OLPC

ช่วงสัปดาห์สองสัปดาห์ที่ผ่านมา มีคนมาถามว่าคิดยังไงกับ "นโยบายแจกแท็บเล็ต" อยู่จำนวนหนึ่ง ว่าจะเขียนตอบแต่ก็ยุ่งๆ ขอเวลาอีกสักหน่อย

คนที่สนใจอาจจะดูวิดีโอของ Nicholas Negroponte แห่ง MIT Media Lab พูดไว้เมื่อปี 2007 ที่งานของ TED สั้นๆ ประมาณ 10 กว่านาที (พี่แกพูดเร็วเป็นบ้า ไม่ต้องหายใจ)

Pudú and friends are characters created for the One Laptop Per Child Campaign in Chile (UCPN). See more at OLPC/Pudú Project by Lizette Greco.

Very cute!

First, MIT Media Lab, the creator of OLPC, failed to produce the device at $100 as claimed.

OLPC team are scholars and tech inventors from academic cycle.

Then ASUS, Taiwanese PC manufacturer, borrowed the concept of 'small notebook' and launched the legendary Eee PC 701 at affordable price. All popular netbooks sold in the last few years are from established, well-known manufacturers like Acer or Samsung.

Again last year, we heard the hype of CrunchPad, very cheap internet tablet from TechCrunch, a famous tech blog.

TechCrunch successfully convinced me to buy one when the device comes out. However, a news piece from BusinessInsider is questioning the delay/death of CrunchPad due to higher-than-expected costs.

If that's real, we will see yet another failure of prominent gadget from a new player from different industry. If both MIT and TechCrunch fail, does that mean the hardware industry is very tough? How can the new entrance survive?

From BusinessWeek

Computers Haven't Changed Classrooms

Little by little, disruptive innovations predictably improve. At some point, they become good enough to handle more complicated problems, and then they take over and supplant the old way of doing things.

The reason computers have not had a significant impact on schools is that we have crammed them into traditional classrooms and in computer labs as a tool and topic of instruction. We have spent well over $60 billion during the last two decades equipping schools with computers, yet the basic classroom has changed little. This is the natural path most organizations take in all walks of life. The key is that we need to allow computer-based learning to take root in places where the alternative is no learning at all. Only then will computer-based learning have a true impact on education.

Isn't that called OLPC? Now, I understand Negroponte a lot more.