CHILD OLPC Foundation Philippines

PHILIPPINE COLLABORATORS FOR OLPC

This is the webpage for the Philippine Collaborators for OLPC or PCOLPC) which is group of Filipino-Australians interested to support an OLPC deployment in the Philippines. The first school deployment in the country at the Lubang Integrated School in Lubang, Mindoro was a project developed by Charles Chen together with Meg Simpson and Mitch Seaton of OLPC Friends Australia in Sydney.

Mabuhay! Do you want to support the OLPC program in the Philippines and other countries in ASEAN? Contact me on pcolpc@gmail.com to get started.

For a deployment proposal, please provide the following information:

• The name of the proposed school and its location;
• How big is the school in terms of number of students per grade or year level;
• Is it a primary or high school;
• Does the school have any available PCs for teaching purposes;
• Does the school have someone who has technical skills in using a PC.

To get a project implemented will require the following resources:

• A local group in the school to train and support for using the XO laptops (these laptops are designed to run on open source software)
• A core group of teachers in the school to learn and use the laptops with the students
• A learning plan on how the XO laptop will be used as a course supplement (the learning should support the current curriculum followed by the school as approved by the Department of Education)
• A sponsor who can cover the cost of the project (each XO laptop costs over US$200)

LET THE EDUCATION PROJECT BEGIN!

While thinking on what to do next, be inspired by watching the following video made by Amazon on the mission of OLPC based on the ideals of its founder, Nicholas Negroponte.

http://www.youtube.com/v/c-M77C2ejTw&hl=en_US&fs=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/qMeX2D4AOjM&hl=en_US&fs=1

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why does a child need laptop computers?

Children in underprivileged areas need education to give them the means to change their future. OLPC is not a laptop project but an education project, the XO is both a window and a tool - a window to connect to the world and a tool for learning to learn and teaching themselves through independent interaction and exploration.

While desktops are cheaper, mobility is an important aspect in our education program. We want the children to take the XO home so that they can use it whenever and wherever they want. The XO has the rugged hardware for transportation and the innovative software that will keep children engaged.

Why is it important for each child to have a computer? What's wrong with community access computer centers?

One does not think of community pencils--kids have their own. They are tools to think with, sufficiently inexpensive to be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics. The XO is the same, but far more powerful. We want each child to have his/her own computer so that they can stay connected to the world and, even more importantly, to each other all the time. Only when each child in the community has an XO can we truly achieve the benefits of shared learning and collaborative creation.

How is it possible to get the cost of the laptop so low?

The first-generation XO dramatically lowered its cost with a novel, dual-mode display that represents improvements to the LCD displays commonly found in inexpensive DVD players. Second, we have also worked to get the fat out of our software systems. In other words, our laptop computers operate more efficiently. The XO's operating system is based on the free and open-source Linux. Third, One Laptop Per Child is a non-profit organization that is not obligated to any investors. Finally, OLPC uses large-scale orders to minimize marketing and distribution costs and to bulk order components to drive prices down.

What can a regular laptop computer do that the XO laptop cannot?

The XO laptop is a computer built for learning and designed specifically with children in remote locations in mind. Because of this, the features deemed most valuable for its purposes are as good (and in many cases, better) than comparable features on a commercially available laptop. Specifically, the XO's screen can be viewed as clearly as a newspaper in broad daylight; the wireless range of the XO is several times longer than your average laptop and it's also more rugged, resilient and power efficient than most other laptops on the market. It is water, dust and shock proof to survive the harshest of environments. While other features, such as memory space and speed, cannot compare to a regular laptop computer, these are not priorities deemed necessary for learning.

What kinds of power sources can I use with the XO laptop?

In addition to plugging the laptop into an electrical outlet (110-240 volts AC), the XO laptop can be powered by solar energy and human energy with pull cords and hand cranks. The XO laptop can take a DC input ranging from 11 volts to 40 volts, a range that's far more flexible than most portable devices. The XO laptop is remarkably energy efficient, using only 5-10 percent of the average wattage of a standard laptop. For formal specifications, please visit http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification#Specifications.

Please note that G1G1 laptops* are not bundled with any alternative energy sources (crank, solar panel etc.) besides the included AC adapter.

Who is the manufacturer of the XO laptop computer?

Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan is the original design manufacturer (ODM) of the XO laptop. Quanta Computer Inc. is the world's largest laptop manufacturer. They make laptops for Apple, HP and Dell among many others.

Who is behind these XO laptop computer?

The XO laptop computer is developed by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization founded by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte and a team of educators, developers and technologists dedicated to educating children in developing countries with the goal of eradicating poverty. OLPC is founded based on principles expressed by MIT Media Lab Professor Seymour Papert in the 1960s, and later elaborated upon by Alan Kay, and complemented by the principles articulated by Nicholas Negroponte in his book, Being Digital. Partner corporations including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Intel, Brightstar, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Quanta, Chi Mei Group, Red Hat, and SES Astra are involved in this initiative.

The following information have been provided by OLPC Asia.