[Its.an.education.project] [OLPC-SF] Microsoft Is Joining Low-Cost Laptop Project - New York Times

[Edward Cherlin]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 6:41 PM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>
> thank you, ed.
>
>   it might help that someone remind mr
> negroponte that the medium is the massage.

Simply telling him doesn't work. We're trying to come up with a
Constructionist way of conveying the message. The recent dust-up has
gotten him to respond very occasionally to serious concerns, so we'll
see where that leads.

Please bring management failings to the attention of management and
the community wherever possible. Don't treat it as Not My Job. Please
suggest workarounds for management failings to the community wherever
possible.

I will have more to say about my developing notions of Open Source
Management soon, particularly on the its.an.education.project list.

> in other words, part of one's education
> comes from the values of the channel that
> deliver the educational content.

So that print publishing reinforces the model of corporate ownership
of IP, and the government-sponsored education model of We Have The
Right Answers, and You have nothing to say about it. In particular,
California and Texas politics define very nearly the complete range of
possibilities for textbook publishing.

>   kickbacks and arbitrary profit-oriented
> exclusionary tactics are not a good message
> (or massage).

A business model based on extracting money from the poorest countries
and people is not sustainable, and the people concerned are very much
aware of it going on.

>   cooperation and collaboration are good
> messages, essential to any educational
> program, and intrinsic to open source.

And built into XO software as in no other.

>   additionally, open source itself is an
> educational avenue not nearly as conveniently
> available with "silo" platforms.
>
>   i'm sure you and others know this and can
> express the ideas better than i.

> Sameer

-- 
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