BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE , ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD 

My 14 year old son is specializing in computer  science at his Brooklyn High School!   He gets just one half h0ur a day on the computers, while the public library affords just half hr sessions to kids. Yet they are not only expected to  excel but compete on graduation with kids who have more sophisticated systems, not just at school but often there own laptops1 which is why a recent article I came across on the French  Governments solution to bridging the digital divide merits attention1

... French authorities have approved  €2.6 million (US$3.4 million) to supply USB (Universal Serial Bus) sticks to 130,000 students at the start of the next academic Thay hope this will give the students ,.aged 15 and 16, the freedom to access their e-mail, browser bookmarks and other documents on computers at school, home, a friend's house or in an Internet café ...more

Reports that French authorities have approved  €2.6 million (US$3.4 million) to supply USB (Universal Serial Bus) sticks to 130,000 students at the start of the next academic Thay hope this will give the students ,.aged 15 and 16, the freedom to access their e-mail, browser bookmarks and other documents on computers at school, home, a friend's house or in an Internet café

The sticks will probably contain the Firefox 2 Web browser, Thunderbird e-mail client, an office productivity suite such as OpenOffice.org 2, an audio and video player, and software for instant messaging, \

I also cam e across the wiki for the One Laptop per Child association. The mission of this non-profit association is to develop a low-cost laptop—the "$100 Laptop"—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. Our goal is to provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment, and express themselves.

 other sources

• The Digital Divide Network
• Digital Divide on Wikipedia
• Digital Divide: Ushering in the Second Digital Revolution
• Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide
• The real digital divide
• The Digital Divide and the Global South
• Bridging the Digital Divide: Internet access in Central and Eastern Europe
• The digital divide: Ignore it at our own risk
• Tool Kit for Bridging the Digital Divide in Your Community provided by the U.S. Department of Education