Kevin Wallen (@kdwallen) is one of the most compelling people you even want to meet, not only for his lilting Jamaican accent but for what he has done over the last ten years to bring computers, blogging, video work, and other technologies to Jamaica's prisons and schools, aided in his efforts by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and in particular the colorful Harvard Law professor Charlie Nesson. The goal: to use connective technologies to help both inmates and students in that island nation see and probe a different future than the one that might otherwise lay ahead of them. Plus, Kevin is preparing to serve as the totality of Jamaica's national wrestling team in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, despite not having grappled competitively for more than a decade. An all-around fascinating guy, Kevin was kind enough to sit down with me at the Alliance of Youth Movements in Mexico City to discuss what computer-based learning gives to prideful older inmates, how Jamaican kids responded to getting their hands on a batch of One Laptop Per Child computers, and much, much more.

Of course, there are problems with any program intended to create social change, especially in societies with a great many obstacles. But here's a good ten minutes of what if?Let yourself have a listen.

(Intro music by DjiZ via CCMixter and under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license; photo of Kevin Wallen by oso and used under a Creative Commons license.)