[OLPC India] My views on OLPC

[Kartik Joshi]

Hi OLPC project members,
I write this mail to express my views on the OLC project.
Here are my observations:

a) What is your view on the Laptop ?

Ans.)The idea of a $100 laptop is great. The laptop might have the potential to complete the objective of 'One Laptop Per Child.' I hope it will be a success. But, have a look at this :
http://shopping.rediff.com/shop/productdisplay.jsp?prrfnbr=10049568&source=browse&frompg=_shopping_home_leftnavi
A 'laptop' for children costing only $7. Though it lacks the interconnectivity features, does not run linux, no wifi, fixed content, perhaps a very short life span, but still, for 7$ we have a laptop with static course content, a flat screen, keyboard and portability. The OLPC looks great in all respect, but still it gets beaten on price. It might be hard to convince states to invest in such projects, because of low finances of the developing countries, when you have a competitor with much cheaper price. I am not being negative, just critical. Perhaps, it might help the OLPC project to get one of those, and to find out how do these people make the things so cheap.
Secondly, I think that this laptop will promote computer literacy and open-source vision in the countries.

b) What type of features do you suggest should be added considering the Indian community as a larger picture ?

Ans.)
1)I think the major feature should be translator software. The need and effort in preparing course material in all the languages in the world is surely infeasible, takes time, and might make the material redundant, unless there is a dedicated group of volunteer or employees working behind the project. The translator might be integrated in the core, allowing even people speaking different communicate via laptop when they meet each other. It could be possible to ship the laptop with region specific translator. If two people of different regions, not having translator for each other's language, the translator must automatically broadcast in English, which other person's software can convert it his own language.
2) I have seen the sugar interface. If the laptop is targeting small children too, it should be more attractive, with vibrant colours, bigger text, animations etc. These fancy features can be disabled when a child grows.

c) What type of software do you suggest can help in establishing the vision wrt India?

Ans.)
1)Is it possible to ship OLPC with flash player. If yes, it would be great. It would allow courseware developers to post interactive courseware for children. Obviously, flash is not an open source software, but player would definitely help to play the existing educational content available on the internet.
Perhaps it might be possible to develop an interactive animation software for Linux, so that anyone can create content for the OLPC. The education with animation will make the things more interesting and easier, since these require less memory than video files.
2)I think that the text-to-speech will also help the project very greatly. As it has been discussed many times in the wiki, that there is a shortage of electricity in the developing countries. I think it would greatly strain the eyes of the children if they try to read under low light conditions, like in the night. So it would help if they can just hear the content, rather than viewing it. It might also save some power, though with the new screen design, I am not sure of it. It would also help the parents, who might be illiterate, to gain some knowledge. So, it can be a family learning exercise. And of course, text will occupy less disk space than sound clips. But care should be taken to make the software speak in the local accent (and perhaps, coupled with translator, might speak an English book in the regional language). Secondly, it should be possible to fast forward, rewind, and pause the speech, the flexibility that is there in media players, perhaps with the help of some special external buttons.
3) Using text to speech, it might be possible for laptop to collect the news, announcements, warnings etc. when it is in school, connected to net. These can be converted to speech and broadcasted when at home. Perhaps, that way, parents themselves will encourage the children to open their laptop so that they can hear the news.
4) Since the laptop might come with Firefox, I have seen software at website www.ajaxlaunch.com which can run directly off the browser, and require no installation. Since the disk-space is so limited, why not run additional software that way?

d) What type of content should be developed that can help Indian students ?

Ans.)I think that educational content is plentifully available in India. Many companies are working in this regard. They have full set of courseware developed for students. Perhaps, Govt. can make an agreement with them for the courseware.
At micro-level, I think that the teacher himself can make the best courseware. Give them a really easy-to-use software, that allows them to make animation, slides and other stuff, to be distributed in the classroom. It should be possible to make software that can be used to make courseware, and can be easier to operate than word, powerpoint, flash and other professional software, because these software has options that only a professional uses, and are not required by other people. Just that, the software should have an easy learning curve.
Secondly, the Japanese comic might not be as attractive to Indian students than the Indian stories. The content should be localized, and perhaps developed locally.
What about the tutorials to use the laptop itself?
I think that, apart form education-centric content, there should be content that enhance the skills of children (or even their parents). Courseware related to IT education, science, learning instruments, vocational and hobby-oriented programs, should be encouraged.

e) Any hardware specification that you wish should be added ?

Ans.)I was thinking of a system in which the operating system, factory configuration, and preloaded software could be store on one, read-only hard drive (flash memory, in your case), acting just like bios with an operating system in it; and user configuration, documents, even OS update in other drive (read-write). To access the read-only memory, one might have to take out the card and insert into a separate card reader. There should be a reset button outside, pressing which we might be able to clean the user accessible drive, and revert the laptop to original configuration, just like palm handheld, or digital diaries. This might be useful, because in remote areas, the repairman might not be available, and if someone accidentally changed an important configuration, got attacked by a virus, or received a faulty OS update, or the PC crashes by a bug, he can press the reset button to erase the flash, so that the laptop gets reverted to the factory-made configuration. I think this can solve major technical support problems.

f) What do you suggest for solving the development issues?

Ans.)The first thing that comes to my mind is that-Why python? There might be more developers of C++ in the world. It is a standard language and is taught all over the world in schools and colleges. Is it not possible to include gcc compiler? That way, the already existing programs could be utilized without much modifications. Anyway, python might be having some advantages that I am overlooking, perhaps ability to make GUI based programs?

g)Server Side Solutions

Ans.)I think that the idea of the software running off the browser, like in www.ajaxlaunch.com is a feasible server-side solution. Perhaps the applications can run off the teacher's (more capable) notebook, since the internet connectivity might not be continuous in remote areas. The applications work perfectly on 64 MB ram, so I think that these might run quite well in 128 MB ram of OLPC.

h) What ideas in each category i.e.
    a) Software
    b) Hardware
    c) Education
    d) Others
can help the vision of the project?

Ans.)Please refer to the earlier entries.

i) While ultimately, the work on curricula will be done by the ministries of education , there are several efforts underway to explore some of the education potential from this project. Could you hint someway to scale up the education potential from this project?

Ans.)The best thing that this laptop will do is decrease the dependence of people on closed source software, and groom up children in open-source environment from early childhood. This will provide a shot in the arm for open-source movement, and will develop man-power for it.
The laptop could itself be an excellent source of information and practice for students appearing for exams for higher studies, like SAT, IITJEE, CEE etc. In villages, it is seen that the awareness and resources for students about higher studies is very limited, though the same is not true about the quality of brains. This program could increase the use manifold, where some volunteer teachers (perhaps professor from universities) can give them instructions, solve their queries, and give them exercises.

j) What are the different types of Open Source Software used in India apart from

    * GNU/Linux system with Linux Kernel with JFFS
    * Mozilla Firefox
    * Abiword and Gnumeric
    * Many GNOME libraries (although not the entire gnome project) including:
          o GTK+
          o Pango
    * Evince?

Ans.) Ans.) I use SCILAB, AVRGCC/WINAVR, XINE, CYGWIN and GIMP, and some other tools bundled with Knoppix Live CD distribution.

I hope that my feedback might help your mission. I wish you success in your endeavors.
Regards,
Kartik Joshi
India
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