OLPC Switzerland

There are 4 national languages in Switzerland. English (which is not a national language) is probably the best way to reach the largest audience. That is the reason why we publish in English here.

What is OLPC.ch?

The non profit association olpc.ch

In June 2008 the non profit association olpc-ch has been founded. To become a member you have to subscribe to the mailing list and send a mail to the president of the association Michele Notari.

[A short video about olpc.ch recorded at the Swiss Day of computer science (August, 29th 2008)]

• We use this Wiki (this page and later sub-pages) for collaborative publishing for now
• We communicate and coordinate on the olpc-ch mailing list. Visit http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-ch to subscribe!
• We host files on http://groups.google.com/group/olpc-ch/files (100 MB)
• We own the olpc.ch domain name and make it available for OLPC Switzerland initiatives

The objectives of olpc.ch

1. Demonstrate that the concept is worth promoting by using XOs in Switzerland
2. Show that OLPC is not just a cheap PC for developing countries by using XOs in one of the world's wealthiest countries
3. Promote the dissemination of XOs in German, French and Italian speaking regions by adapting XOs to these languages.
4. Promote the programming environment Squeak in the German speaking area by adequate examples and ideas developed in Swiss pedagogic universities and tested in Swiss schools.
5. Emphasize the importance of basic concepts in contrast to product knowledge by using non-commercial hardware and software.
6. Demonstrate the possibilities of digital learning tools to the Swiss education environment.

Our Flyer (also Flyer in German as RTF and Flyer in French as PDF) is a handy summary you may find of interest too.

More generally speaking, we also aim at participating in the OLPC Europe group, and share the OLPC_Europe/Vision.

See also the VIDEO (in French) where Michael Vorburger of OLPC.ch speaks about the XO and OLPC Switzerland.

Articles of Association: OLPC-ch

How can I get involved?

Subscribe to the olpc.ch mailing list

If you are interested in following the olpc.ch grassgroots group efforts, please do join our olpc.ch mailing list, by subscribing at http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-ch. When you subscribe, it would be nice if you would briefly introduce yourself via an email to the list.

We archive the olpc-ch list at http://groups.google.com/group/olpc-ch/ or http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/olpc-ch/ or http://news.gmane.org/gmane.linux.laptop.olpc.switzerland or http://www.mail-archive.com/olpc-ch@lists.laptop.org/ for you to read what we have been up to in before you joined

Make a donation to olpc.ch

To make a donation please use Swiss postal account OLPC-ch nr: PC-60-487139-0

Visit us at an upcoming event

• 2008-11-15: UNM Tagung in Zürich http://unm.phzh.ch/ We will present our Poster and answer questions

Get actively involved

If you're interested in OLPC Switzerland, feel free to join our mailing list (http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-ch) and see how you can participate.

Where can I get a XO?

The question most often asked is Where can I get an OLPC-Laptop in Switzerland?

Short answer at the moment (November 2008): Nowhere in Switzerland.

Longer answer: It depends.

• Borrow one: olpc.ch hosts three OLPC XO computers. They are used for exhibitions, presentetations, and experimental use. See XO Reservation System for details.
• Buy one in the USA: Starting November, 16th 2008 there will be another Give-one-get-one (G1G1) program by amazon.com, but only with a delivery adress in the USA.
• Buy one at ebay: You could buy an XO at ebay.com
• Help us start a pilot program: olpc.ch plans to start an pilot program in Switzerland. When we buy machines for this

    pilot program we could buy some machines more and resell them in Switzerland.

What has already happened?

News from Switzerland

• 2008-08-08: Olpc-ch is prowd owner of a third X0 (borrowed from olpc-Austria)
• 2008-06-25: The olpc-ch association has been founded
• 2008-03-26: Chat conference - minutes
• 2008-02-14: finally the two XO from Austria arrived.. this wiki edit is written with one of them... ;-)
• 2008-01-26: OLPC.ch mailing list opened
• 2008-01-15: First face to face meeting of OLPC Switzerland, in Bern (minutes?)

Past Events

• 2008-10-22: olpc-ch Meeting in Bern.. Meeting October Bern
• 2008-09-09: [SFIB Meeting] plenary speach, presentation of the project
• 2008-08-29: [Informatica 08]: Participation to the 'Tag der Informatik' in Zürich: Workshop for children and presentation of the project:
• 2008-06-04: Meeting in Berne: Meeting-June-Berne
• 2008-05-24: OSS an Schulen, Weiterbildungstagung
• 2008-03-26: Conference call for interested participants.
  • Wednesday, March 26. 19:00 Swiss local time
  • 2008-03-26: Phone conference - minutes
• 2008-03-12 to 2008-03-13: OLPC Switzerland/Events/OpenExpo2008 OpenExpo in Bern; see Infotext distributed there, and Some Photos from OpenExpo and Some Videos from OpenExpo
• 2008-03-03: BarCamp at Lausanne EPFL
• 2008-02-07 to 2008-02-08: Lift08 Conference in Geneva

Re-usable Material: Logo / Header Talks / Presentations / Articles / Videos

• Pictures of the SFIB- Meeting in September '08 ( http://www.educa.coop/dyn/9.asp?url=83277%2Easp) : scroll down to the last presentation: http://www.formularossi.ch/foto/fachtagung2008/
• OLPC-ch Logo: image not scalable: Media:OLPC.ch_Logo.png
• OLPC-ch Logo: SVG: Media:olpc-logo.svg
• OLPC-ch Header: Scalable Vector Graphics Media:olpc-ch Header.svg
• Flyer Media:OLPC_ch_Flyer_Sept-08.rtf
• 40 Seconds Video - Itroduction to OLPC-ch
• The OLPC.ch Logo in different formats:: Media:OLPC.ch_Logo.svg and Media:OLPC.ch Logo.png
• The OLPC.ch "Letter Head" in various formats: Media:OLPC.ch_Header_SMALLER.png, and the original files in various formats used to make it at http://groups.google.com/group/olpc-ch/files

• 2008-08-24: Material prepared for Tag der Informatik is at Tag_der_Informatik_-_Poster_-_Flyer
• 2008-02-14: Flyer for the Open-expo in Bern: German / French Infotext.
• 2008-02-14: http://ngiger.dyndns.org/olpc/Vortrag.pdf
• 2008-02-25: http://beat.doebe.li/projects/olpc08
• 2008-03-08: Presentation of olpc-Austria (CBit 2008) (adapted presentation for open-expo in Bern)
• 2008-03-09: VIDEO Interview about OLPC.ch, made by TSR Nuovo journalist at the LIFT conference in Geneva
• 2008-03-09: VIDEO of OLPC.ch member having fun with Mesh Networking with Charbax from OLPC.tv
• 2008-03-09: Erstaunliches aus Arahuay (translation of Ivan Krstić article from Peru into German, by OLPC.ch's Niklaus Giger): Web Version (HTML), Print Version (PDF)
• 2008-03-13 Video Interview about OLPC-CH on Open-Expo-Conference in Bern:Michele Notari and Susanne Trier: [[1]]

Where can I find further information?

Blogs

• http://wiki.doebe.li/Beat/IsaOLPC (all postings tagged with OLPC)
• http://www.vorburger.ch/blog1/2006/02/one-laptop-per-child-olpc-via-100.html
• http://swissroll.info/?2007/11/12/1043-teaser
• http://swissroll.info/?2007/12/26/1059-mon-noel-pc
• http://www.greenpit.ch/blogwordpress/?p=235
• http://swissroll.info/?2008/01/10/1065-des-nouvelles-du-xo
• http://mobileatschool.kaywa.ch/mobile-blogging/erstes-treffen-der-olpc-switzerland-community.html
• http://infam.antville.org/stories/1772265/
• http://swissroll.info/?2008/03/23/1091-l-olpc-xo-s-expose

Press

If you are a journalist in Switzerland, please do subscribe to our mailing list and introduce yourself. We would love to give you a demo (e.g. in Bern, or Lausanne; or elsewhere) of the innovative XO laptop, and share some of our enthusiasm with you... and maybe you would like to write about the OLPC movement, the XO education project, and OLPC Switzerland?  ;-) Past articles:

French:

• http://www.domainepublic.ch/files/articles/html/9725.shtml
• http://www.lematin.ch/pages/home/actu/economie/actu_economie__2?contenu=354155

German:

• 2008-05-05: TA - Der Drittwelt-Laptop wird unsere Notebooks verändern:
• 2007-12-04: NZZ - Kabale und Liebe
• 2007-11-13: NZZ - Ein Mobilcomputer nicht nur für Kinder
• 2007-02-11: NZZ - Der Billig-Computer wird teurer

XO Hacking stuff by OLPC.ch members

• get_mo