Another Year and now Christmas Day 2022

 

It is Christmas Day 2022 and I am taking some quiet moment (no party of at least 5 days) to update this blog and to share what I have in mind. After 3 years of trying to avoid Covid, it is now "personal" and residing in my body. Covid has change the way we do things. dLEAP despite our effort to deploy XO laptops we were unable to make CONNECTIVITY via Internet a standard practice in deployments. We tried but failed. Internet before Covid time was seen as a distraction for learning and full of dangers. dLEAP was swinming against the norm of "NO" internet and laptop owernership.

Today, Covid has changed the stake with a new norm. Not providing video conferencing with laptops via the Internet is a curse to learners. The sight of 20 or more kids in a video chat/lesson as class replacement is real for those in schools with teachers and students who can afford this kind of real time remote connectivity. Still, for many millions of kids this is not possible even if it is the substitute for classroom learning.

The value of XO in our past deployments has decreased. Organisations with resources upgrade to tablets or commercial laptops since XO cannot support Zoom or Youtube. The sad reality is web services that used to work with older machines and browsers are discontinued in the name of improving services to end users. What then is the future of XO and what alternatives are available for LOW cost accessibility support and learning in the next decade? Is the current new trend in online synchronise classroom learning set the new norm?

Basecamp@Melaka2013 was an event that gave dLEAP a kickstart in Malaysia in 2013. Over the last 9 years the people who came to that meetup has continued to do the work needed for their community. OLE Nepal has continued to grow in educating Nepal children while Pakistan has deployed thousands of recycled XOs from One Australia. My salute  to Rabi Karmacharya and Kishwer Aziz who both came to Basecamp@Melaka2013 to meet, share and learn. The Schoolserver project under Adam Holt is  now growing stronger with Internet In a BOX (IIAB) 8.2 with at least monthly project meetings for a decade! I have lost contact with Tony Anderson (where are you now?) who has been to everywhere in the world to assist olpc deployments. I had great support from Walter Bender and Claudia Urea formerly of the original OLPC team for more than a decade. Without OLPC Asia and my first G1G1 Christmas 2008 XO present I woud not have the "joyful" learning and support to kickstarts deployments in Malaysia. Grateful that the volunteers coming from my old classmates have been donating and directly helping to make a little impact to lives of indigenous and deprived children in jungle and urban settings. Yong Seng,BeeLian,Siva,Kang Soon and EngTai, thank you all for dLEAP work in retirement.

The picture of the napkin with the scribble LMWL logo was created while in my first trip back after years of lockdowns.  I am suggesting a BasecampSummit@Melaka2023 in mid November 2023 with physical/online meetup with visits to places in Malaysia (or anywhere in the world) for deploying low cost tools in the wild for promoting this important idea of "Doing more with Less". Tap on existing or new devices with right education pedagogy promoted by OLPC years ago that can offer a balance of affordable educational opportunities.  Getting IT Right!

Do write to me at tkkang@nurturingasia.com and I look forward to participation and  more ideas that can become a reality for learners in 2023 who otherwise will be in lockdown of no progress.

Merry Christmas 2022 and a Happy New Year for 2023.