So much has been written about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project that I won’t rehash it in this post, but will say that my position has always been that the primary value in the OLPC project is that the Internet is the biggest shift in human communications and knowledge storage ever, and ideas, innovations and human connection now move at the speed of electrons. Denying anyone, any kid, from being a part of that shift — no matter how small and regardless of the technology used to participate in it — is relegating them to a future of intellectual and knowledge poverty.

When I was invited to join the Institute of Distributed Creativity mailing list (comprised of many academics and thought leaders in education, learning, social media and more), I was part of a very spirited discussion about the OLPC with people’s opinions being slanted toward it being "male created technology" or that we Americans (OLPC head Nicholas Negroponte in specific) were acting as "imperalists" or "capitalists" within the context of OLPC, pushing our way and consumerism on the third world.

After participating in this OLPC discussion, I then ranted on the list that I’d expected the list members would be comprised of deep thinkers and those who appreciate vision and are trying to move the world forward. People who push against the membrane of the future rather than pull back from it as critics (and I felt I was seeing more criticism than critical thinking). I’ve been accused of being a happy-assed optimist (my words) in the list with respect to technology and am guilty as charged, but at least Negronponte was doing something while the list members pontificated about their views of such a project and how it should be done or not done at all.

Then the thread went silent….until today when a man named Martin Lucas weighed in with such a well written counter-point to my optimism — and the varying perspectives about OLPC — that I asked him if I could publish it on my blog in total as it’s too good to leave on a closed list.

Continue on to read Martin Lucas’ "One Slate per Child" paper that gives a dose of reality — from someone on the ground in the African state of Malawi — about the reality of introducing the OLPC and obstacles faced in one country ostensibly a perfect target for OLPC…

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