Information, communication, and technology development projects or ICTD are projects that are designed to help developing countries by introducing them to technology. The reason impoverished countries receive such a benefit is because the goal of a project is to discover a human problem and then solve it with a technologic solution. In other words, ask the people what they want first, and then utilize the appropriate technology.
An ICTD project I found particularly interesting was the one laptop per child (OLPC) project. Innovator, Nicholas Negroponte is the front runner of this project. He says, "This is much more than a free laptop project, it is a way for developing countries to tighten the gap of the digital divide." The digital divide is the difference between highly developed technology countries such as the United States versus poorly developed/ 3rd world countries. There are many factors that cause the digital divide such as gender, ethnicity, and age; but for this instance the reason is due to poverty. This raises the question how laptops will benefit poor, starving people. Nicholas Negroponte says, "You can't eat plastic cable."
There are two main benefits provided by the OLPC project. The first benefit is communication. Many impoverished countries are out of contact with family members that live only miles away. Not to mention they are cut off of all emergency contact, such as a police force or doctors. This leads into the second and greater benefit. Medical professionals are sparse in developing countries so the impact of communication between doctors and people is huge. Overall, despite the benefit of communication the technology alone is enough to improve the standard of living. Even if the only game the laptop comes installed with is solitaire, that is still more fun then whatever other entertainment there is in developing countries.
The logistics of the project are as following. Originally in 2009 the idea was to send out 1 million laptops at an average price of $100 per unit. The operating system is Linux. Eventually the problem of powering the laptops arose. One year after the project's start a crank was installed on the side to allow the computer to be manually charged. As of March 2011, OLPC has sent out 2 million laptops to Africa, South America, and within the United States.
I can definitely see the benefit in providing 3rd world countries with laptops. Especially because I think the number one thing that would benefit society is education, which can be accessed through the internet for places that don't have a good school system set up.
ReplyDeleteI think there is such a gap between poor 3rd world communities and societies like ours because they have no way of getting ahead. Having laptops would give them more resources to try and better themselves and their community.
One thing that irritates me is that in the US all of our education funding is being cut when I think education is the key to solving a lot of our issues. The inner cities need a better education system, if the kids in those cities actually felt like they had a chance at moving up in society then maybe they would.
The one lap top per child is a humanitarian design project. This is their mission statement:
ReplyDeleteWe aim to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop. To this end, we have designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful, and self-empowered learning. With access to this type of tool, children are engaged in their own education, and learn, share, and create together. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future (http://one.laptop.org/about/mission).
This project fascinates me too. I think it is wonderful that this non-profit is doing this for impoverished children around the world. It helps them to connect to the world, their families, friends, and most importantly it helps to educate them.