VideoVoo: Online Video Marketing

I firmly believe in Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child project that MIT has been nurturing with the idea of helping kids in developing countries to get hold of a hyper user-friendly and intuitive, plus funny gadget - at a very VERY affordable price (originally planned as $100 now, with the shipping costs $200). It is not simply about giving a complex machine to children, as many critics say, instead of water, food, healthcare, safety, etc. But certainly, Brazil belongs to the skepticals, the critics, the small thinkers. That’s the Brazilian government’s way of thinking, filled with worries over the network capacity and even more so about who is going to teach those kids how to use a laptop.

But the government and parents and children are two different things. If you ask a Brazilian mum ‘Here’s a laptop for a $100, it is excellent: would you like to buy one?’ There would be several mothers who would say ‘Pois/ Of course!’

Andy Carvin quotes Nicholas Negroponte in a 2005 conference:

“In emerging nations, the issue is not connectivity,” Negroponte continued. “It was the issue; it’s not a solved problem, but there are many people and many systems working on it… It’s happening; it doesn’t need me, MIT or the Media Lab. But for education, the roadblock is the laptop.”

He also mentions that Negroponte told the story of building schools in Cambodia. “He gave students laptops to bring home, but they came back the next day, the laptops unused. Their parents would not let them use them because they were worried they’d break it.”

Good gracious, who on earth has ever learnt to use the remote control of a TV? From an adult?! No, I suppose it was you yourself, toddling, figuring out, trial and error. I have taught children and adults for more than ten years, and being a teacher and being fully aware of what I am saying (regarding educational process too!), I think that Brazil is making a serious mistake. But, if it is true what ValleyWag is reporting from the MIT Emerging Technology Conference, it is also a big mistake, just to ‘donate away’ the laptops, which Nicholas is doing now, just because the OLPC demand is lower than expected. Or there have been competitors who have been trying to undermine the project in a less than heart warming style.

How can you overcome the skepticism of the governments in developing countries? Connect consumers to consumers. Go and set up a simple site, an interface where first world shoppers can order/ buy a cute One Laptop (it looks like a Shrek toy not a metallic laptop) and buy as many as they want for kids living in the developing world, like Brazil, or Kenya, or Mongolia, or even Hungary where I come from. The interface could have an Apply for One Laptop section if you wish to personalize your gift laptop and donate it to someone whose name you know. Now, application would be hindered in Kenya, but not so much in Brazil (there’s a way to find internet in more developed areas) or relatively PCd countries in Eastern Europe, in the former states of the Soviet Union, in Asia Minor, in the Americas, and of course in South-Africa, Egypt, etc.

Now you have 4 laptops to donate, which you bought online and have not even touched, but where to send them and how? We live in the age of FedEx, and similar services. Transport should not be a problem. Mailing address? Schools, kindergartens, family support associations, children hospitals - finding one institute should not be a problem (and now it’s their turn to find a solution on who should exactly get the laptops, but scarcity is only a problem at the beginning). And if you wish to send it to individuals, you will have the address if somebody could somehow apply personally (internet cafe, library, tourist laptop). But what if the applicant is not a kid? Com’on, wouldn’t it make you glad to help anyone in the third world? So let’s say that there is an official mailing list on this One Laptop Sharing site.

How can you sell even more from the One Laptop (CuteTop, I call it - to speak in Yoda inverted style)? If you re-define the target groups and include countries that are still in need of laptops on a broad scale although they are not, or not at all classified as third world countries, e.g. Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Ukraine, Portugal, Mexico, to name but a few. As for Hungary, parents would be standing in long long queues if they could get hold of a $200 laptop for their kids - that’s for sure. I would gladly buy one for my nephews (hey, guys I am lobbying). But I should not even go so far away from the US. Here’s New Orleans. Lots of children eager to learn, use, communicate, and let the intellectual steam out.

Look what the One Laptop Per Child Foundation solution is now:

Starting November 12, One Laptop Per Child will be offering a Give 1 Get 1 Program for a brief window of time. For $399, you will be purchasing two XO laptops—one that will be sent to empower a child to learn in a developing nation, and one that will be sent to your child at home. If you’re interested in Give 1 Get 1, we’ll be happy to send you a reminder email. Just sign up in the box to the left and you’ll receive your reminder prior to the November 12 launch date.

Give 1 Get 1
To give an XO laptop today or to sign up for a reminder about our upcoming Give 1 Get 1 program starting November 12, visit xogiving.org.

WHY?? Why limit it to 1 single donation as a one step charity? Why run it only experimentally? It is great to have the program before Xmas, but why not make the whole charity program a bit more web 2.0? Some elements of social networking would clearly make the site better. Online charity auction? Plus blogging? Nowhere near. Using paid search campaign is great, being and AdWords Strategist I honestly appreciate it, but if the Foundation’s site does not come up for ‘computer children’ ‘computer kids’ ‘laptop children’ and other really relevant generic terms it is BAD news. I got the sponsored link while searching for Negroponte’s email address….

There you go:

The funny thing is that the site has got a top ranking on the SRP for ‘laptop children’ but when you enter the site, you get the flash message rather than the picture of the laptop and the opportunity for donation… What a waste!

Why I also very much welcome Negroponte’s idea (whom I have heard a bit bitterly speaking at DLD07 conference in Munich, which stands for Digital Life Design. The session entitled ‘How To Be Good?’ can be watched here) is that I believe in laptops bringing about a change, even without access to the internet, but all the more with that. And this belief has the same roots as Google’s mission on making the world’s information accessible and thus facilitating (info) democracy. Let the kids do trial and error, third world governments, please. Let them figure out things and teach each other on a mass scale. And Nicholas, please let me know how I could help. Free of charge.

Now I’ll try to contact the Foundation and hope to contribute to their success. If you have any ideas, let me know, or share with them here directly.

General information: information@laptop.org
Volunteer opportunities: volunteer@laptop.org
Donating to OLPC: giving@laptop.org

Further contacts here.