iterativelearning

In one of his recent FastCompany interviews, Robert Scoble talks to the head of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, Chuck Kane. Kane conveys some inspiring stories about the difference they’ve made in the lives of many school-age children in developing countries around the world.

From a design standpoint, one detail I find interesting in this interview is when Kane explains that because many of these OLPC computers are often used by children in very rural areas, they need to minimize exposure to dust and moisture. So to do this, they have built in latches so that when the student closes up the computer to head home, these latches cover any open ports. Kind of interested to know if this design insight came from doing a little ethnography, or if it was was easily anticipated in the lab.

On other hand, what I would have liked to hear Kane talk more about is how they handle internet connectivity. How do they establish internet connections for the children in such rural areas? Through a satellite? Or perhaps, OLPC is not pursuing that at the moment, since the primary tool for internet access in developing countries is the cell phone.

The CHE Tech Blog recently wrote about a lawsuit against Zotero. Apparently, Thomson Reuters has claimed that the folks behind Zotero have simply reverse engineered its EndNote tool and integrated it with their own free tool. As a fan of Zotero, this was disappointing to read. Even though I don’t use EndNote, this seems to have echoes of RIAA. Similar to the outcry against the RIAA, Zotero’s supporters have been quick to speak out against the suit. So is this RIAA all over again? Perhaps, not; some other pretty significant voices in the ed-tech world think Thomson Reuters might have a legitimate claim (e.g., Michael Feldstein). Even if Thomson Reuters has a legitimate claim, the lawsuit seems a little heavy-handed as a first move. Why not first just call and talk and see what happens? Probably naive on my part.