In case you didn’t read it on Slashdot or the BBC first, please let me be the first (or second, or third, …) to tell you that manufactures have received the go-ahead to start producing components for the OLPC. According to my source, the projected launch date for the completed $100 laptops is October 2007.
Implementation is sure to be slow at first, but getting these computers into the hands of students world-wide is only the first major step.
Once millions of OLPC are in place, attention must be paid to making them useful. Not only does this include building infrastructure, like Wireless Ghana, but it also means developing relevant educational software, and training teachers how to use this technology.
My goal in applying for the Fulbright and working with Wireless Ghana is to position myself (for graduate school, and eventually employment) in a field where I can participate in community development and the increasing of education standards world-wide through technology like the OLPC.
Alongside from improving global education, this technology can be used to increase community collaboration and develop more open societies on this planet.
