MEETING DATE: Friday January 18, 2008

"Most of the nearly two–billion children in the developing world are inadequately educated, or receive no education at all. One in three does not complete the fifth grade."

This opening statement of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) mission statement sets the stage for the story of this adventure. The story goes back 40 years to the introduction of the Logo programming language, especially written for children. Nicholas Negroponte, one of the founders of OLPC, says that “It's an education project, not a laptop project.”

Come to the January BCUG General Meting and hear Bill Chriss talk about the early days of the project, the philosophy and psychology tenets of the program, the progress made through the last 40 years and the current incarnation as OLPC.

He’ll also cover the laptop’s unique hardware, software and interface design with a demo of the user experience.