[Olpc-indonesia] Anyone still active on OLPC Indonesia?

Wed Apr 23 17:58:42 EDT 2008

Hi Dennis!

I should probably introduce my self properly. You can probably tell by my
name I'm Indonesian but actually I'm really an Aussie. I did however grow up
in Bali but have spend most of my life in Australia. My mum's Balinese and
hence my name and yes I have a LOT of cousins. As a consequence I have more
conversational Indonesian but willing to give a shot at doing translations
(of course with a lot of helps from friends). I also work in IT working for
a consulting company - hence my personal interest in the OLPC project and
especially for Indonesia.

Wow that's great you've been around communities with the XO (and
particularly around Bali - a very nice place to go but I guessed I'm
biased). I'd like to know how people were receptive to the cost of the
laptop? Or did you concentrate more on the features of the laptop and the
software and how it could be used for learning?

Certainly 100,000 would be a challenge - this obviously means getting either
a large corporation, foundation or the government to fit the bill initially.
However I just see that as a high hurdle that we need to meet and it just
may take a lot more to get there... I know I'm young at heart, probably
naive and definitely eager :)

Yes I've seen that there's been a bit of fallout after OLPC split with Intel
over their two PCs. Essentially their goals are the same and I think the
laptop is here to stay. As for articles in the Jakarta Post touting the
Intel version - I have no doubt it's marketing from the Intel camp
masquerading as news.

I've actually had quite a good response from the OLPC foundation. Maybe I
can forward your queries via my channel?

As I said I'm based in Australia but have family in Bali. So my ability to
get things done on the ground are limited at best. What I'd like to do
though is get the support material and even translations done. My view is
that to make this really successful you need someone actually there in the
community to get the program up and running - like a teach who is passionate
about getting the laptop to their school. So what is needed is the support
to get that teacher's project up and running.
That's my 2 cents.

Great to hear from others!
-gede

On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 6:59 AM, Dennis N. Raymond <dennisnr at comcast.net>
wrote:

>  Hello Gede & Dean:
>
>
>
> Yes, I am on the OLPC list serve as well, and am happy to hear from you.
> I have been in Bali with an XO laptop since December 2007.  During that time
> I've been demonstrating the laptop to various Yayasans and schools.  My
> objective has been to foster grassroots support and carry that information
> to OLPC for the purposes of seeding the units to appropriate institutions
> here in Indonesia.  It's been a valuable experience for me as I've met many
> people in the small educational communities that could benefit from the XO
> laptop.  During this time I've also seen OLPC change their strategy. From
> the website it seems they are only interested in selling the units in lots
> of no less than 10,000.  This is a change from previous tactics where units
> could be purchased in lots of 300.  Phone calls and emails to the Cambridge
> offices of OLPC go unreturned, and it's apparent the enterprise is under
> duress as they struggle to find their place in the world.  All the while
> Intel's Classmate laptop (with Windows XP) seems to be gaining visibility.
> A recent article in the Jakarta Post focused on the Classmate while barely
> mentioning OLPC.
>
>
>
> About me, I am a 57-year-old technology worker from Seattle, Washington in
> the US.  I have been coming to Indonesia for 15 years, the first time under
> sponsorship of my city government.  I've been active in a Sister City
> Association between Seattle and Surabaya, and have a small US-based
> foundation that identifies and supports small projects within Indonesia.  We
> are not an NGO and, no, we don't have money.  But we have the energy and
> ingenuity to identify communities of need and, I hope, advise OLPC of these
> needs.
>
>
>
> I'd like to know more about your interests in this program, and explore
> how and if we might work together to forward this invaluable project within
> Indonesia.  I am here until the end of May, and then return to my home in
> Seattle.
>
>
>
> Warm regards,
>
>
>
> Dennis N. Raymond
> dennisnr at comcast.net
> +62 087 8610-40100 phone
>   ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Gede Suparsa [mailto:gede.suparsa at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:23 AM
> *To:* olpc-indonesia at lists.laptop.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Olpc-indonesia] Anyone still active on OLPC Indonesia?
>
>
>
> Well Dean it looks like just you and me on this list.
>
> I think what might be a good start would be translating some of the
> existing material into Bahasa.
>
> On Wed, Apr 9, 2008 at 11:10 AM, Dean Boulding < > wrote:
>
> I joined a few months ago and yours is the first message I've seen!
>
> I'd be interested in helping out, but I don't have the time to take on
> a leadership role at this time.  Anybody else out there?
>
> Dean
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Gede Suparsa <gede.suparsa at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi There,
> >
> > Is anyone still active on this list contributing to the OLPC project?
> >
> > I'm new and would like to know what's happening and where I can help
> out?
> >
> > -Gede
> > ps: That's right, my name is Gede - anaknya Bali.
> >
>
> > _______________________________________________
> >  Olpc-indonesia mailing list
> >  Olpc-indonesia at lists.laptop.org
> >  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-indonesia
> >
> >
>
>
>
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