One Laptop Per Child Looking for a Friend

by Charles Seton

(January 10, 2008) Okay, okay – I know the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer - small, portable, green and inexpensive - was designed to bring knowledge and Internet access to the poorest children of the world. As someone first exposed to computers as an Explorer Scout at Mamaroneck High School, typing out punch cards at a "computer lab" on a field trip in 1968, I don't qualify as a child or a poor person. But, having now taught photography and computer courses at MHS and privately for the past ten years, I was intrigued by OLPC's novel approach to computers and philanthropy. When OLPC ran its "Give one, Get one" (G1G1) program in November and December, I jumped at the chance to check out this slow but "bleeding edge" computer. For a $400 contribution, one laptop was sent to a deserving child in an underdeveloped country, and the other went on December 26 to a "child of choice" – me.

Now I'm looking for other nearby "children of choice" so we can take advantage of the laptop's unique interactive features and overcome its most frustrating one – the lack of documentation.

This OLPC is a project of the 21st century. There is no comprehensive product manual (which is ironic, because when there is a manual, nobody reads it). You either have to try to figure things out on your own or go online to the Wiki (similar to Wikipedia), which is being created by the OLPC Laptop users on an ongoing basis. In addition, every few days someone figures out another feature and posts it on a forum or makes a video and uploads it to YouTube. This is a fascinating but frustrating process, especially because this little miracle doesn't run on Windows. Or Mac OS. It uses an operating system called Linux, which is closer in a way to the punch cards of my youth than to Windows. And I don't know Linux - yet.

Which gets me to the reason for this column. One of the things that the OLPC Laptop is best at is community. Get two or more of these babies in a room together and they recognize each other by name(!), automatically connect to each other and start sharing programs. A teacher can lead a lesson on a laptop and all of the students will see the demonstration on their own screens. Two or more kids can work collaboratively on an art or music project (both programs are built in). It's hard to express my exhilaration the first time I typed some words on my laptop and they appeared almost instantaneously on my friend's screen.

The laptop has other capabilities aimed at its target audience and the goal of creating an ecologically sound, energy-sipping, sturdy, cooperative learning tool. Fast computers generate a lot of heat, so the OLPC laptop was destined to be slow. It has no moving parts - no hard drive (it uses Flash memory, similar to a digital camera) and no fan. The keyboard is sealed against dust and liquids. It's tested to survive desert heat and multiple drops of up to four feet. (See the New York Times video review by David Pogue below.)

It's monitor is clever - the screen has three times the resolution of a standard LCD computer monitor. If you turn off the backlight, it switches from color to high-resolution black and white and can be viewed by sunlight or room light using almost no battery energy. The screen also flips around and closes flat so you can read an e-book using the included software. OLPC Laptops connect automatically to a Wi-Fi Internet connection using twin antennas with a much greater range and sensitivity than a typical laptop. Plus, there's a built-in video and still camera for hours of fun.

As for power, the battery runs for six hours and can be recharged 2000 times (four times more than a conventional laptop battery). You can charge the battery with a solar panel, a hand crank, a foot pedal or a car battery. In India, someone has even devised a cow-powered generator.

So far, though, what my OLPC has not been able to do is find many local friends.
Unfortunately, the G1G1 program is now closed in the United States. You can still donate to the project (go to the OLPC website) but you can no longer get your own laptop from OLPC. Machines are available on eBay, craigslist or other classified websites, but those sales do not benefit poor children.

So, if you are the proud owner of an OLPC laptop (for your child or the child in you) or are interested in seeing one and talking about it with me, contact me at techexplainer@gmail.com or call me at 914-381-2530 (10am -10pm is best). I'm hoping to put together a small group so we can share what we know and learn together.

Charles Seton is a native of Larchmont. He works locally as a photographer, videographer and technology teacher. His business, Technology Explained Simply, is located in Mamaroneck.

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