Donations for travel to Nov 17 XOcamp, also spare bedrooms needed!

[C. Scott Ananian]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 3:01 PM, C. Scott Ananian <cscott at cscott.net> wrote:
> Hi, folks.  It seems that OLPC is having some cash flow problems.

By which I mean, "can't get travel funding approved".  Sorry if the
tone sounded alarmist.  OLPC is a nonprofit, it's not some big company
rolling in cash.  There are plenty of good projects which OLPC can't
afford to do; that doesn't mean they are not good projects.  There are
plenty of good developers out there which OLPC can't afford to hire.
We already ask for volunteer development help; there's no reason OLPC
should be ashamed to ask for conference help, or help with any number
of other "good projects".  I'm hoping that similarly-minded people
will pitch in to make the good ideas reality.

I'm proud to be both a member of the OLPC "community" (meaning, what I
do on weekends, and in my spare time, without compensation), as well
as an employee of OLPC.  As someone passionate about the mission of
OLPC, I'm honored to contribute to helping bring other developers
together to advance the mission.  I can't put $1000 of "OLPC budget"
towards the conference, because I don't have a budget at OLPC.  But I
can put $1000 of my own money towards that end.

(I actually believe in a something slightly stronger, which is that
OLPC should *not try* to replace the local community for many of these
tasks: OLPC doesn't scale, but local community groups do.  For future
insight into the desirability of local "Searcher" organization, as
opposed to centralized "OLPC will plan everything" methods, see the
excellent book, "The White Man's Burden":
  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ABookSources&isbn=0143038826
)
 --scott

-- 
                         ( http://cscott.net/ )