[Air-l] One Laptop Per Child

[Pam Brewer]

Several of the posts in this thread discuss the difference between giving
and empowering--empowering through technological fluency as Jocelyn
mentioned in her post.  Medical and human rights teams travel the globe; do
we need technology teams?  Do we have them?  

Pam

Pamela Estes Brewer
Lecturer -- Coordinator, Professional Writing
Department of English and Philosophy
Murray State University
PhD Student in Technical Communication & Rhetoric, Texas Tech University
270-809-4719
fax 270-809-4545
pam.brewer at murraystate.edu
 

On March 1, 2006, Murray State University will begin moving all its phone
numbers in the 762 exchange to an 809 exchange. My new numbers will be
270-809-4719 (office), and 270-809-4545 (FAX).



-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Christian Fuchs
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 5:22 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-l] One Laptop Per Child


For a paper I have recently written a comment on Negroponte's $100 laptop as
strategy for bridging the global digital divide by giving cheap technologies
to developing countries. I would like to share these comments, maybe someone
wants to comment on them.

Best
Christian

"Nicholas Negroponte and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) association have
introduced the $100 laptop as a strategy for advancing computer technology
in developing countries. The problem is that this is a technology that is
inferior to Western standards (very slow processor, no hard disk and drives,
etc.) and hence can be produced and sold rather cheaply. If the $100 laptop
is widely diffused in the Third World, Western actors selling these
computers will derive profits, and a global divide in technological progress
and standards will emerge that separates advanced Western technology users
from users of less-advanced technologies in the Third World. What is needed
are not new business strategies, but solutions to the material and social
causes of the global digital divide as well as free advanced hardware,
infrastructure, and software that are based on open standards and copy-left
licenses. That Microsoft and Intel are critical of the $100 laptop doesn't
mean that it is automatically a good idea; this is rather a manifestation of
the competition for profit and customers in developing countries. Open
source technologies have a potential to transcend market logic, what is
needed is an advanced $0 laptop with free software for people in developing
countries as well as criticism of the logic that has caused the divide
between developing and developed countries and solutions to the social,
economic, political, and cultural inequalities that underpin the global
digital divide".

______________________________
Christian Fuchs
Assistant Professor for Internet and Society
ICT&S Center - Advanced Studies and Research in Information and
Communication Technologies & Society (http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at)
University of Salzburg Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18 5020 Salzburg Austria Phone
++43/662/8044 4823 christian.fuchs at sbg.ac.at
Information-Society-Technology: http://cartoon.iguw.tuwien.ac.at/christian
Managing Editor of tripleC: http://triplec.uti.at



-----Ursprungliche Nachricht-----
Von: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org]Im Auftrag von J. J.
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 7. Juni 2006 00:05
An: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Betreff: [Air-l] One Laptop Per Child



Here it is: http://www.laptop.org/

Jarek


_______________________________________________
The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

_______________________________________________
The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org

Join the Association of Internet Researchers: 
http://www.aoir.org/