#Offline wiki reader software#
#Offline wiki reader code#
#Offline wiki reader Offline#

#Offline wiki reader code#

JS: Compiling the program source code from scratch into the Raspberry Pi. WM: What’s the hardest part of the technology to deal with (for you on the one side, and for the end users on the other)?

#Offline wiki reader software#

I’ve been always subscribed to Free Software and Linux newsletters and pages, maybe in one of those. JS: I knew of its existence since I was in the last year of high school, but actually don’t remember exactly where I read about it. With the project, we aim to solve two problems: the difficulty of accessing the internet in rural communities, and handling the future electronic waste by reusing the obsolete TVs. Why CRT TVs? Well, because in Ecuador, at the of this year (2018) the main TV broadcast signal mode will switch from analog to digital signal: then a lot of TVs will become electronic waste. Thus, one of the main goals is to upcycle old CRT TVs and other kind of compatible screens. By getting an old TV, everything can cost around USD 100 per device. The usage of free hardware and free software (a Raspberry Pi, Raspbian: a Debian based OS, Kiwix) turns the installation of one device into something very cheap to make. JS: Offline-Pedia started as a project focused on setting up computers with Wikimedia content, using low cost and recycled materials, such as wood for the case and old CRT TVs as screens, for rural communities. WM: What is Offline-Pedia? How does it work? I just have edited some small sections of a couple of articles, already… but I’m looking forward to have more time to write more when finishing my bachelor degree. A cheap, available-for-anyone computer including the whole Wikipedia would have being perfect in such places! That’s why I became really motivated to make Wikipedia available for rural communities such as the one where I grew up. My interest really started there, because one of the main problems was that they rented the computers, and also there was no internet connection. I really loved to surf through all of its topics and stuff, and in general every kid loved it too, and every kid in that school did as well. I remember that in the school I attended, there was a computer with Encarta which they used to rent. Joshua Salazar (JS): Since I was a kid I always loved encyclopedias, especially the digital ones because of the multimedia content, I was a really big fan of Encarta.

#Offline wiki reader Offline#

Wikimedia Foundation (WM): Tell me about what started your interest and involvement with offline Wikipedia: are you a Wikipedian? Josh Salazar told us more about their Offline-Pedia project. But two engineering students, Joshua Salazar and Jorge Vega, and the staff of Yachay Tech University have figured out a way to give discarded CRT TV screens a second life, using Kiwix-an offline Wikipedia reader-to bring Wikipedia to these communities. Cajas Juridica is one such place, located just 13km north of the equator.

There are villages in the Ecuadorian Andes that are so small you cannot find them on a map. It originally appeared on the Wikimedia Blog and is republished under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license. This post was written by Stéphane Coillet-Matillon.