January 21, 2008 · 06:06 PM

Educate & Experiment

This panel is set in two parts: at first, information scientist Sugata Mitra will present new ways of education on the basis of his experiment "A hole in the wall". In 1999, Mitra, chief scientist at NIIT Limited, got the idea to install a PC in a wall which separated his research center from a slum in Delhi so that the inhabitants could use it. This hole and the PC inside became a desireable object for kids. Without any guidance, they learned the simple ways of using a computer. In the second part of the panel, inconvenient approaches on technics will be advovated.

Speakers:

• Sugata Mitra is one of the leading Indian computer scientists and professor of educational technologies at Newcastle University.
• Paul "Pablos" Holman is a hacker, an inventor and an expert on IT security.
• Chuck Hoberman is known worldwide for his transformable structures, which he has already shown at the famous MoMa of New York
• Greg Harper represents Cerberus Corp. which is dedicated to the development and financing of future sciences.
• The productions of Dan Dubno for CBS were decorated with several Emmys, his website Gizmorama is one ot the most popular sites on the internet.

Initially, Mitra talks about his experiment with children, often referred to as "A hole in the wall" - started in 1999, where he worked for a big computer development and training company. His experiment was staged in Delhi, where he worked. His office there neighbored a slum; a wall divided the two areas. He made a hole in the wall and put a computer there. On a tree opposite of the computer, he put a camera to see what happened. After eight hours an eight-year old boy came and taught his sister how to navigate on the web.
The experiment was repeated in a small town of India named Shivpuri in 2001/02, a place where nobody knew the internet so far. A 15-year old boy, who turned out to be a dropout, came and found out that he could move the cursor on the net, then he found out how to click, and after 15 minutes he surfed the web. By the evening, over 70 youth were there and surfed the web.
The experiment was repeated again in Madantusi, a village where nobody could speak English. More girls came to this setup than boys. Then after three months, he came back, and the moment the children saw him, they said: "We want a faster processor and a better mouse." He asked how they knew English, and they answered: "You left a machine that only talks English, so we also talked English." His conclusion: Groups of children teach themselves how to use a computer and how to speak a different language. If they can do that, what else could they do? The school said they could not only speak English but had better marks in mathematics and science.

The last experiment was in Kalikuppam, posing the hypothesis: There must be something children cannot teach themselves. The experiment: Can children teach themselves biotechnology? After two months he came back and asked: What have you learned. They said: "Nothing." He asked: "Why nothing, what have you done all day?" They said: "Apart from the fact that DNA replicates and other stuff what it does, we learned nothing else." His conclusion: Children can do schooling on their own.

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Dan Dubno: He shows some pictures of exploding things. He thinks it's important for kids to blow things up, it's a good way of learning stuff. Kids today don't blow up stuff because lawyers say it's too dangerous. This trend of growing ignorance in America creates a situation where children are anything but trained to understand science. He points out how important it is that children understand science, like to construct better weapons for the US to achieve world power (jokingly).
He makes an experiment on stage, asking first who took a plane to get here: Then he puts three ounces of Fa (shampoo), some ounces of alcohol, and some body wash together in a bag. He expresses his surprise that the bag does not explode.
He criticizes that kids are not taught dangerous stuff, but that people instead pretend there is no problem.

Then Greg and he show all kinds of fun technical stuff you don't really need:
Like an egg made by Sony. If you doubleclick it, it makes noise, it's a bluetooth speaker.
Dan shows "Clocky", a clock that's running around when it gets off, so the kid needs to chase it in order to stop it.
Greg shows a stuffed Dinosaur that can talk and move. It has a USB port on it, as does the egg.
Dan shows a clock you can write on.
Pablo throws a stuffed monkey around in the room which yells when it's thrown.
Dan shows the world's smallest laptop.
Greg shows a USB refrigerator, also very small.
Dan has an "OhMiBod", a vibrator that connects to iPods.
Then Dan shows his bullet-proof sunglasses, then sunglasses with a cellphone and mp3 connection.
Greg has a WiFi access point to carry around in his pocket, also a small camcorder and a solar pocket battery charger.
Then an audio recorder in pocket format...
Then a portable TV smaller than a cellphone...

WOW so many amazing toys!!! :-)

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And now Pablos, a hacker. "Damn, it feels so good to be a hacker. I'm a total badass."
Last year he was here and showed how to take over the hotel TV network.... This year: Only talking about credit cards, "the most boring thing in the world. But they are damn usefull: You can use them on the phone, on the web, ... in the US it's the most common way of paying for stuff." And it's dangerous: The numbers are sufficient to make payments, and it's easy to get the number of the card by shoulder surfing, taking pictures of them or just writing them down. There is no security measure. Millions of credit cards get stolen by hackers breaking into company's databases, getting the full information. This is actually not a security problem, but a risk management problem. If fraud happens, it's not VISA that loses money, it's not the bank, it's the company that sold something to the person who misused the card.
VISA implements RFID cards because it's comfy, Mastercard also: so you don't need to take out the card, but just hold it to a device, like at Starbucks. Starbucks said the line goes three times more quickly. Pablos bought such a reader on Ebay, the one they also use at Starbucks, he gets the whole info: name and number and expiry date, encrypted on the card - decrypted by a device bought for $8 on Ebay.

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Chuck Hoberman talks about the transformability of design. He shows objects that change their size, fold from small to big: chairs, useless objects like domes, a military tent. The largest structure is a curtain built for the Olympics 2002. The eight architectural categories space, use, light, circulation, density, façade, openings, volume all change if you put the word "transformable" in front of each of them. If architecture transforms, it can not only change size, but also change its openness, reacting to light, daytime and temperature. In Abu Dhabi they build a roof that is open, but closes when the sun comes up, in the evening opening again, thus giving constant shade to the room below. Similar examples in Madrid (supreme court) and Tokyo, Japan.
Then, like Greg and Dan before him, he shows some devices he brought: a flying ring that transforms into a boomerang, a folded box, a wheel, other things that open and close, a ball to throw that changes colors when in the air by transforming, audience gives "Ooooh"s and "Aaaaah"s.

 

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