Participatory Design XO laptop.pdf

Page | 1

“One Laptop per Child must downsize in order to keep costs in line with

fewer financial resources” Nicholas Negroponte 08.01.08 [44]

Could Participatory Design have saved the One Laptop Per child Project?

Felix Newall-Smith

Bournemouth University

Product Design BA (Hons)

http://www.coroflot.com/felixdesign

[email protected]

Page | 2

Content- Page(s)

1.0 Mission of One Laptop Per Child 3 1.1 Background 3-4 2.0 Evaluation Methods 4-5

2.1 Empirical 5

2.2 Non Empirical 6

2.3 OLPC’s possible gains from completing Participatory design 6

3.0 Development of the XO Laptop 7-8 4.0 Function 9

4.1 Colour Aesthetics and Styling 10

4.2 Ergonomics 10

4.3 Technology 11-12

4.4 The operating system and software 12-13

5.0 The $100 Laptop 13-14 6.0 Why does the XO cost more than $100? 14-15 7.0 Further Trials 15 8.0 Conclusion 16 9.0 References 16-20 10. Image References 20-21 Abbreviations OLPC- One Laptop per Child, XO- OLPC’s laptop, LEDC- Less economically developed Country, Key Names Nicholas Negroponte- Founder of the OLPC project, Seymour Papert- Inventor of theory “constructivism”, Yves Béhar- Head designer at consultancy “fuseproject”,

helped design the XO.

Page | 3

Could Participatory Design have saved the One Laptop per Child project?

Abstract

This review discusses the One Laptop per Child project and its XO laptop. On the 8th of January

2008, OLPC reduced their annual budget of $12million to a mere $5 million due partly to

competition, and the decline of the dollar. In this report, questions are raised into possible other

causes for OLPC’s losses. Earlier user evaluation and participatory design with potential users of

the XO would have enabled the OLPC to produce realistic XO cost and volume predictions saving

unnecessary criticism and expenditure. Despite this, the XO is revealed as a high tech machine

produced to a low price, which is not only playful but excels itself as a learning tool for children.

1.0 Mission of One Laptop per Child

The OLPC is a charity set up with the aim “To create educational opportunities for the world's

poorest children”. They intend to do this by designing and selling the XO laptop, a children’s

computer designed for “learning learning.” [18]

1.1 Background

“The solution to poverty, peace, environment is education” [35] Nicholas Negroponte

This bold statement portrays the idea that education is vital to countries’ development.

Currently in most less-economically developed countries, children are taught to read and write in a

Pedagogical “teacher led” fashion. Although effective, this method may not work with all students.

Some find it boring and see no need for learning to read and write other than the perceived

indoctrinated belief that in the future it will be useful. [34] After all, children learn to walk and talk

from a very early age with little help. They gain this knowledge through interaction and feedback.

[18] This theory of “constructivism” led to studies into whether the system could be re-created

virtually with computers, helping children with “thinking about thinking”. [35, 37]

To begin with, these studies were in the form of computer programming. The child would

write a computer programme, using simple commands, from this; they would receive feedback

creating an interest, and a want to learn. [20, 37]

Page | 4

Despite this, the concept had and still has much criticism, some governments believing that

instead, there should be more books, teachers, and a continuation of the old system. [25]

“Much more urgent to build classrooms and train teachers than create eccentric toys,” [16]

Further studies showed that any child, from any country, of any language could interact with

computers very easily. Examples of this have been studies in Cambodia in 2002 and more

recently Uruguay. OLPC, let children in a school use their newly designed XO laptop. The results

were positive, with teachers reporting less truancy, more student-teacher participation, better

behaviour, more social interaction, and more parent-teacher meetings. [1, 4]

In 2002, Nicholas Negroponte founded “One Laptop per Child” - a charity with the mission

statement “to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected

laptop to every school-age child” [18]

To do this OLPC had to create its own laptop specifically for their user group, children.

As the XO was to be used in less economically developed countries, a new type of laptop had to

be designed and manufactured. It needed to be inexpensive under $100, rugged, intuitive,

memorable, fun and energy efficient. [7, 1] This challenging specification led to a very new,

innovative, yet inexpensive design of laptop.

The combination of cutting-edge technology and extremely low cost meant the project faced

competition from big laptop brands such as Intel. This new laptop was designed inexpensively due

to its charitable credentials. All the big names in design, engineering, and education wanted to be

involved, and work for free. [36] This gave the XO a significant competitive advantage in their

newly created developing world niche market, with other companies producing similar machines.

[30] Despite this Negroponte stresses that OLPC is “an education project, not a laptop project” [24]

and that the integration of laptops into schools is a medium to improve education, reduce poverty

and foster peace. [6, 8, 10]

2.0 Evaluation Methods “If a product does not have the right functionality this will cause dissatisfaction”…“those involved in

product creation including, and indeed especially, the human factors specialist must have an

understanding of what the product will be used for and the context and environment in which it will

be used” [23]

The OLPC has been criticised for not focusing enough on participatory design during the

design of the XO laptop. [7] Negroponte already had great knowledge of the problems faced by

user groups in Ledc’s due to earlier studies (Ref.1.1). However, it is clear that there are some

areas in which the OLPC lacked knowledge. Assumptions had been made of some user needs

Page | 5

and wants. Weak features of the XO’s design and cultural problems could have been avoided by

conducting further user centred and participatory design.

When designing a product for a specific user group, evaluation methods are used to

provide qualitative and quantative information about a product. [23] These methods work in two

ways, Empirical where the user is involved in the evaluation process of the product and Non

Empirical where the user is not and a researcher uses structured methods, making judgements

about products’ functionality, aesthetics, and ergonomics. [23] Similarly, these principles when

applied to researching the products’ environment, give valuable information on cultural differences

and country specific needs. [23]

The next section outlines some of the possible evaluation methods, which help to gain

information from a potential user about a product and its cultural environment.

2.1 Empirical Focus groups are used at any stage within the design process to find flaws in an existing products

or perhaps even prototypes with an aim of discussing certain functionalities. An observer creates a

discussion using open questions; allowing the participants to lead. If conversation dries up it is the

observer’s job to ask questions to get the ball rolling again. [23]

Naturalistic Observation applies a hands off approach to researching a product’s

functionality. The designer gains valuable information about ways the user interacts with a product

within their own environment. Prompts can be given to the user perhaps to perform specific tasks,

but in general, this method is very much hands off. [12] Having completed Naturalistic

Observation, it is possible to create a user trip, perhaps a day in the life of your user. A fictitious

story “One day in the life of old Mrs Dennis” is based on observations of older people, and how

they go about their day-to-day lives. The document highlights problems faced by older people

living alone or with partners, and the need to design more

inclusively. [29] Immersing oneself in the culture of the country in

the form of a user trip produces surprising results. One result could

be how colours have different connotations in different countries,

cultures, and religions. In Taoism for example white symbolises

death, whilst black symbolises birth, the contrary to most Christian

religions where white symbolises purity. [6, 13, Fig.13.]

Page | 6

2.2 Non Empirical

Designers can gain criticism or appraisal with the use of experts of the field. [23] The OLPC

project had easy access to experts in the field. Nicholas Negroponte had completed lengthy

research into children’s ability to learn using computers in LEDC’s (Ref.1.1). He was the co-

founder and director of MIT where laptops were conceived. [35] Equally, in the structure of the

OLPC all staff have expertise in their area (Ref.1.1). Yves Béhar and the well renowned design

consultancy “fuseproject’s” inclusion pushed the physical and ergonomic design of the laptop.

2.3 OLPC’s possible gains from completing Participatory design

Research into the connotations of colour would have saved cost and

embarrassment. Nigeria wanted the XO green, the same colour as their

national flag. [45, Fig.4.] Green has both negative and positive

connotations depending on the country in question. Muslims in North

Africa associate green with both growth and corruption, green would be

an unsafe colour choice for North Africa. [21] Completing field observation and focus groups with

prospective users would have removed many problems they later faced. In terms of the laptop,

they would have gained knowledge into the specific needs of the user per country. Enabling them,

for example, to create country-specific music for the software Tam Tam [20] (Ref 4.4).

Focus group based research might have given interesting results. The XO uses a hierarchical

system to say, open a new window, go “back”, or “forwards”. This system maybe unknown in

countries where computer illiteracy is common. It could be simpler to create a system they

understand, which then brings them into the hierarchical method currently used worldwide. [19]

Knowledge of the cultural and environmental situation within the XO host country would have

made OLPC realise opposition faced not only by some staff in schools, but also government

officials, who were perhaps not informed about the benefits of laptops over books. “OLPC

assumed that once they had a working product, governments would line up to buy them by the

millions. Yet, when governments were asked to make real commitments most wanted only enough

machines for pilot projects that would help them to more fully understand the value and costs.” [24]

Prior insight would have shown the need to educate countries into the benefits of the XO before

selling it in bulk. [24] The OLPC could have produced more achievable statistics of production cost

“<$100 laptop, 10million by 2007" [35], which they could then meet. Equally, knowledge of

government distribution capabilities would have saved un-foreseen costs like setting up of

voluntary organisations to distribution the XO and the signing of a contract with sub-contractor

“Brightstar” to help with the complexities of distributing the XO in unknown territories. [24]

Page | 7

3.0 The Development of the XO Laptop

The original XO laptop was designed by “Design Continuum” an

American consultancy. The concept was presented to Kofi Anan UN

Secretary General in 2005. [34] The then iconic “Green Machine” with

its wind up handle stood out from the crowd. [28] Many Criteria for the

laptop’s design needed to be met, including a huge amount of

technology whilst also holding up to the stringent requirements of the

user.

Physical requirements- rugged, fun, memorable, lightweight, portable,

intuitive, energy efficient.

Technological requirements- wireless internet access, operating

system for kids, games that aid learning, software for learning, software

that enables children to learning through programming.

All of this for under $100!

The design firm’s ideas had become stale, and it was not until 2005

when fuseproject became involved [36] that the laptop became what it is

today.

As seen in Fig.8., the XO laptop went through many stages of

development each with its own unique style. The Green Machine and

twenty to thirty [28] other models were reviewed, their designs were

critiqued and built on, some characteristics such as the onboard

charging handle featured in the Green Machine were rejected due to

ease of use [36,28], whilst the general shape and aesthetics were at the

time un-realistic.

“There were too many parts flapping around, too many open places. It

wasn’t realistic,” Béhar says. “It should be compact and sealed, like a

suitcase. And it should really look and feel different. It shouldn’t look like

something for business that’s been colored for kids.” [28]

Page | 8

Yves Béhar played with many design solution to the problems, one

being electronic ink displays, which use extremely little power. [22] However

the technology was not yet advanced enough and the laptop needed to be

rolling out of the computer manufacturer “Quanta’s” factory by the end of

2006.[28] Other solutions were more successful, swapping the hard

keyboard for a soft rubber membrane made the laptop waterproof. Equally,

adding the “live hinge” attaching the screen to its base enabled it to tilt in

many directions. [Fig.9.]

Another simple quick fix was tucking all the electronics of the XO

neatly behind its screen reducing the need to run connections from the

motherboard to the screen through the live hinge. [28] This also reduced the

need for wires and thus cost. However doing this led to inherent problems,

the screen made the laptop top heavy reducing the live hinge’s effectiveness.

[28] A solution needed to be found. There were two possibilities, Firstly “the

Blue Machine” [Fig.8.] with its batteries underneath the keyboard gave the

laptop an “Ergonomic Tilt”. [28] Secondly “The Yellow Machine” [Fig.8.] who’s

sturdy handle behind the keyboard propped up the laptop. [28]

By March of 2005, fuseproject had to present their concepts, the

yellow and Blue Machines were reviewed, and quickly the Blue Machine was

chosen due to its ergonomic tilt. This laptop however was dropped due to its

short running time. Fuseproject tried to add larger batteries but this would not

work, so they went back to look at the yellow laptop and worked on different

versions eventually coming up with the orange, red, then green XO laptop we

see today [Fig.8.]. During this design process, Negroponte had been relaying

feedback from possible buyers of the XO with requirements.

“The Brazilians wanted a bigger display, and we did that,” Negroponte

recalls. “The Thais wanted a taller touch tablet” – big enough so kids could

write on it in tall Thai script – “and we did that.” And everyone, it turns out, is

a decorator. “Color is a time sink in conversations,” Negroponte says.

“Nigeria has asked for it to be in their national colors.” [28]

Even after the final design of the XO was decided there is a planned XO-1

revision for spring 2009 [26] and the XOXO should come out in 2010

[31, Fig.8.]

Page | 9

4.0 Function

In the next section, I will discuss how the XO laptop fulfils its brief with regards to its functionality,

aesthetics, ergonomics, technical and physical requirements.

The XO shape lends itself naturally to use by children. Combining

round corners with a 2mm thick polycarbonate plastic used for the outer-

shell adds strength and rigidity, compared to normal laptops, which have

wall thicknesses of 1.3mm [20]. Similarly, the underneath of the laptop

has been left deliberately with a rough “bobbled” surface protecting the

underneath from scratches. [26, Fig.11.] Two wireless “Bunny ears” [38] not only add style but function. Firstly, they act as the catch

when the laptop is closed. Secondly when closed they prevent dust and dirt from entering the

three USB, headphone and microphone ports. Thirdly, their rounded shape prevents damage to

the XO. [26]

The silicone keyboard can have different letters added simply through screen-printing and it

is designed to be water resistant. However once wet the keyboard can

become “sticky” and may need to be dried. [12, Fig.6.] It has been

designed so that a child can remove, dry out, then replace it, eliminating

the cost of sending the XO for repair. Similarly, Negroponte implied it

should be possible for a child to take apart their laptop and replace the

motherboard. [41] However, when put to the test by children in developed

countries with adult assistance it has proved to be difficult. [39, 27]

As conveyed in [Fig.9..] the “transformer hinge” [20] enables the screen when upright to

swivel 180 degrees and then fold flat with the screen facing the user, enabling the user to take

advantage of the XO’s standard, eBook and gaming modes.[39]

Yves Béhar created “emotional connection points” between the

child and the laptop. He did this by adding two small holes on either

side of the XO enabling a child to attach their own personal strap to

carry their XO. In contrast, a child could carry their laptop in a child-like

“non-chalant” way. Like, a child carries, say, a toy bear. Small subtle

details such as the hidden tactile details of the XO logo within the two

small strap holes add intrigue and interest. [15, Fig.12.] The XO’s

potential for creativity is increased by adding two stylus areas either

side of the central touchpad in which a child can draw and write. [20]

Page | 10

4.1 Colour Aesthetics and Styling Despite the XO’s green colour having some negative connotations (Ref.2.3) it also has its

advantages. Fuseproject thought carefully when choosing the right tone of green. Their cool “baby

green” sends connotations of spring and youth in many countries important when designing for

their age range. [H, I] Similarly, green is seen as a neutral colour for both boys and girls, who in

general prefer different “masculine” or “feminine” colours. [21] Green evokes messages of the

environment and sustainability [32, 13] a message OLPC want to send as the XO is “the greenest

laptop ever made” [26]. Sleek white contrasting with green makes the XO out to be a fun yet

serious laptop. Some features such as the Mesh Networking system dictated certain design

features such as the “Bunny Ears” [33, Fig.9.]. This feature personifies the laptop, and makes it

“Playful” [28] and appealing to the users within their target age range of 6-12. [36]

Fuseproject included the possibility of personalisation of the laptop

including 400 different colour combinations of the XO logo letters which help

to distinguish between boy and girl, and also who is who in crowded

classrooms. [15, Fig.7.]

4.2 Ergonomics

Part of the specification of the laptop was to make the XO “...light, since kids are meant to carry it

everywhere.” [28] The XO has been said to be “lighter than a lunch box” [33] weighing only 1.45-

1.58kg [4], its size is similar to a small text book 242mm×228mm×32mm [33,4] and is opened and

carried in a similar way making the design intuitive.

Laptops do not create a very good posture for the user. The screen is

too close to the keyboard for example. Equally, the small screen size

ensures students sit too close to it. Lessening the keyboard’s height or

inducing a more natural curve to front of the lower base may add wrist

support for the user. These considerations along with investigating current

desk heights in schools should be investigated and applied to the design of

the XOXO. [9, Fig.2.]

The layout of the XO’s controls are simple, the keyboard’s layout is QWERTY. [Fig.6.]

Some criticise this due to the possibility of RSI and would prefer to see a DVORAK split keyboard

system instead. [41] However, it is important to remember that in the workplace this is currently

the most widely used system. Shortcut buttons take you to the main four areas of “Sugar” (Ref

4.4), a long zoom button allows the user to see text more clearly adding inclusivity. The rest of the

keyboard layout uses icons, which relate to maximising and minimising a screen.

Page | 11

4.3 Technology

The laptops childish looks can be a mixed blessing. Some believe the laptop to look like a

toy, and not a learning tool. However when opened and switched on they have been quickly

proved wrong by the capabilities of the laptop. [33]

An important point to notice about the XO laptop is its “green credentials”, being called the

“greenest computer ever made” [12]. It uses between 11-18Volts drawing a maximum of 15Watts.

[20] This number varies on type of application open “Browsing the web with the built-in web

browser, drew 7 watts. Watching a movie brought it up to 8-9 watts.” [16] Equally when running in

black and white mode the screen of the laptop draws under one Watt of power! [16]

Energy is wasted in most laptops powering fans. However, the XO is designed using

natural convection, enabling heat dissipation. Equally using a self cooled one-gigabyte flash disk,

instead of a hard disk, uses less power with no moving parts thus breakages are also unlikely. [16]

Using such a small amount of power means that the laptop can use small long lasting

batteries, “2 or 4 cells LiFePO4; or 5 cells NiMH, approximately 6V series configuration” [16] and

secondly can be powered off peripherals such as solar panels. These batteries have a “Capacity:

22.8 Watt-hours (LiFePO4); 16.5 Watt-hours (NiMH)” [20] and have been proved to run for days

even when using complicated power draining utilities such as media players. [16]

The low-powered XO enables the possibility to use

human or other methods for re-charging. The XO can be

charged from DC current with peripherals ranging from solar

panels, to human-powered peripherals like foot pedals and a

pull string yo-yo. [42, Fig.3.]

Nevertheless, it is important to remember that firstly, these

peripherals are not being designed by fuseproject, and are being out-sourced, secondly none

apart from solar panel is in production yet. Equally, these peripherals come at extra cost to the

already expensive cost of buying the $199 XO in bulk [35].

Sourcing power in many less economically developed countries such as Africa is extremely

difficult. [24] one of the most available sources of power are car batteries, perhaps it would be

better to adapt the XO to charge from this more readily available source, the only drawback with

this being cost. [11]

Page | 12

The display has been designed to be usable both in, and out-doors (Ref.4.3). It runs at a

resolution of “1200 (H) × 900 (V) resolution (200 DPI)” [20]. The screen is both back and front lit,

when outdoors it runs in high contrast black and white a great advantage for children who may

work out-doors. [20]

To network the laptops and

add internet access, the XO uses a

Mesh Networking system. [4] Each

has a built in wireless network card

with the ability to act also as a

router, therefore when switched-on

or off it can help other users within a

certain distance to access the

internet. With this system, the

laptops do not necessarily need

access to a server, and the more

laptops there are, and the closer they are together the stronger the signal becomes. [4, Fig.1.]

4.4 The operating system and software

OLPC did not want to burden children

at an early age with an over-complicated

operating system, they also wanted to keep

the XO so it ran on freeware software. Therefore, a new operating system

has been used designed especially for kids

called “Sugar” [5, Fig.10.]. Sugar is designed

to enable the child to learn how to use the

XO through discovery, part of the OLPC’s

vision. [25] Sugar is designed as a starter

operating system, which children can learn

from and eventually move onto to “grown up

operating systems” [25] such as Microsoft

Windows.

Page | 13

The XO’s design stresses the need

for collaboration between students and

teachers. Every application on the XO can

be used at the same time by another user.

This enables students to learn

collaboratively from each other from a very

early age. [5, Fig.10.]

The mesh network enables shared web-

browsing, story writing, game playing and

exploring the XO’s capabilities

collaboratively. (Ref.4.3)

Equally, freeware such as Turtle,

Scratch, and Tam Tam enable children to

learn through programming. Putting in inputs

to control the path of a virtual turtle and

getting obvious pictorial results allows

children to learn mathematical operations

without even knowing it! [5, Fig.10.] These

learning methods hark back to both

Seymour Papert and Nicholas Negroponte’s

theories of teaching kids how to learn

through using computers. [18] (Ref.1.0)

5.0 The $100 Laptop

One of the main criterion to be met by the OLPC is to produce their laptop for under $100.

Although this target is yet to be met, the OLPC have still produced an extremely inexpensive

laptop retailing at $199. [35] The next section will discuss the ways in which the OLPC and

fuseproject managed to produce such an inexpensive laptop.

Yves Béhar has been quoted to say, “For economy reasons…every part in this laptop has

two or three or four different functions” [26]. Designing multi-functional components such as the

wireless antennas [Fig.9..] who’s dual purpose is to keep the laptop shut and protect it from bumps

reduces the laptops cost. [26]

The XO’s screen was designed to work with “human vision system” [17] using three to four

times more black and white luminance rather than colour chrominance. This not only costs less to

Page | 14

produce, it runs on less power, and can use a higher contrast enabling outdoor screen use. [17]

Despite this some still criticise the laptop screen quality of being bad quality. [33]

Minimising the number of components has reduced the XO’s cost, a second version of the,

the XO the XO1.5 is to be designed with less components reducing cost drastically. [26]

Distribution, sales, marketing, and profit make up 60% of an average laptops cost, the XO

has none of these costs [35]. The distribution of the XO was to be completed by host governments

in the same way they would distribute say, books for schools. [14] Being a charity, OLPC receives

donations, to kick-start they received $20million dollars from the NRE [35] this money helped to

run sales and marketing.

Using freeware software such as Linux based operating system sugar (Ref.4.4) cuts costs.

Equally placing all of the operating manuals on Wikipedia with user-edited content allows for user-

based free translation and cuts costs of creating paper-based manuals.

6.0 Why does the XO cost more than $100?

Despite its $100 dollar price tag, OLPC have not yet met this target. In Negroponte’s 2006

speech he predicts that the laptop will sell “7-10 million in 2007 100-200 million 2008” [20] this

scale of project was hoped to bring overall costs down quickly.

The next section discusses the reasons why the OLPC has not yet met these criteria.

As mentioned in (Ref.2.3) the OLPC was naive in thinking that every prospective host

country would buy the XO. [24] Many government officials and teachers simply do not believe that

laptops are the best way of teaching children. Preferring the pedagogical approach (Ref.1.0).

Despite this, independent reviews have shown that teachers who were anti “constructivism”

(Ref.1.0) now think that the laptop is a useful tool, and will “Empower the children”. [18] Better

early market research may have given the OLPC an insight into the reactions of the XO’s potential

host countries. Equally, if the OLPC had conducted more early research they could have predicted

problems of distribution within host countries and planned in this extra cost into the laptop’s price.

(Ref.2.3)

The XO was seen as a bad investment in India mainly due to its lack of Microsoft Windows.

Lacking Windows was thought to leave children unprepared for the real world. Competition sprung

up from companies such as Intel with similarly priced Windows-based laptops. OLPC did not

include it, as they wanted all their software to be freeware. Microsoft has now made a three dollar

version of Windows for LEDC’s, which OLPC, is putting on a dual boot version of the XO [43].

Taking away this ideal of freeware meant OLPC lost some members of staff, who no longer

agreed with the project. Prior research into a country’s specific needs and wants would have given

OLPC a warning of this.

Page | 15

The recent decline of the dollar [14] has made the sales of the XO laptop more difficult.

Equally LEDC’s have also been hit hard by the “Credit Crunch” [10] and are less likely to want to

make such a long term investment, which does not show instant results.

7.0 Further Trials

In June of 2007, the Uruguayan government

gave one XO to each of the 150 students in the village

of Villa Cardal. Three months later a team of

researchers, independent from the OLPC, went to find

out the impact of the laptops in the school. The

following section iterates how the team used empirical

observation, keying in on the children’s experiences

with the laptops to give useful data.

The team handed sticky notes to a class of

children who had been using the laptops and asked

them to write three things they liked about them and

three things they would change. [20]

A group of slightly older children had to send an

email with an attachment portraying their experiences

with the XO. This proved difficult, with only one in

twenty being able complete within thirty minutes. One reason was misspelling of email addresses

and the icons being too difficult to touch with the pointer used from the touch-pad. [20]

Naturalistic observations were also used. When speaking to the teachers, most were

positive about the impact of laptops in schools. They conducted an interview of a teacher who had

previously been opposed to the laptop, but now believes children have more access to information

and a better global perspective. A previous belief that laptops isolate children was dispelled when

observing the children. If a child needed help, they would gather round one pupil’s computer to

solve the problem. The design of the laptop enabled children to carry it as if you would say, a

lunch box, the XO’s design being extremely robust (Ref.1.1).

One negative observation was that despite the internet being widely used, hardly any child

searched for information outside their own country. This was a key factor thought to be essential

for broadening the horizons of these children. [20]

Earlier studies such as these may have saved the OLPC time and money. These design

considerations should be taken into account when designing the new XOXO for 2010 [31].

Things they would change

• Better connectivity at home and at

school,

• More games,

• Software you can use on a PC,

• Be able to make music like they

have in local area,

• File Browsing Interface.

Things they liked about the laptops

• Enjoyed Internet use - Looking for

info, using the school’s blog,

uploading photos, text and videos,

• Playing games,

• Drawing. [20]

Page | 16

8.0 Conclusion

OLPC’s goal to “to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one

connected laptop to every school-age child” [18] has not yet been achieved. Recently their annual

budget has been cut to $5million and the number of possible job positions has been halved, due

partly to economic downturn [14] and competition. [44] Despite this, I believe that part of the

reason for OLPC’s downfall was naivety due to lack of research and early participatory design.

This would have not only made the XO’s design more localised and “User Centred” but also given

OLPC better predictions of volume required and individual XO cost. The XO laptop is an incredible

feat of technology and design and an excellent learning tool. The OLPC should continue their

campaign but learn from their mistakes carrying out detailed participatory design and finding out

the specific needs of the user before making decisions.

9.0 References

[1] Amazon.com, give a laptop, 2009 Available from:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0

DER&me=A34NLXJLC88VVS [Accessed 7 January 2009]

[2] Anan, K.A., 2005. Tunis, Tunisia, 16 November 2005 - Secretary-General's remarks at

media event for "One Laptop per Child", Latest Statements, Available from:

http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=1789 [Accessed 12 January 2009]

[3] Anon, Mission, One Laptop Per Child, Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/vision/mission/index.shtml [Accessed 6 December 2008]

[4] Anon, hardware, One Laptop per Child, Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/features.shtml [Accessed 29 December 2008]

[5] Anon, software, One Laptop per Child, Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/software/index.shtml [Accessed 29 December 2008]

[6] Anon, Colour Symbolism, Available from:

http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/colour+symbolism [Accessed 5 January 2009]

[7] Anon, 2007. Participation Design of OLPC XO-2: With And For People, One Laptop Per

Child News, Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo2/participation_design_xo-2.html [Accessed

07 January 2009]

[8] Anon, Vision, One Laptop per Child Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/vision/mission/index.shtml [Accessed 11 January 2009]

[9] Anon, Laptop Users, Osmond Ergonomic Workplace Solutions, Available from:

Page | 17

http://www.ergoergo.info/laptop-users.html [Accessed 11 January 2009]

[10] Anon, Credit Crunch, Available from: http://www.creditcrunch.co.uk/home/index.php

[Accessed 12 January 2009]

[11] Anon, 2008. Another Electric XO Laptop Dispatch from Darfur 2008, OLPC News,

Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/countries/another_xo_laptop_darfur.html


[12] Coolican, H.C. 2004. Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology, Hodder Arnold,

118-143

[13] Dabner, D.D., 2004. Colour Associations, In: graphic design school, United Kingdom,

Thames & Hudson, 32-35

[14] Derndorfer, C.D., 2008a, Charlie Rose interviews Nicholas Negroponte,

One Laptop Per Child News, Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/charlie_rose_interviews_nicholas_n

egroponte.html [Accessed 07 January 2009]

[15] Derndorfer, C.D., 2008b. A look ahead at the XO-1.5, One Laptop Per Child News,

Available from: http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo15/a_look_ahead_xo_15.html


[16] Djite, P.G.D., 2008., From liturgy to technology: Modernizing the languages of Africa, Vol.

32 Issue 2, 1-3, Available from: http://wfxsearch.webfeat.org/wfsearch/search


[17] Excell, J.W., 2007, Flash of inspiration, The Engineer Online, Available from:

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/300594/Flash+of+inspiration.htm [Accessed

5 January 2009]

[18] Gillespie, C.W. 2008.Seymour Papert's Vision for Early Childhood Education? A

Descriptive Study of Head Start and Kindergarten Students in Discovery-based,

Logo-rich Classrooms, Available from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v6n1/gillespie.html

[Accessed 11 December 2008]

[19] Harper, R.H., Rodden, T.R., Rogers, Y.R., Sellen, A.S., 2008. Being Human Human-

Computer interaction in the year 2020, Microsoft Research Limited, Cambridge

[20] Hourcade, J.P.H., Cormenzana, F.C., Beitler, B.D., Flores, F.P., 2008, Early OLPC

Experiences in a Rural Uruguayan School, In: Conference on Human Factors in

Computing Systems,CHI '08 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing

systems, 1-9 Available from: http://wfxsearch.webfeat.org/wfsearch/search


Page | 18

[21] Hutchings, J.H., 1997. Folklore and Symbolism of Green, 55-63, Taylor & Francis, Ltd,

Available from: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1260708 [Accessed 3 January 2009]

[22] Inbar, I,O., Ben-Asher, N,B-A., Porat, T.P., Mimran, D.M., Shapira, B.S., Shoval, P.S.,

Meyer, J.M., Tractinsky, N.T., 2008. All the News That’s Fit to e-Ink, In:

Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '08 extended

abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, 2-6, Available from:

http://www.chi2008.org/ [Accessed 6 December 2008]

[23] Jordan, P.W.J. 2000. Hierarchy of consumer needs, In: Designing Pleasurable Products,

USA, Taylor & Francis, 5

[24] Kraemer, K.L.K., Dedrick, J.D., Sharma, P.S., 2008, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC): An

Education Project or a Laptop Project?, Personal Computing Industry Center, 7-10

[25] Lakshman, N.L., Business Week Online, 2008., One Laptop per Child Lands in India, p21-

21, 1p Available from: http://wfxsearch.webfeat.org/wfsearch/search


[26] Lerman, A.L., This is Not a Toy: The Little Computer That Could, Yves Béhar, Scribe

Media, Available from: http://www.scribemedia.org/2007/12/20/olpc/ [Accessed 28

December 2008]

[27] Lland. Y.L., One Laptop Per Child: Appropriate Technology?, 2008, Engineers Without

Borders Presents:, Available from: http://www.meander.ca/2008/03/27/video-of-

my-olpc-talk/ [Accessed 7 January 2009]

[28] McGray D.G., 2006, The Laptop Crusade, Wired, Issue 14.08.06, Available from:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/laptop.html?pg=1&topic=laptop&topic_s

et [Accessed 07 January 2009]

[29] Midwinter, E.W. 1988. One day in the life of Mrs Dennis, In: New design for old: function

style and older people. UK, Centre for policy on Ageing

[30] Mitra, K.M., November 2008, Namaste Netbooks! Portable computing has never been

smaller, Business Today, Available from:

http://wfxsearch.webfeat.org/wfsearch/search [Accessed 25 December 2008]

[31] Roush, R.W., 2008, Second-generation OLPC is a two-screen ebook (updates),

Guardian.co.uk, technology blog, Available from:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/may/20/secondgenerationolpcisat

wo [Accessed 5 January 2009]

[32] Solomon, M.C., Bamossy, G.B., Askegaard, S.A., 1999. Sensory Systems: Vision, In:

Consumer Behaviour, USA, Prentice Hall Europe, 44-45

[33] Stern J.S., 2007., Hands-On with One Laptop Per Child's XO Laptop, Laptopmag.com

Page | 19

Available from: http://www.laptopmag.com/news/laptops/hands-on-with-one-

laptop-per-childs-xo-laptop.aspx [Accessed December 29 2008]

[34] TED Ideas Worth Spreading, 1984, 4 predictions about the future (3 of them correct),

Nicholas Negroponte, Available from:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nicholas_negroponte_in_1984_makes_5_pred

ictions.html [Accessed 1 December 2008]

[35] TED Ideas Worth Spreading, 2006., The vision behind One Laptop Per Child, Nicholas

Negroponte, February 2006, Available from: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nicholas_negroponte_on_one_laptop_per_child.html


[36] TED Ideas Worth Spreading, 2007., One Laptop per Child, two years on, Nicholas

Negroponte, Available from: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nicholas_negroponte_on_one_laptop_per_child_two_

years_on.html [Accessed 5 December 2008]

[37] TED Ideas Worth Spreading, 2008., Bringing One Laptop per Child to Colombia: Ted in

the field, Nicholas Negroponte, Available from:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/nicholas_negroponte_takes_olpc_to_colombia

.html [Accessed 25 December 2008]

[38] Vota, W.V., Upside Down One Laptop Per Child Icon?, One Laptop Per Child News,

2007{a}., Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/prototypes/olpc/upside_down_laptop.html [Accessed

28.December 2008]

[39] Vota, W.V, Children's Reviews of OLPC XO Technology, One Laptop Per Child News,

2007{b}. Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/implementation/maintenance/childrens_reviews_xo_tec

hnology.html [Accessed 7 January 2009]

[40] Vota, W.V., 2007{c}. OLPC XO: Keyboarding Kids into Carpal Tunnel and RSI Injury?

One Laptop Per Child News, Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/keyboard/olpc_keyboard_rsi_injury.html

[Accessed 12 January 2009] [41] Vota,W.V.,2007{d}. Children's Reviews of OLPC XO Technology, One Laptop Per Child

News, Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/implementation/maintenance/childrens_reviews_xo_tech

nology.html [Accessed 8 January 2009]

[42] Vota,W.V.,2007{e}, Potenco YoYo Power Generator Update, One Laptop Per Child


Page | 20

http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/power_supply/potenco_yoyo_power_generato

r.html [Accessed 8 January 2009]

[43] Vota, W.V., 2008. Windows XO Video: XP and Sugar Dual Boot, One Laptop Per Child


http://www.olpcnews.com/software/windows/windows_xo_video.html,


[44] Vota,W.V.,2009{a}.The Real OLPC Bust: G1G1 2008 XO Laptop Sales, One Laptop Per

Child News, Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/g1g1_2008/olpc_bust_g1g1_2008_sales.html

[9 January 2009] [45] Vota, W.V. (personal communication. January 4 2009{b}).

10. Image References

Fig.1 An interactive demonstration of the XO mesh network, [Online Image], Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/hardware/features.shtml [Accessed 11 January 2009]

Fig.2. Computer Workstation Variables, [Online Image], Available from:

http://www.lbl.gov/ehs/pub811/hazards/ergonomics.html


Fig.3. Lee Felsenstein on OLPC's YoYo Power Generator, [Online Image], Available from:

http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/power_supply/felsenstein_yo-

yo_power_generator.html [Accessed 11 January 2009]

Fig.4. National Flag of Nigeria, [Online Image], Available from:

http://flickr.com/photos/57884315@N00/37579892 [Accessed 11 January 2009]

Fig.5. OLPC Mission Video, [Online Video], Available from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/3038680654/ [Accessed 22 January 2009]

Fig.6. OLPC XO Keyboard Disassembly, [Online Image], Available from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/2353908716/in/set-

72157594232448993/ [Accessed 11 January 2009]

Fig.7. OLPC XO Laptop, Yves Béhar & Fuseproject, [Online Image], Available from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21586086@N03/2093717639/in/photostream/


Fig.8. One Laptop per Child laptop, [Online Image], Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/index.shtml [Accessed 28 December 2008]

Fig.9. One Laptop per Child Vision, [Online Image], Available from:

Page | 21

http://laptop.org/en/vision/project/index.shtml [Accessed 28 December 2008]

Fig.10. One Laptop per child software, [Online Image], Available from:

http://laptop.org/en/laptop/software/index.shtml [Accessed 29 December 2008]

Fig.11. This is Not a Toy: The Little Computer That Could (a), Lerman, A.L., [Online Video],

Available from: http://www.scribemedia.org/2007/12/20/olpc/


Fig.12. This is Not a Toy: The Little Computer That Could (b), Lerman, A.L., [Online Video],

Available from: http://www.scribemedia.org/2007/12/20/olpc/


Fig.13. Yin-Yang. [Online Image], Available from: http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm


Participatory Design XO laptop.pdf

Documents

Transcript of Participatory Design XO laptop.pdf