A Participatory Approach to Scenario Development for XO Laptops in Brazil Tel Amiel Flávia Linhalis Arantes Leonardo Cunha de Miranda Maria Cecília Martins M. Cecília C. Baranauskas

"The fact that OLPC was much stronger in developing innovative technology than in understanding how to diffuse it may reflect the engineering orientation of the organization and its lack of understanding of the needs or interests of the nontechnical people who will ultimately buy and use the innovation." Kraemer, K. L., Dedrick, J., & Sharma, P. (2009). One laptop per child: Vision vs. reality. Communications of the ACM, 52(6), 66-73

27 states 190+ million people municipalities K-12 schools shared by state + municipalities 80%+ is public schools 52+ million students (CC-BY-SA)

History  PROINFO (since 1996) –School computer laboratories, monitors  UCA, One Laptop per Student –Federal program, working group (2005-) –Pilot I: Classmate, Mobilis, XO – 5 schools (2007) –Pilot II: 300 schools and 5 municipalities ( laptops) (2008-)

OLPC  Worldwide: 2 million+  Peru:  Uruguay/CEIBAL:  Brazil –Two XO-OLPC pilots from UCA –Four additional pilots –Total 4 states –3013 units distributed (attribution)

OLPC Campinas  2009 –Donation of 512 laptops (OLPC- >Municipality)  2010 –Established working group (Municipal, School, University)

Thinking about technology  Technology vs. device  Integration leads to multi-layered ripples in different socio-technical spheres  Shared planning and shared responsibilities

Organizational Semiotics  Examine these ripples through semiotics  Organized behavior –Norms (formal and informal) –Signs (conventions, agreed-upon, tacit, etc.)  Making conventions explicit  Shared meanings, shared goals, shared language

Semiotic framework Human Information  Social world – law, expectations, culture  Semantics – meanings, validity  Pragmatics – intentions, communications Systems and Platform  Syntactics – formal structure, software  Empirics – capacity, patterns, efficiency  Physical world – infrastructure, economics

Timeline  June/2010 – Meta-knowledge  July/2010 – Envisioning usage scenarios  September/2010 – Expanding/selecting scenarios  October/2010 – Trials/scaffolding scenarios  November/ Implementation

Workshop 1 June/2010 Meta-knowledge  Semio-participatory methods, project goals  Identifying stakeholders, challenges, potential solutions

17 Actions and Responsibilities Pragmatic Semantic, Syntactic Empirical Physical environment Social world School infra-structure Preparing software, servers, configuration and applications Batteries, and bandwidth Who receives the XO Uses in and outside of school Meanings-making, professional development development of materials Functions of the human information system Technological platform

18 THE PROJECT CONTRIBUTION SOURCE MARKET Interested Parties COMMUNITY Actors Clients, Supliers Partners, Competitor Spectator, Legislator

Mapping interested parties  Community –Press, mayor’s office, teacher union, community leadership  “Market” –Other school projects, volunteers, interns, lan-house, community centers  Source –Technology provider, local support group, energy company, OLPC, researchers, other OLPC schools, municipal office (training and support agencies)  Contribution –Teachers, students, administrators, school council, etc.

Evaluation Matrix Problems/Questions Ideas/Solutions Interested Parties CONTRIBUTION Actors SOURCE Clients, Suppliers MARKET Partners, Competitors COMUNITY Spectator, Legislator

Evaluation Matrix  Contribution –Distribution criteria, taking XO home  Source –Maintenance for XO  “Market” –Computer schools as partners?  Community –How should results be publicized? –Family responsibilities?

Workshop 2 July/2010 Envisioning scenarios  Using the machine and testing the system  Discussing complex educational scenarios

23 Formal Informal Technical SOCIETY Conceptual model XO School Community

Formal Informal Technical Society XO School Community The neighborhood in the city; Computer in the streets A citizen’s outlook Exploring the school enviromment Students and consumption at home; Visit to Paulinia’s ecological park; Opening doors... Workshop on radio announcers

Workshop 3 July/2010 Selecting scenarios  Defining activities based on goals  Addressing real-world constraints and choices

Workshop 4 July/2010 Testing scenarios  Scenario trials with teachers  Researchers scaffold scenario, highlighting possible gaps/bumps, and create support material and guides

Scenarios 1.Exploring the school environment –Identifying school areas, spaces and devising rules for the usage of common space 2.Consumption at home –Identify industrial food products from home –Identify unusual and foreign language 3.Radio announcers –Plan a radio program for the school –External partnership

Next steps  Implementation has begun  Planning for expansion and integration  Collaborative evaluation

Lessons learned Systemic design Participatory methods Shared responsibility

Thank you XO-OLPC Núcleo de Informática Aplicada à Educação University of Campinas (UNICAMP)