[Air-l] India Rejects One Laptop Per Child

[Wojciech Gryc]

Hi everyone,

Just to make it clear, I still support the OLPC project, and thought the Times
of India article, though short, made some valuable comments. I do not
necessarily agree with them nor am I qualified to judge them (I am not a
doctor or expert on the health effects of computers). What is important to
me, though, is it's providing a new point in a debate that we've been having
here, as well as in other places.

With regards to Heshan Sun, I agree that a project focusing on providing
health supplies, nutritious food, or similar necessities to every child
would be important. And to let you know, I have actually spent time working
in rural India and rural Africa, and like to think I'm not ignorant. I said
that developed countries lack the foresight in some cases, not that
developing countries do.

I will not get into a debate on development theory here, but I believe my
organization should be defended. There are different stages of development,
and to say that all we should do is provide people with nutritious food is
to ignore the complexities of development and the needs of society as a
whole. This is why there are eight Millennium Development Goals, and not
one.

Technology can be a beneficial tool throughout the process of achieving the
MDGs or promoting development in general. Through the use of open source
software to develop free newspapers (which is what Five Minutes to Midnight
does), one can obviously promote literacy, not to mention many indirect
benefits. Furthermore, to say that "development" focuses solely on "poor
countries" is not necessarily correct. One comment we've heard on this list
a few times is that Western (mis)perceptions towards developing nations can
be a problem. Indeed, non-profits could take it upon themselves to educate
interested Westerners about the intricacies of development, and how many
"development solutions" can and do fail. This is what Five Minutes to
Midnight does through the use of the internet and open source software, and
we specifically target youth.

We've done our homework and have found a niche, much like many other
non-profits working in technology and development.

Thank you,

Wojciech Gryc

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Five Minutes to Midnight:
Youth on human rights and current affairs
http://www.fiveminutestomidnight.org/