<incom> [Fwd: Zero Dollar Laptop Manifesto]

[edgar]

An interesting alternative...

-------- Proslijeđena poruka --------
Od: James Wallbank <james at lowtech.org>

Hello Connect List,

I just read in the news that Uruguay has bought the first $100 laptops 
form MIT's "One Laptop per Child" project, and I suddenly got this 
sinking feeling that this is yet another "top down" project in which big 
international institutions tell the developing world how to sort 
themselves out, and hence increase their dependency.

In response I'm proposing an alternative, "bottom up" distributed 
solution. Hope you like it!

Best Regards,

James
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The Zero Dollar Laptop Manifesto
=======================

The zero dollar laptop is here!

The zero dollar laptop is widely available to individuals in the 
developed world. It's also available to businesses, governmental 
organisations and NGOs. It's also available in the developing world. 
Distribution is ramping up.

The zero dollar laptop comes in a variety of specifications.

The current typical specification of the zero dollar laptop in the UK is 
around 500mHz, with 256mB RAM, a 10 gigabyte hard disk, a network card, 
a CD-ROM, a USB port and a screen capable of displaying at least 800×600 
pixels in 16-bit colour. Many zero dollar laptops are better specified. 
(Its close cousin, the zero dollar desktop, typically runs at 1000mHz or 
faster.)

The zero dollar laptop is constantly being upgraded - so by next year 
its specification will be even more powerful.

The zero dollar laptop is powered with free, open source software. Users 
can get involved as deeply as they want - the software packages 
available include easy to use graphical applications, more complex 
professional applications, and expert level programming languages.

Free software upgrades for the zero dollar laptop are constantly being 
made available, from a huge variety of software producers.

The zero dollar laptop is not intended simply for multimedia 
entertainment. Though it can an educational playground, it can also be a 
genuinely useful production platform.

The zero dollar laptop allows kids to learn and adults to produce. (Only 
when people are able to use computers to produce their own data does 
information communication technology become genuinely empowering.)

The zero dollar laptop has already been distributed. (You weren't told 
about it at the time of distribution.)

Individuals, businesses and non-profit organisations can all have a say 
in how the zero dollar laptop is rolled out in their local area. It's 
not up to government think-tanks, multinational NGOs or national policy 
boards.

The zero dollar laptop is available to individuals, education 
organisations, NGOs and businesses alike.

The carbon footprint of the zero dollar laptop is zero.

You, as an individual, may already own a zero dollar laptop.

What's it doing? Sitting on your shelf, unused, because you've already 
upgraded?

Your employer or your school may own a large number of zero dollar laptops.

What are they doing? Are they getting recycled responsibly (i.e. 
destroyed) by the company that supplied them? (That's often the company 
that just happens to be supplying the next generation of laptops.)

Perhaps surprisingly, you may not know how to install or operate the 
zero dollar laptop.

You may never have installed a free, open source operating system. You 
may never have installed any operating system.

Nowadays it's quite easy. You can download a full version of the Linux 
operating system appropriate for the specification of your zero dollar 
laptop for free. It's entirely legal.

Many versions of Linux are user-friendly. There are lots of help 
resources online, and there are likely to be local people who'll be 
happy to give you advice.

You may be unaware of lightweight window-managers that use memory more 
efficiently. You may never have used powerful, compatible free office 
and productivity software. It may surprise you to discover that free 
software can be better than software you can buy.

You may be reluctant to invest time, of which you may only have a 
little, rather than invest money - of which you may have plenty.

Think about the longer-term consequences: buy software and you'll have 
to pay again and again. Invest time learning about free software, and 
you'll never have to pay for software again.

For the sake of the planet, and for the sake of a fair, just, and 
cohesive society, isn't it about time you learned? Then maybe you could 
teach someone else.

You may ask, "Why isn't someone doing something to roll out the zero 
dollar laptop?" In developed-world economies and cultures we're familiar 
with centralised solutions. We're less familiar with localised, 
decentralised, do-it-yourself solutions. In this case, that "someone" is 
you.

Decentralised solutions like the zero dollar laptop may not seem to be 
as efficient as centralised solutions. However, efficiency isn't 
everything. Solutions of this character are more robust, more responsive 
to local circumstances, greener, more flexible, and they encourage local 
skill development and independence.

You may have to spend unpaid time learning about and implementing the 
distribution of a few zero dollar laptops in your area. Think about the 
contacts you'll make and the skills you'll learn. Think about the skills 
you'll help to develop, the lives you may transform, the fun you'll have.

The emergence of the zero dollar laptop as a key computing platform for 
empowering individuals, stimulating creativity, overcoming poverty and 
enriching our shared culture is entirely feasible without any additional 
research, design, or manufacture.

We already have all the tools we need - all we need to manufacture is 
the will to act locally; all we need to replace is the software on our 
hard drives; all we need to develop is the content of our minds.

— James Wallbank, Sheffield, September 2007

=========================
Zero Dollar Laptop Manifesto Notes
=========================

In 1999 I wrote the Lowtech Manifesto 
[http://lowtech.org/projects/n5m3/]. That small document has been widely 
circulated, quoted and translated, and seems to have influenced, and 
encouraged a large number of people concerned with developments at the 
cutting edge of digital culture. It's become clear to me that sometimes, 
all that's needed is for someone to state what's needed and call for 
action. Think of this methodology as a "WhyTo" rather than a "HowTo".

At the time I proposed a creative approach to technology re-use. As a 
result of my decision to re-use technology, I haven't needed to buy a 
computer in the last decade. I've been involved in the development of a 
whole series of innovative digital artworks and the establishment of 
"Access Space", an open access space for the local community to learn, 
create and communicate using recycled computers running free, open 
source software.

At the time of the Lowtech Manifesto, Professor Nicholas Negroponte 
pointed out (and was quoted in "Wired" magazine) the pressing social 
need for an accessibly priced computer. He reflected that the industry 
simply wasn't interested in engaging in the low profit, "commodity 
computing" market, and set about campaigning for the production of a 
$100 laptop.

At the time, laptops cost around $1000 or more - but as we know, the 
price has been falling. Now new, generic, no-brand computers (and Dell 
workstations) are available for less than $500.

To avoid the early emergence of commodity computing, in the last few 
years manufacturers have been encouraging consumers to switch to 
laptops. Laptops are great for the industry, because they often use 
fiddly, proprietary spare parts (only supplied by the manufacturer), 
they're difficult or impossible to upgrade, and their lifespan is much 
lower than that of a desktop (if only because people drop them more often!)

However, the industry hasn't been able to resist the trend for long - in 
the UK you can sign up for some broadband packages and get a new laptop 
for nothing - in very much the same way that you can buy a mobile phone 
contract and get an expensive handset apparently for free.

Although the industry doesn't like to acknowledge it, the age of 
commodity computing is now here.

Meanwhile, the Linux free operating system and associated free software 
packages, have developed hugely. Linux is now very straightforward to 
use and provides a powerful suite of software which many experts agree 
is superior to the software you can buy.

Linux is very compatible with other systems, and research conducted on 
behalf of the UK government suggests it make much more efficient use of 
a given hardware specification. Effectively, it doubles the useful 
lifespan of a computer. It's the key to unlocking the potential of the 
zero dollar laptop.

So at last, the industry has agreed to assist with Professor 
Negroponte's plans, and the $100 laptop has started to be produced.

The $100 laptop has transformed into the "One Laptop Per Child" project. 
The price point has not been attainable - at the time of writing 
(September 2007) the price is about $176. There's also a "Give One Get 
One" deal - for $399 you buy two, and you get one to keep, while another 
is shipped to a poor country.

Very sensibly, Professor Negroponte has pointed out that the vision 
isn't about laptops - it's about education. Don't get me wrong! I'm very 
positive about some aspects of the vision of the One Laptop Per Child 
Foundation. Distributing information technology may have hugely positive 
educational and empowering effects.

However, I've got some major issues with the "One Laptop per Child" $100 
laptop project.

* It's ten years too late.
* It's $176 overpriced.
* The project is limited to laptops for children in poor countries.
* Even if you "Give One Get One", nobody who's the wrong side of the 
digital divide in developed countries gets help.
* Whatever they say, the industry has become involved on terms still 
hugely orientated around consumerism, not empowerment.
* It's still a top-down process, by which rich, powerful institutions 
determine "the solution" and distribute it to poor, less powerful 
institutions, who distribute it to recipients whose role is essentially 
passive.

This manifesto talks about a laptop, but it isn't concerned with 
technology for its own sake. The issue is whether technology has an 
educational, empowering effect.

Technology has the power to amplify opportunity - but it also has the 
capacity to amplify social division: to make the rich richer, and the 
poor poorer.

For technology to be a force for good, it should genuinely make its 
users more independent, autonomous, fulfilled and happy.

License
======

The Zero Dollar Laptop Manifesto was written by James Wallbank in 
September 2007. The manfesto and its associated notes are published 
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales 
License. [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/]

====================