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Self organising systems for mass computer literacy: Findings from the ‘hole in the wall’ experiments

Sugata Mitra (Centre for Research in Cognitive Systems, NIIT Limited Synergy Building, IIT Campus, Haus Khas New Delhi 110016, India sugatam@niit.com)

International Journal of Development Issues

ISSN: 1446-8956

Article publication date: 1 January 2005

1086

Abstract

Earlier work often referred to as the ‘hole in the wall’ experiments has shown that groups of children can leam to use public computers on their own. This paper presents the method and results of an experiment conducted to investigate whether such unsupervised group learning in shared public spaces is universal. The experiment was conducted with ‘hole in the wall’ (minimally invasive education, or MIE) kiosks in 23 locations in rural India. Focus groups in each location were tested for computer literacy for 9 months. Results, which are discussed in the paper, show that groups of children can leam to use computers and the Internet on their own, irrespective of who or where they are. The paper also discusses the engineering considerations for building such ‘hole in the wall’ computers in public spaces.

Citation

Mitra, S. (2005), "Self organising systems for mass computer literacy: Findings from the ‘hole in the wall’ experiments", International Journal of Development Issues, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 71-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045849

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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