ITGS Forum

Information Technology in a Global Society is a subject taken by students studying for the International Baccalaureate Diploma at Grades 11 and 12 at the International School Dhaka, Bangladesh. The ITGS course is the study and evaluation of the impact of information technology (IT) on individuals and society.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

$100 Laptop

What is the $100 Laptop?
The proposed $100 machine will be a Linux-based, with a dual-mode display—both a full-color, transmissive DVD mode, and a second display option that is black and white reflective and sunlight-readable at 3X the resolution. The laptop will have a 500MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, with 500MB of Flash memory; it will not have a hard disk, but it will have four USB ports. The laptops will have wireless broadband that, among other things, allows them to work as a mesh network; each laptop will be able to talk to its nearest neighbors, creating an ad hoc, local area network. The laptops will use innovative power (including wind-up) and will be able to do most everything except store huge amounts of data.

How will these be marketed?
The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of "one laptop per child." Initial discussions have been held with China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand. An additional, modest allocation of machines will be used to seed developer communities in a number of other countries. A commercial version of the machine will be explored in parallel.

Why do children in developing nations need laptops?
Laptops are both a window and a tool: a window into the world and a tool with which to think. They are a wonderful way for all children to "learn learning" through independent interaction and exploration.

For more information go to http://laptop.media.mit.edu

1 Comments:

  • At 7:54 PM, February 05, 2006, Blogger Julie Lindsay said…

    Sunny, which schools in Bangladesh woudl be eligible for the $100 laptops? What about your home country in Korea? What impact is the digital divide having there?

     

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