Group items tagged

Interesting Article.

"OLPC unveils slimline tablet PC"

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world use Tor for a wide variety of reasons: journalists and bloggers, human rights workers, law enforcement officers, soldiers, corporations, citizens of repressive regimes, and just ordinary citizens. (Note: sometimes ITGS students need to be able to access sites that are sometimes blocked)

An Infographic on world censorship. Nice to know that we made it to the map!! :-(

Can we ever have a truly global IT based society?

"The One Laptop per Child non-profit develops a low-cost laptop-the "XO Laptop"-to revolutionize how we educate the world's children. Our mission is to provide educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by giving each child a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop; and software tools and content designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. "

"Commonwealth summit explores ways to bridge digital divide"

"Mission Statement: To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future."

"Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte wants to give laptop computers to children in third-world countries so they can communicate with the rest of the world. (05:21)"

Now, touch screen smart phones for the blind.

An interesting article on how the US is finally allowing technology to be exported to these countries. Even more interesting is the reason: "to help...support opposition groups". Interesting for a discussion on how technology can be used to organize and rally support, for example, anti-government protest which would otherwise not be possible openly. (Its interesting to compare this with US Cold War foreign policy too, but that's another story...)

New York Times review of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) machine (aka $100 laptop). Contains good details on the design and specifications. An older article (2007) but still a worthy look at one of the biggest and most famous projects of this type. Includes a video where David Pogue demonstrations throwing water over the machine and dropping it from 4ft (students always like that bit :D)