The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Good news and bad news for OLPC (the One Laptop Per Child program) and Nicholas Negroponte. First, the good news (for OLPC) - Nigeria has placed the first order for 1 million units. Or have they? Other countries reported to be “in the pipeline” are Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand.

The bad news - India not only says “no” but, “NO!” with extreme prejudice.

As I’ve written before, it takes a pretty literate person to use a computer and many people around the world can’t, don’t or won’t read.

We should promote literacy - it helps to assert the people groups in their trade with other people groups or countries and therefore provides economic development. But, can we expect one program to solve the world’s educational issues? In my opinion, much like India, I believe there are greater fundamental issues to be resolved first. I would hate to see Nigeria spend $100 million on a program that doesn’t get results. I think many wonder why invest $100MM in computers when you could do more long lasting good with some permanent programs.

Has anyone figured out the customer support model for these? What happens when one breaks? What’s the warranty on the product?

Granted, I haven’t met Nicholas and had the opportunity to ask the questions. But, this could be a very expensive process. Let’s not make it an expensive one for the very children we’re trying to reach! Even if these devices are considered a toy, when one breaks, the child is going to be broken hearted when the person that gave him/her one says - there are no more left.

So, you say, quit criticizing and offer a solution? OK - here’s what I recommend: Understand the current methods these children currently learn by. Fund more of those methods. If they’re literate and can effectively benefit for years by having one of these devices, by all means, give them one! If they’re from an Oral culture, then find another means to raise their education level, using Oral Learning methods. Let’s nurture and help grow what is there naturally - not pretend that we understand who they are when we generally will not.

Ok. I’m off my soapbox for a little while. Thanks for tuning in.

6 days after returning from SE Asia, I turned around and flew to London for 2 days of a 3 day conference. I was asked to speak on a panel regarding technology and specifically on our efforts to podcast in “out of the way places”. I met people interested in utilizing this new trend (which obviously is newer in most other places in the world than it is here in the U.S.) as well as possibly funding some of the MPReach capital needs. Time will tell as to the overall interest, but I believe it was time well spent, both in terms of education and visibility. Thanks to those that made it possible for me to attend.

We were treated to nice digs, first class speakers, such as The Baronness Cox, former Deputy Speaker of The House of Lords, and great food. 1st class treatment from a 1st class organization.

Another podcast while on location (actually on the way out, while waiting for my flight at Gatwick), is over at The Media Swamp.

In this post, I’ll not mention the name of the country we were in, but do a best efforts attempt to describe the environment and experiences.

We arrived after our time in Hong Kong and China, and entered a hot, dirty country that has beautiful people in it. This was only my second time to be in a third world country, and was still getting used to what to expect and what to plan on doing without. There really is no middle class - just the haves and the have nots. As you can guess, the have nots outnumber the haves. We were in a city of 5 million that had almost every type of transportation - bicycles (individual or as a taxi of sorts - rider standing up and passenger on the seat), scooters, taxis, buses (which were packed like sardines), to name a few.

We had a 30 minute commute each morning to where we were meeting, from the hotel near the airport. The hotel itself had good food and great service. Internet access was dialup and was frustrating for an addicted broadbander. No TMobile hotspots or Starbucks to be found here. (The last day we were there I finally found a broadband Internet Cafe, but too late to do anything about it). We stayed 6 days and really missed the people when we left. Some things just were not able to be found, but then again, we were able to purchase 2 HP/Compaq computers while in the country to give to people we did some work with - about the same prices as we would find here in Dallas, so I was pleased that we were able to contribute to the work these people were doing in such a way.

This is a country with many oral learners in it - and those that can read don’t have much access to printed material, in that it can be very expensive. Many different cultures and points of view exist here - learning to navigate the differences and work together is an interesting challenge - one that is somewhat unexpected. Racism exists almost everywhere in the world, I’ve come to learn. I do hope they can learn from us, but I do hope that we have an example that is worthy of learning from. We may not be the best example, but the U.S. has worked hard to acknowledge the issues and make some attempt to change. We have a Civil War in our history to mark the beginning of the battle for human rights. May others not have to go to that extent.