Last year, with very little publicity and a shoestring distribution network, people funded over 100,000 laptops now in use around the world. That was an amazing show of support. But this year is going to be different.

Amazon.com is handling the distribution, with their reliable shipping, tracking, and return handling. There should be no repeat of last year’s long delays and lack of information.

The publicity this year is being handled by some big names too. According to the New York Times,

Television time, billboard space and magazine pages are being donated by media companies, including the News Corporation, CBS and Time Warner.

The advertising time is donated, and the spots are expected to start conversations. One spot is an uplifting vision of a 7-year-old girl in a South African township, sitting in a dark room, her face lighted only by the laptop’s glow. “With education, we will solve our own problems,” she says.

Another TV spot says children learn quickly, whatever their tools of survival are — whether loading an AK-47 or mastering an XO laptop. Other settings show child labor camps and child prostitutes. “There are some very challenging scenes,” said Paul Lavoie, chairman of Taxi, the agency that created the ads.

(For those of you with YouTube blocked, this is one of the planned commercials, Zimi’s Story.)

There’s room for us too!
Just because some big names are pitching in doesn’t mean there’s no room for us regular folks! This is still a grass roots campaign, and we can all help. Everything from blog posts and fundraisers at schools, to using the XO as a lesson for our well-off children about how education matters most to those who have the least.

Here’s a great example – Dr. Gary Stager’s “Learning and Technology” Online Master of Arts in Educational Technology class at Pepperdine University collaborated to create a web site promoting the One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s Give One, Get One program.

This website, Laptops4Kids.net, helps people understand how the G1G1 program works by pulling together information that is scattered on various websites and wikis. For example, they created a downloadable flyer that would be useful for a school event or fundraiser.

Not only did they build this website, they sent out a press release to announce it. These educators are learning that technology in education is not just about the equipment, but about winning the hearts and minds of everyone involved to build support for initiatives they believe in.

Give One, Get One, Change the World!

Next up – what can K-12 schools and students do to support the XO laptop program?

Sylvia

Subscribe to the Generation YES Blog

In the Give One, Get One (G1G1) program, you have the opportunity purchase two XO computers. You get one, and a child somewhere in the developing world gets the other. Last year, over 100,000 laptops were donated to children this way. (See photos)

This year will be even better!
Last year, there were problems with the distribution, as OLPC was running it by themselves on a shoestring. This year, Amazon will run it. It would be the understatement of the year to say it will be better. There are a few other changes this year as well – it will include EU countries plus a few extra (full list and FAQs here). Sorry my Aussie friends, no mention of your part of the world.

Other good news, this will be an ongoing program. So if you have an idea about doing a fundraiser or planning a school event to get your own XOs, you have time.

Posts about the XO
Last year I got an XO laptop through the Give One, Get One program. Some of my posts from last year:

• OLPC XO – Top Ten Checklist for G1G1 Reviews – Things to think about before you buy that XO or write that review.
• Let them eat cake? No, let them change the world – My response to a dumb column about how the XO is a dumb idea. Examples and photos from a Peruvian XO pilot.
• One Laptop Per Child (XO) – Report from India pilot site – A report and some great photos from an OLPC XO pilot site in India.
• One Laptop Per Child – Why I believe this is a groundbreaking initiative

Spread the word! Here are some suggestions from the OLPC G1G1 wiki page:

• Blog it, add a comment about it to every article about OLPC and the XO.
• Social site updates — Facebook, Twitter[1], MySpace : there are OLPC accounts on many of these sites which need maintenance and regular updating. For instance some 2007-era badges and promotions need to be updated to link to the Amazon site.
• Viral marketing. Put http://www.amazon.com/xo in your e-mail signature. Mention G1G1 in blog posts. Comment on misinformed or incomplete articles online, and include the link and the date, Nov. 17.

Sylvia

Subscribe to the Generation YES Blog