[OLPC library] About the myths about Peruvian situation and the Gartner report

[info at olpc-peru.info]

Hello all,

Because you ask to know! (smile)

I could modify the "wiki" information about the "Myth:lack of planning in Peru", but I am not so sure if that will benefit the project.

Anyway, in this list there is "grown" people that can take the good and bad of life without cutting his/her veins.

So I will critic and comment the answer that has been given in the Wiki to the "Gartner report".  In short: the Gartner report is closer to the true than the answer published.  And the true, the total true, is much worse than the Gartner report says.  So... we NEED TO KNOW the weakness of the system not to do more damage but for filling those holes and provide a longer life for the project.

Been said that, and with that aproach, here is the "naked" true, I will try to put more facts than opinions.  Everyone can get its own conclusions.  My conclusions are what I have said: there are holes that need to be fill.  Great task that we have in hands! To the kids!


*>False. A recent Gartner report suggesting that Peru "gave short shrift
to planning, implementation and project sustainability"---despite being
presented with ample evidence to the contrary. The decision to deploy
one laptop per child in Peru was over one year in the making 

* Not in front of the public opinion.
*
>and an
implementation plan was begun to be developed from the start. 

* I will ask for it tomorrow.
*
>It was
not hardware that drove the decision, but sound pedagogical backing.
* 
Were is that pedagogical backing expressed? in wich document?  It has not been published.*

>Peru has more than 20 years experience in Constructionist projects
implementation. 

* If the implementation of those projects would have been successful we would not have the kind of education that we have.  Our teachers are not able to teach, their math level is bad, the children at 15 years old only can read with strong difficulty and their understanding is really bad.  Teachers refuse to be evaluated.  Since I was 15 years old (that is about 30 years ago) going to the University to become a teacher was done mainly by the humble sons and daughter of humble families (I am speaking in terms of money, education and knowledge).  We, the lucky one that got fathers rich enough to be send to private schools, never, never, never think or talk about becoming a teacher.  We look for becoming an engineer, a Doctor or something with more rewarding position.  That has not change in the last 30 years, the prove is that last week our National President, Mr. Garcia, has call to the whole society to accept that the public schools will hire JUST the teachers that come from the 30% upper group of their university.  Since the universities that graduate "teachers" are public universities (big majority) the conclusion is that the government recognize that 70% of the teachers that graduate from the universities are not able to teach, and the titles (official papers given by the government after those 5 years in the university) have no value because those belonging to the lower 70% will never work for public schools (that will hire JUST the ones that were in the upper 30% class)... and they will not find place in the private schools that ask higher requests.

That is the situation of the education in Peru.  If this is the result of the "implementation of Constructionist projects" then I have to doubt that the "experience" is something good or something that has produce something of value.
 *
>The Minister himself holds a Master's Degree in
Educational Computing and Technology by the University of Hartford,
the same university that provided the training for the original
implementation team of the Omar Dengo Foundation in Costa Rica. 

*
The Minister was the head of the "San Martin University" before he becomes Minister of Education.
The head of the "technology education" area in the Ministry comes from the same University.
The tech person in charge of the project in the Minitery (Mr. Hernan Pachas) comes from the same University.
and the list continues.  All this is good, normal thing.  The rare thing is that only the "San Martin University" has become involved in the project.  

I don't know (but I will learn in the next week) if other universities were invited to participate.  But I know some key people in some of the most influent and powerful universities.  They say that they have not been contacted.
*
>One
laptop per child is not seen as a technology project but a pedagogical
one; 

* 
I will ask for the pedagogical project in Peru.  A project is something that is written.  If not written it is an idea or a desire but not a project.  I think it doesn't exist because if it exists then it doesn't make sense that all the mailing lists in the OLPC groups are full of new happenings, new proposals, and this same discussion is a prove that the pedagogical project has not been develop yet.
*
>laptops will be distributed as "educational material" in the same
category as books and notebooks; 

*How many rural schools exist in Peru? How many of them have books? I don't know.  What I know is that in public schools in Lima, our main city, the public schools have a very low level in all senses: furniture, books, bathrooms, educational level, etc. etc.  There are some schools in the surroundings (1 hour away) from Lima that have rooms build with any kind of material they can get, not mortar, no bricks, no furniture.  Nobody here, in Lima, the main city, will surprise to see in the news that this or that school here in Lima doesn't have energy, or chairs and tables for the children, sometimes they don't have a floor, the floor is just plain sand.  I don't cry if I hear that kids are building its own "chairs" joining 2 or 3 bricks to sit and take notes with paper on their laps (lap-paper?).  I don't cry because I have heard that since I have memory and that start 30 years ago (aprox.).   What books and what notebooks have been distributed by the governments? in what way? were are the results of that distribution?

Just 2 weeks ago there has been public denounces in the TV, made by the fathers, that the few books that the children get in public schools, and they are supposed to be free of cost, are being sold or rented.  Not in one school but in many schools this was a recorded happening by the TV cameras.

I have read that every kid is the owner of his computer.  I am totally sure, and this is an opinion, that the teachers (instructed by the superior levels of burocrats of the government) will fight very deeply to pickup the computers from the hand of the children at the end of some period of time (the government will think that the computers belongs to the government not to the children).  We need to realize that some schools receive the few books from the government, they are suposed to be delivery free of cost.  Many cases have been recorded by TV news showing fathers that inform that those few books are sold and rented.  If that happens with the few books I wonder what will happen with the nice XO computers.
*
>the Ministry has ample experience in
the logistical aspects involved in attending the needs of 46,000
schools around the country 

* 
The minstry has attended the needs of 46,000 schools? I have seen how our children study in the poor villages around my Peru.  I can not say that we have attend the needs of the schools if there is terrible learning conditions in the same conditions.  And it is the same if we speak about health conditions, and etc.  You americans cannot say that your Secretary of Education is able to attend the needs of all your public schools.  You have poor schools too.  Why an Minstry of Education in Peru can do the things better than the state of California?  (Peru has very few resources if we compare with the state of California to do a balanced comparison).

If they mean that Ministry of Education in Peru has the capacity to deliver the scarce resources that they have, then we agree.  But the phrase, like it is put, is a pretender sentence: you read you think that we are in front of a very powerfull and coordinated organization.  *


>and has the budget for distribution and
support already included in its yearly operational budget, 

* I will check.
*
>in fact,
distributing the laptops will probably be less expensive than their
current budget. 
*
ok.  Time will say.
*
>The congress legal approval was required because of
the nature of the project and just for what is new. 
*
 That is not true.  7 million dollars were authorized by the Congress
because it was an "upgrade" (extension, add, actualization) of the 
annual budget.  That tells, without further need of prove, that the
buying was not planned with one year advance.  The only way to get
the money without breaking the law was get aproval from the congress.

*>Logistics,
support, and distribution is part of their day to day responsibility
and will not require any additional law to be supplied.
*
agree.  the money that the congress has authorized is ONLY for the
40,000 laptops.  all other "hidden costs" (as they are call) will
come from the annual budget of the Ministry.  That means that they
were intended for other use or for other projects and they will be
used for this new project.

*>The Gartner report imputes that "financial provisions are needed in
the areas of distribution, transportation, storage, infrastructure,
implementation, teacher and student training, content development and
permanent technical support", implying that these provisions have not
been considered by the Peruvian government. This too is false. 
* 

I have explain that all these cost are not inside the 7 million that
the congress has approved.  If they are collected from other projects
then we need to agree that the provisions were not taken in the
right time and this is a "patched" operation.
*
>Of
course these provisions are of critical concern, and consquently,
distribution, transportation, storage are included in the budget; 
*
In wich budget? 2007? 2008?.  All can be check, and there must be
explicit lines for each budgeted expense.  Any accounting person
knows that.  It can be check.  If ALL that is budgeted then someone
must tell us that we don't spend our time (free time, pro bono, no cost)
to do something that has been "budgeted" and counts with enough 
money to be done.  

If content development is included in the budget... then why do
we have to worry about it?

My best guess, not an opinion, just a reasonable guess, is that
there are not such plans and budgets.  And we need to help to
guarantee the existence of the project.
*
>the
Ministry staff has the proven capacity to manage a project as large
as---even larger than---this one successfully. 

* 
I don't know what project are they talking about.  

Lets judge the tree by its fruits: young boys and girls are not able
to understand what they read.  the educational system has fail.
the responsible people in charge has fail. No person can say proudly
that they have proven capacity to manage educational projects.

Every ignorant children that has 12 years old and can not read
with enough compression of what has been read has the right to
ask what is the name of those successful projects and when and 
where they were deployed and, final question, this kid has the
right to ask why they call these projects a "success" if he/she
can not read and understand what has been read?

Edward comment that: "It is frustrating that this account does not provide links to the
plans, the training materials, and so on. Perhaps somebody can provide
them."

I will go to the Secretary of Education (Ministrie) today to pick up what information they have and what information they want to share.

It is really boring answering all the rest of the questions, and it is 4 a.m.  If I am going to go to the Ministery of Education tomorrow I need to sleep at least 4 hours.

Back to you with the rest of the comments if there is enough interest and if I have find enough time.

Best regards,

Javier



 *
>Regarding infrastructure,
the project will take advantage of the synergy between Education and
Telecommunications sectors, 

>Education is already providing Internet
access to more than 3,000 schools, one thousand of them through VSat
in remote places. 

>The Telecommunications sector has a plan for rural
Internet access in about 3,000 rural communities; 

>a separate budget
will not be needed for these since it is part of another sector with
whom Education has worked closely.

>It is irresponsible of Gartner to suggest that Peru has been remiss of
careful planning. 

>Teacher and student training are the of key
importance: the pilot projects have shown almost immediate
appropriation of the OLPC pedagogical concepts by rural teachers, 

>who
were able to seamlessly integrate the laptops into their teaching
styles; 

>the Pedagogical IT unit at the Ministry has prepared a
training unit to be included in the deployment plan; 

>the experience
has shown children barely need any training above what the machine
itself provides, 

>the training unit for teachers includes a "first
steps" section for children. 

>On top of that, online tools have gotten
so good that we feel comfortable teachers will be able to exploit
those resources as well. 

>The Ministry portal offers lots of advice
already available. 

>Permanent technical support was implemented and has
been in place for several years now. 

>A shift of focus is all that is
required and that is already under way. 

>Peru also has a provision for
spare machines to cover DOA shipments and spare parts. Each shipment
will include extra machines, included at no additional cost.

>Finally, Gartner presumes to make recommendations as if these topics
had not been long considered:

    * Plan thoroughly before acquiring systems.

    Who would disagree with this recommendation? That is precisely
what Peru is doing.

>    * Guarantee resources to effect implementation and sustainability.

    Same comment

>    * Ensure that technologies fit the educational model, not the
other way around.

    That is exactly what was done in Peru.

>    * Make sure that selected providers and technologies are stable
and R&D will continue for the success of future phases of the
projects.

    There are contracts in place to guarantee this. Further, Peru and
OLPC are involving local universities to ensure local development and
ensuring that Peru is part of a growing international development
community.

>    * Execute user profiling, as this is key for the deployment and
successful utilization of the systems.

    Peru has in place a detailed profile of children and teachers and
has planned the pedagogy and technology to fit their identified needs.
Peru also has an evaluation and monitoring strategy.*/*
*/





Edward Cherlin wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 7:02 PM, info at olpc-peru.info <info at olpc-peru.info> wrote:
>   
>>  Hello Edward
>>
>> You say
>> "... What content do Peruvians particularly need?..."
>>
>> And I comment...with the most humble tone and recognizing that MOST of the
>> work is done by volunters or by contracted personal that is doing his/her
>> best in a no so perfect enviroment (timing, political issues, pressure,
>> deployment of XOs and fixing things while you are rediscovering, etc. I
>> understand all these factors and I don't envy to all the great teams here in
>> Peru, U.S. and other places).
>>     
>
> It is a general principle that life is as hard as possible, but no
> harder. So don't worry about the difficulties we have chosen to
> confront in helping you and your country.
>
>   
>> Content
>> Once, when I was 14 years old, my school (private,rich) ask volunteers to
>> install pipes in a poor village. When we arrive there was a group of people
>> helping us and other group asking as: why are you installing pipes? we
>> didn't ask you... what we need is that the water trucks come more
>> frequently, then we can buy water tanks more frecuently. Now with the pipes
>> we will have to pay for water "basic sevice" every month, are you working
>> for the "city water company" ? we don't want to get a huge bill for water
>> that we don't use... we have seen that in other places... please, go to your
>> home and try to fix your own problems BEFORE you come here to dig, damage
>> your beatifull hands and cry like children... ".
>>     
>
> Exactly what I wanted to get at. "Take the beam from your eye before
> you try to take the mote from your brother's eye."
>
> Let us all go to the children and their parents in the villages and
> the cities and ask, "What do you need most? What will you need next?"
> Let us bring them into the conversation here, by means of XOs or by
> any other means, and listen to them.
>
>   
>> Today, here in Peru, we have a lot mining projects. The law ask the BEFORE
>> you send just one engineer to study the lands you will request: permit of
>> the andean community that lives on that area. Second: a "base line" study.
>> Third: A "closing" study (what will be done with the leftovers of the
>> minery, what will be done with the buildings, holes, trash areas, and how
>> the panorama will be left after the mine close its activities in 20 or 30
>> years).
>>
>> All that, in analogy, should have been done (or it has been done and it is
>> in the desk of a functionary? nah! that has not happen!)
>>     
>
> Actually, the Peruvian Ministry of Education does have such plans,
> although I have not seen them.
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_myths#Peru_gave_short_shrift_to_planning.2C_implementation_and_project_sustainability
> OLPC Myths
> ...
>  Peru gave short shrift to planning, implementation and project sustainability
>
> False. A recent Gartner report suggesting that Peru "gave short shrift
> to planning, implementation and project sustainability"---despite being
> presented with ample evidence to the contrary. The decision to deploy
> one laptop per child in Peru was over one year in the making and an
> implementation plan was begun to be developed from the start. It was
> not hardware that drove the decision, but sound pedagogical backing.
> Peru has more than 20 years experience in Constructionist projects
> implementation. The Minister himself holds a Master's Degree in
> Educational Computing and Technology by the University of Hartford,
> the same university that provided the training for the original
> implementation team of the Omar Dengo Foundation in Costa Rica. One
> laptop per child is not seen as a technology project but a pedagogical
> one; laptops will be distributed as "educational material" in the same
> category as books and notebooks; the Ministry has ample experience in
> the logistical aspects involved in attending the needs of 46,000
> schools around the country and has the budget for distribution and
> support already included in its yearly operational budget, in fact,
> distributing the laptops will probably be less expensive than their
> current budget. The congress legal approval was required because of
> the nature of the project and just for what is new. Logistics,
> support, and distribution is part of their day to day responsibility
> and will not require any additional law to be supplied.
>
> The Gartner report imputes that "financial provisions are needed in
> the areas of distribution, transportation, storage, infrastructure,
> implementation, teacher and student training, content development and
> permanent technical support", implying that these provisions have not
> been considered by the Peruvian government. This too is false. Of
> course these provisions are of critical concern, and consquently,
> distribution, transportation, storage are included in the budget; the
> Ministry staff has the proven capacity to manage a project as large
> as---even larger than---this one successfully. Regarding infrastructure,
> the project will take advantage of the synergy between Education and
> Telecommunications sectors, Education is already providing Internet
> access to more than 3,000 schools, one thousand of them through VSat
> in remote places. The Telecommunications sector has a plan for rural
> Internet access in about 3,000 rural communities; a separate budget
> will not be needed for these since it is part of another sector with
> whom Education has worked closely.
>
> It is irresponsible of Gartner to suggest that Peru has been remiss of
> careful planning. Teacher and student training are the of key
> importance: the pilot projects have shown almost immediate
> appropriation of the OLPC pedagogical concepts by rural teachers, who
> were able to seamlessly integrate the laptops into their teaching
> styles; the Pedagogical IT unit at the Ministry has prepared a
> training unit to be included in the deployment plan; the experience
> has shown children barely need any training above what the machine
> itself provides, the training unit for teachers includes a "first
> steps" section for children. On top of that, online tools have gotten
> so good that we feel comfortable teachers will be able to exploit
> those resources as well. The Ministry portal offers lots of advice
> already available. Permanent technical support was implemented and has
> been in place for several years now. A shift of focus is all that is
> required and that is already under way. Peru also has a provision for
> spare machines to cover DOA shipments and spare parts. Each shipment
> will include extra machines, included at no additional cost.
>
> Finally, Gartner presumes to make recommendations as if these topics
> had not been long considered:
>
>     * Plan thoroughly before acquiring systems.
>
>     Who would disagree with this recommendation? That is precisely
> what Peru is doing.
>
>     * Guarantee resources to effect implementation and sustainability.
>
>     Same comment
>
>     * Ensure that technologies fit the educational model, not the
> other way around.
>
>     That is exactly what was done in Peru.
>
>     * Make sure that selected providers and technologies are stable
> and R&D will continue for the success of future phases of the
> projects.
>
>     There are contracts in place to guarantee this. Further, Peru and
> OLPC are involving local universities to ensure local development and
> ensuring that Peru is part of a growing international development
> community.
>
>     * Execute user profiling, as this is key for the deployment and
> successful utilization of the systems.
>
>     Peru has in place a detailed profile of children and teachers and
> has planned the pedagogy and technology to fit their identified needs.
> Peru also has an evaluation and monitoring strategy.
>
>
> It is frustrating that this account does not provide links to the
> plans, the training materials, and so on. Perhaps somebody can provide
> them.
>
> My Spanish is quite limited, but let's see what we can find. The
> Ministry Web site is at
>
> http://www.minedu.gob.pe/
>
> The first deployment was in Arahuay.
>
> http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/EdicionImpresa/Html/2007-07-29/ImEcVidayFuturo0761839.html
> English
> http://www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5549 Español
>
> A google search for OLPC on the ministry Web site
>
> site:www.minedu.gob.pe olpc
>
> returns 9 hits, all apparently press releases:
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Portal Accesible y de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación.
> www.minedu.gob.pe/videosmed/200710/002-A-full.php - 22k - Cached -
> Similar pages - Note this
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> OLPC. La Comisión de Presupuesto y Cuenta General de la República
> aprobó, ... El proyecto OLPC es una organización sin fines de lucro y
> fue creada por ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5489 - 21k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
>
> Banco de fotos
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Haga clic en la fotografía para descargarla a tamaño real, espere un
> momento hasta que aparezca completamente y luego haga clic con el
> botón derecho del ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/fotosmed/index.htm - 11k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Sustentó en el Congreso Presupuesto que contempla incidir a fondo en
> proyectos de OLPC, laptop para maestros y Televisión Educativa
> Satelital. ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5485 - 22k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Piloto OLPC Arahuay - Canta. Sonrientes, entusiastas, con ojos vivaces
> que revelan el interés que tienen de conocer todos los secretos de la
> computadora ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5549 - 23k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Piloto OLPC Arahuay - Canta. Cada una de las 40 mil computadoras
> laptops, que en forma gratuita entregará el Ministerio de Educación a
> los niños más pobres ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5552 - 21k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Piloto OLPC Arahuay - Canta. Las computadoras Laptops son, sin lugar a
> dudas, los aparatos que permiten a los niños y niñas, en cualquier
> parte del mundo, ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5573 - 21k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
> "...el viceministro de Gestión Institucional, Víctor Raúl Díaz Chávez"
> "CON LAPTOPS NIÑOS ADQUIEREN RESULTADOS EDUCATIVOS INDISCUTIBLES"
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Proyecto OLPC. Extender el programa "Una Laptop por Niño" a los
> alumnos de las escuelas de Primaria de todas las regiones de nuestra
> patria, ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5859 - 21k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
> "...el ministro de Educación, José Antonio Chang Escobedo" "Estamos
> seguros que con las Laptop acortamos la brecha de equidad educativa
> que existe entre los escolares de las grandes ciudades con los de los
> lugares más pobres"
>
> MINEDU - Portal de Transparencia del Ministerio de Educación
> - [ Translate this page ]
> Proyecto piloto OLPC. La entrega de computadoras tipo Laptop a los
> escolares de las zonas más pobres del país es un paso trascendente
> para acortar la brecha ...
> www.minedu.gob.pe/noticias/index.php?id=5596 - 21k - Cached - Similar
> pages - Note this
>
> Well, Javier, I think it would be worth the time and trouble for OLPC
> Perú to bother the ministry about making the details public.
>
>   
>> But 40,000 computers have arrived and it is too late to cry over the spill
>> milk. We need to put them to work and we need to provide content (some
>> content is better than no content? I am not sure... bad if you do, bad if
>> you don't... catch 22 situation!)
>>     
>
> You might as well ask whether a library is good or bad for the
> community. This is a bigger library, among other things. "MINISTRO
> CHANG: CADA LAPTOP SERÁ UNA BIBLIOTECA VIRTUAL"
>
> There is Spanish-language content, and there will be more. Your
> children will of course have access to the wealth of material in
> Spanish on the Internet, including Wikipedia in Spanish, Cervantes
> Saavedra and many other great treasures of Spanish literature, art,
> history, and so on.
>
>   
>> So, let's be brave.. and let's do our best in generating and providing
>> content... or the tools to be generated or provided... (abstract level
>> layer?)
>>
>> We need to provide the best content that we can imagine... so the key
>> question is what is the main purpose of the XOs/OLPC program? Teaching
>> programming? Improving health/nutrition? Solve poverty? Give more
>> educational opportunities? Improve the markets so they become "perfect
>> markets" with fair trade? What? We need to categorize and give priorities.
>>     
>
> All of the above. You can't do any one of them without the others.
> There will be millions of us working on these issues; why wouldn't we
> just naturally tackle them all? I'm personally keen on improving
> markets, only because so few other people recognize that it is a
> possibility.
>
>   
>> My first guess, in my very personal point of view, is that NOTHING can be
>> done if the kid doenst know how to read.
>>     
>
> Actually, a lot can be done to support computer use and learning by
> illiterates, but yes, literacy comes before huge libraries. Here is my
> proposal, which developers at OLPC have taken up.
>
> http://www.olpcnews.com/content/ebooks/effective_adult_literacy_program.html
> (Misnamed. It's equally about child and adult literacy)
>
> Putting an infant in your lap and reading out loud leads inevitably to
> the child, over time, insensibly starting to read along. Experience
> shows that this is far more effective than classroom learning. But
> what can illiterate parents do? Can they learn to read so as to teach
> their children? The ones who are still illiterate are the ones who
> think not.
>
> It turns out that the most effective literacy program for adults in
> India is same-language captioning of Bollywood musicals, using the
> karaoke technique of coloring the syllables as they are to be sung.
> Audiences in India will go to a popular movie five or six times,
> memorize the words, and sing along. With same-language captioning,
> people who thought themselves too old to learn reading find that they
> are reading right there in the theater.
>
> So far, so good. Parents can learn. Now what about the computer? Well,
> the computer can present captioned music videos, or can read books
> aloud with text-to-speech (TTS) software. We could get TTS software
> that colored the words on the screen. So now we have the child on a
> lap, and a laptop on the child's lap, and the parent and child singing
> along to their favorites, as I once did to Burl Ives on the record
> player.
>
> The child probably learns to read faster than the parent, but however
> that may work out, both learn not only reading but sharing learning.
> Our current educational systems sadly neglect this essential point.
>
>   
>> 95% (or 85 or 90% percent of the
>> peruvian children doens't understand what they read... ). When I realize
>> that I start to think "how I start to read when I was a kind?" my answer:
>> because there was things to read in my home: newspapers, comics,
>> encyclopedias, magazines, cheap novels, great classic novels (from Homero,
>> The Iliad to Conan Doyle's Sherlock... you named. Home was FULL of reading
>> material because my grandfather provide reading material and my mother learn
>> to enjoy reading... then she provide reading material and I learn to enjoy
>> reading... and it was the same in my whole mother line (the whole mother
>> line is professional, educated, titled, well traveled and more solid
>> economically that the father line... I can visit the houses of all my
>> "father line cousins" and it is EMPTY of books. Opposite, I can visit all
>> houses of all my cousins that comes f
>> rom the "mother line" and EVERY HOUSE is full of books, every room has some
>> place for books. So my answer is that we need to provide reading material.
>>
>> But.. what reading material? I don't know. I am not sure because I don't
>> know the big goals of the project.
>>     
>
> The big goals aren't in question. What do you want to read? What do
> your children want to read? What do the children of the villages want
> to read that they can't get now?
>
> Well, among other things, they want to read about how to improve their
> lives and their country. That includes health, nutrition, jobs,
> economics, how the world works...But let us step back a bit. Children
> want to read about everything. As long as it isn't boring. They want
> to read in order to learn, but they want to read in order to enjoy.
> And we all know that they way to create lifelong readers is to show
> them how much fun they can have in reading.
>
>   
>> But, in our humble website
>> (www.olpc-peru.info) me and other fellows have start to put some classic
>> books in spanish language (is the only link that works! sorry! too much work
>> here!).
>>     
>
> Ah, you need more volunteers, too. Please talk to Joy Wiggins about
> connecting to the Hispanic community in Texas, and connecting schools
> in Perú to schools in Dallas. We have been talking about a project to
> help the students there sell coffee from Tanzania. Perhaps they can
> sell something from Perú, also.
>
>   
>> And, I will add another section: Agricultural section (just because
>> my speciality is working in peruvian high lands (with andean communities)
>> and I have collected hundred of eBooks and PDFs in spanish language about
>> the agricultural and farming issues in the high andes...). It is more than
>> 10 GIGABYTES of information...
>>     
>
> ¡Que bueno!
>
>   
>> the one that read all this agricultural
>> information is more capable of surviving from the land. For sure!. I hope
>> that this agricultural section can benefit to some kids that can learn and
>> help his fathers in their daily economy.
>>
>> So good so far... I have put some "classic literature" and some
>> "agricultural" themes will be put "on line" to be read. Is this what we need
>> to do? Is this "straighforward" solution what needs to be done? Don't we
>> need to think "out of the box" and analyze wich content will be better to
>> provide? in wich way?
>>     
>
> Not so much we, but the children. Ask the children. First, what do you
> want, and second, what do you need? What are the problems of your
> village? Health, agriculture, roads, politics, microfinance, a way to
> publish CDs of local music on the Internet? I don't know what any
> individual will ask for first, but I know that some will ask for
> things that you and I didn't think of.
>
>   
>> ... How can we ask that question and make sure we can hear the answer? ...
>> ... We don't hear enough from the target countries about the XO program. ...
>> ... Also, we have no way to contact the schoolchildren to ask them how to
>> improve the XO. ... "
>>
>> I will comment in other message the other ideas.
>>     
>
> Muchas gracias.
>
>   
>> Since I am a "newbie" in this list, someone can tell me (in private
>> info at olpc-peru.info) who is in charge (officially) of the development of
>> content in the OLPC Foundation? or how is organized this area?
>>     
>
> Walter Bender is in charge of software and content. The list of
> Curators and Coordinators of content projects is at
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Curators_and_coordinators
> This library list is the place to have the discussions. There are
> various other individuals who have volunteered to take on one or
> another project, who might at some point become Curators or
> Coordinators.
>
> For example, I am working with the minilathe community on industrial
> educational content. I call the minilathe The Industrial Revolution in
> a Box, because it comes with instructions on how to build the tools
> (including better lathes) to make everything. Or at least the tools to
> make the tools. Every village needs to have a toolmaker, and many need
> someone who can make water purification systems out of local
> materials, and every town needs someone who can repair automobiles, or
> motorcycles, or bicycles, and someone who can make whatever else the
> community needs for its own purposes and for operating businesses of
> every kind. Well, you aren't going to manufacture automobiles in a
> village, but everything within scope. Art, crafts, CDs, DVDs, food
> products, clothing...
>
> Roy Doty's Wordless Workshop is a model of a way to document design,
> construction and manufacturing processes without language, so that we
> don't have to fuss with hundreds of translations of each procedure.
>
>   
>>  Greetings to all (and please forgive me if my thoughts are too
>> provocative).
>>     
>
> They tell me that it is a feature of Gringo culture, that you can be
> much more outspoken than in other societies. Having heard Hugo Chavez
> blast the US, I am not sure that that is correct. But, as we say in
> English, no problemo.
>
>   
>>  Javier Rodriguez
>>  Lima, Peru
>>     
>
>   
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>
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>   

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