On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 10:39 PM, Edward Cherlin <<a href="mailto:echerlin@gmail.com">echerlin@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> * we have a lot of low-hanging fruit to gather in terms of identifying NGO<br>
> and University contacts by country, and helping them get involved / share<br>
> local knowledge about how to get things done / sign up to host volunteers or<br>
> give them projects to work on.<br>
<br>
</div>I'm recruiting localizers, engineers, and a few other specialties<br>
right now, and would be delighted to work together with whoever else<br>
wants to do this on whatever projects are needed.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"></div></blockquote><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>A useful thing to do would be to enagage an NGO with international experience and get their feedback on what gaps exist in the [[deployment guide]], and expand the current fairly school-specific guide into something that includes prep in advance : buildign rassroots support, finding local ngo's and other potential partners; and prep for 5-year sustainiability : setting up repair centers, seeding local business models that will bear fruit once there are thousands of net-connected laptop users and networks for sharing digital publications / tools. <br>
<br>
> ... both of these especially in the majority of deployment sites where we<br>
> can't currently send anyone from OLPC.<br>
<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I've been talking with people about creating a company to partner with<br>
OLPC on deployments, to handle teacher training, local rollout,<br>
renewable sources of electricity, Internet connections, and whatever<br>
else turns out to be needed. And funding options, whether grants,<br>
microfinance, or investments in regular for-profit businesses.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"></div></blockquote><div class="Ih2E3d"><br>I was thinking of how to make it possible for those who want to offer voluntary help to deployed schools, and schools interested in receiving help, to be able to connect with one another. I was not thinking of business models (and would find it
more interesting to see locally created businesses along those lines). <br><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d">> I copy the grassroots list, as part of my commitment to not sending any<br>
> email longer than a paragraph that doesn't go to some public list :-)<br>
<br>
</div>Thanks, SJ.<br>
</blockquote><div><br>I hope you join me in the same... concise personal emails, preferring publicly archived communication, and any truly long dissertation captured on a wiki or blog -- someplace commentable if not editable.<br>
<br>SJ<br></div></div>