Taking computers from (under-privileged) children
Many have heard of the One Laptop Per Child project, a magnificent effort to design, build and supply a laptop-like computer to every child in the developing world. More information on the project in general can be found at their website, http://www.laptop.org and at the observers site http://olpcnews.org. I am not going to go into detail about the project as a whole (well, not in this posting anyway...), but instead concentrate on the XO, which is the laptop they have designed and are now building and testing 2nd generation prototypes.
The design brief for the XO is interesting. From the project site (paraphrased):
...the laptop could not be big, heavy, fragile, ugly, dangerous, or dull. [The] XO is about the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox. Thanks to its flexible design and “transformer" hinge, the laptop easily assumes any of several configurations: standard laptop use, e-book reading, and gaming.
The laptop has rounded edges. [An] integrated handle ...[a] sealed, rubber-membrane keyboard. The novel, dual-mode, extra-wide touchpad supports pointing, as well as drawing and writing.
XO is fully compliant with the European Union's RoHS Directive. It contains no hazardous materials. Its NiMH batteries contain no toxic heavy metals, plus it features enhanced battery management for an extended recharge-cycle lifetime. It will also tolerate alternate power-charging sources, such as car batteries.
In addition, ...where power is not available— the XO can be hand powered... [with] a pull-cord.
Experience shows that laptop components most likely to fail are the hard drive and internal connectors. Therefore, XO has no hard drive to crash and only two internal cables. For added robustness, the machine's plastic walls are 2mm thick, as opposed to the standard 1.3mm. Its mesh network antennas, which far outperform the typical laptop, double as external covers for the USB ports, which are protected internally as well. The display is also cushioned by internal “bumpers.”
The estimated product lifetime is at least five years. To help ensure such durability, the machines are being subjected to factory testing to destruction, as well as in situ field testing.
The XO features a 7.5 inch, 1200×900 pixel, TFT screen and self-refreshing display with higher resolution (200 DPI) than 95 percent of the laptops on the market today. Two display modes are available: a transmissive, full-color mode, and a reflective, high-resolution mode that is sunlight readable. Both consume very little power: the transmissive mode consumes one watt—about one seventh of the average LCD power consumption in a laptop; the reflective mode consumes a miserly 0.2 watts.
The laptop selectively suspends operation of its CPU, which makes possible even more remarkable power savings. The laptop nominally consumes less than two watts—less than one tenth of what a standard laptop consumes—so little that XO can be recharged by human power. This is a critical advance for the half-billion children who have no access to electricity."
So the XO (pictured right), is robust, can be used where there is no mains power, has a long-range wireless mesh network (where devices can route through their peers to reach the final destination), is green (both in build components, unit lifetime and power consumption (and colour!)), can be used in bright sunlight, can be used for sketching and costs less than £150 (estimated consumer price, 2008).
Oh, and it has a video camera.
Now design a laptop for use by archaeologists in the field. Hold on... Well, isn't that convenient - those nice OLPC guys have already done it for us, unwittingly. Right price, right features, right colour (ok, the colour is deliberately garish - I think all-over high-viz orange would be better for archaeological use 
).
A device that could replace paper as a primary recording device in the field would have great and varied benefits; it would greatly reduce costs of recording (no duplicated entry); it would greatly improve the speed with which the data could be evaluated and processed, hence act as a better guide to the investigation and help with knowledge transfer; improve the ability of the field teams to interact with each other and with other archaeologists and the general public; act as an onsite reference library; give access to processed GIS data and analysis as data is gathered, not next week or next day, but next hour, maybe next minute; facilitate access to email and other Internet sites (like blogs, for instance 
) and generally improve the way we communicate. By an order of magnitude.
Now if only we could just get our hand on some. Currently the largest number are in the hands of children in various developing countries around the world. Now where did I put that travel agents phone number?
Posted at 12:00PM May 19, 2007 by Chris Puttick in Open Archaeology |