John’s Idea

Listened to a really interesting podcast (Thinking Allowed, Radio 4 with Laurie Taylor) on which Sugata Mitra described the Hole-in-the-Wall research project he started in New Dehli in 1999.  The inspiration behind Slum Dog Millionaire, Sugata describes how children, with no assistance, learn how to use a computer which is literally presented to them in a hole-in-the-wall.  While we are rightly worried about the “digital divide”, the experiment demonstrates to me how technology is destroying the traditional barriers to knowledge.  It also challenges many of our presumptions about the essential requirements for “learning”. Children, from families that can’t afford paper and pens, and armed only with natural curiosity, quickly become expert users of technology.  Also reported is the dramatic impact of the introduction of Google on these children’s performance on subjects where access to books had traditionally been such a sharp differentiator. 

Apart from being an inspirational use of technology what has this got to do with the IDeA and knowledge management.  Well to me it is another demonstration of how knowledge is mediated and, given the extent to which existing forms of mediation are being transformed, how we can’t take anything for granted in terms of the way we work as agents involved in knowledge transfer processes.

Of course you still need access to the “hole-in-the-wall” and, as if anticipating this potential objection, the Indian government last week announced a programme to start distributing a $10 PC.