by manymny » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:00 am
my advice would not rely on the availability of xo-1 laptops. go more generic. not that i don't recommend olpc, i wish its coverage was complete. in areas not supported by olpc, what can you do?
one thing that you have to think about is the availability of clean electricity. when i say "clean" i mean the lines themselves, if they're too noisy or unstable they can cause problems. olpc does not (as far as i know) work on this issue much beyond making certain power supplies, but that's probably not going to help you unless you have an xo laptop. what is helpful are the people (not officially related to olpc) working to find new or innovative ways to bring power for laptops and pc's to users.
that kind of d-i-y spirit is something not encouraged by the computer industry in the united states, you have to admire it. it has to go beyond the power supplies, too.
if you can get any equipment, or set up any program to receive any equipment, then from there you can create a program to bring computers to your area. my advice again: don't focus on graphical environments or making everything the same. you will have some machines with graphical environments, some without. all can be used for teaching, but it takes more work to teach many different things on different systems.
learn to install linux, learn to take machines apart and put them together. you can do this in a few months, if you have internet access, teaching yourself. most people don't- because most people don't find it's important enough to them. do this project for yourself, for your education, for your personal empowerment. then, share it all with the next generation. i hope you can get clean power and find some equipment so you can get started. or, you can also try to talk to your government about joining or expanding the olpc program. if you have time, do both.
teachers that continue teaching should be expected to continue learning; it's an absurdity to have 19th century expectations of 21st century educators. granted they shouldn't have their time wasted (more than students,) or be paid insulting salary.