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<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Dear All,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>I am greatly enthused by the discussion on this
very important topic. I welcome all the views expressed as participation and
discussion foster understanding and lead to closer and effective collaboration.
I am thankful to all those who shared their views and cared to share. Some
times, we may not agree or we may agree to disagree. In my opinion, the space to
express views and concerns is very valuable in a project like this and I request
all to continue to honor the space. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Auroville <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%"><A
href="http://www.auroville.org/"><A
href="http://www.auroville.org/ is">http://www.auroville.org/</A> <?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN>is</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2> a unique
international city dedicated to human unity. Education in Auroville
made several bold experiments, inspired by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo
and Mother. It is often called UniverCity as it is based on the ideal of
"never ending education". We have 10 schools in the city and bout a dozen other
schools in Auroville bioregion. For some details, please see http<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><A
href="http://www.auroville.org/education/saiier/saiier.htm">://www.auroville.org/education/saiier/saiier.htm</A></SPAN>
. The total number of students in Auroville is 700 and may be about 7000 in the
bioregion. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>I have started and have been working on
olpAc(A stands for Auroville). The issues (not in any order)
are</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>1. We need content to use XO in the mainstream
academics. Obviously this would take time and small pilots are needed to
demonstrate the potential benefits of deploying XOs. Such deployment has to be
for co-curricular activities. Getting the mindshare of teachers and get them to
to put in efforts is a major issue</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>2.Funding is the next problem as the school
budget per child per year is far far below Rs 10,000. Auroville is a
non-materialistic collective. Most teachers are full time volunteers
or given a fraction of outside salaries.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>3. Only 6 schools use English as medium of
instruction. Others use Tamil. So, Tamil localization of the content is
important.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>4. Many people rise doubts regarding timing. Is
this the right time to begin the pilot? When would the content be ready? When
will the price comedown to the (promised land) of $100? Who will make it
available? If we run the pilot and content is not ready to use XO-1 for all
academic activities, we may be acting prematurely?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>5. The current stand of Government sort of
strengthens the doubting voices.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>6. Normal issues of setting up, support etc and
local human resources</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>I suppose that we would face similar issues
wherever we want to run the pilot effectively. I invite support and help
from all of you to make headway at Auroville. Such headway could help us to
scale up to the vast opportunity of making true difference to education in
India</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Regards,<BR>JV
Avadhanulu<BR>+91-9443797563</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>From: "Dev Mohanty" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:devm@nepalwireless.net"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>devm@nepalwireless.net</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080
size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>To: "Satish Jha" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:sjha@vsnl.com"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>sjha@vsnl.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2>>; "Joshua N
Pritikin" <</FONT><A href="mailto:jpritikin@pobox.com"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>jpritikin@pobox.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080
size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Cc: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:india@lists.laptop.org"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>india@lists.laptop.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080
size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 9:08
PM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Subject: Re: [OLPC India] Partnering with OLPC
in India</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><BR><FONT color=#000080></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT
color=#000080 size=2>> Seems like am caught on the wrong foot, but then
transparent data is <BR>> always welcome.. for the ignorant few like me. I
volunteer on a couple <BR>> of OLPC pilots in Nepal as a network/system
admin, and am well aware of <BR>> the headaches involved with a deployment.
Its most definitely not the <BR>> project, but with the strategies being
adopted that my concerns are <BR>> with. That said, I am quite hopeful Satish
would keep all concerned <BR>> posted on updates on various fronts in the
forth coming days.<BR>> <BR>> On-On!<BR>> <BR>> Here's to education
and the future of tomorrow! Jeez.. Bernie the <BR>> Italian wine
sucks!!<BR>> <BR>> Satish Jha wrote:<BR>>> Thanks, Josh.<BR>>>
That's very helpful.<BR>>><BR>>> On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM,
Joshua N Pritikin <BR>>> <</FONT><A
href="mailto:jpritikin@pobox.com"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>jpritikin@pobox.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2> <</FONT><A
href="mailto:jpritikin@pobox.com"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>mailto:jpritikin@pobox.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2>>>
wrote:<BR>>><BR>>> On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at
07:32:09PM +0545, Dev Mohanty wrote:<BR>>> > if
they've even figured out how to replace broken
hardware,<BR>>><BR>>> Repair centers are
going up around the world. India could be
next.<BR>>>
Just<BR>>> google for
data.<BR>>><BR>>> > or are they even
thinking of tagging XO's anywhere close to the
100<BR>>> > USD figure sometime in the recent
future, which to me sounds awfully<BR>>> >
far-fetched right now.<BR>>><BR>>> An Indian
G1G1 would make that possible.<BR>>><BR>>>
> Well, if it's all about the education, then I firmly believe
no<BR>>>
number<BR>>> > should not be small enough for a
pilot.<BR>>><BR>>> Being the tech contact
for the pilot in my school, I can<BR>>> understand
why<BR>>> we need to get to bigger numbers. The
amount of effort required to<BR>>> manage the
laptops is much more for small pilots than for big
pilots.<BR>>><BR>>> - Child ownership means
that the teachers don't have to figure out
how<BR>>> to uncustomize the laptop after the
previous child customized it. The<BR>>> next
release 8.2 is going to be much more customizable than
8.1.<BR>>><BR>>> - A school server is
approximately the same amount of headache to<BR>>>
set up<BR>>> for 10 laptops as it is for 1000
laptops.<BR>>><BR>>> - For hardware
failures, we can't afford to deal with them
because<BR>>>
they<BR>>> are so infrequent. If there were 10,000
laptops then we could probably<BR>>> afford one
full-time person for hardware repairs and
troubleshooting.<BR>>><BR>>> This is just
the tip of the iceberg. Big deployments make sense.
Small<BR>>> deployments consume too much effort
for the payback.<BR>>><BR>>>
--<BR>>> American? Vote on the National Initiative
for Democracy,<BR>>> </FONT><A
href="http://votep2.us"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>http://votep2.us</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2> <</FONT><A
href="http://votep2.us/"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>http://votep2.us/</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080
size=2>><BR>>>
_______________________________________________<BR>>>
India mailing list<BR>>> </FONT><A
href="mailto:India@lists.laptop.org"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>India@lists.laptop.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080 size=2>
<</FONT><A href="mailto:India@lists.laptop.org"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>mailto:India@lists.laptop.org</FONT></A><FONT color=#000080
size=2>><BR>>> </FONT><A
href="http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india"><FONT color=#000080
size=2>http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india</FONT></A><BR><FONT color=#000080
size=2>>><BR>>><BR>> <BR>>
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