(Translated by Alec McLure from Información y futurología del acuerdo Intel - OLPC, published by Pablo Flores on 7/14/2007)The announcement of the agreement reached by OLPC and Intel gives rise to much speculation as to how the OLPC project will continue and how it will impact Uruguay and other countries joining this initiative.Let's begin by analyzing just what is in this agreement. There's not much official information, but what is clear is that Intel will join OLPC's board of directors. (The roster will now consist of representatives from AMD, Brightstart, Chi Lin, eBay, Google, Intel, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel Networks, Quanta Computer, Red Hat, and SES Astra.)Like all OLPC corporate associates, Intel will bring some capital when they join the project – this hasn't yet been detailed in public. This is what's known up to now. Words from some of the lead players:"Intel joins the OLPC board as a world leader in technology, helping reach the world's children. Collaborati......

(Translated by Alec McLure from Comentarios acerca del llamado a licitación 7/07/2007, published by Pablo Flores) In a previous post I did some initial commentary on the bidding process for Phase I of the Ceibal Project. I'm going to provide a more detailed summary here, now that I've had the chance to read the bidding document in more detail.First of all, one notices the enormous amount of work involved in considering a project of such complexity. This results in requiring projects proposals with a very wide scope. In this post, I'm only going to mention a few of the points that seem to me to embody the spirit of the call to bids, which doesn't mean that I'm not leaving many important aspects out.Ceibal Project's ObjectivesFirst, the bid document makes all the project's expected results very clear: Provide internet connectivity to 100% of school-age children both in their schools and in their homes.Put our country on the cutting edge as applies to the use of technology for the lea......

(Translated from Se viene Florida, published by Pablo Flores on 7/05/2007.)The next objective of the project is to expand to all of the department of Florida. This means giving computers to all its kids and teachers, as well as providing connectivity infrastructure in all its schools and in as many homes as possible.I don't have the exact numbers now, but we are talking about more than 100 schools (many of them called "rural", with only one classroom and one teacher), about 500 teachers and 10,000 kids. The total population of Florida is close to 70,000, half of whom live in the capital city Florida, most of the rest live in smaller cities, and 12,000 live in rural areas.Many things are going to be tried out for the first time (in Uruguay and in the world) when this expansion phase is finished. For the first time locations in a critical social context will be reached. Also, larger cities will be covered (Cardal has less than 2,000 inhabitants). The challenges are many.From the educa......

As I mentioned before,the international call for bids for Phase I of the project has begun.Now there is a version in english available. Access it here....

Thanks to Alec McLure, now we have the first institutional video of the Ceibal Project subtitled in english. Enjoy!...

(Ver este artículo en español)Yesterday it was published the sheet of the international bid for the purchase of the necessary equipment for Phase I of the Ceibal project. Its terms can be read in this pdf (in spanish).Some items I hilight:It's not only for buying laptops. It also asks for software, school servers, connectivity devices and a proposal for qualification, support and maintenance.3 configurations of schools (of 150, 450 and 750 students) are proposed, so that offers include laptops, servers, connectivity, etc. This is fundamental to analyze different technological options (for example connectivity with mesh network Vs. solely through Access points)It looks for buying 100,000 computers, to be solicitd in different stages. On the 27th of July the envelopes will get open…...

(Translated from Reunión con padres en Villa Cardal, published by Pablo Flores on 6/03/07)Last Friday we had a meeting at Villa Cardal with the parents and teachers of the kids that attend the school. Several of the project collaborators gathered in a classroom to inform advances in the project, but mostly to listen to opinions, comments, criticism... to have some feedback on how this community is experiencing the arrival of the laptops. From this meeting I compiled several phrases that I want to make public in this blog.The parentsThe meeting congregated a lot of parents, we didn't count them but I estimate they were over one hundred. The great majority of them didn't have a computer at home.I was surprised to see how grateful this town is. With a lot of humility they told us their experience.Some of the most touching phrases that were heard:"My daughter's dream was to have a computer and I had never been able to buy one.""The world has entered my home." "It's incredible how much......

In a previous post, I uploaded some videos of a uruguayan TV journal ("Subrayado"), reporting the evolution of the pilot project in Villa Cardal.Now you can find an english translation of this videos thanks to the work of Alec McLure.Enjoy! First segment, second segment, third segment....

With the lemma "a space to innovate", yesterday was launched th official web portal of the Ceibal Project: http://ceibal.edu.uy. More information in this post in spanish....

This note was made by the journalist from Channel 10 of Uruguay Pablo Silvera on May the 18th int the "Italy" School of Villa Cardal.The first segment shows the impact of the project on the school and children.In the second segment, the story of a family that lives in a "tambo" (I don't know how it is called in english, the place where cows are bred to produce milk). A uruguayan family as many others... except that they have 3 children at the school, so they get home with 3 laptops!In the last segment there is the interview made to Sylvia González about technical aspects. The presenter starts saying "the Internet page of the Ceibal project receives 20,000 daily visits", referring to this blog :-) Somehow exagerated...I also recommend, for seeing practical experiences of the laptops usage in brazilian schools, take a look at the videos in this post from olpcnews....