<br>Couldn't disagree more and I'll relate two stories that hopefully will best illustrate my point.<br><br><br>1) My grandmother was born in the late 1800's in rural South Dakota with no technology. In the late 1960's (she was in her 70's) we were having a conversation about technology and all the advances she'd seen: the automobile, airplane (and jets), all the way to landing on the moon. When I asked her what the most profound technological development in her lifetime (and most lifechanging) she replied, "the telephone."
<br><br>I was surprised (I thought the automobile would be it) and asked her why. She told me about the fear they had of this new device and how disembodied voices would be coming through a handset. Her father's biggest fear was that people would stop congregating in the town square, going to church functions and being together at each other's houses since they could instead connect with the telephone.
<br><br>What ended up happening was the benefit of the telephone -- and how it connected their tiny rural village to the rest of the country -- empowered them, created new opportunities, saved time (they used to have to walk miles to town and now could call), and became a lifeline (twice they called for lifesaving emergency situations).
<br><br>What's interesting to me is how my grandmother told me how she and her sisters embraced the telephone and they saw it as a "feminine technology" since women used it far more than men (there were party lines and they often arranged evening times where up to 20 young women would get on the phone and talk together). No question that women are more adept at interpersonal communications than men -- regardless of culture -- and thus the framing of any questions about technology and gender must be made separate from the technology itself.
<br><br><br>2) My daughter could care less about technology. What she does care about is what it does for her (benefits instead of features). Most men I know (me included) are really enamored of features and enjoy goofing around with the technology as much as we do achieving a return on the technology itself which is why so many men are builders, tinkerers and geeks.
<br><br>She went to work at an Apple store a year ago and has significantly broadened her perspective on the benefits of technology. She's even begun describing herself as "I'm becoming a geek Dad". It's because she's *experiencing* the technology and thus intuitively embracing the features that drive the benefits she loves. Sam, she would smile at your designation of the OLPC as being MALE since she honestly views all technology as neuter.
<br><br>Her expertise is guiding people at the Apple store in a consultative way and she finds that women gravitate to her. She's even begun talking about the "need for face time with computers" (that's my old line) as a way to be able to learn about them experientially.
<br><br><br>THAT is the whole point of OLPC. Kids need face time and exploration experience with technology in order to discover what benefits they might achieve. The Internet is the telephone network of this century and the OLPC is a type of telephone. In the same way that many countries don't have the manufacturing, infrastructure or technical acumen to create and deliver telephones within their country, it's unlikely they could build a chip fabrication plant or even an assembly line to take parts from around the world and create their own. Negroponte and MIT have had decades of experience all brought to bear on this little device and if you don't want it, don't buy it, don't setup a mesh internetwork, and don't let your kids connect up to that global network connecting human consciousness in ways never before possible.
<br><br>Fatima, do you really, for example, see computers and the internet as a drug pushed on you by America? You're obviously using both if you're communicating with email so you see some value. If you further believe OLPC is some sort of American conspiracy to push technology and decadence on so-called third world countries, pay a visit to Japan, Taiwan, China, Germany, Finland and many other countries considerably more advanced with some of their technology and more adept at 'pushing' it into all corners of the world than the United States.
<br><br>Lastly Fatima you said, "<i>And soon our kids will have even broader access to decadent Internet social networks</i>". So the kids you know (or your own children) make the decisions in your country about using the internet, buying video games and so on? It's not the social networks that are the problem. The parents I know who fear the internet and its impact on their children are the same people who have not taken the time to learn about it, to try it themselves, and to understand how to manage it. Parents are the major influencer on children and must supervise, guide and mold their children. My wife and I are rigorous about what my 13 year old son can do online, how much time he can spend and what he can view and I don't blame anyone but us if he is exposed to something he shouldn't see.
<br><br>I submit that any country that sticks its head in the sand and ignores their citizens need to access the global network is guaranteeing they will never "<i>become truly independent economically, technologicaally, culturally
</i>" as you describe. It's a global village and we're all connected whether we like it or not and I have a strong sense of delight in learning about other cultures, gaining insight and perspectives from people globally (many of whom I've met through my blog or social networks and talked to on Skype, etc.), and realize that almost all of my understanding was first gained through the internet BEFORE travel to another country.
<br><br>--<br>Steve Borsch<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 30, 2007 10:36 PM, Sam Ladner <<a href="mailto:samladner@gmail.com">samladner@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I can't help but think that OLPC is also pushing MALE American culture onto kids. The research on the gendered effects of technology do show that women tend often to be relegated to the class of "non expert" when technology is introduced, while men become "experts."
<br><br>I'm not a gee-whiz technophile (tho, it could be argued, a technophile). What I see in these technological artifacts is a culture and value-system that is not questioned in the West, much less it being questioned in a new context.
<br><br>Technology is not inherently dehumanizing or oppressive. But it is subordinate to the political. I fear Fatima is right -- that all sorts of unintended consequences will arise from questions left unasked.<br><br>
<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 30, 2007 11:17 AM, Fatima Lasay <<a href="mailto:digiteer@ispx.com.ph" target="_blank">digiteer@ispx.com.ph</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Negroponte and co. are pushing dangerous drugs in 'third world countries.'<br><br>Microsoft Windows XP for the '$100 laptop' already nears testing phase and<br>will be pushed to kids in our countries<br>(
<a href="http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71789/Microsoft-Windows-XP-for-the-100-laptop-nears-testing-phase" target="_blank">
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71789/Microsoft-Windows-XP-for-the-100-laptop-nears-testing-phase</a>).<br><br>And soon our kids will have even broader access to decadent Internet social<br>networks as online video games are integrated in social networking tools
<br>(<a href="http://www.gmanews.tv/story/69824/Online-video-games-meet-social-networking-tools" target="_blank">http://www.gmanews.tv/story/69824/Online-video-games-meet-social-networking-tools</a>)<br><br>Negroponte and co. are making it harder for us our struggle and efforts to
<br>become truly independent economically, technologicaally, culturally from<br>the horrendous culture of Amerika.<br><br><br>Regards,<br>Fatima<br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>iDC -- mailing list of the Institute for Distributed Creativity (
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