Colonial Discourse and the XO

Among the controversies surrounding this laptop, colonialism seems to be on the far edges of the spectrum in the conversations occurring in the mass media.  But their have been arguments that have concluded that this laptop is the preservation of colonial discourse.  Is western discourse permeating in the third-world through these laptops?  I need to do further research into colonial discourse and the uses of these laptops to determine whether this is a significant concern.  But there is a video online that raises these questions of western permeation  and the flattening of the world. 

On You Tube, there is a video of a young boy, somewhere in the British Isles, using one of these laptops that his father brought back from Nigeria.  How his father got one is up for discussion.  But the significant part of this discussion is when the boy begins to talk about his new online friends from Nigeria.  The laptop, when turned on, immediately sets up a mesh network with the other laptops around it.  So, every child in one class will automatically be connected with one another.  The point is to promote collaboration to solve problems.  But, the connection to these Nigerian children still remain on this computer.  The disturbing part is that the young boy from Britain refers to they're use of English as "poor" or "bad."  Now, how many little "proper" English speaking children are going to get one of these laptops and "correct" their new friends' "inferior" speech.  I don't think this is a situation that is going to happen often.  However, many of these countries that are receiving these laptops are promoting connectivity.  And their are other avenues in which these children may speak with "proper" English speakers.  So, these connections may continue to rise as more under-privileged   children receive these laptops.  So, this is a situation that may continue to repeat at an increasing frequency.

Windows on the XO

There seems to be some speculation floating around that Microsoft has adapted XP for the XO (the one laptop per child).  There is a video on YouTube of a Group Program Manager from Microsoft Corp. giving a demo of Windows XP running on the XO.  However, according to One Laptop per Child official Wiki, "The OLPC is continuing to develop a Linux-based software set for the laptop in conjunction with Red Hat. But since the OLPC project is open we cannot (and maybe even don't want to) stop other people from developing and supplying alternate software packages."  There are no plans to move from Linux-based software according to OLPC.  However, they do acknowledge that Microsoft has been working on adapting their operating system for this computer.  

This relatively mild controversy raises questions of literacy however.  If part of this project is help underprivileged  children to become literate in a digitally functioning world, why would you not possibly want these children to work on Apple  or Microsoft based system?  Part of the reason may be that added storage space is needed to run XP on the XO.  This may cause a rise in cost.  But there is possibly a better explanation to avoid contracting with Apple or Microsoft.  Waveplace, an organization for the promotion of the use of digital media in education in the Caribbean, "If someone tells you a child needs to learn Windows, ask them what they think Windows will be like when the child enters the workforce. Very likely, it won't resemble the Windows of today. Waveplace focuses on core computer fundamentals that apply to all computer systems, both now and in the future. What we teach them now will help them learn (and create) the software of tomorrow."     

The benefits of these laptops to these children are still under question however.  The XO took much criticism on YouTube under the video displaying XP on the XO.  One YouTubian commented "wow. those 3rd world kids arent interested in making spreadsheets or word documents. they want water and food and shelter. this is a pointless cause" (Ooshbala).  There is also some worry that the children would sell the laptop for food or merely use it as a porn machine.  But there were some serious comments about how antivirus software can run on these computers.  The assumption was that it would be major fail.  But, I did find it interesting that most of the worries were not focused on children's lack of nutrition, exposure to disease, substandard education, or access to shelter.  Instead, these commenters were mainly concerned that they would be wasting their tax write-off on a little peep show for a horny little under-privileged child.  This may point to larger issue of contrastive discourses.  Is this computer an extension of colonial discourse?  Some say yes and some say no.  I think I' will try to explore this in my next post.     

Ceibal Project: Uruguay

According to Bill Strickland, the problem with poor people is that they don't have any money.  The interesting thing about that statement is it's simplicity of thought.  It is not hard to come to this conclusion.  It is hard to act on this dictum.  One Laptop per Child seems to have broken that barrier.  The only difference between this organization and Strickland's expansive community center in the worst neighborhood in Pittsburgh (with a fountain) is materiality.  Strickland creates a discourse around an idea that manifested itself in the form of a building.  One Laptop per Child is creating discourse around connectivity.  

Uruguay's version of the One Laptop per Child project, Ceibal, which stands for "Conectividad Educativa de Informática Básica para el Aprendizaje en Línea”or basic informatic educative connectivity for online learning.  Despite the organization's appreciation of the XO's other applications, they are more apparently concerned with this cute little computer's ability to connect discursively starved students to a greater source of history and information.  More importantly it gives these students a voice that was previously deprived of them.  Ceibal recently held an open forum which they called Ceibal Jam.  The purpose was to brainstorm ideas for applications that would be useful for young student in Uruguay.  The meeting focused on six basic needs:  develop games, create applications for the XO, install and work with emulators, knowledge of the Python programing language for XO, and develop a system for blogging.  In a post by Pablo Flores, a member of the Ceibal team, stated  "for the first time, those with little voice will have a medium of communication with which to describe their experiences, dreams, and needs from their own perspective, unlike the traditional means of researchers from other sectors of society speaking for them."  

So what happens when you give these students this power.  There are many questions to be left answered.  But the focus in Uruguay, which now has over 200,000 of these laptops, is on connectivity.  They have yet to post on their blog the different ways that the students are using these laptops.  At least in the ways that fit vision of project Ceibal.  But this raises another possible blog post.  One of the critiques of this program is that this is merely a continuation of a colonial discourse.  It is another way for the west to impose its definition of discourse and agency on rest of the world.  Ceibal's adaptation and effort to make this project their own may be the beginnings of a reaction to this critique.  

Now What?

Well, I have officially started to blog on this little XO. These blogs are going to be short and sweet because I cannot stan to typeon this child sized keyboard for to long. I am doing some research into the significance of this little machine's ability connect to people in new ways to a larger global discourse that was at one time unavailable to children in third world countries. The signifiganeof web 2.0 and now carried into the much hailed web 3.0 (call it whatever you want, these labels are downright silly at times) is user generated content. The user is automatically given a sense of agency through self-publication. What will a small child do with such an agency? I am particularly curious about how children in these countries will utalize these tools that do not necessarily solve pressing issues in the third world such as poverty, disease,famine,malnutrition.

Rwanda may be an interesting place to explore the use of these laptops. War and genocide still weigh heavily on the minds of the people. 16,000 laptops have since been delivered to children throughout the country. How will this new generation use this access to agency? How will it shape the future of Rwanda? Of course, this beckons another question: What will Darfur be like in 14 years? What would a hungry child do with this laptop there?

I will be posting links to the OLPC wiki and some links about what people are doing with this darling little device.