I am on 60 Minutes this Sunday!

2007 > America

It’s official: I am a One Laptop Per Child expert!

the focus: olpc
wayan on tv
Look ma: I’m on TV!
Are you in the USA? Do you have access to the American infotainment juggernaut? Then turn your attention to the CBS News program “60 Minutes” this Sunday, May 20th at 7pm.

Famed reporter Lesley Stahl will be covering MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte’s progress with One Laptop Per Child, his dream of one-to-one computing as an educational boost, a way for children in the developing world to “learn learning”. Ms. Stahl will have on-location reports from OLPC testing in Brazil. With 13 million viewers on average, the coverage of OLPC should be a major boost in profile for the project.

Lesley Stahl will also be interviewing an obsessive follower of OLPC XO advances, a technology in development expert who publishes the informative and influential OLPC News: Wayan Vota.

Yes, I’m on 60 Minutes this Sunday!

In what may be a great case study on how blogging now influences major media outlets and confirmation that I am in the blogging big leagues, 60 Minutes will be focusing on the other website I publish: OLPC News.

I am told my site and I will be an integral part of the One Laptop Per Child segment of the CBS News program, including video of an interview I had with Lesley Stahl in New York City. There should be a distinct focus on OLPC News as the medium by which those interested in the “$100 laptop” can go for independent news, information, and commentary.

Luckily, if I make a fool of myself, I am headed to Nairobi on Tuesday for two weeks, and I’ll be able to hide out until the mobs dissipate. If I come off the expert, I might just become a blogging consultant. I create enough content to be one already!


20 Comments on “I am on 60 Minutes this Sunday!

  1. Congratulations! that’s great news 🙂

  2. Wow Wayan, congrats :^) I’ve alerted Oksana & family to watch out for 60 Min this weekend — TC

  3. this way cool! i’m very proud of you. almost as proud of you as i am for you allowing yourself to feel committed and connected to a loving woman again. way to go, my friend!

  4. I don’t actually own a TV! My nearest neighbor is 2 miles away in bear-infested woods. I’ll watch.

  5. Wayan,

    Didn’t your mom teach you anything about good posture? That picture looks so unlike you.

    Anyway, congrats! And I have a question… can we buy an OLPC unit here in the developed world? Over the internet? It doesn’t have to sell for $100, maybe $150, and the difference can go to cross subsidized OLPC units for the third world…

  6. Wayan — that’s great news!! Congratulations!!! Will you clip your part and post it on YouTube?

  7. Wow, Wayan! This is great for you, and for blogging!!! Looking good on the preview…

    Keep it up, and regards from Macedonia !

  8. You are AWESOME! A long way from the UCF days…I will try to Tivo you…

  9. You are SMOKIN hot brother!! Smart and good looking, what a combination!! Send me an email.

    J

  10. So that’s what you look and sound like.

  11. Great job on 60 Minutes! And pls. give Dr. Negroponte and hearty “you go girl” for dissing Intel. Wish we could make your BBQ, but have prior plans.

    Need to get together next time I’m in DC.

  12. Great interview. I love the analogy that you can give a child a musical instrument and they can make noise, but can’t make music.

    Jeez the last time I saw you in a tie I helped you pick it out at Goodwill 🙂

    ~G

  13. Hi, Wayan. This is one of those funny “Internet stories.” I read OLPC News and has occasionally wondered, “Who is Wayan?” Then I watched the feature on “60 Minutes” last night, and there you were! I said to my husband/business partner, “Hey, I think that’s Wayan.” 🙂

    Anyway, I’ve been following the OLPC developments with interest. Having developed textbooks and educational software and having taught overseas in the bush of Africa, I have a lot of opinions about this project. I agree with your thoughts on the need for professional development, student instruction, and follow up support. I appreciate Negroponte’s optimism and constructivist bent, but the realities of the situation also need to be considered.

    Thanks for your blog. I’ll continue to follow with interest.

  14. wayan, we are so proud of you and the job you are doing, congratulations. also congratulations on you new house. looks great. i alerted the family, and everyone watched you on 60 min. you know us we cried with joy. how proud your mom must be , and we all just know that your dad was smiling down on you.

    we love you and are living vicariously thru you and your adventures.. paul and george both called this morning, so you had the whole thomas family watching. we love you and again thank you for sharing your life with us.

  15. We saw you on 60 minutes through Yahoo. You looked terrific mate and did really well. Congrats! I always sensed you would do something pretty extraordinary.

  16. Congratulations Wayan. This is inspiration for bloggers everywhere. I wonder how may bloggers have been interviewed on 60 minutes before. Of course they show up all the time on 24-hour news channels that are regularly in need of talking heads, but sixty minutes has that precious one hour per week which has probably hours of footage hitting the cutting room floor each time. By the way, any spike in traffic? Congrats again!

  17. wow wayan. and to think i knew you before you were famous.