Blog Juice for Educational Technology

Last week was the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This week was MacWorld. These two events comprise the largest exposition of electronic wonders in the world. Something for everyone (if you can afford it) presented with all the glitz and glam only Las Vegas and Apple can provide. Attendance was in the tens of thousands. But where were you on November 16, 2005? Think about it, because if the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative goes as its partners hope it will, we all will be looking back on that date thinking it was the day the world changed forever.

On November 16 the first prototypes of the $100 laptop were introduced. Compared to CES and MacWorld, this rollout was a non-event. No onstage fireworks, no big screens looming over the crowds of gadget-hungry geeks and bloggers, and no corporate CEOs touting their products. Just Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nicholas Negroponte of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) sitting at a folding table in a room in Tunis, Tunisia in front of less than 300 people.

Hundreds of posts have been written about the laptop itself. What I haven’t seen is an analysis of what was said, or a transcript of Annan’s remarks, which to me were some of the most moving and inspiring words on the topic of educational technology yet spoken. If you’re interested in children, you owe it to yourself to listen to Annan’s remarks (< 5 minutes) or take an hour and seven minutes and watch the video of the entire event (scroll to the bottom of the page for the link). If your reaction is like mine, your hopes for the transformation of the world through education and technology will be kindled. If you don’t have the time, make it. If you don’t want to make the time, then click the jump link for the text of Annan’s remarks, my take on the event, and the latest news on the OLPC.