5.4 Ethics and laptops: identifying social responsibility issues  (Page 4/5)

Decision point two

You are Dr. Negroponte from MIT. For several years now, you have been working to design laptop computers that respond to a wide range of needs of children in poor, developing nations. You have set up an incentive for people in developed nations to contribute to children in poor nations. For $300, one can buy two laptops, keep one, and have the other donated to a child in a developing nation. This has generated computers but governments in developing nations--enthusiastic at first--have recently shown themselves reluctant to carry through on their commitments. Your goal of reducing laptop costs to $100 per computer have also stalled. It has been difficult to generate projected economies of scale.

• The laptops employ a simple design. They use Linux as an operating system since this shareware can be freely downloaded. The computers are also designed to be used in areas where the underlying infrastructure, especially electricity, is unreliable. They are battery driven and a hand crank allows for recharging batteries when electricity is unavailable. They employ a wireless connection to the Internet.
• An Open Education Resource movement has been started to generate educational resources directly and freely available to children using MIT laptops. This movement has generated considerable educational content of varying qualities. Reports available online provide insights into the pros and cons of the open resource educational movement. Whether this can (or should) replace traditional textbooks (which can be quite expensive and difficult to update) is still open to debate.
• There is evidence that laptops can and have contributed to an enhanced learning experience for children in developing nations. Poor attendance, a large and chronic problem, has been improved in laptop programs. Children enjoy their computers and seem better motivated in general as a result. They take their computers home for homework and share them with the rest of their family. Many teachers have successfully adapted their teaching styles to this Internet-supported, technologically enhanced educational mode.

• But recently, laptops have come under increasing critical scrutiny.
• They are more expensive than traditional educational materials such as textbooks
• They compete for scarce financial resources and may be less cost-effective in the long run than other, more traditional educational resources.
• The MIT laptop has no hard drive, a fact critically singled out by Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates. They have been designed to use the Linus operating system rather than Microsoft's more expensive and complicated one.
• Developing nation government's have recently shown "cold feet" to putting action behind their verbal commitments to laptop computers. This may, in part, be due to concerns expressed by parents and teachers.

• Defend the MIT Laptop Project in the face of these and other criticisms.
• Should their design be modified to suit better children's needs as well as the concerns of teachers and parents?
• What features do MIT laptops already display that respond to student, parent, and teacher needs?
• What are the alternatives to MIT Laptops? For example, evaluate the proposal made by a group in computer ethics to invest in and emphasize instruction in computer laboratories housed in schools themselves. What problems would this new approach avoid? What are its limitations in comparison to the laptop approach?