Cheap Laptops Part of the Solution?

ILC has always maintained that to truly revolutionize indigenous education in the 21st century, three things (in addition to political will, a bit of money, and some luck) are required:

1. content
2. connectivity
3. computers

Content is our main focus. We’re educational publishers, dedicated to working with and for indigenous peoples to create a new generation of powerfully compelling, culturally and linguistically appropriate online learning programs

Connectivity – making sure indigenous learners and instructors are connected to the internet – is a constant challenge. Solutions vary, from country to country, and region to region. The good news is that, generally speaking, choice are on the upswing while costs are falling.

So what about computers?

Well, everyone from Intel to Nicholas Negroponte and MIT Media Labs seems to agree: to bring the 85% of the world’s population still not connected to the web – including most of the planet’s indigenous people – very inexpensive, very robust computers are needed.

This is especially true for students and their teachers.

While there are many options emerging, ILC is particularly keen on the work being done by a fellow Canadian company – INK Media Systems.

INK is about to begin field testing (something we hope to help with) two laptop computers, one of which we think might be well suited for use in indigenous classrooms around the world.

We particularly like the INK device that sports a traditional clamshell laptop design, has an 8.6” screen with 800 x 600 resolution, has an Ubuntu Linux operating system, a 2GB Nand Flash ROM, is capable of being run from solar or other low-power sources (it uses only 30% of the power required by a “normal” computer.

Other benefits include:

do data stored on the computer, it’s highly secure and eliminates the added cost of organizing data recovery from failed hard drives
very low Total Cost of Ownership, due to initial low price, no software license fees (all bundled software that comes with the laptop is open source), no maintenance or long replacement cycles
choice of screen size and memory type
carbon negative enclosure design, using rice husk-filled plastic, meaning less plastic is used, instead utilizing waste materials
low power consumption
lead free

Are these INK laptops part of the solution? We’ll see. But we love the company’s attitude, and the support it receives from the Gerry Morgan Foundation, meshing perfectly with ILC’s desire to implement projects that bring multiple layers of benefit to the indigenous communities it serves.

Stay tuned for more!