Hard Fun @basecamp2013: Panda is coming

"Who will come will come ..". and "Whoever comes is the right people ...."   So far I think we have about 25 "Yes, I am planning to come ..." or  have registered. This will increase if people network people before  the October dateline.  Remember it is "free" but participants needs to take of the rest themselves.

Yes, I am getting worried.. the next step is the program for the 3 days?  I like an "open agenda" with a little structure but lots of fun - yes hard fun. There will be new as well as hardened volunteers and hence some introduction programs for newcomers can ensure some common language for dialogue. 

Hope Seymour Papert's  8 big ideas on constructionism  can guide this panda into its  next journey.

  

About Malaysia (Quick & Clean Intro )

Coming to olpc basecamp2013?  

                  It is in Malacca (Melaka), Malaysia

There is no need to re-invent the wheels. This web-page from the World Innovation Forum - KL has put together some information  for travellers to Malaysia  It  is generic information. For more details of olpc basecamp2012@Malacca, Malaysia from Nov 16-18 visit our website.

THE LAND 

Located in the tropics, Malaysia straddles the South China Sea - Peninsular Malaysia is at the tip of mainland Southeast Asia, while the states of Sabah and Sarawak are on the island of Borneo. The nation’s natural diversity offers visitors a range of attractions including beautiful beaches, idyllic islands, cool hill stations, historic towns, a dynamic capital and the world’s oldest rainforests with an astounding diversity of flora and fauna. 

THE PEOPLE 

Malaysia is truly multiculture and one of its greatest resources is its rich cultural diversity. Malays number around half of the total population of over 21 million, while the other half comprises Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans and other ethnic groups.

Follow this piggyback link  that explains "About Malaysia" and visa details.

Look UP: the "visible" full moon is an inspiration

I love this quote: "It is not that difficult to get involved (i.e. with OLPC); it is DIFFICULT to get UNINVOLVED" when Tony Anderson spoke in an interview at Linux Tag, Berlin in 2013. With that I insight hope to unwind (or detOX) myself for the coming Mid-Autumn Festival. I will try to stare up into the moon these few days for some inspiration and to remind myself that it is the worth being a volunteer for a good cause. 

As a child during mid-autumn festival, playing with lanterns allowed us to understand fire, candles and its hazard. If you are not careful one's dream lantern can go up in flames and smoke!  This permissive playtime left deep memories and excitement to millions of Chinese children in Asia and China. You learn when you can follow on curiosities.  Bamboo can be sliced thinly nto strips, to CREATE beautiful lighted lanterns that you can carry and walk in the dark with family and friends. My family had  a special trolley double rotating lantern with flapping butterfly wings. The wings flap and the double round lanterns spin accompanied by a synchronized mechanical metal drumming as we pushed it along while walking. Yes, it has primitive pully gears and mechanical design system that you can investigate and study. Like the full moon it is visible to inspire!

Today children play with plastic inflated "hello kitty" lantern. It is safe and battery operated. Play with it but don't keep it since the next year model would be more contemporary or cooler (e.g. iron man design lanterns). This is the SAME trend that we see today in the digital  gadgets world; and sadly we may be shutting open doors on growing children. For example, I guess I am not able to peep into the source codes of the recent OLPC XO learning tablet  to build my personalized dream. Hence  the current XO-1 to XO-4 is still appealing to me (despite not knowing to program codes) after the many years!  Will the XO  fade away?

Lets hope we will get enough diverse voices in November basecamp2013 to discuss how the XO is still a long-life awesome machine that is ideal for children - under the full moon by the Malacca river!

A Happy Mid-Autumm Festival

    

Revised logo for basecamp2013

Time flies and olpc basecamp2013 in Malacca, Malaysia is due in two months. Over the past weeks we have been able to define what could be the focus and purpose for  the 3 days meetup. A tagline and description is now embedded so that old or new volunteers  can quickly grasp the message behind why we organize basecamp. Will be working on the agenda next while we get confirmation of participants.  

where to stay in malacca?

here're a couple of suggestions from our official venue, wayfarer:

http://www.hotelpuri.com/

and this one has recently opened, bookings can be made online with agoda, booking.com and other OTAs.

https://www.facebook.com/GingerflowerBoutiqueHotel

both hotels are on the historic heeren street, only a few minutes walk to our venue at wayfarer's.

Kickstarting olpc basecamp2013

"OLPC 2.0 - the next journey"

Watch this with speaker ON

Achieving a sense of harmony in action

It has been learning for me to understand the law of karma.

Learning Learning by Doing

 

I think this visual convey a sense of what may be possible @olpcbasecamp2013. If people put their hands, heads and hearts together and come with a sense of adventure they will discover the vast opportunities await them. Maybe with a week or more stay in Asia you will "see the saneness" of the Eastern world as well as its capacity for irrational thought ( I stole Steve Job's quote with a twist as he saw something in his travel to asia).

I think for those who come to pre-basecamp event (Arrive on 13 Nov) we will be visiting a potential future deployment site on the 14 Nov and enroute to the famous Fraser Hill of Pahang near Kuala Lumpur..

I believe we can mix fun with some work and do 3-4 of the 10 things mentioned here in this video. Well historical Melaka will be an intimate part of the basecamp! 

Cheers and check for cheap flights to this part of the world :-)

Promoting the XO : The black screen barrier

From a raw idea to basecamp2013

Proposing and planning for basecamp2013 is an iterative process of learning for me. It reflects the idea of "Learning Learning by Doing" in is true sense for me. I learned patience and how to go with the karmic energy  as the dots get connected.

 Below is a very stitch of some photos to convey the idea that  Malacca could be a hosting town in 2012. As time evolved the phrase "Learning Summit" was replaced with basecamp and the date January was changed to November. By chance Nov 16 was chosen since it  was the beginning of school holidays in Malaysia and Singapore. I was advice that the month of November is ideal as there are cheap flights for overseas participants. It seems  many Asian conferences and tech shows are around this time of the year which make travelling to Asia more appealing. The Nov 16 date was perfect since it also coincide with first announcement of the XO in Tunasia (Nov 16, 2005). A good excuse to celebrate  XO Day with a party :-)

The next 2 months ahead may bring some surprises and disappointments. I keep reminding myself that I have to go with the flow of things as we try to bring people together -  to work on a common goal of improving educational opportunities for children. "Whoever comes is the right people ....". has become my daily mental mantra.

Lot more work to be done by you and me. Thank you.

Why come to Asia?

Another important reason ..

When planning for olpcbasecamp2013 I was aware that many conferences were happening in the month of November. In my last posting I found out that the World Innovation Forum  well be held from Nov 12-14, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur. Today I was alerted to the coming ITU summit on Nov 18 in BangKok, Thailand.

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/connect/Asia-Pacific/Pages/default.aspx

To me this is good news for potential participants coming to basecamp from overseas. With good planning they will be able to attend a few premier events during this period in November. It is also easier perhaps for funding if they are attending other major conferences as well :-)  Yes we hope we can be lucky with more overseas participants.

 Keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyway .. plan and see you soon
 www.olpc.asia/basecamp2013