<div dir="ltr">Bastien,<div><br></div><div>Thanks so much for these fascinating stories and examples. I agree that OPLC would make a great study, especially if it got into these implementation issues, including maintenance, and especially if it looked at different places in the world. Could make a great book or dissertation . . . </div><div><br></div><div>I appreciate you shining more light on it for us. </div><div><br></div><div>Lee</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, May 1, 2018 at 6:07 AM, Bastien <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bzg@bzg.fr" target="_blank">bzg@bzg.fr</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi Lee and all,<br>
<span class=""><br>
Lee Vinsel <<a href="mailto:lee.vinsel@gmail.com">lee.vinsel@gmail.com</a>> writes:<br>
<br>
> I was just looking into OPLC nostalgically a few weeks ago and<br>
> thinking about it as a clear example solutionism.<br>
<br>
</span>I worked for OLPC as a contractor in 2008 for a few months, helping<br>
Haïti to implement its OLPC program. I helped the local OLPC team<br>
writing contents and activities for teachers and children, designing<br>
workshops to let teachers know what to do with the XOs, translating<br>
the Sugar platform into haitian creole, etc.<br>
<br>
Then I started OLPC France (<a href="https://olpc-france.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://olpc-france.org</a>) toegether with a<br>
few friends and we still exist today as a small and friendly group of<br>
teachers, developers, researchers, hardware hackers, etc.<br>
<br>
The article is quite balanced, but let me insist on a few facts.<br>
<br>
The first one is that XO laptops from 2008 are still working. Yes,<br>
the article says it, but I think its deserves a lot more of attention,<br>
especially on this list.<br>
<br>
The second fact is that OLPC programs were mostly led by governments,<br>
most of them well aware of maintainance problems. Thus, all sort of<br>
maintainance solutions were invented for and I'd love to see someone<br>
getting out there on the ground and listing them. For example, in<br>
Uruguay, they had a bus traveling the country to fix laptops, with a<br>
mix of paid employees and unpaid volunteers.<br>
<br>
The third fact is that OLPC brought small changes in many areas, most<br>
of them really invisible because they are just "cultural". E.g. OLPC<br>
programs were often a unique opportunity for ministries of education<br>
and ministries of [transport/electricity/[<wbr>infrastructure]] to work<br>
together, which brings all kind of political problems but which also<br>
encourages collaboration in places that are strategic. For example in<br>
Rwanda, they first failed to anticipate the needs for electricity then<br>
worked on it and fixed this. Same in Uruguay for connectivity, where<br>
the government agencies worked with local cooperatives to ensure the<br>
Internet connection was used for schools and other local activities.<br>
<br>
Also, OLPC grassroots in many countries were a unique opportunity to<br>
have teachers discuss with hackers and free software developers, as we<br>
continue to do at OLPC France, developing <a href="https://sugarizer.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://sugarizer.org</a>, or at<br>
OLPC San Francisco, where they recently held a hackathon on "open data<br>
for education" (<a href="https://www.olpcsf.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.olpcsf.org</a>).<br>
<br>
All this was made possibile by two things: OLPC being "open source"<br>
since the beginning and OLPC encouraging grassroots organizations.<br>
<br>
So, I don't argue that OLPC did not have its share of solutionism but<br>
I would say that this was not "by design". Negroponte was trying very<br>
hard to sell his ideas and he probably relied too much on solutionist<br>
expectations of his audience -- but the ones who implemented OLPC on<br>
the ground were confronted with real maintainance problems on a daily<br>
basis and solutionism is not an option here. Collaboration is. And<br>
many kinds of collaboration were possible thanks to OLPC being open<br>
and Sugar being a free software.<br>
<br>
Anyway, I don't want to defend a program that's now history, just to<br>
expand the views on its diversity, and the diversity of its outcome.<br>
<br>
All best,<br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
-- <br>
Bastien<br>
</font></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Assistant Professor <br>Department of Science and Technology in Society<br></div><div>Virginia Tech<br></div><div><a href="http://leevinsel.com" target="_blank">leevinsel.com</a><br>Twitter: @STS_News<br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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