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Engineers Without Borders Presents:

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... that prevents pothole formation, when used on car wheels before each trip. ... If not, the lease is extended another few weeks. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Engineers Without Borders Presents:


1
Engineers Without Borders Presents
  • One Laptop Per Child Appropriate Technology?

2
What is One Laptop Per Child?
  • "Our goal To provide children around the world
    with new opportunities to explore, experiment and
    express themselves." Nicholas Negroponte, OLPC
    Chairman
  • Produce 1 billion(!) laptops for children in
    developing countries
  • Laptop will support learning by experience
  • Price goal 100 per unit
  • Governments will purchase and give one laptop to
    each child

3
OLPC Milestones
  • Kofi Annan and the UNDP support the project
  • Major laptop manufacturer Quanta is producing the
    laptops
  • Peru and Uruguay have purchased laptops
  • Mexico, Haiti, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Cambodia and
    Mongolia will test donated laptops

4
What Are The Stakes?
  • Largest technology development project ever
  • Intent to significantly change education systems
  • 100 billion dollars in direct costs alone
  • More expensive than the entire education budget
    in many countries
  • This had better work...

5
The Smitcher
  • The Smitcher is a new technology developed in
    California that prevents pothole formation, when
    used on car wheels before each trip.
  • The Region of Waterloo is considering purchasing
    a Smitcher to install on each vehicle in the
    Region this year.
  • What do you want to know about Smitchers?

6
What we want to know about Smitchers
7
What we want to know about Smitchers
8
What we want to know about Smitchers
  • Engineering Considerations
  • Do Smitchers really prevent potholes?
  • Are Smitchers safe?
  • Do Smitchers work in the winter?
  • Are Smitchers bad for the environment?
  • Logistical Considerations
  • How much will this cost?
  • Can we get enough Smitchers?
  • Are people going to know how to use their
    Smitchers?
  • Can Smitchers be repaired if they break?

9
What we want to know about Smitchers
  • Cultural, Social and Economic Considerations
  • Will people actually use their Smitchers?
  • Will Smitchers disrupt the way we currently do
    things?
  • Is the pothole problem the real problem or just a
    manifestation of it?
  • Predetermination
  • The Nortel Problem Past trends may not predict
    future behaviour
  • The Ford Problem Scale causes problems
  • The Hammer ProblemOne size doesn't fit all
  • The Titanic Problem Pride can make us
    overconfident

10
OLPC Engineering Considerations
  • Does the OLPC provide a laptop that children in
    developing countries can use for education?
  • Test runs show increased engagement and problem
    solving
  • Uncertain whether intended skill and knowledge
    outcomes are attained.
  • Curriculum materials in local languages are not
    yet available

11
OLPC Engineering Considerations
  • Does the OLPC work within the infrastructure
    available?
  • Low power consumption, various charging methods
  • Is power consumption low enough for local
    sources?
  • What will it cost?
  • Internet connectivity via mesh
  • Geographic barriers, weather barriers
  • Is an internet connection available at all?

12
OLPC Engineering Considerations
  • Does the OLPC survive the environment in which it
    serves?
  • Design decisions help deal with dust, heat and
    cold.
  • More difficult Rain, physical impact

13
OLPC Logistical Considerations
  • How much will it cost?
  • Current price 208 per unit
  • Should drop with economies of scale
  • Given the resources that developing countries
    can reasonably allocate to educationsometimes
    less than 20 per year per pupil... Nicholas
    Negroponte
  • Cost does not include electricity, repair,
    support, internet connectivity, distribution, etc.

14
OLPC Logistical Considerations
  • Can the laptops be distributed to the students?
  • OLPC just does one delivery, to the central
    government
  • UNDP and governments are most able means of
    distribution, but still unreliable
  • Many schools have incorrect attendance lists

15
OLPC Logistical Considerations
  • Will people know how to use it?
  • Reports are that the interface is intuitive for
    children
  • Teachers are not trained in the use of the
    laptops in education
  • Each laptop is assigned a "lease,"... The
    laptop connects to the internet... and checks...
    to see if it's been reported stolen. If not, the
    lease is extended another few weeks.If the lease
    expires, the XO's internet connectivity is turned
    off, and shortly thereafter the whole computer
    becomes a brick.

16
OLPC Logistical Considerations
  • Are the laptops maintainable locally?
  • "The kids really can do the maintenance"
    Nicholas Negroponte
  • Spare parts are not available
  • Trained repairers are not available
  • Disassembly is easy, but reports suggest that
    reassembly is harder

17
OLPC Cultural, Social and Economic Considerations
  • Will people want to use the OLPC?
  • Why should kids use the laptop? Value? Fun?
  • Who will be the champions? Teachers are
    explicitly outside of the OLPC learning model.

18
OLPC Cultural, Social and Economic Considerations
  • Will the OLPC disrupt existing structures in a
    negative way?
  • Who owns the laptops? Children are not legitimate
    owners in many developing world cultures.
  • How much value do the laptops have? Is theft and
    a grey market likely?

19
OLPC Cultural, Social and Economic Considerations
  • Is the specific problem that the OLPC seeks to
    solve really the right problem?
  • Is it lack of laptops that is the biggest barrier
    to an educated population in the developing
    world?
  • Availability of teachers, schools fees and other
    barriers are major problems

20
OLPC Predetermination
  • Determining methods early in a project leads to
    several problems
  • The Nortel Problem Past performance ? future
    results
  • The Ford Problem Scale causes problems
  • The Hammer Problem One size doesn't always fit
    all
  • Libya's population is 86.9 urban, Nigeria's is
    51.7 rural
  • The Titanic Problem Pride can make us
    overconfident
  • "...OLPC is a non-profit effort, and to
    criticise it is a little bit stupid actually." --
    Nicholas Negroponte

21
Conclusion
  • Lots of work and major changes to the plan will
    be required for the OLPC to be successful.
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