WITFOR2007 - conference session

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I’m posting this from this event I’m at in Addis – WITFOR2007 (www.witfor2007.org), the World IT Forum. This is something that arose from the action plan of the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society - www.itu.int/wsis/index.html). I spotted an ad for this in a local paper a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be a good opportunity to make some contacts in Addis at least. It’s turned out to be very interesting, particularly as there’s a strand focusing on ICT in education, just up my street. And I'm meeting lots of interesting people and making new friends - always a good thing.

The highlight for me so far has been the presentation by Nicholas Negroponte, of MIT MediaLab and the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) project (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm on BBC web site and www.laptop.org). Some years back, he had an idea to manufacture a robust, easy-to-use and power, laptop geared towards educational use in developing countries. This has just recently become a reality, as the first batch of laptops have rolled off the production lines in China. A number of developing countries are rolling out the laptops in selected locations to begin with – these are countries who have approached OLPC themselves. Ethiopia is one of those countries – I’m now on a mission to find out where the laptops are being used, so I can go and see them myself. Mr. Negroponte was very impressive, in his enthusiasm and belief in the project. He believes in education as a means of solving world problems. There are issues to be considered – as a woman from the Tunisian government pointed out, shouldn’t we be more concerned about bringing electricity and running water to people; others asked why could the laptops not be produced in Africa. He had answers for these and more questions/criticisms. For example, the cost of the laptop would be more if manufactured in Africa, as the parts would have to be imported anyway and then reassembled. I think that while of course basic necessities like water and electricity need to be provided, the laptop can be seen as another learning tool along with textbooks, paper and pens. It can supplement these – a child could have all his textbooks in e-book format on his/her laptop.

Some delegates asked about content – Nicholas said that they have made the laptop capable of running in 10 different languages and 7 alphabets (including Ethiopian Amharic, which has its own script). It will come preloaded with an open source Linux-based operating system and a couple of programming tools (Logo and Squeak) – in keeping with the theory of learning that says that children learn more about learning when they write simple programs (based on the work of Seymour Papert at MIT – I learned about this when I was doing my MSc, so I felt I was I the right place when I heard him say that). I thought it was a bit typical of the culture of depending on other countries’ help, when a couple of delegates said ‘but what about the content, where will that come from?’. As Mr. Negroponte said, if someone invents a new car, they aren’t expected to also build the roads. My first thought was that here is a great opportunity for IT graduates and students in Ethiopia – start producing interesting content for these laptops. Of course Ethiopian IT and education professionals are best placed to produce localized, context-sensitive, relevant content for Ethiopian children using the laptops.

One of the really nice things about the way the laptops work is that in a given location (let’s say in a village), each laptop when it’s opened pops up 2 ‘ears’ or antennae that make it connect with other laptops nearby – thus they create their own local network. So, the children can do what they do best – socialize and share with each other what they are doing on their laptops. For most of what they do, the laptops need only 2 watts of power to run. That power comes from a battery that can be charged by manual action (as NN said, kids can even get their younger siblings to do that hard work) and also by connecting to an electricity supply overnight. Each laptop will come with 2 batteries so they can use one while the other is charging.

A key feature of the project is that the children own the laptops – that is a requirement OLPC imposes on governments who order the laptops for use in their countries. That means the kids get to take them home – they’re not just things that stay in a room in the school and can only be used there. And it’s not just one laptop per child, it’s also one per teacher – of course the teacher needs to be involved and be able to work on ways to make use of the laptop in school. The owners of the laptops can open them up, fix them and maintain them themselves – one of the technical innovations is the screen – if it breaks, it can be easily replaced, even by a child (unlike conventional laptops, where if the screen breaks, it’s not replaceable….or at least the laptop manufacturers don’t want us to be able to do that – why, when we could just by a whole new laptop from them!).

I suppose there are lots of potential problems – teachers who don’t know how to use a laptop or who feel threatened by new technology, lack of training for teachers and learners on how to use the laptops (though I’m sure most children, given the laptop to play with, will quickly work out what to do with it), lack of good content. But it’s such a daring idea, it’s got to be tried. And I’m going to find out where they are being used here as soon as I can!