= Give a Laptop, Change the World =
One Laptop per Child is launching its second '''Give 1, Get 1''' [G1G1] program starting '''November 17, 2008''', following last year's highly successful program. This year the delivery of the laptops in the USA will be handled through Amazon.com.
The laptops feature the latest release of the Sugar window manager, running on a Linux-based Fedora Core operating system. It will not dual-boot Windows and Linux, contrary to some reports. For answers to frequently asked questions, and for other XO giving programs, see the OLPC wiki.
Media and other materials from the first year's deployments are available from a community-curated media page and from OLPC's photostream.
On Amazon: http://amazon.com/xo
Flickr photostream: http://flickr.com/photos/olpc
More on G1G1 2008: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/G1G1_2008
== Details ==
This year's Give 1, Get 1 campaign launches in November and will become an on-going program. Amazon will be the fulfillment channel, and you can see the developing OLPC storefront at http://Amazon.com/xo . The program details will be similar to those from last year's program:
$199 to give a laptop to a child in the developing world.
and/or
$399 to give a laptop to a child in the developing world and get a laptop.
The tagline for the campaign is "Give a Laptop. Get a Laptop. Change the World." We are focusing on sharing images and experiences from members of gen-XO, particularly from OLPC's largest deployments.
This time last year, we were uncertain how our young project would fare under the demands and needs of large deployments. Today there are hundreds of thousands of children using their XOs every day, including over a quarter of all young students in Uruguay. Almost 10,000 students visit the site each day from Uruguay alone.
You can help spread the word. We will be making a big splash with PR and advertising to run in donated media across all media platforms: TV, Cinema, Radio, Print, and Out of Home. We want to supplement that with personal outreach over local community and social benefit groups interested in changing education and addressing the root of poverty around the world. Help us identify groups to contact; G1G1 is an opportunity for us to forge new alliances and seed new educational initiatives, at home and abroad.
While the promotion will be on-going, the advertising will run from Nov 17 to Dec 26, to take advantage of the holiday giving season. We are setting up a separate mailing list for people who want to be reminded when it launches.
For the moment, please watch our website for updates or write to g1g1@laptop.org with ideas and questions.
Community media: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Community_media
Deployment reports: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Educators
== Spread the word! ==
To get involved, please join our community mailing list, grassroots@lists.laptop.org (http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/grassroots), and help get the word out about the campaign.
Ongoing projects that need help:
* Social site updates -- Facebook, Twitter, MySpace : there are OLPC accounts on many of these sites which need maintenance and regular updating. For instance many 2007-era badges and promotions need to be updated to link to the Amazon site.
http://twitter.com/OneLaptop
* Blog updates -- the relaunch of the campaign will not begin in earnest for a few weeks, but many people will want to know in advance. Add your favorite OLPC blogs to our directory, or suggest one for addition to the OLPC Planet.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Blogs
* Art projects -- discussions on deviant art, Flickr, photo.net and more. OLPC needs expressions of its cause and mission that do not rely on words; art is a universal language that speaks in ways that advertising can not. Our design group is helping to make great designs for web badges, swag and the OLPC sites, many of which are being revamped. We may also need material in specific sizes/formats for non-standard donated media (see below).
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC:Design_gang
* Donated media -- we can provide advertising materials for any media vehicles. OLPC does not have an advertising budget, but relies on donated media. If you have a friend who works at a magazine, a TV network, or just has an ad supported blog, ask if they will run a G1G1 ad. You can send leads to g1g1-ideas AT laptop.org or directly to <aaron AT laptop.org>.
* Media concepts -- Nothing is impossible. Ideas that take longer to create can be used when we launch similar programs in other parts of the world in the near future.
mail: <g1g1-ideas AT laptop.org>
* Tech/Learning/Volunteering Support -- If you enjoy directly helping other users, join our very active worldwide Support Gang, by emailing <holt AT laptop.org> (include your phone number!) or submitting your ideas to <volunteer AT laptop.org>.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC:Support_gang
