The first of those $100 laptops designed by MIT and partners will “be manufactured in China starting in 2006, project representatives claim, and orders from the Chinese, Brazilian and other education departments are expected shortly.” – Laptops for Kids With No Power, in Wired News.
The TeleRead take: Skeptics raise three issues, among others: Internet connections, ways to power the machines, and tech support. MIT researchers claim to be addressing them.
On the connection issue–as paraphrased by Wired News:
Out of the box, the $100 laptops will be Wi-Fi and cell-network enabled…. They will also be able to make their own ad-hoc mesh networks, peer to peer. It should be possible to set up a central server in town, and the kids could get content updates as they walk by.
On the power issue:
While solar and windup mechanisms are being explored, the MIT team is hoping to develop what it calls “parasitic power”–powering a laptop just by typing on the keys.
On support:
To reduce the need for technical support…the laptops will be extra tough, simple and easily fixed.
There are other issues. Will the right content be available for the kids? What e-books and other content will they be reading?
Let’s hope that MIT, which has laudably put online a wealth of free information at the university level, can help meet the challenge. Perhaps one partial solution will be to encourage governments to establish wikis for creation of locally optimized instructional material.
