[Olpc-indonesia] Working towards a go-forward plan

[Dennis N. Raymond]

Hi Yama:

I will be outside Indonesia as of the end of May.  Perhaps we can start a
conversation when I'm back in the US.  You live in the US, right?  I did a
search on you and your name comes up on some postings with OLPC.  

Yes, it is a struggle here to figure out the best approach for the XO.
Things got complicated when Bill Gates met with President SBY here in
Jakarta this last week.  This got very little coverage in the West, but was
big news in Asia.  Gates promised free software bundled with inexpensive
($200) computers for educational purposes.  It seems most likely that he's
referring to the Intel Windows XP-based Classmate laptop.  Microsoft knows
that their market in the West is flat, and that they must extend their reach
to future markets in emerging nations.  The fight for these markets is core
at the positioning of the Classmate laptop in relation to the XO laptop and
its open source.

When I heard the news about Gates I temporarily lost hope for OLPC and the
XO laptop in the Indonesian educational system.  That is, until I discussed
this with a Balinese developer here.  He pointed out that this announcement
will likely come to little, or we may not see evidence of it for 3 years.
He claims that, in spite of SBY's efforts, the challenge will be corruption
at all levels downstream.  In the end the question will be who are the
recipients of these computers?  Will the units go to children in Jakarta and
Surabaya, or reach the neediest children throughout Indonesia, the ones who
have no chance of interacting with technology as things stand today. 

I think it's time to consider that by their very nature, the XO and
Windows-based laptops- Classmate or otherwise- are aimed at different market
segments.  What would a 9-year-old want to do with Word, Excel et al?
There's internet access through IE, of course, but most of the Windows
applications are better suited for older children.  This is where the XO has
an advantage.  Even the youngest children can interact with the XO laptop
with applications like Tam Tam Mini and Memorize.

In an earlier posting Dean Boulding of Jakarta talked about the need to
build a strategy that addresses the Ministry of Education and Telkon (for
Internet access).  I work as a business analyst and, as starting point, I am
willing to work on a draft for a go forward plan that would be, by
necessity, very narrow.  It appears that Dean, who has lived in Indonesia
for 16 years, can help us negotiate the official channels with something in
hand. 

To accomplish this I'm feeling like I need to have a dialogue with you and
others- Dean, Gede and all who have shown interest by posting on the OLPC
blog.  I'm talking about an actual conversation where ideas can be shared
and a strategy emerges.  This could be done using freeconferencecall.com.
Speaking for myself it's difficult to get a jump start on all this without
the benefits of a larger free-ranging conversation to work through the most
likely approach with government here.  Thus far I have not been able to get
a response from OLPC. 

Given the obstacles presented inside Indonesia I wonder if there is a
grassroots approach that, albeit smaller in focus, could become a pilot
program that becomes a proof of concept. Such an effort would occur "under
the wire" and without the involvement of the Minister of Education.  I've
met Bambang Sudibyo.  He's an accountant by training and, as someone once
told me, Pak Sudibyo only wants to hear about success stories. In previous
communications Gede Suparsa talked about the value of sister school
relations between Indonesia and outside nations.  I myself am involved in
such a program between a school here in Bali and another school in my home
city of Seattle, USA. I understand we're operating without a budget here,
but perhaps there's a way to quietly seed the XO Computer into small schools
like this without the big splash that OLPC aims for. The result could become
a model for what works for both the Indonesian Minister of Education and
OLPC.

If, as a group, we can come to an agreement about a time to talk via a
conference call then I'm willing to set up the call.  Individuals could call
in via SKYPE-out.

Congratulations to Gede for assuming the list administration duties.

Warm regards, 

Dennis N. Raymond
dennisnr at comcast.net
+62 087 8610-40100 phone

-----Original Message-----
From: Yama Ploskonka [mailto:yama at netoso.com] 
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 12:31 AM
To: dennisnr at comcast.net
Subject: OLPC Indonesia

I will be in Surabaya mid July couple weeks.  Any way I can help there?


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