XO Update

Hey, it's Ellie here. Today was productive day at the library. After opening up the XO's to 10 or so kids throughout the morning, we started to compose a set of rules derived from the various obstacles we've been facing:

1. Wash your hands

-We found that when the kids came in with dirt caked on their hands, it would spread to the to the touch pad, making it malfunction. The little particles of dirt would confuse the touch pad, causing the "arrow" to go haywire.

2. Only use one activity at a time

-This has been an ongoing problem with the XO's: these machines can only efficiently handle one activity open at at time, and too many running cause them to crash and break down. Relaying this to the kids is difficult, and we must remind them every chance we get.

3. Do not erase activities

-On one of the laptops, the activity "Browse" (the internet client) had been permanently erased. This is unfortunately an option that the kids have easy access to, and most may not understand its capabilities. Henry has found a way to download "Sim City" onto the XOs, and we hope that we can do the same for Browse. The only problem is that these are downloaded through Browse...further investigation will ensue...

4. Shutdown properly

-The kids, who are used to manually shutting down the machines when they freeze, aren't shutting down the XOs properly. We hope that we can remedy this soon, as the longterm consequences of improper shutdown are not known to us.

Already we've made progress with the rules: we had a smaller meeting with Vasco and some of the more advanced learners, Benson and Moses; those who will take our place when we leave this week. We're also planning, once back in D.C., to create 3 large, laminated posters for the center, one in English, another in Bemba, and another in Nyanja. All posters will illustrate the above rules, but accessibly enough so that everyone can understand.

Vasco mentioned how on first impression, the machine looks like a toy, but its going to have a huge impact on the lives of the kids at Fountain of Hope, both current and future.

We fully trust the program in their hands, and see a bright future for XO laptops at Fountain of Hope!

~Ellie