Flash Drive Editor

A simple device to integrate two USBFlashDrives (each $10 or less), a standard computer keyboard ($10 or less) and a flat monochrome text terminal of 24 lines by 80 characters (up to $100, but subsequently $50 and even $20). This device would allow one to read and edit text files and also share files. It would serve people (primarily literate adults) who have marginal Internet access (who walk or ride to an Internet cafe, pay by the hour, have a slow connection, must wait their turn, or use at off hours) or no Internet access at all. It would work hand in hand with online software that would allow one to download the activity of a community (such as the letters, newly edited wiki pages, chat transcripts of OLPC during the last week or so) and write and upload responses. It would encourage literacy, circulate content, and provide the access to expert content and online community assistance that would allow one to roll out local wireless networks and assemble computers from locally and globally sourced parts. It would also allow people to do knowledge work for the global market and to work on local projects in their home setting.

This device is proposed in August, 2007 by Andrius Kulikauskas of the | Minciu Sodas laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers around the world. More than a dozen Africans participate but have to pay a lot of money ($1 per hour or $100 per month) to use Internet connections which are quite slow. This device would allow one to leverage 1 hour per week on the Internet with 10 hours or more of offline work reading and writing.

There are products already on the market that might be adapted for this purpose: