[Its.an.education.project] Ivan's latest blog entry on OLPC

[Edward Cherlin]

Hi, PJ. Love your work. Did they mention to you that the traffic
inspired by your Christmas present post brought down the OLPC servers
briefly? Keep it up.

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Pamela Jones <pj2 at groklaw.net> wrote:
> Please let me give you an example, Javier.  I thought about saying these
> things in an article. I also thought about saying them in a comment on
> Ivan's blog, under the article, to try to undo some of what I viewed as
> damage. But I decided not to, out of respect for Ivan. I never put causes
> ahead of people.
>
> Here, I feel more comfortable to express my concerns.

Note that this is a public mailing list. Anybody can read the archives.

> To me,  it's a matter of human empathy and figuring out what is useful and
> what is not. I don't think that can ever be wrong.   I do the same with
> Groklaw. Some things just don't need to be said, because they are unkind. Or
> they can be expressed in a way that doesn't disrespect a fellow human
> totally.  Some things have to be said, no matter what, of course, but in
> truth, not many.  So what I am saying is that there is a time and a place
> and a way.  If Ivan's purpose was to make sure no one ever helps OLPC again,
> that is different. For sure he will have a considerable impact in turning
> volunteers away. Was that the goal?

No. His conclusion was

"So here's to open learning, to free software, to strength of personal
conviction, and to having enough damn humility to remember that the
goal is bringing learning to a billion children across the globe. The
billion waiting for us to put our idiotic trifles aside, end our
endless yapping, and get to it already.

"Let's get to it already."

It is possible that Ivan might want to steer people to Sugarlabs
rather than to OLPC itself, but that isn't what he said. He wants more
of us to get down to what needs doing.

I am trying to address Ivan's concerns by creating one or more
organizations outside OLPC to work on the issues hat have been
neglected. Most recently, I have proposed one to address affordable
renewable power for laptop deployments (on the Peripherals mailing
list), and I am preparing other proposals to deal with other
questions. I have started querying likely partner organizations.

> To me anything that hinders laptops from reaching those kids is
> counterproductive.  I love the educational aspect of the project, and I'm
> deeply disappointed at all that has happened, but I still want laptops --
> even the worst in the world -- to get there by hook or by crook.

Even the worst has some value, but the worst are of many times less
value than the best.

> I also factor in all the pressures the project has been put under by Intel,
> Microsoft, and drive-by litigious scammers.

I had encountered the developer of the Konyin keyboard on a Nigerian
mailing list before the shenanigans started. A friend sent me the
papers showing that its protection under Nigerian law had already
ended, and I passed them on to OLPC News.

> Negroponte has to feel those
> pressures. Having been subjected to years of intense and chronic pressure
> from those determined to beat Groklaw down, I know how pressure can affect a
> person in charge of a project, and I can empathize with how painful it must
> be for him to see Classmates, those abominations, trying to supplant the XOs
> and to have so many unable to even grasp his vision or even be determined to
> undercut it.

He missed many opportunities to explain his vision, and continues to
do so. I am trying to fill some of the gap by starting along-overdue
conversation on Constructionism.

> It would not surprise me if that is the compelling factor that
> is driving him out to an extreme edge. He doesn't want to see his dream die,
> naturally. The Intel marketing machine is  awesomely awful.  And I know
> quite a lot about the Nigeria litigation, and it's simply sickening.  Might
> that not be why he has altered course, in the emergency, as he probably sees
> it?

No, the evidence is that Negroponte is and always has been an
incompetent manager and doesn't know it. He blames the volunteers for
the lack of an architecture for Sugar, when it was up to him to hire
an architect. He has failed to communicate with the volunteers, ever,
until faced with open revolt (including my threat to fork Sugar), and
now that the fuss has died down somewhat, he has gone back to
non-communication. The lack of concern for deployments that Ivan
decries is only one of many major management failures. The new CEO,
Charles Kane, appears to be capable of running the ordinary financial
affairs of a US corporation, but to have no idea what the job at OLPC
should be.

* The GiveOneGetOne disasters in order entry (inexcusable loss of data
allowed to continue for weeks) and customer support (none, to start).

* Insistence that the only metric for success is numbers of laptops
delivered to children in poor counries at the lowest possible cost,
even if lowering cost prevents activities that would increase sales
and increase the value of each laptop. This includes GiveMany, which
has turned into a cruel joke.

* Failure to talk to the volunteers, and more importantly to listen.

* Refusal to discuss the multitude of factors required for successful
deployments: electricity, Internet, teacher training, explaining
Constructionism, letting volunteers have anything whatsoever to do
with sales to governments, refusing to  and much more.

* Failure to plan for localization for countries designated as laptop
recipients. I had to sign up as Administrator for Haitian Creole and
Cambodian Khmer, and go out to recruit volunteers myself, in order to
get anything happening. Kinyarwanda has stalled, so I have been
recruiting Rwandans as well. I have not been able to get anybody to
tell me how to contact other localization Administrators to offer
help.

* Failure to make any provision for communication between volunteers
and any of teachers, students, parents, or anybody else in the target
countries. We finally started a Spanish-language mailing list just
yesterday.

See http://wiki.laptp.org/go/Controversies for these and some others,
including links to the original e-mail conversations.

> And finally the simple truth I have learned is that the more people who know
> you and respect your work, the more responsibility you have to think before
> you speak or act, because others *will* be influenced. It's a serious
> weight, and there is no way to remove it from your shoulders and "just be
> yourself" and let your hair down in public.  It's an inescapable burden.

Nicholas is famous for shooting off his mouth.

* He called OLPC a "terrorist organization". Nobody knows what he
meant, but we do know what it sounds like.

* He called some of the volunteers "Open Source Fundamentalists".

* He has talked endlessly about Windows/Linux dual-boot XOs, even
though Microsoft wants nothing to do with the idea, and we don't even
know how. (XOs boot from Open Firmware, and Windows boots from a BIOS.
There isn't room for both.)

* He wrote in public that his Windows strategy is a Trojan Horse
designed to outsmart (and by implication, destroy) Microsoft. You
don't outsmart an 800-lb. gorilla, and you certainly don't _tell_ one
about your brilliant idea beforehand.

* He also claims that porting Sugar to Windows is a great way to
increase support for Sugar, both in terms of sales and of development.
Some of us consider it a distraction at best, and selling out at
worst. There are technical issues about Windows that outsiders cannot
fix, and Microsoft has said explicitly it will not work on, that
prevent some of the most important Sugar features (collaboration, mesh
networking) from being ported fully. The extreme low-power operation
possible within Linux cannot be done under Windows without similar
internal modifications.

> Of course, that's just me. I always leave room for others to come to
> different conclusions, even with the same facts.
>
>
> info at olpc-peru.info wrote:
>>
>> Pamela Jones wrote:
>>>
>>> So, I think you did damage to those children by airing your personal
>>> views, which are  probably quite accurate as to the facts but that I don't
>>> think the world needed to know in such detail.

I personally object only to the foul language and the occasional lack
of clarity. The facts are quite valuable, and the analysis can be
discussed on those points where I or anybody think Ivan is in error.

>> Sorry Pamela but... there is something called FOIA (Freedom of Information
>> Act) in the U.S.,

True, but it doesn't apply to NGOs.

>> and we have similar law in Peru.  Furthermore, in Peru we
>> have a government's organization in charge of "checking" all what the NGOs
>> develop in Peru.  IF the things (any thing) are done in the name of the
>> children, if many million of dollars are ask as donation from the public, IF
>> there is a ton of volunteer efforts then WE, all, need to know EVERYTHING
>> that happens.  In the biggest possible detail.  If OUR private acts can not
>> stand up and keep alive in the front of the eyes of the public opinion then
>> something is wrong, deeply wrong with our acts and behavior.

If Nicholas had been willing to talk to people and to listen, none of
these problems could have gotten to this state. I blame myself for not
figuring it out sooner and taking more effective action.

>> This is not romantic.  It is just a normal and correct way to do the
>> things.  It is a cultural issue too: as far as I know Scandinavian countries
>> have more power in the hands of the people (assemblies) and they have put
>> less power in the hands of politics or bureaucrats.
>>
>> I say this with the deepest respect for all the other things that you have
>> speak about in your mail message.//
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Javier Rodriguez
>> Lima, Peru

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-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay