XOs interacting with general computers (was: Devel Digest, Vol 17, Issue 52)

[elw at stderr.org]

> I think a critical point is to make sure they get at least the chance to 
> learn responsible/safe behavior first.

Yes - whatever that happens to be for their particular locale and 
sociocultural positioning.  This is not something that I am particularly 
comfortable with the notion of us people "from outside" strongly 
influencing.  We don't have the context, and should avoid the temptation 
to impose mores or practices that we think are 'most' valuable.

To some extent, I think it is worthwhile to watch people who have 
previously not had access to technology evolve their own responses to it; 
they may come up with new things that are better than what anyone else 
currently has.


> An approach I've seen at schools in the US was that they taught the kids 
> what to do/not to do, but then basically allowed unrestricted access.


Yes; this happens a lot and is quite counterproductive.  We have to 
remember, though, that teachers in the US are not always the most 
sophisticated of beings.  They do what they think is best, but largely 
work independently of much supervision.


> Unfortunately these days that approach can land you in jail in certain 
> US states.

*nod*

> Having the school/teacher as an intermediary/safe guard could be an 
> approach. As you wrote, the decision about access needs to be made in 
> the local context including aspects/variables that we probably don't 
> have the faintest idea about.


I think that the host countries are largely going to deal with this 
independent of OLPC; at the school server or at the uplink to the rest of 
the world seems like the right 'boundary' to me.

[I wonder what the school server team thinks about being folks' target for 
censorware deployment..]

--e