OLPC Skeptics and Inquiry

Originally published at Lemmingworks. You can comment here or there.

JuliaD’s post Don’t forget your shovel. :: OLPC Skeptics is about something that I just prefer to ignore. Skeptics.

There are lots of OLPC skeptics out there… and others who wonder at the audacity of designing something for children in LDCs and then selling them as a gimmick to children in North America. I’ve been hearing more and more of this. “But what can they DO?” “Why do kids need to “learn computers”, especially poor kids?”

I love criticism, then it is informed. I love opinion, when it is a statement of personal taste. I love questions, when they lead to dialogue. Skepticism is doubt or incredulity. That’s fine, but it is a starting point of inquiry. Skepticism unresolved through inquiry is the shallow dilettantism of the couch coach second guessing Monday Night Football. Do it if it makes you happy, but I’ve not got much time for it.

I have no idea if the OLPC is the right thing. It is an interesting thing. It offers opportunities for new ideas and opportunities that either it or some other technology will realize. It is a revolution in ideas, and perhaps in technology. Inquiry and reflection will tell what’s what.

Coming to a watering hole near you: OLPC’s mesh networking

Originally published at Lemmingworks. You can comment here or there.

From Slashdot | OLPC Mesh Networking Tester Explains How It Works I found this article Coming to a watering hole near you: OLPC’s mesh networking that explains about mesh networking and the olpc. Comments on the slashdot page unpack some of the criticisms and problems, if you’re interested, and at the bottom of this post there’s a link to the robin project for setting up your own mesh network.

For the past two years Cameron has devoted his diverse technical talents to testing the wireless network component of the One Laptop Per Child project.

Cameron got involved with the project because he lives and works in the outback, in a small village called Tooraweenah, 58km from Coonabarabran (approx 500km northwest of Sydney).

There are few wireless access points and little noise in the radio spectrum there, making it the perfect location for testing the OLPC XO laptops as it mirrors the third world environments they are being deployed in.

“One of our test scenarios is two kids under a tree, in the middle of nowhere, who want to transfer a file between one laptop and another. At the moment with the software that we have, the hardware, and the mesh automation, they can open their laptops, transfer whatever it is they want and then walk off. They don’t need any IP address configuration or anything special. It just works,” he said.

RO.B.IN open source mesh network

ROBIN (ROuting Batman Inside) is an Open Source mesh network project, deployed on top of OpenWRT kamikaze, running on any Atheros AP51 routers such as Meraki Mini or La Fonera and using the BATMAN routing algorithm.
ROBIN spreads a wired internet connection such as a DSL throughout an apartment complex, neighborhood, village or school, and work on a variety of commonly available, low-cost hardware.

BBC says: US seeks terrorists in web worlds

Originally published at Lemmingworks. You can comment here or there.

US seeks terrorists in web worlds

Experts say terror groups are unlikely to use games such as World of Warcraft…

The US government has begun a project to develop ways to spot terrorists who are using virtual worlds.

Codenamed Reynard it aims to recognise “normal” behaviour in online worlds and home in on anomalous activity.

It is likely to develop tools and techniques for intelligence officers who are hunting terrorists and terror groups on the net or in virtual worlds.

The project was welcomed by experts tracking terror groups using the net to organise or carry out attacks.