Kiosks inspired 'Slumdog Millionaire' author to write

Journallive.co.uk: The author of the book "Q&A," which was the basis for the Academy Award best-picture winner "Slumdog Millionaire," said a direct inspiration to write was the "Hole In the Wall" kiosks which allowed uneducated children in New Delhi to teach themselves to use computers unsupervised. "I was inspired by the hole-in-the-wall project, where a computer with an Internet connection was put in a Delhi slum," said author Vikas Swarup. "When the slum was revisited after a month, the children of that slum had learnt how to use the World Wide Web."

Professor Sugata Mitra, who first knocked a hole in his office wall and so children could use his computer, later expanded the project to 23 villages in India where children had never had access to a computer. At the end of five years, the schools reported improved English, math and science scores. Mitra didn't believe there was a connection to the story and his work until Swarup confirmed it. "I did comment to my wife that it was a good example of incidental learning," Mitra said. "The main character learned from life and what was thrust against him."

Click to continue