OLPC shifts away from small deployments.
In troubling news circulating this week it appears that the One Laptop per Child project has shifted its focus soley to large scale deployments. “A program for donors to employ between 100 or more laptops for small-scale deployments, called “Give a School,” has been removed from the participation page of the nonprofit’s Web site. The [...]
Getting access to XOs in Australia/NZ
Pia has just posted a detailed list of suggestions if you were ever interested in getting your hands on an OLPC XO laptop in Australia and New Zealand. Before she does, though, she makes an important note that I feel that I should copy here. I’ve seen people (especially at ZDnet) somewhat miffed once they [...]
OLPC hit by GFC
The One Laptop per Child project, due to the financial crisis, has had to reduce its operating costs like so many other companies. From the official Wiki: “Like many other nonprofits that are facing tough economic times, One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with fewer financial resources. Today [...]
OLPC interview @ eGames
While manning the EOL booth at eGames 2008 I was approached by the Internode content team, expensive video camera and all, to do a short interview about the One Laptop per Child program. Mostly it’s a rundown of the XO unit itself, but we talk about the ideas behind the project and what it might [...]
OLPC iGoogle theme
Just in from the mailing list: “Yesterday, iGoogle launched “Themes for Causes” with One Laptop per Child as one of their first 25 causes. “Themes for Causes” are ways to customize your Google homepage to show your support. Show your support for One Laptop per Child by adding our theme to your Google startpage, and [...]
US School To Deploy 1,400 XOs : THE Journal
The Journal has a report about a significant new OLPC deployment in the USA: Chester Community School in Pennsylvania is deploying 1,400 XO laptops to students, one of the larger deployments of laptops from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in the United States. The initial rollout will begin this week. PA Charter School To Deploy [...]
Why Australian trials are important to the OLPC vision
Pia’s gone and done a five point explanation as to why OLPC trials in Australia are important. First, the need. We’ve got such a range of educational situations here in this country, and there is most definitely room for this kind of technology. Second, it helps free up money for similar projects in a tricky [...]
Free Icon-To-Speech: Open-Source Speech for Disabled
While doing XO demonstrations at iDEF in Melbourne I had an interesting conversation with a man involved in disabled services. The discussion centred around accessibility and it brought to my mind things I hadn’t thought about before – specifically, where do disabled kids fit into the OLPC picture? Well, that’s partly answered by this fantastic [...]
Give 1 Get 1 Australia
It comes as a surprise but OLPC Australia has announced an Australian Give 1 Get 1 program, similar to those currently running overseas. Details are sparse but this is most exciting news, especially for those individuals I talked to during iDEF, who were very very keen to get involved. “Early 2009″ is the penciled in [...]
Breaking news – new detail on Australian OLPC deployment.
Over at OLPC Friends you can finally get some details on Australia’s first OLPC XO pilot. Pia’s been heading up the project, with an emphasis on remote collaboration rather than school-wide saturation and deployment. Available so far is the technical documentation, with more to follow… Today Pia Waugh has posted on her blog a link [...]