2B1
The 2B1 Foundation was created by a group of professors at MIT Media Lab and myself, with $1M of funding from two Japanese benefactors. The mission is to bring computers and the Internet to children in the poorest and most remote parts of the world. In the early stages I looked at feasibility in African countries including Mali, Kenya and Senegal.
In 1997, I participated in the creation of a foundation and coined the name: 2B1. Its purpose was to accelerate a more connected planet by opening the digital world to children who would otherwise not have access to it. The goal was to provide, software, computers, Internet access and education to the world’s poorest and most remote children. This work took me to Africa and included helping to organize the Jr. Summit at MIT in 1998.
Shortly after the Summit, I started a computer animation company in Milan with three people. Its two-year history ran into the bursting tech bubble and was unable to attain late-stage funding. The disappointment was nonetheless a learning experience, after which I returned to the mission of 2B1.
This took me to Mumbai, India (Media Lab Asia) and subsequently Cambodia where I established two Internet-connected schools in villages without electricity; to areas so primitive, one of them did not have a road. Nonetheless, the kids now take home laptops that among other things are the brightest light source in their houses.
Some Images from the experience:
Work done in Cambodia
Here Is a distance test done in India:
Sometimes we need to invent cheap answers, below is one. Due to lots of rain, we created a water proof housing for our hotspots. We took a cheap electrical fuse box and created the ins and outs needed, and re waterproofed it.
It work can be great fun!
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