One Laptop Per Child

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC), formed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Nicholas Negroponte, is dedicated to creating a revolutionary child-sized laptop. Typically, technology products for the developing world are hand-me down versions of their western equivalents: lesser technologies and of lesser quality. Additionally, those products are not designed for their specific users or surrounding conditions in mind. fuseproject designed the OLPC laptop to ensure that all school-aged children are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and communities can openly learn and learn about learning. The OLPC program is supported by governments who purchase the laptops directly and distribute them free to their schools.

The OLPC laptop is designed to be robust, high touch and expressive all at the same time. It will be used by millions of children world wide and needs to be resilient, easily portable and energy efficient. The XO laptop is the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox. With its ?transformer? hinge, it easily assumes several configurations: standard laptop use, eBook reading, and gaming. Everything on the laptop serves at least two purposes for a sense of economy and efficiency: Antennas double as covers for the USB ports, the handle doubles as an attachment for a strap and the surrounding colored protective bumper is also a seal to protect from dust. Two display modes are available: a transmissive full-color mode, and a reflective high-resolution mode that allows the screen to be read outdoors and in bright sunlight. In eBook mode, the wide-track pad doubles as a drawing/hand writing tablet for learning to write cursive calligraphy.

With the built-in powerful Wi-Fi antennas, children will be able to connect with each other, their schools and to the web. The mesh network is three times as better than a standard laptop, which connects each laptop to one another. Connectivity is also possible because the school districts will distribute literally one unit per child, hence disseminating many Wi-Fi spots across a town or village and instantly creating a Wi-Fi network for entire areas. Servers and satellite connection are dropped in remote places, allowing the kids to connect from anywhere, and access school books and lessons from the school directly.

By giving school systems an easy way to reach all the children in a developing country?s population, OLPC connects children to education in a completely new fashion: children are given access, while practicing their intuitive abilities to learn on a self-tutoring machine. By bringing the laptops home after school, the children continue to learn and educate the world around them. By owning a practical, beautiful and tactile object, the children acquire the pride and dignity of a tool of their own.