One Laptop Per Bike

May 22, 2010 9:19 AM

Armed with a netbook, medical supplies and a bicycle, Bangladesh's InfoLadies are giving millions of poor people access to crucial information on their doorsteps that will improve their chances in life
posted by Artw (13 comments total)

I'll bet this a great story, but since imbecile web designers keep redirecting my iPhone to the mobile site and saying it's unavailable and I should look at the full site... only to redirect me when I click the link... I can't actually read it!

Nobody knows the trouble I seen...
posted by hincandenza at 9:25 AM on May 22, 2010

That is a pretty great story. It's weird how much you take for granted when you have the world's information at your fingertips.
posted by codacorolla at 9:41 AM on May 22, 2010

[this is awesome]
posted by shii at 9:56 AM on May 22, 2010

I was just about to post this. Great story.
posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on May 22, 2010

Fantastic. Thanks for posting this.
posted by oneirodynia at 10:11 AM on May 22, 2010

Ob related big-up: Air, by Geoff Ryman. One of the truly great SF novels of the last decade. And if you haven't read The Child Garden, why not?
posted by meehawl at 10:46 AM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

I always felt that one of the most prescient parts of David Brin's Uplift saga was that in his millennia old galactic civilization, the most important structure is the library. The most important people in this setting are the librarians, and a civilizations success is largely based on it's ability to navigate and use the information in the library.

This reminds me of that.
posted by heathkit at 11:07 AM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

hincandenza: I'll bet this a great story, but since imbecile web designers keep redirecting my iPhone to the mobile site and saying it's unavailable and I should look at the full site... only to redirect me when I click the link... I can't actually read it!

Try this Google cache.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:31 AM on May 22, 2010

Here is a little more about the InfoLadies and the non profit D.Net InfoLadies took off after the PhoneLadies collapsed from excess competition with poor regulation.
posted by adamvasco at 12:37 PM on May 22, 2010 [2 favorites]

One of the best things about this article is the last line.
posted by koeselitz at 1:32 PM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Very interesting piece - nice to read something encouraging like this!
posted by sstapley at 10:10 PM on May 22, 2010

Hooray! :)

Access to information removes the first impediment to building this brave, new world. Information asymmetry has always been at the heart of poverty ~ CK Prahalad
posted by infini at 10:43 PM on May 22, 2010 [1 favorite]

Amazing, and very very cool. I hope the Bangladeshi government starts supporting the InfoLadies, instead of leaving it to NGOs to work alone providing the education their people so clearly want.
posted by harriet vane at 4:08 AM on May 23, 2010