Weinberger’s talk and OLPC

[pavelthegeek]

Here’s David Weinberger talking about Everything is Miscellaneous (the book I reviewed here and many others did here). The hour-long talk stands on its own and covers much of the book, though I don’t recommend watching it if you’re planning to read the book.

I went to Linux World Expo today and played with one of these upcoming One-Laptop-Per-Child

Comments

[codetoad]

The crank was removed for a good reason (which I can't remember). There are different power sources, including cranks, you can hook up externally.

There's a lot of different opinions on what the developing world needs and how to enact relevant change. I see projects like OLPC as trying to solve what tech folks can solve, even if it is just attacking one part of a much larger problem.

I notice that when people talk about OLPC they inevitably talk about how it's just some toy or that it is naive. It very well may be, but what are you doing that's any better?

The project also serves to turn the attention of geeks and others toward developing areas: the more press OLPC gets, the more press developing issues get. How many projects can you think of that involve many different people and are targeted at the developing areas of the world? I think the project is probably naive, but I will be the first to say that I don't know much of anything about the developing world's needs.

Agreed.

[pavelthegeek]

I certainly agree that it's worth trying, and I'm glad to see how much the project has progressed after reading about it for so many years now. I guess it's more as a criticism of the kind of coverage the OLPC gets even on Slashdot - they keep bringing it up whenever someone announces releasing a cheap laptop.

As far as what am I doing? Well, I'm writing about it - mentioned OLPC to someone who reads this earlier today and she had no idea what I was talking about. More than anything, I'm just reacting honestly to my experience in playing with it. I didn't slam it and I really do like the project and hope that it succeeds, so I don't understand your hostile reaction. :-\

[codetoad]

The hand crank idea was scrapped because the twisting forces would be detrimental for the machine.

It's easy to sit here with my expensive laptop and criticize someone else’s ideas. Yet, without skepticism and examination every project will develop a “yes men” mentality. The healthiest project will come out of these inquiries with a thoroughly examined and checked functionality. That being said, Lee Felenstein (designer of the Osborne 1) has a good point when he criticizes OLPC for being a top-down solution.

[pavelthegeek]

Here's a link to the article by Lee Felsenstein that talks about the problems with the OLPC.

[ext_117201]

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