OLPC President and COO, Charles Kane (http://laptop.org/en/utility/people/charles-kane.html) and Paul Commons (OLPCorps) will be in the SF Bay Area this week. There are two events: one on UC Berkeley campus on Thursday, and one on Stanford University campus on Friday. Both events are open. Details are posted online at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Events

Note: This is an event open to all.

Come learn about how technology driven social entrepreneurship is changing the world – from the experts at SF State

The STEPS Initiative presents

One Laptop per Child

OLPC is an epic project of fantastic proportions. Their mission statement says it all:

"Mission Statement: To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning. When children have access to this type of tool they get engaged in their own education. They learn, share, create, and collaborate. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future."

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What: OLPC-SF August 2009 meeting

OLPC-SF will meet on August 22, 2009. Items on the agenda:

• Meet and greet - 10:00 am to 10:30 am
• South Africa deployment update - 10:30am to 11:30am
• eSibonisweni primary school / Saint Mark’s school
• Location: Kwangwanase, Manguzi KZN
• South African contact: Thulani Madondo, Kliptown Youth Programme
• Project organizers: Jennifer Getz, Norm Lyons, Stacey Kertsman; San Francisco, CA

• Starr King Elementary - 11:30am to 12:00noon.

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As a kid, I loved James Bond movies (I still like the old ones), especially the gadgetry. A shoe compartment, a multi-purpose watch, a micro camera. Needless to say, a lot of money has gone into ThinkGeek purchases Imagine my pleasure when I recently had to introduce the OLPC project to someone (potential funding source for a deployment). I pulled out a 8GB microSD card from a secret zipper in my shirt, placed it squarely on the table, and said "We won't be needing the Internet for now. This little piece of technology holds well over 100 albums and hundreds of books that are freely distributable. It also has a web server, a database server, a collaboration server, backup software, and a bunch more. We won't be needing the Internet to get this deployment off the ground".

Recently, I presented at a workshop on telecommunications, open source and mobility at the First Caribbean Regional International Telecommunications Society Conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Key points in this workshop were:

• The network's value proposition can be fully realized only if it remains open and unencumbered. 
• Setting up independent, yet interconnected PBXs using Asterisk: small ones with AstLinux, large ones with Trixbox.
• Asterisk and the OLPC project. Setting up local phone networks in villages, schools, communities.

Slides are up at  http://www.slideshare.net/sverma/open-connect-network

I just set up an account for creating torrents for legal use at LegalTorrents. I created a DVD recently with OLPC photos for a long-running (almost 1 hour) slideshow. At 1.6 GB, http downloads would be a pain. Torrenting is the way to go, but most torrent sites are loaded with pornographic ads - not something I appreciate. So, I went looking for creative commons style torrenting. Found legalTorrents. After a few e-mail exchanges, my account was set up. My OLPC Photo DVD is now torrenting away from their site. Its much faster than my wimpy home DSL upload. http://beta.legaltorrents.com/torrents/569-olpc-photo-dvd

Download, burn, and loop away!!!

What: OLPC-SF June 2009 meeting

OLPC-SF will meet on June 13, 2009. Items on the agenda:

• Meet and greet - 10:00 am to 10:30 am

• Project Updates - 10:30am:

• Newbies: How to get involved

• Repair Center updates

• Lending Libraries

• OLPC Photo DVD

• Deployments - 11:30am

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Why?

Short version:

This project is the result of a desire to see if photo DVDs can indeed be made using only Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Creative Commons (CC) licenses. 

Long version:

At the end of Spring semester, after I turned in all the grades, I started to think about one of my courses - Multimedia business application development (http://www.sfsu.edu/~bulletin/courses/29446.htm). Due to severe budget constraints (meaning no money!!!) and a desire to use new and different things, we have been trying to use only FOSS and CC titles in this course.

I wanted to see if I could use FOSS and CC to complete a real project. For some time now, I have been thinking about creating a looping photo DVD for a whole bunch of OLPC photos from around the world. Personally, I find these inspiring. I find it very energizing to see children using these green windows (no pun intended) to the world to discover, explore, reflect and eventually, learn. Hopefully they will begin where we falter.

I saw this digital photo frame at a store the other day, and thought "Wouldn't it be neat to have a looping slideshow that can be displayed easily at conferences, conventions and expos?". After all, a picture is worth a thousand words! That's a little over 7 full tweets!!! So, putting my plan into action, and trawling through the treasure trove of FOSS and grabbing photos and music from Flickr and ccmixter.org - both CC friendly sites, and a little help from flickrfs, audacity, dvd-slideshow, openoffice, Ubuntu and a near-binging desire to get this done right after Spring semester ended, I now have a shiny 1.6GB DVD iso.Part of it is online at http://www.vimeo.com/5048488