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Sense and Meaning of "One Laptop per Child OLPC" Project in Madagascar

Last Summer I stayed for 2 weeks in a Local Village in Madagascar, on the island of Nosy Komba (literally "The Island of Monkeys"). There, a group of French Students from OLPC France and Stefano Palazzi manage to provide young students with laptops for educational purposes.

Those students live in small and creepy huts, do not wear shoes and cannot afford a pencil, but they own a laptop computer. Every one of them. We are talking of more than 200 computers that are worth approximately €40.000. What's the meaning of that? Isn't it better to give them shoes before giving them a computer? 

  

I do not understand the Meaning of that yet, but – after my talks with Stefano and Jonathan (one of the French students) – I understood what is the Sense of that. As a Philosopher, what interests me is the underlying reason (and objective) of giving children something apparently superfluous even before they can have something really useful (i.e. shoes), not the action itself. I now call it the sense of that action, while the meaning is something more obscure related to what that action practically causes in the future of those children. Practically speaking, I would say 

Sense = Reasons and Objectives
Meaning = Practical Results and Consequences
Nobody can predict the results, a Philosopher must study the reasons.

I thought that a Laptop is simply too much for those children. They do not even have electricity in their homes. Who needs a laptop if you cannot charge its battery? I was looking at the meaning. But then, I saw their eyes full of joy when they received that brown box with the icons of the OLPC project and I started looking at the (broader) Sense of it. For many of those children the brown box will be the most expensive gift they will ever get in their lives. But it is not only that. What they got, that day, was not simply a laptop. They got hope, a chance to change their lives, the symbol of human progress itself. AND a green laptop with wireless connectivity and a bunch of preinstalled programs.

The sense of giving those children that green laptop is putting them at the same level as any one of us, lucky Western People. We can use the computer to learn, to work and to improve our lives, socially. Now, those young children in Madagascar can, too.

By the way, I do not like the hardware of OLPC, I do not even like the software – which is a customized version of a Standard Linux Distribution - but I like the reasons and the objective of the project. Long Life to OLPC!

The Halo Effect or on the importance of being (perceived as) cool

Last night I discovered the Apple Peeler Corer Slicer machine: oh my gooodness how cool it is!

It is not what it is, how it looks or what it actually does: it's all about the halo effect I perceived. This Apple Peeler Corer Slicer machine is damn' cool and useful. Not only it peels your Apple, it also removes the corer and make thin slices of your favorite fruit. And, by the way, it is easy to use and somehow relaxing. It works flawlessly without any noise and any possible mistake. IT IS the best machine EVER!

I felt the halo effect (what is the halo effect?) and I thought how powerful it can be on human beings. I had the time to reflect on how important being perceived as cool and special has become for everybody, now in the Web 2.0 Era. As you are always connected, you can tweet about your life, make videos of your friends and send pictures of your holidays. But what if your life is boring, your friends are dumb and your holidays are not interesting? You start to feel upset. Disappointed. 

But you can change it.

And you know what? Nobody will think you are cool if you do not think so. But if you think you are cool, then it will be a lot easier to make everybody else do the same. Well, not exactly everybody else but at least some of your online connections. And that's it: you have just created your personal halo effect. Maybe you will not be as good as Steve Jobs but you can still surprise and amaze your followers. So, try your best.

  

I tried. I failed. I learned. I am back to try again.

I am back from Toronto. I shipped a 25kg Box from NYC to Europe. My experience was really different from what I expected. But I learned a lot. I also learned that I was not on the right path.

I met great people (thanks Quizative and Artez) and had a great time, overall. I also had very bad feelings, and moments I would like to forget. But now I am moving forward.

I thought I wanted something, but when I faced the reality I realized that I did not want it anymore. Better, I realized that what I wanted was not what I was trying to get. Or viceversa. I completely missed my goal.e The important thing is that I actually learned something: that no matter what happens I have to be true to myself and to the people around me. I cannot fool myself for too long.

A great User Experience Principle is guiding me out of bad moments:

    How many times should I tell you that the chair is broken? If it is broken, it is broken.

Try. Fail. Learn. Try again.
That's my Philosophy of Life (for now).

Finally I am here: is it what I want? Yes!

Finally! I have just moved to Toronto.

As I said a couple of months ago, I have planned this. And now I am experiencing the North American Way of Life. It is completely different from what I saw as a tourist. Now I really feel something changed. Is it really what I want? Though question. Maybe I can answer in 3 months. Or, maybe I can answer now.

What I wanted is a plan for my life. And in my life there is Bowen, and Toronto. For now, it is enough. I feel I am on the right path. And going to the right direction. What's next? Don't know yet. But I know I have to walk.

By the way, enjoy my two new blogs, whether you want to read about Toronto in english or in Italian you can find something interesting about me and about the city.

My life is interesting, good, great, awesome... Compared to What? (The Paradox of Choice)

Are you happy with your life? 

Whether you are experiencing astonishing success in love and career or you feel lonely and desperate, your answer to this question depends on who (or what) you compare to. So, Are you happy compared to your friends' lives? Are you happy compared to your high-school years? Are you happy compared to what you expected from your life 5 years ago?

I have just read a great book with the title "The Paradox of Choice - Why more is less" by Barry Schwartz. It is all about the amount of choice consumer have these days. And guess what: the more choice you have the more difficult it is to choose. Too much doesn't mean good. And whatever you choose makes you feel unhappy because you are missing many alternatives. Is there a solution? Fortunately, yes: make your choice and stick with it. 

Never look back.

My personal answer to the initial question is

I don't know if I am happy or not, I just know that I wouldn't change my life with anyone's else. I stick with my life even if sometimes I feel unhappy.

I guess this means I am happy, actually.

Winter holidays

I am currenly on holidays!

I will be travelling through Ontario and Quebec. 

You can follow my updates on twitter and facebook.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(this picture was shot in Frankfurt Airport with iPhone and re-edited with TiltShift for iPhone)

What is Woopra (and why it is far better than Google Analytics)

I have already blogged about Woopra. Now, after 2 weeks of intensive use and test, I can give you some insights about this amazing piece of Web Analytics software.

I embed here the presentation for MediaCamp Roma, the social media marketing event held in Rome on Dec 3th 2008. My presentation was about Woopra analytics of course! I made a brief comparison with Google Analytics and the result is... Woopra is better than Google Analitycs!

Thanks to all the guys at MediaCamp Roma, especially to Chris Hambly and Massimo Burgio who made this event possible. It was a great opportunity to share knowledge about Social Media, Social Web and latest Social Trends in the blogosphere. 

I strongly believe that Woopra is a sort of Social Web Analytics. What do you think? Here we go with the presentation "What is Woopra (and why it is far better than Google Analytics)".

What is Woopra (and why it is far better than Google Analytics)

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: woopra analytics)

Keep it short, keep it simple - How to format your Email Signature

I have been very busy this week, that's why I haven't posted anything yet. But I promised to blog more frequently on this blog (although I already blog frequently on pasqualeborriello.com), so here I come up with a weekend post!

I have sent lots of emails this week. After I hit the "new email message" button, the only thing there is on the blank screen is my signature. I have noticed it's pretty long, though. Maybe too long? Let's think about email signature: what should you put there? Maybe your full name, especially if you don't use it as the "sender" name. Maybe your email, although everyone of your recipients already knows it. Maybe your telephone number, or maybe not because it's too personal. Your personal blog or your website URL, so the persons you're sending email to can know more about you. Even a link to your facebook profile. If it is a work email you should put a link to your linkedin page so they can know better what you do. Even your IM address (MSN, AIM or Yahoo! Messenger) would be useful. And finally your skype username so they can give you a ring. Finally a personal touch: your favorite(s) quote.

That's what I did before. Before realizing that, by doing so, my signature will become long and annoying. Boring, for sure. I want an email signature as simple as my real signature!

I wanted to find the way to keep my signature short but give all the information to my recipient. The first thought was: let's put a link on my email signature. Even if you cannot put HTML code in your signature (Gmail and Hotmail don't allow you to use <html> code), the full URL will be hyperlinked in most email clients when they will receive your message. Then I realized that my Full Name will be good too, so I started with:

Pasquale Borriello - http://www.pasqualeborriello.com

But it didn't work. The address above is that of one of my blogs. And you need to do one more click to get to my personal information page. So, let's try with my LinkedIn profile. Like this:

Pasquale Borriello - http://www.linkedin.com/in/pasqualeborriello

This is too formal. What about my friends? They don't care of my LinkedIn profile (well, not all of them). Then I realized that I needed an aggregator.

My favorite contact info aggregator is Retaggr.

It lets you put all your information on a single webpage and supports widgets. This business card 2.0 is entirely made in AJAX! 

My email signature is now simply my full name and a link to my Retaggr page. It could work for you too.

Give it a try!

Weekend reading: an interesting article from the New York Times (about technology addiction).

Picture credits: Flickr

Woooh Woooh Woopra! Live Web Analytics and chatting! Why what you need is Woopra

I was listening to Wordpress Podcast when they started to talk about this "Woopra" think. There was a live interview with Woopra founders from France (I guessed from the accent). Oh-my-god! Woopra is the first live web analytics ever released!

What do I mean for Live Web Analytics? And mostly, why is Woopra going to be a great thing for your business?

Live Web Analytics (Woopra) - Woopra is a sort of Google Analytics that provide you with live data from your server. It means that whenever a user visits your site, you can see her (his) visit path directly from the Woopra Application (available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows). Are you annoyed by the 6 hours (or more) delay of Google Analytics data? Then, what you need is Woopra!

Woopra for your business - Whether you are a blogger or you run an online store Woopra is going to change your business! Not only because you can be updated LIVE of what your visitors see, but because there's a chat function integrated in Woopra!

Scenario #1: Blog with Woopra - There's a Wordpress plug-in for Woopra that basically merges data from wordpress (such as details inserted in the comment form) and from Woopra. With Woopra you can engage your readers as you've never imagined. With Woopra you can chat with visitors who are commenting your articles. You can know LIVE the exact navigation path of a random visitor or a returning visitor. You can even help your visitors find what they want.

Scenario #2: e-Commerce website with Woopra or the «How can I help you» feature - If you run an e-commerce website Woopra is even more important! The killer function of Woopra on an e-commerce website is the chat feature. Basically you can provide LIVE CUSTOMER CARE on every website. You can help your visitor find what they're looking for. You can guide them thru the buying process. You can fix problems with the shopping cart, and so on. 

That's something never seen before. Except when you enter a shop and you find a nice shop assistant that will ask you: «How can I help you?»

Last but not least: Woopra is completely free!

Is Change coming? I start to change (here)

After the election of Barack Obama, is Change coming?

You might be interested, then head to change.gov to know more about the president-elect. You might also be tempted to try change.com but you will be disappointed. Maybe.

Anyway, my point is: I'm going to change the blogging pace of this blog. I thought I could write a slow blog on philosophical considerations about advertising, marketing and web-related technologies. But I'm not that kind of person. I'm quickly changing and I cannot slow down my pace to 1 post per month.

I decided to change.

My paz.typepad.com blog will be update more frequently, so that I can excercise my english and express my opinion on international facts and happenings.

My first opinion is about president-elect Barack Obama.

The weekly address from the President-elect will be published on YouTube. Do you think this is a good idea? What if I tell you that comments are closed, and this is only an old style streaming video (a.k.a. webTV)? Do you still believe Obama is 2.0?

The videos uploaded to YouTube by the user changedotgov are all but social: no comments, no video responses, no ratings. And far less views. Is Obama REALLY changing?

Keep in touch: feel free to add me on Facebook and LinkedIn.