Playing with the OLPC

Playing with the OLPC

Posted Dec 29, 2006 3:28 UTC (Fri) by bronson (subscriber, #4806)
In reply to: Playing with the OLPC by pmolina
Parent article: Playing with the OLPC

I agree that technology is the surest way straight into the productivity paradox. I just wish you had chosen better examples...

The Dewey Decimal System: dead, and thank goodness. It's well designed, yes, but totally arbitrary. Why teach it to new generations?

The Typewriter: also dead. Extremely wasteful in materials, time, and energy. I don't think anybody misses fingers covered in ribbon ink, having to retype an entire page just to fix a typo (and probably inserting two more), or those awful correction pads.

Pens/Pencils: My 6 year old niece has mastered this technology just fine. No need to worry.

Finally, I'm a little confused that you worry about kids not learning proper communication tools while you yourself ignore proper punctuation, grammar and style.

So, I agree... I'm worried that a virus will brick 50% of the OLPCs. Or that the black market will destroy their ubiquity (why do this if most of its owners sell them for one year of rice?). Or a bad cap in high humidity will force a mass recall after six months. This utter lack of biodiversity is downright scary and there are a thousand scenarios where the maintenance costs will be far higher than any benefit seen by students. We'll see.

But if it pushes typewriters or the Dewey Decimal System permanently into history, I shall praise the OLPC to the end of my days.

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