Meeting tonight (and the OLPC in Malawi)
Rick Moynihan
Just a quick note to let you know that myself and Paul won't be able to
attend the meeting tonight.
Please pass on our apologies.
I'm aware of the issues with the mailing list, and think I can sort them
out, and register everyone; but it's a manual operation. Hopefully I'll
get round to it by next week.
I came across this blog post about Malawi, mobile telecoms and the OLPC:
http://mobileactive.org/one-laptop-child-v-cellphones-view-malawi
It takes a relatively critical view of the OLPC project and it's ability
to help a country like Malawi. Personally I'm very fond of the OLPC
project, but think it's focus on education is a little too narrow. I
think we could make a good case for it in clinical systems and outreach.
The laptops are cheap yet perhaps more suited to use in Malawi than
the more powerful laptops we've provided the clinics with.
As you know, I'm a believer in technology and it's ability to assist us,
if deployed properly. Could there be a role for the XO in or around the
clinics we've enabled with internet acccess? The role might be in
education or perhaps even in accessing patient records when away from
the clinic... I don't know what uses such a device could be put to, but
I strongly feel that it could be tailored to fit a wide range of needs.
If the project could get its hands on a small number of XO's for
each clinic, what would we do with them? What kind of software could we
write for them to assist clinics in providing better health services??
I'm interested in peoples views on this, particularly those of Sylvester
and our colleagues in Malawi.
All the best.
--
Rick Moynihan
Software Engineer
Calico Jack LTD
http://calicojack.co.uk/