This is another item from Link TV, often the best thing on the box...

Program notes: The Hole in the Wall...(watching these kids find and experiment with these computers is a total feel-good experience. Given the current administration and the tenor of most of the news, this made me feel great!)

" A revolution in information technology is redefining poverty, as how much you know is becoming just as important
as how much you own. "The Hole in the Wall" examines one possible solution to the growing technological gap
between rich and poor -- the so-called 'digital divide' -- that threatens to consign millions to an "information
underclass." When Indian researcher Sugata Mitra embedded a high-speed computer in a wall separating his
firm's New Delhi headquarters from an adjacent slum, he discovered that slum children quickly taught
themselves how to surf the net, read the news, and download games and music. Mitra then replicated the
experiment in other locations. Each time the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, the
children began browsing the Internet.

Can children -- given only access and opportunity -- really teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy with no instruction? "The Hole in the Wall" experiment, and the documentary film that chronicles it, show the answer to be a "Yes!" Mitra estimates that, given access to one hundred thousand computers, one hundred million Indian children could teach themselves computer literacy within five years. The film concludes by noting that the spread of information technology is changing societies around the world, and the implications of Mitra's experiment are profound -- particularly for poor people."

What a GREAT idea!!