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Re: [school-discuss] One Laptop Per Child?



Yes, Doug Loss arrives here in SA in Feb and will certainly be getting out to 
some of the NetDay installations. Unfortunately he gets here just a day 
before I leave for the USA permanently so I won't be going with him. But 
NetDay will keep going, indeed I think the new management team will bring a 
freshness of approach to our work. As of 25 February I'll be living in 
Boulder, Colorado and would like to be able to pick up contact with people 
involved in FOSS and education anywhere near there. Please feel free to 
contact me off-list.

In response to the issue of prioritisation (running water vs. computers) which 
comes up again and again: since I was a teacher for ten years and am 
passionate about FOSS and ICTs, it was a no-brainer as to where my role would 
play out. NetDay doesn't do what it does because we see computers as more 
important than running water in rural schools. We do it because it's a field 
we know and understand, in which we have the capacity to make a difference, 
one rural school at a time. So while the prioritisation debate is a valuable 
policy level discussion, it should not be allowed to inhibit our work of 
getting FOSS into schools. Sometimes I think the debate around priorities can 
be a bit of a troll. It does not have be an debate in which the pursuit of 
one priority necessarily excludes all others. Doug will be visiting Limpopo 
Province next month and if he ventures far enough north he will see the new 
pipelines that have been built by the government, feeding networks of 
communal taps in exactly some of the most remote areas where we're setting up 
K12LTSP labs. We see a parallel meeting of priorities in cases like this. 
Government is doing the right thing investing in such infrastructural work. 
In terms of infrastructure in schools, the Limpopo provincial government is 
adding a block of three or four new classrooms and sanitation facilities to 
all schools in the province as part of its development plan over the next 
five years. One of those new classrooms at each school has electrical 
reticulation and security for use as a computer lab. This works very nicely 
for organisations like NetDay to come in and supply a Linux thin client lab 
to the school. This is a good example of government prioritising in a way 
that not only accommodates, but also facilitates other priorities. And 
getting the K12LTSP sites up and running and sustainable in the early stages 
of the process will be in my view, helpful in setting the standard for levels 
of ICT sustainability in schools, so that when the government gets to the 
point at which they begin deploying computers to schools, we have in place a 
robust, reliable, effective and functional FOSS template.

On localisation in South Africa, I've encountered fascinating responses. I can 
recall the first time I introduced a school to Openoffice in Zulu. They were 
not interested one bit. It seems intuitive that localisation would be 
desirable but this has consistently been the response I have encountered 
since my excitement was tempered on that first occasion. IN the places where 
I've worked, English is perceived as the language of computing and business 
and therefore as empowering and localisation is not at all popular. I've had 
a number of inconclusive chats about this with the good folk at 
translate.org.za. I've heard of the same response from adults taking basic 
computer literacy classes in towns near the schools in which we work. I'd 
like to hear more on this issue from anyone with similar or different 
experiences.

On OLPC. Educationally speaking I think that a few laptops in each classroom 
is a more meaningful approach than the single computer lab approach that we 
currently use - at least in terms of the South African curriculum model in 
which differentiation of simultaneous classroom activities is catered for, if 
not encouraged. But it also raises a number of practical questions of cost, 
loss and maintenance, all of which are part of the overall sustainability 
value chain. As a project, I'm for OLPC and hope that my path intersects with 
an opportunity to be involved in it somewhere. It's a pity that in Africa 
OLPC somehow got itself locked into NEPAD which has been a blunder that 
doesn't have much to show for its e-schools project so far.

cheers
Ed Holcroft (outgoing executive director, NetDay South Africa)

On Sunday, 21 January 2007 04:28, Justin wrote:
> This reminds me, a couple months back Doug Loss had mentioned that he was
> going to visit South Africa and meet with the people at NetDay (and was
> looking for ideas towards articles) http://www.netday.org.za/.  Being that
> NetDay is an NGO, and has worked to implement sustainable technology
> solutions for schools for some time, hearing their
> thoughts/experiences/opinions in relation to some of the ideas shared here
> could be insightful.
>
> Not sure what to think about the ideas of localized software and resources
> and where the responsibility to provide that is.  I agree with the idea
> that a lot of these projects are people applying their expertise in a way
> that they can.  With OLPC, a lot of the applications will utilize the mesh
> networking features, if there are some basic tools such as a word
> processor, music sequencer, and graphics programs - as the kids share the
> various creations amongst one another it seems like the tools would find
> localized application.  More defined localization in specific areas would
> be a luxury considering the resources it would take to implement them up
> front (if education is scarce in a places, wouldn't that make those who
> have the understanding of a culture and how to present content to it even
> more scarce?  Furthermore, if one did have that understanding, and the
> ability to design these resources in this way, I would wonder if localized
> resources helped them craft this ability..or if it was something learned
> elsewhere) Anyhow, because the project has focused don FLOSS there is a good
> opportunity for someone to be in the best position to someday provide the
> localization that would fit their environment.  If localization is looked
> at as an obstacle, is there a better way of handling it?