Vision
Each summer and fall in the Caribbean, locals watch the weather with a collective pending dread. Every counterclockwise swirl of white that makes its way westward over the Atlantic might be heading their way. Hurricane Marilyn shut down tourism in the Virgin Islands for nearly two years. With almost no other source of income, the islands suffered greatly. Other less obvious storms ravage their livelihood as well: airline strikes, travel fears, off-island corporate shortsightedness, unfavorable economic trends.
Even in good times, West Indians must work two or three service jobs just to afford the high cost of living. Unless something changes, their children face the same uncertain future. Many choose to leave their home for better work. Waveplace's mission is clear: to create a thriving new industry in the Caribbean independent of tourism, one requiring no physical imports, no clearing of land, no retail space, no condos.
This new industry will be a digital one: animation, illustration, photos, music, software. There's a world of media buyers on the Internet ready and willing to pay fair licensing fees for the right talent. Our plan is to teach children to create with computers, so they can export their most stunning resource, their creativity.
OLPC and Squeak
A few years back, an MIT professor named Nicholas Negroponte asked a pivotal question: "If they can make a $100 DVD player with a screen, why not a $100 laptop computer?" He asked Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computer, and was politely told that nobody would want one. Undaunted, Negroponte assembled a team of MIT Media Lab veterans and formed One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a non-profit aimed at designing, manufacturing, and selling laptops to the developing world.
Since then, OLPC has gathered considerable faq attention, along with influential partners such as Google, eBay, Red Hat, and News Corp (owner of Fox and MySpace). True to their word, they've designed a groundbreaking machine called the XO, a laptop made specifically for children that's nearly waterproof, heatproof, and shockproof.
Far from a toy, the XO has features not seen in any other laptop such a screen that can be read in direct sunlight and wireless networking that links kids directly without need for a central network. Using very little power, its battery can run all day whereas most last mere hours. It can be charged by pulling a yo-yo string when there's no power around. The screen can be swiveled to turn the laptop into an eBook reader. Electronic textbooks can be read easily with it, reducing costs dramatically.
Even more amazing is the software that comes with it. OLPC has rejected the "bloatware" of Windows and Macintosh, instead opting for a simple system designed entirely for education. Using a philosophy called "constructionism" developed in the sixties by another MIT professor, OLPC has created a digital playground for creative exploration.
The XO's crown jewel is Squeak Etoys, a visual programming and media system developed by computer pioneer Alan Kay and his team at Viewpoints Research Institute. Squeak encourages hands-on exploration, allowing kids to grasp complex ideas quickly and completely. In the true tradition of constructionism, Squeak lets children find their own answers, making the lesson more meaningful than if it were simply copied from the teacher. The Waveplace pilot will focus chiefly on the use of Squeak.
Virgin Islands Pilot
Before committing to the purchase of thousands of laptops, before implementing an islands-wide educational series, it makes good sense to first start small and gauge the results. We need a pilot program.
Over the winter of 2008, we'll conduct a ten-week pilot program for the fourth graders at Guy Benjamin School on Saint John, US Virgin Islands. Meeting twice a week, the students will explore Squeak as they learn programming and animation. Guided by teacher Mary Burks and her assistant Lareesa Clendinen, along with tech mentor Bill Steltzer, the students will work towards final projects depicting animated stories from the folklore of Saint John. When all is done, we'll throw a party and invite the local community in. Students will show their work to the world, streaming live video to the Web.Throughout the pilot, we'll be gathering research data in the form of notes, session recordings, and video. After each class, the mainland team will review this data from Pennsylvania, allowing us to "look over their shoulders" as we improve lesson plans and make ongoing suggestions. Once the pilot is over, Crissi Corbin will compile and analyze this data to produce an action research document that validates the effectiveness of our approach. Jan Kinder, director of St John School of the Arts, Bill Steltzer, and Timothy Falconer will produce a short documentary depicting the human side of the workshop, showcasing West Indian life by using authentic St John art and music.
Other Pilots
One month after the St John pilot has started, we'll begin another pilot in Haiti, working directly with the Mercy & Sharing Foundation. Haiti presents a completely different set of daunting challenges. As Susie Krabacher said, our goal is to "help children become independent of charity through knowledge."
A month after that, we'll begin a third pilot on the island of St Vincent, in an area with one of the few remaining Carib populations in the world. This area of St Vincent is almost completely untouched by tourism and technology, making it another good test for our program.
After these three pilots, we'll review the results and produce our textbook, research paper, and documentary film. Once we're done, we'll test these materials in Immokalee, Florida, where a large population of immigrant West Indians live in a racially mixed community.
More details on these three pilots will be made available as we get closer to the respective start dates. Also in the works is our Phase Two plans for this summer. Ultimately our goal is to give thousands of OLPC laptops to West Indian children and to provide comprehensive training for each of their teachers.
