Computing Assistance Support & Education Inc – CASE Notes

The One Laptop per Child project, due to the financial crisis, has had to reduce its operating costs like so many other companies. From the official Wiki:

“Like many other nonprofits that are facing tough economic times, One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with fewer financial resources. Today we are reducing our team by approximately 50% and there will be salary reductions for the remaining 32 people. While we are saddened by this development, we remain firmly committed to our mission of getting laptops to children in developing countries. We thank team members who are departing for their contributions to this important mission.” (Source)

Google (a main contributor of money to OLPC Inc.) has also cut costs this week demonstrating the big and the small are all subject to this global financial crisis. However, the cuts shouldn’t have any impact on the day-to-day lives of those involved with the OLPC project.

While attending eGames 2008 I was approached by the Internode content team, expensive video camera and all, to do a short interview about the One Laptop per Child program. Mostly it’s a rundown of the XO unit itself, but we talk about the ideas behind the project and what it might mean for Australia, too.

You can watch the whole video here!

The Journal has a report about a significant new OLPC deployment in the USA:

Chester Community School in Pennsylvania is deploying 1,400 XO laptops to students, one of the larger deployments of laptops from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in the United States. The initial rollout will begin this week.

PA Charter School To Deploy 1,400 OLPC XO Laptops : December 2008 : THE Journal

When Pia came down to give a One Laptop per Child presentation at CASE some “curly” questions were raised. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s faced them, given she’s just written a five point brief on “Why Australian trials are important to the OLPC vision”.

“I’ve been asked a few times why OLPC deployments in Australia are relevant to the OLPC vision. I thought I’d do a blog post about what OLPC Friends is trying to achieve in supporting local projects, and why I’ve been so keen to get local trials happening in Australia.”

Read the post here.

One Laptop Per Child Open Day

Computing Assistance Support & Education (CASE) will be hosting Canberra’s first One Laptop Per Child Open Day Monday 27 October 2008 3.00pm at Volunteering ACT 55 Chandler Street (corner of Chandler and Cameron Streets) Belconnen.

Pia Waugh, open source software expert and One Laptop Per Child community member, will be speaking about the success of the OLPC project around the world and the opportunities it provides for educational projects in our region.

Following the event CASE will hold it’s 10th Annual General Meeting for members.

Come and play with the OLPC XO devices on display, and find out how this unique technology is being used in educational projects around the world.

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