Today I got an email from Lemmingworks bursting with excitement. He’d received an XO laptop. Not just an XO, either — my XO. While gearing up for my move I decided to get rid of things I wasn’t using any more as well as to get a technology upgrade. So, I got a MacBook Pro and gave my much loved Powerbook G4 12″ to the Divine Miss B. And then I asked Lemmingworks what to do with my XO, which had sat on a shelf for over 12 months, and he suggested that I give it to him. He has much ECCD and technology research still underway — including on the OLPC — so he would happily take my XO.
I would like to take this moment to assure my readers that my apparent lack of interest in the XO –symbolised in my giving it away — has not the least bit of truth in it. But the reality is that Ottawa meet ups after the first 8 months were scarce & I am not a computer scientist so needed the community to help me keep my own XO up and running. The subsequent demise of Nortel — which helped to support the Ottawa XO users community — also decreased our ability to meet and some of the stimulus, too. Those (adult) owners who were also serious computer geeks — especially the members of the Linux User Group — seemed to have quite a bit to say about it, however, and I hope they are still meeting up and using them.
Deleting the Ottawa XO users yahoo group, on the other hand, was more a function of it’s lack of use than anything else. The only two messages on it in this calendar year were spam, so what was the point of keeping it going? What had happened to it? Children grew and moved on, Nortel died, and some of the adults took up other interests. It was stagnant and so it had to go.
But none of this was my angle. As an educationist, I was more interested in how it could be used as a learning tool. Indeed, it still is! I came across my article published in the International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments (written first in 2004 and published finally in 2006) and I think, “wow, what vision for one who is not a computer science geek”. I also think that it is still fresh and that I have more to say and should write more on these visions and ideas, lest someone with more know-how find a way to turn my brain into reality.
I may have given my XO away, but I am still interested in the learning outcomes that will (may?) come from using it. But having one, when I am not in a position to conduct research on it, seemed a waste. And I didn’t want it to go entirely to waste. I want it to be used.
Hopefully I will get the occasional update on my OLPC. And if I do, I’ll post it here.