Bridging The Digital Divide
Information Rich, Information Poor - Digital divide At the beginning of the last century, the brilliant Indian mathematician Ramanujan showed by example that great riches can come from coupling an individual's innate talent - his was a truly remarkable one - with a small tool set. In his case, it took a single volume: G.S. Carr's Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics. Using the book, the young Ramanujan taught himself math and by the time he was 19, he had already begun to do groundbreaking work in number theory. Today, we can do much the same thing for children by giving them their own simple tool: a laptop. Laptop will not only be something to own and feel empowered by, it will also be portable and a tool for collaboration. Students will be able to access thousands of textbooks electronically and learn how to program, one of the best ways to "learn how to learn". And when students attach cameras, microphones, and printers, the basic laptop will become ...