NYC LOCAL: Saturday and Sunday 14-15 June 2008 Grassroots OLPC Jam in New York City

[secretary]

There will be a Grassroots OLPC Jam all day Saturday 14 June 2008
and all day Sunday 15 June 2008 at

Manhattan Neighborhood Network
537 W 59th St, between 10th and 11th Avenues, north side of the street
New York, NY 10019

This Jam is a gathering to work on producing a central server for
schools in which students and teachers and staff have OLPC
laptops.  The server will provide automatic backups, end to end
encryption and authentication of email, extra processing power
for individual and group tasks, and convenient Bitfrosting and
CandyCaning of programs which today do not yet run on the XO-1.

We hope to get something actually up and running by late Sunday
15 June 2008.  Likely much more work will be required before a
working server be deployed in numbers larger than a few thousands.


The server is a Free Software project, as, by charter, all
software projects of the OLPC organization must be:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_on_free/open_source_software
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Core_principles

Today, Richard Stallman uses an OLPC XO-1:

http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/can-we-rescue-olpc-from-windows/blogentry_view


For further information on this Jam and other Jams see:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Jams
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Grassroots_Jam_NYC
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Grassroots_Jam/Registration#Attendees
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Grassroots_bootcamp

If you want to participate in the Jam, please register early.

Below my signature is the contents of

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Jams


Personal note: Despite the recent brouhaha over reported
statements of Nicholas Negroponte, and despite a years long
concerted campaign by Microsoft and Intel against the OLPC, today
there are for sale about ten competing small light laptops, none
of which would be available without the success in the market of
the XO-1.  While the XO-1 was for sale, it was the fastest
selling laptop ever.  The nearest competitor, the Asus EEE, is
right now the fastest selling laptop.  Most of these new small
laptops run GNU/Linux as their base system.  Later this year the
XO-1 will again be offered for sale, under the Give One Get One
arrangement, as before.  To repeat, the success of the XO-1 is
extraordinary: it is superior in hardware, it runs a free OS, and
it outsells the competition at a price disadvantage of "pay for
two, get one".

No, the reports in newspapers of the failure of OLPC are wrong.
The $100^W$423.95 laptop is the greatest success of any single
model in the history of home and school and small business
computers.

The Englobulators have money and reporters and whole governments
of large states on their side.  So we must work hard to keep the
ground we have won.  And we must work even harder to drive them
from the field.  And this is why you should come to the OLPC
Grassroots Jam.

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org


<blockquote
  what="official Grassroots OLPC announcement"
  edits="some end matter removed">

 Subject: Grassroots Jam NYC - OLPC
 X-URL: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Grassroots_Jam_NYC
 Date: Sun,  8 Jun 2008 23:48:53 -0400 (EDT)

    #OLPC (English) copyright

 Grassroots Jam NYC

 From OLPC

    Jump to: navigation, search

                                Grassroots Jam

                                 New York, NY

                        Schedule | Registration | Venue

 [edit] In A Nutshell

    Grassroots Jam
    Where: New York, NY - Manhattan Neighborhood Network headquarters
    (directions)
    When: June 14-15, 2008

 [edit] Introduction

    We're running a Jam in NYC for the "final exam" of the Grassroots
    bootcamp on June 14-15 in Manhattan, NYC, USA.

    In two days, we'll be building a Pilot In A Box kit (focused on
    integrating XO use into specific curricular modules) and testing it
    with local children in preparation for deploying the Kit at an actual
    school pilot within 4 months - stay tuned for more on the specific
    deployment conditions we'll be designing for. All materials will be
    provided. All work produced at the Jam will be released either into the
    public domain or under a free/open license.

 [edit] What is a Jam?

    An OLPC Jam is a content creation crunch that gets participants from
    idea to reality in just a few days. By the end of the Jam, you'll have
    something finished to test with local schoolchildren (who serve as
    judges for the event). It's a great way to get started developing for
    OLPC. Click here to learn more.

 [edit] Join us

    We're looking for a 50-person team of educators, content-creators,
    artists, writers, programmers, engineers, and others who can contribute
    to a Pilot In A Box kit. In addition to coming up for ways for teachers
    to use the things inside The Box, we'll need to figure out (and make)
    what's in The Box, how schools will repair equipment from The Box, how
    The Box is transported and stored, how its content can be localized,
    how The Box can be used for communication over a diverse set of
    networks, and more. Apply now!

    We are also looking for young testers (ages 7-14, with their parents)
    to come in and try out the finished products on Sunday afternoon, June
    15, from 3-6pm. RSVP now!
    Retrieved from "http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Grassroots_Jam_NYC";

    Category: Jam

 < end matter removed />
  
</blockquote>