Minding the gap

But fortunately many recognize the growing disparity and are taking action to bridge
the gap. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) aims “to create educational
opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child
with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and
software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.”
Geekcorps “promotes economic growth in the developing world by sending
highly skilled technology volunteers to teach communities how to use
innovative and affordable information and communication technologies to
solve development problems.” The United Nations promotes awareness of the
computing inequity each year during World Information Society Day on 17
May.

SolarNetOne is another novel initiative to span the divide. For a
relatively small investment, SolarNetOne can deploy a turnkey Internet
hotspot—conditioned, renewable power; computers; WiFi; and an
uplink—anywhere the sun shines. According to Scott Johnson,
founder and lead engineer of the project:

“[SolarNetOne was designed] to go places where there was no
existing power infrastructure in place. It’s excellent in places where the
grid is unreliable or disabled.”