but is it as strong as the Reality Distortion Field? – post by enkerli
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Lounge: OLPC and Constructionism
- Moodle thread on constructionism motivated by my knee-jerk reactions to what I perceived as dismissive anti-constructionist and anti-constructivist backlash in comments about the OLPC. – post by enkerli
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Twenty-four hours with my OLPC « Adam Greenfield’s Speedbird
- Allegedly a harsh criticism but more of a thoughtful review of design issues with the OLPC. – post by enkerli
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Asustek’s move to rival OLPC a ‘poor strategy’ | Mobile Handset DesignLine
- Maybe a poor strategy, but it seems to have worked better for Asustek than for OLPC. – post by enkerli
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OLPC News: When Constructivism Hits the Road
- Despite the snarky comments about “constructionism”/”constructivism” being “mixed up,” Ploskonka’s piece comes from an interesting perspective. Just noticed Ploskonka lives in Austin, where I was living until recently. Just – post by enkerli
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- Some relatively early statements defending the top-down approach to design. (“You just do it right.”) – post by enkerli
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Perspective 2.0: Education and mobile phones: a whole world in your hands
- Cellphones, leapfrog, and education: the more you think about it with a fresh perspective, the more you imagine possibilities. Why is it that so many people dismiss cellphones as learning tools? – post by enkerli
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What’s in the Water at OLPC? | Linux Journal
- Straightforward summary of recent events surrounding former members of the OLPC team. – post by enkerli