The idea sounds frivolous. Homeless people have basic needs such as food and shelter–and yet some benefactors are giving them laptops?
If nothing else, however, old laptops can help the homeless stay in touch with social service agencies, develop job skills, find work and keep up with friends and family. The homeless can even blog, as Kevin Barbieux has done. And, no, I couldn’t think of a better use for public domain works–whether the books of Verne or, yes, Hugo.
Does this mean that laptops and e-books will significantly reduce homelessness? Well, no panacea here. But perhaps some things are worth doing in themselves.
Flash disks for the homeless: Perhaps Lexar or SanDisk should consider donating some flash disks–storing e-book readers, word-processors and other apps–for the homeless to use in creating some private virtual space. The big question is whether the USB flash drives will work with the most machines found in public libraries. Anyone know? If nothing else, the drive could be used with computers in shelters.
Speaking of flash disks: Their read-write cycles are limited, and your card might stop working after a few years. So say some New York Times readers. True? If so, what does this mean for flash-type storage in various products, including, yes, laptops of the One Laptop Per Child variety? Actually a Wikipedia entry on flash drives tells how certain linux machines can be designed to reduce the electronic wear and tear. Questions answered.
Back to homelessness: Some Father’s Day insights from Kevin: “The more vivid memories I have of my father are not good memories. Both parents thought that if they spoke disapprovingly about me, that it would somehow inspire me to do better at whatever the subject matter was. I don’t actually recall hearing positive words from them. They didn’t seem to get the idea of encouragement. Once, my father took some night courses at a community college. One of the classes was an intro to psychology where he learned the concept of reverse-psychology. After that, all our interactions involved him trying to work it in. From this I began to see that, to him, I wasn’t a son to be loved, but a child to be manipulated.” No, he’s not saying that strict disciplinarians will automatically turn their kids into street people, or that the full story explaining why Kevin ended up on the street. But repeated attacks on his self-esteem may not have put him in the best frame of mind for the rigors of the job market.
Meanwhile, if nothing else, I love the idea of the homeless and other poor people blogging, especially if “populist” politicians like Prof. John Edwards will actually take time to read the their writings. In fact, I’ve suggested in the past that his anti-poverty center at UNC go out of its way to establish a blogging network; it isn’t as if every low-income person is an inarticulate idiot.
(Creative Commons-licensed photo by opendoor exist, via Flickr.” Info on homeless and laptops via Wired News.)
And how are they supposed to keep the battery charged? And how are they to keep it dry when it rains, warm when it’s sub-zero and a blizzard outside? And if malware gets on it, who can fix it for them? And how many replacements will they be able to get as they wind up breaking it over and over and over again?
Christ Almighty. This story has to be as bad as those lunatics in San Francisco who think they are Doing Good by buying *supermarket shopping carts* for the homeless.
Actually, Mike, the flash drive could solve the problem of where to store stuff.
But if people want to use laptops–well, shelters would be a logical storage place. Same for sources of juice for the batteries. As for malware, perhaps there would be guidelines on how to avoid it, or linux could be used to at least mitigate the problem.
Meanwhile let me emphasize that I don’t think that laptops should be handed out helter-skelter to the homeless. Depends on the individual. If someone is likely just to sell the machine, has a drinking problem, etc., it won’t work. I should have made that point in the original post, so your follow-up is useful.
But what about some pretty functional people who are homeless because of a streak of bad luck–including, yes, health problems?
Thanks,
David
Listen, I see the homeless all the time at the NYPL using the net. Know what I see? Do I see them accessing social services or job sites? No. Playing GAMES and trying to view PORN.
And dig this, on a PC specifically for INTERNET USE — ie, NETWORKED — one eejit was playing SOLITAIRE!
Realism: 1
Idealism: 0
Hey, Mike, so all homeless people are pervs? As I said, this is a case by case thing. – David