The One Laptop Per Child logo is as bright, hopeful and open as the project itself. OLPC is laying the groundwork for a world where every child will have the opportunity to take advantage of cyber learning opportunities.

AAAS’s tag line, “Advancing science, serving society,” was evident in many presentations at their Annual Meeting in Boston Feb. 14-18, 2008. Passionate interest and action around issues such as providing basic energy and educational infrastructure in developing countries, relief during times of disaster, and information about how nations might work together more effectively was presented and discussed.

No presentation was more inspirational than the final plenary lecture given by One Laptop per Child Founder and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte on Feb. 17. Since OLPC was launched in 2005 this education project, which, Negroponte emphasizes, is definitely not a “laptop” project, has already had an impact on the ability of countries all over the world to provide children with new learning opportunities.

If you visit the OLPC wiki you will find targeted information that is focused heavily on “getting it out there.” Short on philosophical background and long on action-oriented instructions about how to buy it for someone else, program for it, contribute money and expertise, and use it, online materials are helping the jolly green-eared laptops to proliferate at a rapid clip.

Negroponte detailed a series of advances and setbacks that included a good-natured overview of the vagaries of creating a multinational “OLPC Planet.”He was challenged to take laptops to places like Cambodia where telephones, electricity and common language skills in rural areas were rare. He found that even in remote places students’ first English word was likely to be “Google.” He suggested that kids drop out of school in developing as well as in developed countries because, “School is boring.” OLPC aims to make education fascinating by providing children around the world with tools and opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves.

Initially OLPC’s strategy included engaging large countries as partners in making the laptops available to their students. Uruguay and Peru were the first adopters. Since then 80-90 countries and cities have signed on to the program.

A more successful method has been the “Buy One Get One” campaign which to date has generated 170,000 laptops. On day one of the campaign PayPal experienced the highest number of hits in the company’s history of people purchasing a laptop for a child.

Negroponte explains that OLPC is based on the principal of “learning by doing” outlined in his book Being Digital. He encourages anyone to get involved in this very open experiment in transferring educational technology and learning opportunities to children everywhere. The sentiment behind the quote, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission,” often attributed to computer science pioneer Grace Hopper, is helping OLPC level the global educational playing field.