$100 laptop project plugs kids into digital age
Khaled Hassounah stood at the front of a dusty classroom, 10 miles outside of Nigeria's capital, Abuja, pointing his index finger at nothing in particular.
"Show me your power adapters," the 31-year-old Hassounah called out. Forty young hands shot up in response, hoisting pronged AC adapters skyward, black cords dangling to the floor.
It was test deployment day for Hassounah and his team from the One Laptop Per Child project, and the students were interacting with their new laptops--or any laptop--for the very first time. For Hassounah, who recalled his time with the Nigerian pupils during a recent interview with CNET News.com, the day rewarded more than a year of hard work.
"Beyond politics, logistics and planning, seeing real children hold the laptops was a breath of fresh air," he said.
With his youth and soft-spoken manner, Hassounah (Hah-SOO-nah) might not seem like an internationally respected diplomat at first glance. Yet, he directs efforts in the Middle East and Africa for Nicholas Negroponte's ambitious, tirelessly profiled OLPC, a nonprofit initiative to design, build, test and ship 15 million at-cost, child-friendly laptops to developing countries.
Also:
I wish that Nicolas Negroponte had never referred to it as the “one hundred dollar computer.”
Yes, yes, it’s an attention-grabbing name, but noting with a smirk that the first ones will actually cost $150 has become a game for reporters. I’m particularly aghast when technology journalists do it, because they of all people should know that information technology prices always fall—the OLPC laptop won’t remain $150 for long.
All of this comes to mind because of a new article from IEEE Spectrum magazine, ”The Laptop Crusade.” For the first time, I’ve become really excited about the potential this project holds, and not solely because of its leapfrogging possibilities.
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