Are you in the USA? Or have access to the American infotainment juggernaut of content? Then you might want to turn your attention to the CBS News program "60 Minutes" this Sunday, May 20th.
Famed reporter Lesley Stahl will be covering MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte's progress with One Laptop Per Child, his dream of one-to-one computing as an educational boost, a way for children in the developing world to "learn learning".
Ms. Stahl will have on-location reports from OLPC testing in Brazil and with 13 million viewers on average, the coverage of OLPC should be a major boost in profile for the project.
Lesley Stahl will also be interviewing an obsessive follower of OLPC XO advances, a technology in development expert who publishes the informative and influential OLPC News. Yes, not only am I going to have a cameo on 60 Minutes, there should be a distinct focus on OLPC News as the medium by which those interested in the "$100 laptop" can go for independent news, information, and commentary.
If you've been a lurker, just watching the discussion from afar, this is your chance to enter into the debate before it gets crowded with new voices. You can write for OLPC News today!
Get your thoughts on the XO computer together and email a starter post. Now, more than ever, your ideas and opinions are welcome and will be heard.
Recent Comments
Since I have no opportunity to get the CBS channel I would like to know whether there is a possibility to watch it via the internet or whether there will be a record for download lateron.
Roland, I'm not going into details here but always remember that Google is your friend and a certain someone called bittorrent might also be able to help you out.
Roland,
I'm not sure, but I think CBS will eventually have the show on their site
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml
Good luck!
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?channel=60Sunday
Roland,
As the guy so obsessed with OLPC he developed OLPC Talks http://www.olpctalks.com do have the firm trust that I will not leave you in the cold with such an important video.
Really Wayan, did you tell them that no one who's following the project actually considers you a fair and balanced source of OLPC News? Or that they all either read the official Wiki and Planet OLPC.
Xero,
Thanks for returning and proving you also read OLPC News. Now maybe you'll take off the rose-colored glasses and take a good look at OLPC - both the positive and negative - like we do here.
Or you could do one better, and get involved by writing your own post for OLPC News.
Xero, I think that's an unfair comment.
If you believe that the only "fair and balanced" source about the OLPC project is the project itself, and that an effort like this one, that allows multiple voices from all around the world, with different backgrounds, and yes, different opinions about the project, speak, discuss and share, then your expectation is adoration or blind following of the project, instead of criticism.
"Following" in this sense is not being a fanboy or an activist. It is being an interested party. There are plenty of voices about it. And Wayan, in his capacity as the promoter and leader of this outfit, has never tried to hide his opinions while allowing for debate from many different perspectives.
The last half of this piece was terrible. Stahl bent over backwards to say how great the Intel Classmate was, and needled Negroponte about the competition. That was time that could have been better spent discussing the OLPC project and showing more kids using it...or talking about the software. At no point was the word "linux" used.
To me, it looked like there was someone in a black shirt and white tie standing offstage making 60 Minutes talk about how great the "Classmate" is.