Changing the World — One Person at a Time
May 2008

By Dan Shine, Vice President, 50x15 Initiative

Numbers are interesting. We use them to mark the passage of time, the distance between us, and the value of material things. They also help us understand how things change. And how! When we announced the 50x15 commitment in 2004, only 10% of the world was connected to the Internet. Four years later, that number has doubled, reaching the 20% milestone in the first quarter. Did you notice?

The tricky question is, what will happen in the next four years? To get some different perspectives on that, read on! For the first time, we're featuring great submissions from readers like you, people who spend a lot of time trying to connect the world. We've also got tales from the field, with updates on newly deployed learning labs, OLPC, and the incredible Open Architecture Challenge. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. A number of the labs are being replicated and going to scale. Others are expanding, starting to address the effects education and health have on each other.

Throughout this quarter, you'll see just how enabling these solutions can be, through the eyes of the children, the communities, and the doers who are leveraging access to the Internet to change their world. One person at a time. Which is just fine as far as we're concerned. Numbers are interesting, but they're not everything. Change, that's what matters. And a lot is starting to change.