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== Other Ideas ==
== '''Filtering''' ==
I have been trying to find the proper forum for raising a concern about these machines and offering a few potential solutions. The webcam built into the machines seems likely to be used to create exploitative pornography, which could then be easily distributed. [http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Talk:Ask_OLPC_a_Question click here] to be redirected (within this wiki) to a fuller explanation of the risk and an outline of one possible solution. I work, by profession, in online mentoring and I lived in the developing world for a number of recent years. If this risk is not taken seriously, the impact has the potential to spoil the reputation of the program.


=='''Donation Idea'''==
Other ideas, not specifically for hardware or software of the laptop itself:
i was thinking, it would be a fun idea if people who are fortunate enough to be able to donate the cost of a laptop would have their name and email address stickered onto the bottom of a laptop so the recipient would have someone they could communicate with, like penpals and stuff.


- hello, that sounds a good idea. How about installing some short of "hello message" from computer-donator that could be started from desktop? there could be your personal information and maybe something about your country your living in, pictures etc. It could also be smart program that works via internet and some server and you could update and send messages.. now we need some programming..
I think the function of '''OLPC''' and '''UMPC''' should be the same, right?


>>did you see about the give 1 get 1. thats pretty cool.
=== Wireless Networking ===
A book called Wireless Networking in the Developing World is now available on the net in pdf at http://wndw.net/. It has a lot of information that might be useful when deploying the OLPC program. In addition to covering WIFI theory and design, it covers practical, social, and economic problems that they encountered.
One idea is to share the cost of the infrastructure with other local groups like businesses and local government. Another is to disperse the knowledge of how to operate the system so that if one person moves away, critical knowledge isn't lost.


=== Wireless Thin-Client as alternative? ===


This seems like a simple pen-pal system, which is great, but could be implemented much better. Simply keep two matched lists of donors wanting to get letters and recipients wanting to send. This would provide a much better contact rate, allow some chance of rationality matching language capabilities, and eliminate the need to customize each box either in software or hardware.
The main counter argument for a thin-client approach is probably the need for maintenance/administration and general dependency on the central server, think e.g. particularly power in this context?


=='''Retail version independent of OLPC'''==
Still, maybe providing a (much) cheaper wireless portable thin client (think one-chip LCD+wireless controller; nothing else inside, particularly no memory and real CPU, which are probably the next most expensive part after the display?), for say $20 instead of $100, plus a commoditized say $1000 Dual-CPU with 2 GB RAM server, per school/entire village, could of interest in some situations? This is assuming that the configuration and loaded software etc. of all devices would be very homogenous, which is probably a fair assumption in this context? If the server could run say 100 clients (essentially running very similar software to what was built for the full $100 laptop of 128 MB RAM each, but with all of the OS and application code shared, thus only using about 16-32 MB for per-client data) then this seems at least imaginable, and would mean a total cost of just $3000 instead of $10'000 - for the 100 children.


I suggest the interested OLPC community develop a retail model linked (by donation etc.) to the parent project. I feel that the market demand for such a laptop would be massive and donation to other charity groups would also increase consumer interest. I will try to assemble a team to work on a model. email me if interested. edgertronics@gmail.com
That's a lot of ifs and assumptions of course, and only real pricing, scalability and the "market" can tell if there was an interest for (also) providing this - later. Just an idea, really.


==''' Selling These Laptops in Developed Countries'''==
:: It's a good idea, [http://www.ndiyo.org/ Ndiyo] is doing just that right NOW. Except, because you're tied to the server there's no need to use complex wireless network technology. Also as you say the server is tied to a reliable power source; e.g. at least diesel generator which means the machines are only of use in a classroom or office. The prices are high at the moment, compared to olpc targets, but the boxes aren't being mass produced yet. [[User:62.252.0.11|62.252.0.11]] 01:55, 18 March 2006 (EST)


I see a lot of people in the US (myself included) who would actually consider purchasing and using one of these laptops for both personal and educational use. If these Laptops are made available in Western or developed countries, buyers should agree to a sponsorship transaction where they buy one device for themselves and one for a child in a developing country (in effect, paying for two devices but agreeing to donate one or even two to a child in a developing country).
=== Development Process ===


Follow the apple lead with the RED products. And produce a RED version.
How much coordination of the Software Development Process is useful? Just make an SDK available and hope for self-organization? Or maybe e.g. a registry of suggested/needed software, a forum to coordinate software development between parties using this. Or how about volunteer summer projects for CS university students, like Google's summer of code thing?
Convince Starbucks T-Mobile to provide free or reduced wifi for anybody with an olpc laptop.


The demand for them would be unstoppable even at $300-$400 dollars. People would be able to check email drink their coffee with their bright red laptop smug in the knowledge that everybody walking by knows they are doing their bit to save the world.
=== User interface ===


Get John Maeda involved with the UI and other design elements.


I had thought of something similar, but wouldn't it make more sense to say that if you donate, say, 10 units ($1000), you get one for free for yourself? That would be about the price of another cheap laptop anyways - and I mean, I'm a college student, and I'm able to get $1000 together for a laptop. I would much rather spend it this way than on some fancy laptop for myself.
Ergonomics for the hand-crank handle is not there. I believe Oval is good, even better is a triangular shape with rounded edges. Rectangular shape fits the profile of the computer well, however, with hand crank being one of the most used and stressed portion of the laptop, minimizing unnatural gripping forces to be applied to the handle may increase the life of the handle and improve ergonomics at the same time.
By M. Harada Buford, GA


And with the corporate sponsors idea - perhaps instead of free wifi here, in the US, the companies could agree to put that much $ towards getting internet etc into more remote areas (i.e. the real reason the laptops are around)
=== Sell them! Make them a symbol of global activism ===


Hi - I just had a similar idea here in the UK - to sell them here for say £75 or £100 for our kids to use the same kit as kids in developing countries would give them a tangible point of contact and for each one/two you buy bought here, a child in need would get theirs paid for...
'''Sell in open market and use royalty to fund free laptops to poor children:'''
I don't understand why OLPC doesn't want to sell in open markets, and why the manufacturing contract has to be exclusive to specific manufacturer(s). By doing this, OLPC is not unleashing the power of the markets. Such a sound concept as $100 laptop, when complemented by the market, will work exponentially well. I suggest a system where the design is made close to open source, and any manufacturer can use the design, and they can make improvements. However, the manufacturers should agree to submit any design or function improvements to the MediaLabs, in return for the original design. The MediaLabs should collect royalty as a percentage of sales, and use it to fund free or subsidized laptops for children of poor countries.
[http://suggestionsforabetterworld.blogspot.com/2006/03/making-one-laptop-per-child-work.html]


== ''' Should we consider a companion project that will lead to the development of One Laptop per Citizen?''' ==
-- Subhas Chilumula, Rutherford, NJ, USA.


I understand that this proposition will raise many more questions than the original OLPC project but I believe is worth start discussing it. The digital citizens of today have lot digitized information of personal interest that should reside in a really personal computer an OLPC…


I suggest that the decision not to sell these to the general public be reconsidered. Sales of these laptops could help fund their global (charitable) distribution. For a purchase price of $200, consumers would actually be buying two computers - one to own/use and one for a needy child somewhere in the world. Among first world consumers, these laptops could become quite popular as a meaningful symbol of global activism. Widespread usage of the devices would, in turn, fuel innovation, enhance infrastructure and make the devices that much more useful to the global community for which they were originally intended.


----
-- suggested by Don Ferris, San Diego, CA
==Donation support==
By opening sales to the general public and primary education organisations in developed countries an "x dollar donation towards a laptop for someone in a develping country" scheme could be implemented, which, in theory would help to increase the volume of laptops available for use by its target populations.


==Promotion: Enclose an OLPC poster and add a letter asking for help==
If you send the XO laptops to your donators, why don't you enclose a poster to this delivery? There is still a letter from Mr. Negroponte. In this letter the project OLPC can ask for further help.


Some sentences like: "Although the project knows that you support the project with your donation, you can help the children once again. Please hang out this poster at the next grocery store or at the university or at the next supermarket... Please help us to make others aware of this huge humanitarian effort that can change the world." would probably create good public awareness.
Terrific idea! I'd buy one for $200 in a minute. If this idea could be more widely floated (Tim O'Reilly, you listening?), I'm sure the response would be very strong.


The project still created a good poster (the african girl "wearing" an XO laptop on her head). Make some more interesting posters, add always your internet adress "www.laptop.org" on this poster.
-- Tim Lynch, T-burg, NY


Another idea: offer the community some posters as a download, so that everone can print out the poster at home or at a professional copy shop. Ask the community for help to spread OLPC's vision around the world!


== Green Hardware ==
I had this same idea this morning while listening to the NPR story about the laptop program. I could easily see buying one at $200 with the knowledge that I was also buying another for a child elsewhere. The one hole that I see in the current plan is that marketing these commercially in the U.S. and other well developed countries wouldn't be enough. I think that to really give the program a chance a rollout within the poor in the U.S./Europe would give a big boost in cost reduction (more laptops less cost) and it would provide for greater addoption and awareness. There are plenty of places within the U.S. and Europe that could benefit from a program like this.


Some Ideas from [http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003881.html Wo
--Nick Acks, Baltimore, MD


=='''Donation Idea'''==
=== Remember the Social Context of your Technical Solutions ===
i was thinking, it would be a fun idea if people who are fortunate enough to be able to donate the cost of a laptop would have their name and email address stickered onto the bottom of a laptop


I think that the ideas here need to be seen in the context of how networking and distribution of data is going to be performed. In the poorest countries, the ideas may need to be modified due to limited scope for immediate netwoking. Also the role of charity will be very improtant; remember that most of the african countries have not yet been involved in the project, so charity support will be a major driving force in distributing the hardware.


=='''Stickers Idea'''==
I suggest a charity funded system of data distribution, but flexible enough that it could be a commercial venture for a citydewller with transport. Western charity could provide data transfer credits to individuals in remote villages, to be spent on delivery of data serveices to and from the village. A courier would have a laptop with large storage expansion, and travel to villages to deliver data designated for them, and to recieve data for delivery from them. They would expend their credits in the process of givig their data transmission, and recieve a secure reciept for their last communications sent from the data courier. When the courier returned to the city, they would access the internet via a larger access point if available, or just by telephone if not, and would load the appropriate dvd into a usb drive to retrieve the appropriate requested data from several repositories of information - e.g. encyclopedia (possibly wikipedia), educational syllabus for the next month or year as developed by national education system, etc. The delivery of the data would be accompanied by a cashing in of the data-transfer-credits collected on their journy around the villages, and converted to cedits for cashing at a bank, or directly at the internet access point if appropriate. Email based securely encoded credits designated for the individuals in villages as charity gifts would then be recieved from the internet and delivered by the courier to the village on their next visit. To prevent ransom of the delivery of the credits, the entire collection of data intended for the village would be bound in to a 'delivery package' only decodable and seperatable by the intended recipient and then distributed to the individuals by a simple username and password (the username selected from a village specific list, to avoid confusion).


It seems like a classroom filled with identical laptops is an screaming invitation for personalization. In the tech industry, we are used to having a huge sticker resevoir generated by marketing departments of various companies vying for our attention. It is hard to imagine that children around the world already have a drawer full of miscellaneous stickers, so perhaps providing an assortment would be appreciated. Given that many companies would probably like to have their logos on stickers around the world, why not have them pay for the stickers and pay for priviledge of having the stickers delivered as part of the OLPC program. It would be interesting if such a sticker tax could further reduce the costs of the laptops. Of course the kids will use or not use what they want.
For adults, with limited postal service or reliability, A major application of importance would be political communications, and the option of communications by pgp communications is essential, but should be very user friendly. There must be a pgp-like delivery certification to ensure that deliveries of emails is made without being intercepted or held ransom by delivery people is also very important. - a user or regular email would confirm reciept by clicking a url on the delivered email to confirm reciept to an international reciept confirmation server. reciept confirmation of the village resident would be sent by pgp based confirmation.


=='''How to pronounce your name again?'''==
access to personal data must be able to protected, by user/password encoded access only, also for deleting data - there should be a firmware controlled partition or directory on the flash which can only be accessed by users' passwords, or deleted in its entirety (not per user) - also there should be a limit on the space used by each user. There should be a hardware switch for deactivating wifi if installed, to prevent hackers and viruses in potentially unstable political climate - likely used to prevent political dissent.


We should give the children the opportunity to speak out loud and record their names, towns and countries, so that their friends from some other end of the world know how to pronounce it. Sure, you could read the name of someone else, but if it's written in Thai characters, you'll be lost anyway.
I think that the social model of data repositeries on dvd, and internet access, in cities or perhaps towns is a realistic and efficient solution. With funding of data distribution by digitally secure credits or tokens delivered securely to villagers, access to data by the holders of the laptop can be guaranteed.
Perhaps we could even implement some kind of audio tooltip, such that the name is played, when you hover over some friends' icon long enough.


== NGO'S CAN BE A POWERFUL TOOL IN YOUR IMPLEMENTATION ==
-- suggested by ma http://wiki.laptop.org/wiki/User:Ma


Greetings,
== Rollout and Community Building ==
I have read what you have to say about NGO's and how they would slow down your progress at implementation but I do want you to consider the fact that it is possible for NGO's to receive funding for educational purposes from international foundations and organizations. Perhaps a NGO could aid with the funding requirement of, for the sake of argument, the teaching of the educators in the use of the new machines. Surely with such new technology, instruction for the teaching staff would be required...and then there is the matter of initial set up, another area where outside funds could be used. It seems to me that they are numerous areas that NGO's could step in and help with the program, we just need to know that our efforts would be supported by you and the governments concerned. Some smaller third world countries simply do not have the funds for education that your program may demand. I am affiliated with a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that also holds a NGO in Belize. Our organization would be honored to help in your mission. Should you reconsider your position on NGO's, please keep us in mind. I feel sure that you can contact me by return email, as I do not wish to use your site for free advertisement. Your mission is noble and I respect your desire to educate the poor. JWB


==Reserve some for charity auction==
> Other topics where we could use some ideas is in regard to rollout and community building.


There are a number of charitable organizations which raise money via auctions. The XO-1 would be an ideal candidate for an auction item, because its low availability in the first world would amplify its auction price.
=== The eutotokens of learning ===


I am already planning to put my G1G1 laptop up for auction for my own organization, [http://www.chessforsuccess.org/ Chess for Success]. They would be more than willing to purchase a few more for our auction in April. --[[User:IanOsgood|IanOsgood]] 14:22, 17 February 2008 (EST)
Some years ago I tried writing some science fiction, science fiction in the tradition of putting forward ideas for the future in a story setting which could potentially work.


A big network which is open for donor and NGO those want to donate laptop [http://joyofgivingonline.com Joy of Giving Foundation]
Most of what I produced is on the web.


[[Category:OLPC ideas]]
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/euto0000.htm
[[Category:Feedback]]

The items on the web are from 1997 and 1998 and time has passed since then. Some of the basic ideas in the stories are quite possibly entirely different from what is intended for this laptop project: for example, learning packages funded by advertising revenue, though the problems that that mode of working produces in the story might be of interest. So, I am mentioning the story here not as the definitive way to produce community building yet in the hope that maybe some of the ideas might be helpful in devising an opportunity creating infrastructure.

William Overington

15 March 2006

=== Common Rooms idea ===

Note that there are several common mechanisms for "supporting" internationalization and localization; the most common being [http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/ gettext], which makes use of template files. We are looking into the use of an emerging standard, [http://xml.sys-con.com/read/121957_1.htm xliff], that supports more than just translation of strings and is generally both more robust and extensible. Of course, all of this presumes that there is someone to do the trsanslation or localization of images, etc. --[[User:Walter|Walter]]

==== Localization Common Room idea ====

Suppose that someone, whose native language is English, is interested in producing learning material which could be used on the laptop in various countries once that learning material is localized into the local language, yet that person knows only a little of languages. There are many languages into which content would need to be localized.

In that one needs to start somewhere I have thought that an approach which might be worth trying, in the context of rollout and community building, would be to have such pages in this wiki as a "Common Room" type environment where people who can write in at least one of English, Spanish and Portuguese and people who can write in two or more of those languages, can interact and observe what happens.

For example, there are various language translation packages, both as programs for PCs and as web utilities. Yet what is the quality of translation? Can a system evolve whereby someone can, say, prepare something in English and then it be machine translated into, say, Spanish, then both the original and the clearly designated machine translated version placed in the Localization Common Room and then maybe someone who knows Spanish can read it through and correct it as necessary and comment?

This may or may not be workable in practice. If it is workable, then maybe it could be part of the community building infrastructure.

William Overington

24 March 2006

===== English, Portuguese and Spanish Localization Common Room =====

Here is a link to such a Localization Common Room and we can observe what, if anything, happens with it.

http://wiki.laptop.org/wiki/English_Portuguese_and_Spanish_Localization_Common_Room

==== Artwork Common Room idea ====

How about a place where a learning material author who needs an illustration file to include in a document which he or she is authoring can go and request that such an illustration be produced.

People interested in the laptop project who are not learning material authors yet who are interested in producing illustrations to support learning material authored by others could also go there and find a project.

===== Artwork Common Room =====

Here is a link to such an Artwork Common Room and we can observe what, if anything, happens with it.

http://wiki.laptop.org/wiki/Artwork_Common_Room

Latest revision as of 10:07, 4 September 2012

Filtering

I have been trying to find the proper forum for raising a concern about these machines and offering a few potential solutions. The webcam built into the machines seems likely to be used to create exploitative pornography, which could then be easily distributed. click here to be redirected (within this wiki) to a fuller explanation of the risk and an outline of one possible solution. I work, by profession, in online mentoring and I lived in the developing world for a number of recent years. If this risk is not taken seriously, the impact has the potential to spoil the reputation of the program.

Donation Idea

i was thinking, it would be a fun idea if people who are fortunate enough to be able to donate the cost of a laptop would have their name and email address stickered onto the bottom of a laptop so the recipient would have someone they could communicate with, like penpals and stuff.

- hello, that sounds a good idea. How about installing some short of "hello message" from computer-donator that could be started from desktop? there could be your personal information and maybe something about your country your living in, pictures etc. It could also be smart program that works via internet and some server and you could update and send messages.. now we need some programming..

>>did you see about the give 1 get 1. thats pretty cool.


This seems like a simple pen-pal system, which is great, but could be implemented much better. Simply keep two matched lists of donors wanting to get letters and recipients wanting to send. This would provide a much better contact rate, allow some chance of rationality matching language capabilities, and eliminate the need to customize each box either in software or hardware.

Retail version independent of OLPC

I suggest the interested OLPC community develop a retail model linked (by donation etc.) to the parent project. I feel that the market demand for such a laptop would be massive and donation to other charity groups would also increase consumer interest. I will try to assemble a team to work on a model. email me if interested. edgertronics@gmail.com

Selling These Laptops in Developed Countries

I see a lot of people in the US (myself included) who would actually consider purchasing and using one of these laptops for both personal and educational use. If these Laptops are made available in Western or developed countries, buyers should agree to a sponsorship transaction where they buy one device for themselves and one for a child in a developing country (in effect, paying for two devices but agreeing to donate one or even two to a child in a developing country).

Follow the apple lead with the RED products. And produce a RED version. Convince Starbucks T-Mobile to provide free or reduced wifi for anybody with an olpc laptop.

The demand for them would be unstoppable even at $300-$400 dollars. People would be able to check email drink their coffee with their bright red laptop smug in the knowledge that everybody walking by knows they are doing their bit to save the world.


I had thought of something similar, but wouldn't it make more sense to say that if you donate, say, 10 units ($1000), you get one for free for yourself? That would be about the price of another cheap laptop anyways - and I mean, I'm a college student, and I'm able to get $1000 together for a laptop. I would much rather spend it this way than on some fancy laptop for myself.

And with the corporate sponsors idea - perhaps instead of free wifi here, in the US, the companies could agree to put that much $ towards getting internet etc into more remote areas (i.e. the real reason the laptops are around)

Hi - I just had a similar idea here in the UK - to sell them here for say £75 or £100 for our kids to use the same kit as kids in developing countries would give them a tangible point of contact and for each one/two you buy bought here, a child in need would get theirs paid for...

Should we consider a companion project that will lead to the development of One Laptop per Citizen?

I understand that this proposition will raise many more questions than the original OLPC project but I believe is worth start discussing it. The digital citizens of today have lot digitized information of personal interest that should reside in a really personal computer an OLPC…


Donation support

By opening sales to the general public and primary education organisations in developed countries an "x dollar donation towards a laptop for someone in a develping country" scheme could be implemented, which, in theory would help to increase the volume of laptops available for use by its target populations.

Promotion: Enclose an OLPC poster and add a letter asking for help

If you send the XO laptops to your donators, why don't you enclose a poster to this delivery? There is still a letter from Mr. Negroponte. In this letter the project OLPC can ask for further help.

Some sentences like: "Although the project knows that you support the project with your donation, you can help the children once again. Please hang out this poster at the next grocery store or at the university or at the next supermarket... Please help us to make others aware of this huge humanitarian effort that can change the world." would probably create good public awareness.

The project still created a good poster (the african girl "wearing" an XO laptop on her head). Make some more interesting posters, add always your internet adress "www.laptop.org" on this poster.

Another idea: offer the community some posters as a download, so that everone can print out the poster at home or at a professional copy shop. Ask the community for help to spread OLPC's vision around the world!

Green Hardware

Some Ideas from [http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003881.html Wo

Donation Idea

i was thinking, it would be a fun idea if people who are fortunate enough to be able to donate the cost of a laptop would have their name and email address stickered onto the bottom of a laptop


Stickers Idea

It seems like a classroom filled with identical laptops is an screaming invitation for personalization. In the tech industry, we are used to having a huge sticker resevoir generated by marketing departments of various companies vying for our attention. It is hard to imagine that children around the world already have a drawer full of miscellaneous stickers, so perhaps providing an assortment would be appreciated. Given that many companies would probably like to have their logos on stickers around the world, why not have them pay for the stickers and pay for priviledge of having the stickers delivered as part of the OLPC program. It would be interesting if such a sticker tax could further reduce the costs of the laptops. Of course the kids will use or not use what they want.

How to pronounce your name again?

We should give the children the opportunity to speak out loud and record their names, towns and countries, so that their friends from some other end of the world know how to pronounce it. Sure, you could read the name of someone else, but if it's written in Thai characters, you'll be lost anyway. Perhaps we could even implement some kind of audio tooltip, such that the name is played, when you hover over some friends' icon long enough.

NGO'S CAN BE A POWERFUL TOOL IN YOUR IMPLEMENTATION

Greetings, I have read what you have to say about NGO's and how they would slow down your progress at implementation but I do want you to consider the fact that it is possible for NGO's to receive funding for educational purposes from international foundations and organizations. Perhaps a NGO could aid with the funding requirement of, for the sake of argument, the teaching of the educators in the use of the new machines. Surely with such new technology, instruction for the teaching staff would be required...and then there is the matter of initial set up, another area where outside funds could be used. It seems to me that they are numerous areas that NGO's could step in and help with the program, we just need to know that our efforts would be supported by you and the governments concerned. Some smaller third world countries simply do not have the funds for education that your program may demand. I am affiliated with a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that also holds a NGO in Belize. Our organization would be honored to help in your mission. Should you reconsider your position on NGO's, please keep us in mind. I feel sure that you can contact me by return email, as I do not wish to use your site for free advertisement. Your mission is noble and I respect your desire to educate the poor. JWB

Reserve some for charity auction

There are a number of charitable organizations which raise money via auctions. The XO-1 would be an ideal candidate for an auction item, because its low availability in the first world would amplify its auction price.

I am already planning to put my G1G1 laptop up for auction for my own organization, Chess for Success. They would be more than willing to purchase a few more for our auction in April. --IanOsgood 14:22, 17 February 2008 (EST)

A big network which is open for donor and NGO those want to donate laptop Joy of Giving Foundation

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