One Laptop Per Child
I came across an interesting site a few days ago called “One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).” It is a charity organization whose goal is “…to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves.” OLPC strives to do this by providing very basic laptops to children in countries who would normally not have access to one. The program is set up so that an individual or company donates $200 and the OLPC organization then donates an “XO Laptop” to a child in one of the designated countries.
When I first stumbled upon the site my gut reaction was to think “Wouldn’t it be better to provide staples such as food, shelter and medicine?” The organization’s founder, Nicholas Negroponte, convincingly addresses many of these types of questions here: XOGiving.
On November 12 the xogiving site will be offering an incentive for making a donation to purchase a laptop. For a $400 donation they will send one laptop to a child in a developing country, and a second to you. The laptop is actually a pretty interesting device. It’s extremely portable and durable, has built-in long range wireless, 7.5” dual mode screen (one is ideal for reading in the sunlight) and comes pre-installed with an intuitive Linux interface (preloaded with a number of applications). The laptop is about the size of a hardcover book, so could likely be used as a type of e-book reader. Anyway – I just thought I’d pass on the information.
It’s an interesting idea, and seems like a very worthwhile charity.
November 6, 2007 11:19 pm 
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