inspiration to slumdog millionaire.

until recently, I hadn't realized the history/inspiration for the film slumdog millionaire. listening to thinking allowed, i learned that not only is the film based on a book "Q&A", but the book is inspired by a study by professor sugatam mitra (shout out to all mitra's of the world). in his study, he placed computers in various slums around india, but gave no instruction on how to operate them. what he found was that children taught themselves how to use most computer functions (including saving and recovering files, and internet searches) in relatively short periods of time. they also persisted in engaging in information, even when they could not make sense of it (such as complicated scientific material). the final result, was improved performance in schools for students who'd used the computers and especially accessed google. i think this is a very fascinating background to the story of slumdog millionaire. here's a link to the thinking allowed episode: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20090121.shtml