OLPC Belgium/FAQ

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OLPC Belgium
OLPC Belgium/Meetings
OLPC Belgium/FAQ

Please add your Questions and RfC (Requests for Comments) below :)

Looking forward seeing you on the internet (use the "search" on the left irc/mailing lists/...), or life !

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Q: Is a laptop the first, most basic necessity that kids need in developing countries ?!

1. OLPC is about making the best laptop configuration for all kids, both rich and poor. True, OLPC expects rich regions to be able to bring money together for sensibilization, setting-up a lab, and bring it to a full deployment for their kids/educational sector themselves. OLPC gives additional support, goes an additional mile for kids in regions where there is no real education.
2. Replace the word "laptop" by "education" and you might be on track to the answer. OLPC has nice videos that answer this question: http://www.olpc.tv

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Q: I'm very amazed no IT teacher nor governmental nor non-governmental belgian organisation nor the linux community/open source community and all university students in Belgium are not taking over here.

A: Replace the people responsible

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Q: Heeft er iemand in vlaanderen reeds zo'n OLPC in bezit om eens te testen?

A: Yes, ja, certainement: Skype SvenAERTS has one and is living in Bxl. In fact.. the good people of OLPC liked my idea posted on the slideshare link above so much, they decided to pay me 5.000€ from march to the next 6 months minimum to develop an entity that's going to unlock this "Kyoto Protocol"/CO2e-Potential of OLPC.

In fact... I'm working in the castle - yes, you're reading this well - that OLPC has been donated by the euphoristic people of SWIFT-the interbanking money transaction provider or something in those lines. They happened to have a castle on their premises they didn't fully use, so decided it was a good idea to offer it to OLPC. What can one say to that ! And ... so now my presumably bright idea and big mouth found me working in an office in a castle. If only my friends, parents and wife would actually believe this.--SvenAERTS 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

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Q: RfC, what does it mean?

A: Request for Comments

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To do list:

* write articles in Belgian press
* visit the ministry of development and education to inform them 
* get them to order 1 million OLPC computers
* --SvenAERTS 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Done:

* Youth and the OLPC initiative:

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== Hi, I'm wondering if any Belgians out there are interested in buying one of these machines? J.==

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Q. I'm very interested in buying one of them. Any clues to get one? Martijn

Yes... Give One, Get one campaigns during X-mass holiday season. One of the bottlenecks of the project is that production cannot follow demand ... so OLPC first gives to those who need access to primary education most in the developing countries = the poorests kids in the poorest countries first. --SvenAERTS 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

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Why don't we first try to make a blog/forum thing so we can easily open discussions with all the (belgian) people who are interested in this matter. We'll have to do some serious research on this (like: who can help us doing what...) before we can go to an administrative organ... Imagine how stupid it would look :)

You mean like bringing together several players in Belgian Society that might be interested, like some big companies, universities, schools, woman organisations, unions, student communities, ministers, politicians, ... ? --SvenAERTS 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

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RfC: J'ai la chance d'avoir pu me procurer 9 de ces machines. Je vais en garder une pour mes tests et les 8 autres je les envoie en Inde avec l'organisation suivante pour qui je travaille : http://www.OeuvreDesPains.org L'idée est de voir dans quelle mesure le XO peut être utile là bas.

Hmm, prenez contact avec OLPC, soit par irc soit par telephone ... nous avons une "Liaison Officer" au Bureau de OLPC-Bxl qui est Indienne. Peut-etre vous pouvez en tirer plus. En Inde, il y a déja des projèts Pilotes avec qq. centaines, voir milliers d'ordis. Vous avez déjà fait une recherche par le "search" (gausche) pour "India"?

La où ca "bloque" = bottleneck, c'est que OLPC cherche des équipes multi-disciplinaires comprenant le Hardware, Software coté du projet, mais également des gens qui savent accompagner les professeurs ... les élèves arrivent à se débrouiller ... quand il en a un qui a trouvé qc. ... immédiatement- tout les copains se mettent autour ... s'échange l'info ... et hups ... un/une autre qui découvre qc ... et hup tous vont le rejoindre etc. ... et le prof. qui court toujours derrière ... c'est trop marrant à voir ... donc il faut des gens qui comprennent, ne paniquent pas, expliquent au pauvre professeur que c'est ok, que ca s'appelle "collaborative learning", et que ca a sa place dans l'education formelle et non-formelle, etc. En tout cas, je vous garantis soit des vacances inoubliables si vous participez à ce genre de choses ... sinon .. organisez vous un minimum, rassemblez des fonds ... p.e. comme citoyen d'une commune vous pouvez faire appel au fond pour developpement/jumelage de votre commune ... je ne parle pas encore d'action de fundraising ... les appels à projèts ... mettez vous ensembles ... coordonnez un peu les choses ... si vous cherchez seulement un passe temps ... je vous conseille irc pour chatter un peu sur "OLPC" p.e. Allez courage... un certain moment un de ces enfants va essayer de vous contacter ... peut-etre par irc, par email, ..., peut-etre il/elle aura besoin de qq / de vous ... --SvenAERTS 22:36, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

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Q: My name is Pieterjan Heyse, interested in open source and education. I would like to volunteer to hack on those nice green devices. I could try to repair them. Will try and contact the dutch folks who have a repair centre. Is there anyone in belgium who has a unit ans can we meet up? My email is pieterjan (at) daar (punt) be

Yes... at http://www.olpceu.org - Brussels Office/Ter Hulpen-La Hulpe, we have over 100 OLPC-laptops, and we come to at least 1 city in Belgium with as many as you want ... join us cf OLPC-Belgium Meetings