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My observations about the OLPC project in India. These opinions and observations formed as I traveled across India with two OLPC XO laptops and a whole bunch of enthusiasm.
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OLPC project and India: My observations
Sameer Verma, Ph.D.Associate ProfessorInformation Systems DepartmentSan Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco, CA 94132 USA
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About myself
Disclaimer
● I do not work for OLPC!● Volunteer, enthusiast, researcher, developer
– Interests● Free and Open Source Software and Content● Internationalization/Localization● User Interface Design ● Networks● IT Sustainability
The challenge
● Culturally and politically diverse● School vs. education● Plenty of “strawmen”● Rampant misinformation● Corruption at all levels● Remnants of colonialism
Education or training?
● India's IT industry– Glorified labor (development stage of software
development life cycle)● Skillsbased (Java, .NET, SAP etc)
– Little existence of critical thinking or problem solving in IT projects.
● Note: Indians are very creative in everyday life.
● DO NOT talk to the “Computer Teacher”– The computer will become extra curricular
Diversity
● India: 28 states and 7 union territories– The Constitution of India recognizes 22 languages
1. Assamese2. Bengali3. Bodo4. Dogri5. Gujarati6. Hindi7. Kannada8. Kashmiri
9. Konkani10. Maithili11. Malayalam12. Manipuri13. Marathi14. Nepali15. Oriya16. Punjabi
17. Sanskrit 18. Santhali 19. Sindhi 20. Tamil 21. Telugu 22. Urdu
Ethnicity and Religion
Hinduism accounts for 80% of the population of India. The second largest religion is Islam, at about thirteen percent of the population.
Other native Indian religions are Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism.
About two percent of Indians adhere to Christianity. Zoroastrianism and Judaism have an ancient history in India and each has several thousand Indian adherents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India
● Most do not understand (or do not wish to address) the distinctions between religion and ethnicity, let alone the intricacies between languages and scripts.
● Examples:
– Ramayana in Urdu/Nastaliq– Punjabi in Nastaliq
Ramayana in Urdu
Khairat pilot
● Began in September 2007 in Khairat village, District Raigad, Maharashtra, India– http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Khairat_Chronicle
● One teacher, thirty children, one room school● Limited electricity● Limited Internet access (currently broken)● Quite remote and relatively difficult to approach
from Mumbai or Pune.
Khairat School. Note the “OLPC” moniker
Village homes
Across from the school
More Khairat village homes...
Everyone needs television :)
Such makeshift structures are common
Going to school...
Charge and work at the same time!
Posing for the camera...
This is my XO!
The blackboard, now largely defunct. Who needs a board when you have a neighborhood!
Mr. Surve takes my picture as I take his. Look closely and you'll see me on the XO screen!
My name is “Suraj”
She drew this in a couple of minutes
Someone made this drawing, then shared it with another child, who then showed it to me, passing it off as his work! Clever :)
Resident artist!
The teacher, Mr. Surve's favorite line: “Go to the neighorhood. Join the mesh”
Celebrating India's Independence day with India's flag in Paint activity
Learning about center of gravity from traditional tight rope walkers
Taking pictures on Gandhi's birthday (2nd Oct)
OLPC XO Gandhi would have loved it
Hanging out with the kids...
Discussing trials and tribulations with the teacher
Khairat Photos
http://www.zooomr.com/photos/sameerverma/sets/40064/
Micro Deployments
● Reliance Communications– Initiated the Khairat pilot– Focus on micro deployments and grassroots– Digital Bridge Foundation, part of the Dhirubhai
Ambani Knowledge Trust
● Other micro deployments– http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India#Current – http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India#Potential
OLPC India
● Mr. Satish Jha, President OLPC India● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Jha ● http://laptop.org/en/utility/people/satishjha.html
● Sales and marketing office in New Delhi– Logistics and sales are significant challenges– Making some headway
● Focus on large numbers (50k?)● Donation leads to position on advisory board
– http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/india/2008September/000656.html
OLPC Advocacy in India
● Lack of understanding about OLPC.– Most common comment: “Its a cheap laptop”
● Media misinformation (surprise, surprise!)● Need for local translations● Local content, short stories, imagery, cultural
and ethnic icons– Indian national anthem in Browse, TamTamJam
Kabirdas dohas, children's short stories, etc.
OLPC Advocacy in India
● Piggyback on the Indian education system– Colleges and Universities– IITs, State Universities, Colleges– Class projects+OLPC = Google SoC model.
● Linux User Groups– No need to preach to the choir!– 33 Linux User Groups
● http://www.linux.org/groups/india/
IT BHU
● Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University– http://www.itbhu.ac.in/
● Presentation to faculty and students in Computer Engineering department
● Faculty were excited. May help with advocacy.● Students with FOSS background were excited.
Others weren't sure about what the can do● Pair up with student chapter of ACM, IEEE etc?
Bhagmalpur project
● Location:● Village: Bhagmalpur● District: Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh● Railway Station: Shahganj● Bus Stop: Banuwadeeh
● School: ● Classes: 1 to 8 class● Children: 1087● Teachers: 11● Internet: none● Computers: none
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Bhagmalpur
Electricity and Internet Access● Unreliable grid
– Some times it works...– ...mostly it doesn't
● Limited electricity– Scheduled breaks– Battery inverters
● Internet access is expensive– Offline Moodle and Wikislice will be very important– Offline content will be critical to the project's
success (currently an undersold point).
Under a tree model
Mesh “under a tree” model.See slide 7 at http://wiki.laptop.org/images/a/a3/Country_Technical_Support.pdf
Bhagmalpur photos
Bhagmalpur Schoolhttp://www.zooomr.com/photos/sameerverma/sets/40063/
Bhagmalpur Villagehttp://www.zooomr.com/photos/sameerverma/sets/40075/
Allahabad
● Harishchandra Research Institute– Part of the Department of Atomic Energy, India– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarishChandra_Research_Institute
● All Linux shop!● Resident expertise● Interested in the project
Hyderabad
● IEEE Computer Society– http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/hyderabad/index.php?page=cschapter
● International Institute of Information Technology– http://www.iiit.net/
● Hyderabad Linux User Group– http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilughyd/
● Get a SIG going?
Hyderabad photos
http://www.zooomr.com/photos/sameerverma/sets/40740/
Looking Forward
● Tremendous potential● Trojan horse approach
– Ebook reader + camera, followed by Internet access
● Who will foot the bill?– India is not a poor country– Its a resource distribution problem.– Corporate Social Responsibility
No “ifs”, only “when”
This project must succeed
Contact
Bonus! G1G1 cards
Get yours at http://opensource.sfsu.edu/node/578
Bonus! G1G1 cards
Get yours at http://opensource.sfsu.edu/node/578
