The case against OLPC?

Evan Leibovitch evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org
Fri Dec 7 16:05:37 UTC 2007


I usually think John Dvorak is a headline-grabbing crank, but this
latest column rang true with sentiments that simply won't leave my head.

Isn't the whole idea of "let's give the developing world little
computers" a kind of rich-person's feel-good thinking, when so much of
the world doesn't even have enough to eat?

Is the OLPC going to fix literacy rates without teachers or books?

IMO Dvorak goes too far in calling the OLPC little more than an
ad-delivery device, and the project's very existence is driving a whole
new genre of small, cheap and mostly Linux-based computers. But his core
point -- about the OLPC being a kind of cultural imperialism, offering
computers to societies that need food, books, clean water, jobs and
safety -- is hard to shake.

Perhaps the OLPC isn't really designed for the poorest countries, and
should be concentrated in places -- such as Brazil and Malaysia -- where
basic needs are (generally) met and computer literacy is a _next_ step.
But that's not how the program is being promoted.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227850,00.asp

What do you think?

- Evan

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