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This chapter examines one of the largest interventions in computer-based learning currently underway, the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project. Started in 2005 by people from the MIT Media Lab, this project distributed more than 2.5 million laptops worldwide, over 80 percent of them in Latin America. Drawing on 2010 and 2013 fieldwork investigating a project in Paraguay with 10,000 of OLPC’s “XO” laptops, the chapter explores the ways in which the children who were meant to be the primary beneficiaries interpreted leisure laptop use as “learning.” It also shows that the most captivating uses of the laptops were not “productive” or programming-centric, as OLPC’s developers hoped, but “consumptive” and media-centric, focused on music, videos, and video games. It discusses the learning benefits and drawbacks of this use, as understood by participants and in light of education research, and in light of the broader context of transnational corporations interested in marketing to these children. In the process, it weighs OLPC’s utopian dreams against the interests of the child beneficiaries, concerns of media imperialism, and a potential shift in the meaning of computers.

The development of the laptop computer as a portable alternative to the desktop PC proved particularly attractive to computer musicians, who in turn developed ensembles, including laptop orchestras, that explored a variety of performing techniques including machine-assisted composition and improvisation. Building upon pioneering work carried out during the late 1970s by the League of Automatic Composers using early microcomputers, these ensembles, having initially embraced MIDI-based technologies during the 1990s, expanded to include live signal processing during the early 2000s, using software such as Max/MSP. Parallel interests in live performance emerging from the popular music sector led to a productive intersection of practices, embracing practitioners from different musical backgrounds. The significance of these developments provides a fascinating perspective on an important area of computer music that continues to grow in its significance

Ames describes the appeal of the XO laptop, created by the One Laptop per Child program, in Paraguay in terms of the concept of the charismatic object, which exerts power not because of what it is but because of what it promises to do. Tracing the everyday challenges related to the use of the XO laptop in the classroom and the networks of NGOs, teachers, and government officials involved in the program, Ames explains why the Paraguayan program has been more successful than most and retains its appeal despite those challenges.

This chapter presents ideas for using laptops, notebook computers, digital phones, and other electronic devices to create music and form non-traditional ensembles. The pros and cons of technology in music settings are discussed. Rationales for allowing use of technology in schools are shared to facilitate future interactions with administrators, parents, and others. Ways of composing and sharing technology-based works are presented. With so many options available (and more to follow), the question of how to select technology that will facilitate composition is an increasingly important consideration for educators. This chapter provides guidance for evaluating the use of technology to facilitate composition. It urges teachers and teacher educators to consider the learning objectives of the composition project and the students’ skills and prior knowledge first. Then, they should evaluate the available space and technology hardware resources. Finally, they can select specific software platforms that best fit the needs and parameters of their students and the composition activity at hand.

This chapter describes the impact of technology on the field of sound and music. It discusses the change in music technology from the European and American composers. The advancement in technology down the ages has transformed concert-based music to live technologies that allow the listener to interact with the medium of music. This change was brought about by instruments such as the Tele-harmonium and Theremin in the 1920s. The author illustrates the development brought about by the effect of micro-computers on music improvisation to the influence of software environments in music technology in the 1980s. Finally, the influence of recent genres of music such as laptop-based or network-based music is discussed. At the end, the author examines gesture-based music techniques.

For many people, whose first experiences using mobiles were between 2000 and 2010, it’s hard to imagine a time when friends and loved ones didn’t have mobiles or when people didn’t have access to one another after work hours. This chapter opens in California with a story of Los Angeles traffic; it was terrible, even back in 1990. Some companies wanted to make their mobile staff more productive, so they provided them with car phones—permanently mounted, fairly large phones with an antenna attached to the back window. Organizations paid for these “business tools”; and they were company property, just like a computer. During these initial years, some early adopters of new technology started bringing tools, like tablet computers and personal digital assistants, to work. This chapter sets the stage for understanding how and why negotiations for control over mobile communication emerged.