User:Mikelee

I managed the OLPC Learning Club which, until 2013, met regularly in the Washington, D.C. area. Consisting primarily of people who contributed to OLPC's GiveOneGetOne Campaign in late 2007, the group attracted kids, teens, parents, adult enthusiasts and even seniors who wanted to do more with their XO laptops and the on-board software activities. We met on the third Saturday of every month at the Gallaudet University Student Academic Center in D.C. or the Arlington Career Center in Virginia. There were also many random meetups, salons and parties over the years.

My day job is at AARP Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where I am one of the directors of the team that operates the public web site AARP.org. Part of my job involved acting as AARP's liaison to the MIT Media Lab where we are a sponsor. That's how I came to know Walter Bender and Nicholas Negroponte and followed their move to OLPC.

I live in Wheaton, Maryland, just north of the D.C. beltway with my wife Amy and daughter Cianna. My wife loves technology too and worked recently as a web director at KaBoom! which builds playgrounds all over the U.S. Cianna (born Nov. 2003), when presented with a lineup of laptops consisting of the Asus Eee PC, Intel Classmate 2 and the OLPC XO-1 said, "I like the green one!" As of 2014, Cianna is five years into the Kidsteam Program at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory where she co-designs software prototypes for Nickelodeon and the U.S. Park Service.

My OLPC-related Projects

During the summer of 2013, helped launch the grassroots organization Unleash Kids. Specifically worked with Sparkfun Electronics on making their Protosnap Pro Mini Arduino board compatible with the XO-4 Touch laptop and launched a series of Google Hangouts On Air to celebrate OLPC/olpc volunteers around the world.

As part of a USAID / World Vision All Children Reading Challenge Grant, traveled to Lusaka, Zambia to train a group of youths at the Ngwerere Lubuto Library on advanced Squeak Etoys authoring techniques. Photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/sets/72157632781888368/

Co-organized Scratch Day 2010 in Arlington, VA

Provided consultation to software producers from LEGO Education on implementing a robotics product on the XO laptop.

Collaborating with Jane Meyers of the Lubuto Library Project on ongoing deployment of XO laptops in the project's physical library buildings in Zambia. This initiative has been funded by the Gates Foundation through eIFL.

Operated OLPC & Sugar Labs advocacy booth at the TedX MidAtlantic 2009 conference in Baltimore.

Supported the OLPC Community Book Sprint 2009, Sept 6-11 at Gallaudet University.

- I made an unsolicited poster for the event. On Flickr: Thumbnail image, Full Resolution.

Co-founded Sugar Labs DC with Jeff Elkner and Kevin Cole Sugar Labs DC. Sugar Labs DC released a beta of, TimeLapse, its first activity, in January 2010.