This is - with very minor edits in the first paragraph to remove names - the email I sent to the ILXO summer group in response (finally) to all the "what's going on? what's going on?" questions we (and I) have been getting regarding OLPC lately. It's a pure braindump. I did not go back and edit before I sent the email. (As mentioned above, I did go back and take out names before I posted here.) What you're seeing isn't the most elegantly written thing ever, but it's what's on my mind.

Okay.

This is excellent practice, because there will be swarms of FUD swirling around us all summer, and we're going to have to learn how to deal with them well and fast, and not let them distract us from what we're trying to do.

The question you should have in mind is this: Does this affect what we'll be able to do this summer in Illinois for a large number of students, teachers, parents, hackers, and curious souls? We have relationships; we are independent. (This is true of people; it is also true of organizations. You are never as locked into something as you think you are.) More important than who we're affiliated with or what our structure is or what politics are swirling around us is the fact that we are Doing Something. We must make sure we are always, always Doing Something.

It will get worse and it will get better. Keep working.

Our goal this summer - and please iterate on this, toss it around, work on this until it's something you want to devote a summer to, this is just what gets me fired up - is to help kids learn by empowering them, their teachers, their parents, and the community around them to come together and experiment with their education. Yes, our first guess at how to do this is through computers and low-cost rugged laptops and open-source software, but these are tools, means to an end rather than the end itself. Our output is grassroots groups. Not laptops. Not software. Self-sustaining, motivated, change-agent-riffic groups of people who will take things far, far beyond anything the four of us can do during the scope of a summer. This is awesome. This is also very, very hard.

It will get worse and it will get better. Keep working.

Third, get used to failure, mockery, and other people saying that the things we do, the people we work with, etc. are idiots, bungling things, doing things wrong, doing useless things. We are doing audacious things. They will often be ridiculous. They will quite frequently fail or turn out to be useless. The people we know are doing audacious things. They are ridiculous. They frequently fail. It's all in how you handle failure. There will be swarms of FUD; ignore them and react to and acknowledge them. There will be cheers and accolades; ignore them and react to and acknowledge them.

It will get worse and it will get better. Keep working.

Why are you here? Why are you spending a summer working unpaid on a crazy idea rife with uncertainty? Make sure you have an answer to that question, and make sure you believe in it, because you're going to need something to hang onto in the midst of all this when the storms get tough (and occasionally, they do). We will have many days of blue skies. We will also have maelstroms.

It will get worse and it will get better. Keep working.

It will be a fascinating learning experience. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm honored to have such a fine team to work alongside. If there's something you're afraid of or concerned about or don't want to do - for any reason - please let me know. Please let us all know, if you can. You're steering this ship as much as I am (to run further with the analogy and my soapbox). I believe the five of you can make a tremendous impact, and I believe that the most important thing I can do this summer is to make sure - by whatever means possible - that the five of you can make the difference that you want to make this summer. This, more than any research project, hacking, teaching, presentations, etc. I'll be working on - is what I consider to be "my job." Likewise, we'll all need to support each other because sometimes it's going to seem like we're the only ones doing so.

It will get worse and it will get better. Keep working.

And above all, vote with your feet. Work on what you find interesting and important - take on the most difficult problems you'd like to see solved, and ask for help solving them. (Engineering is problem solving, after all. Sometimes we use math and science. But we always solve problems.) When FUD swirls, think about whether the problem's still there and should still be solved, and whether you can contribute something to its resolution.

Last time I checked, plenty of kids in the world (and in the state of Illinois) haven't yet discovered - or been allowed - to teach themselves how to become the masters of their own education, and there's still plenty I can do to solve that problem. So that's my motivation.

What's yours?