I also did some updating of the Friends of Huong Phuong Orphanage site. A significant amount of money has already been raised and many milestones have already been reached – enough money to buy the outdoor and indoor play equipment has been raised and almost half of the women listed are now being supported through the scholarship program. The association has decided to keep the momentum up and is now considering things like developing a medical centre. Things have turned out remarkably well so far and I’m excited to see what comes next.

About this time every year groups tend to hold their Annual General Meetings. At Computing Assistance Support & Education we’re no exception, so like every year, here’s the invitation:

Engaging in Democracy with Web 2.0 Initiatives

Guest Speaker – Pia Waugh
3.00pm Wednesday 26 October, 2011 – Pia Waugh started work as an Adviser to Senator Kate Lundy in April 2009. Prior to this she was a consultant at Waugh Partners in Sydney, Australia. She has also worked as a Research Coordinator for the Australian Service for Knowledge on Open Source Software (ASK-OSS), the Open Source strategist for a large systems integrator and still works to develop the Australian FOSS industry and improve Government policies towards Free and Open Source Software.

Weston Creek Community Hub
Main Meeting Room (across from ACTCOSS)
6 Gritten Street
Weston Creek ACT, 2611

Good ol Pia. She’s worth listening to and always steps up to present when we need someone interesting.

Work has given me a paid day off as volunteer leave in order to prepare and participate which I thought was good of them. At first they weren’t too sure about it as it appears that nobody in living memory has applied for it. But after a few emails things were sorted out, so off I go! It should be an interesting afternoon so feel free to come along.

Today I don’t have to worry about any of that on account of it being a public holiday here in the ACT. Solon, Smug and myself organised an early morning tee-off for 18 holes at Magpies gold course today. It would appear that practice really does help. Some youtube training and some carefully considered shots meant that this time around I didn’t suck quite as bad. I wouldn’t call golf my favourite sport but I’ll give it a bit more time, at least until I have the basic skills. Always worth sticking with something – I played through a season of Euro Handball and was probably worse at that.

I’ve also used the time off this weekend to continue to plan for Dad’s 59th. I cooked last year and it came together really quite well. This year I’ve put a bit more thought into what the menu will be and at this stage we’re looking at veg&chicken rosemary skewers with sauces for entree, stuffed chicken rolls with white wine sauce and couscous for mains and a cheesecake for dessert. I did a trial run of the chicken stuffing last night, cooled rice with cheese, sage, garlic in mustard oil, salt and pepper. It came together well. I’ll have to make another attempt sooner rather than later, but I think the idea is a solid one and the tastebuds concur. I wanted to take some photos of the process but I also wanted not to get raw chicken all over my phone. Maybe next time I’ll co-opt some help!

Before outlining how you can get an XO, it is important to understand that these computers are not like normal laptops, they really are specialist collaboration devices meant for children aged 5-12 to be used in the classroom as part of their normal education process. They won’t necessarily make great gifts in isolation, because most of the value comes in collaborating and sharing with others, particularly in an educational setting.

Check out the post over at OLPCFriends and get involved!

Head over to her blog to read the details, convincing!

We now return you to your regular programming…

Today Pia Waugh has posted on her blog a link to the technical documentation of Australia’s first OLPC trial. The details can be found here and it includes how to work within a typical relatively secure school. This is a great step for proving the value of the project for both Aussie kids, and kids in a “Western” country. It is also a world first of inter-school collaboration and the delivery of specialist services to remote schools.

OLPC Friends Announcement
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Australia%27s_first_deployment

As for me, I’m tired but glad things went well. There are plenty of things I learned, one important one is that you need practice to demo a large number of these things effectively. Being intimately familiar with the devices will make the difference when trying to pitch their case, and that takes time.

So what’s next? Basically wait and see what the powers-that-be decide what they’ll do next (In Australia, specifically) we’ll see something solid on the OLPC wiki (wiki.laptop.org) shortly, I believe. More to follow…

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For Immediate Release 14 October, 2008 

One Laptop Per Child Open Day 

Computing Assistance Support & Education (CASE) will be hosting Canberra’s first One Laptop Per Child Open Day Monday 27 October 2008 3.00pm at Volunteering ACT 55 Chandler Street (corner of Chandler and Cameron Streets) Belconnen. 

Pia Waugh, open source software expert and One Laptop Per Child community member, will be speaking about the success of the OLPC project around the world and the opportunities it provides for educational projects in our region. 

Following the event CASE will hold it’s 10th Annual General Meeting for members. 

Come and play with the OLPC XO devices on display, and find out how this unique technology is being used in educational projects around the world. 

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I’ll be giving a presentation on the technical aspects of the XO itself (nothing too complicated), and then we will be on hand to demonstrate some of the features and answer questions as best we can. Pia will be talking at the end (at 5, is the plan). I’ll be covering the event from this blog, so be sure to check back here!

It’s a short-sighted logic. As many job selection criteria for skilled labour positions include something like “Familiarity with Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook” commentators on the OLPC project feel that because the XO is a ‘laptop’ there is an opportunity to load it with software that you’d be using if you weren’t an impoverished 12 year old from Mongolia. But most of the users of XO laptops are indeed disadvantaged. And when you’re struggling to just get power to your device, worrying about a consumer oriented crash prone operating system is the last thing you want to be doing.

The OLPC project rests on the underlying principals of open source, whereby the device as a whole is supported by a community, for free. As Pia from OLPC Australia is clear to point out in an article published in May, running windows on an XO doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

“It is completely irrelevant to the value of what the whole project is all about. OLPC Australia has been set up without that ever being on the agenda. The core principal that’s repeated often about the project is that it’s an education project not a laptop project. Part of delivering on that idea is the open source platform. The community built around the not only the technology but also the content and the use of the device. There is a community angle that permeates everything on what the device, how it works for kids and that sort of stuff…I have no idea as to why Windows is regarded as relevant to this and some of the stuff in the press about running Sugar on Windows and things like that – well Windows is just an operating system that doesn’t deliver on the vision of OLPC.” [source]

We’re not far off from streaming applications as the mainstay of our computer experience and when you think about that you start to wonder about the value of that old Office 97′ disk. Add to that the potential increased cost of the XO should it run Windows (projected as around an additional $10) because of new hardware requirements and the deal is looking like less and less appealing all the time. In the end, understanding the OLPC project not as a laptop project but as the development of a broadband enabled learning tool (that just happens to take the form of a laptop) is critical if you want to contribute to the stated goals of the project.

If you’re interested in the recent OLPC initiatives in the Pacific region, from an Australian perspective you most definitely want to check out Pia Waugh’s recent post on her time in Niue where she helped with an XO rollout. If you’re interested in anything OLPC Australia specific, you should most definitely bookmark her blog!

Pia, OLPC and Openness advocate, has also recently published “Foundations of Openness“, a paper that attempts to provide what I guess you’d call an integrity assessment tool for anyone developing resources under the open source philosophy. It’s an interesting read and is directly relevant to core ideas behind the OLPC project.

Also, a decent short article looking at the OLPC through American eyes has just popped up here. It’s worth a read too. Stay tuned for plenty more OLPC XO news!