I guess the doing of the test-suggestion won't be necessary, considering the obvious results, namely, there'll be too many broken parts in my local wiki for the article, and it won't look anything close to Live Wikipedia.
Point well taken! Taking the infoboxes as an example, one can have infoboxes available in the local wiki as simple as outlined here: http://trog.qgl.org/20140923/setting-up-infobox-templates-in-mediawiki-v1-23...
Yes, the steps are over a million bullets, but having almost the entire markup available on Wikipedia today in a local wiki isn't farfetched. And with these basic markups bundled together with an installer, everything should come along pre-packaged. So at the end of installation, all these little things are parceled nicely together in a way the end user wouldn't have to do anything further.
I am happy to learn you've got a solid background using MediaWiki, just a bit surprised a goto solution that came to mind was building a media-wiki-like software to fill in the gaps in Mediawiki (gaps I am yet to notice).
Out of the box, the MediaWiki installation is nothing like Wikipedia, however it can be made to be like Wikipedia. Extensions, Modules, Imports and Exports are all might be needed to get all the features you and I love on Wikipedia onto a local wiki.
I know it is early stages now, but I'll love to see the final Wikifundi software. At that point, I might be tempted to get my local mediawiki instance exactly Wikipedia-looking and share one or two screenshots.
On Tuesday, June 14, 2016, Florence Devouard anthere@anthere.org wrote:
Le 14/06/16 à 12:24, Nkansah Rexford a écrit :
Thanks for the answers. Just wondering:
"It is a mediawiki based website, which will be as much as possible set-up like our mediawiki, and which will include the most used templates."
Any special reasons why you wanna "setup like" a mediawiki when it is easier using the MediaWiki server itself?
If I understand correctly, the wikifundi will primarily provide a wiki-like platform for editors to make edits, as if they're on the live wiki, then when connected to internet later on, when the edits are copy pasted, the edits'll just feel at home.
I have the MediaWiki installed on my pc now. It runs without internet connection. Anyone in my local network gets access to it too. It functions like a local network MediaWiki. I make edits on there, and it feels and works just like live wiki.
If the wikifundi software has the goal of being setup as much as possible like MediaWiki, then what stops the use of MediaWiki itself?
Maybe, what I am thinking is, instead of a software anew, the installation for MediaWiki is made effortless, so that at hackathons etc, anyone (and literally anyone) with a Windows computer (heck, even Linux!) could just run an installer file, setting up wiki et al (assuming it doesn't already exist), then all in the local network gets to enjoy the Wikiness after hitting a local address the server is running on! I doubt a Raspberry's PI is or will be required for the above approach.
I guess wikifundi already exists, but just happened to be called MediaWiki Server[1] instead.
https://m.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Manual:Installing_MediaWiki
I have a test-suggestion for you Rex.
Let's pick up one article randomly. Let's say one of those currently on main page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_receptor
Please do a copy and paste of this article on your own wiki. Then take screenshots of the resulting page. Put the screenshots in a dropbox and send us the link to the dropbox.
Do it. Really. *Do it please. *
Florence
PS: yes, I also had my own mediawiki installed on my hosting server during years. I used to prepare some texts there. Indeed, writing a "text" worked. But formating the text did not.
PPS: I also have provided consulting services for a few years to companies who wanted to set up their own wiki. I did not bring them help on the tech side. I helped them on the social side and training them "writing wikis". In most cases, after I showed my clients the use of [[name of article]] or [file:image.jpg|alt|100px]], their usual questions were
- How do I do a navigation palette ? (just like in Wikipedia)
- I want that infobox thing at the top of my pages (just like in Wikipedia)
- etc.
And usually... they ended up asking me to fix all that before I leave. Did I ever ? Nope. 15 years into Wikipedia and I am completely speechless (so to speak) when I look at something such as https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Main_Page/en&actio...
PPPS: of course, WikiFundi will also be made available with an "installer" and you will be able to get it without doing it through a box. The box is one thing. WikiFundi is another thing.
On Jun 14, 2016 12:17 AM, "Florence Devouard" <anthere@anthere.org javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','anthere@anthere.org');> wrote:
Le 14/06/16 à 01:00, Nkansah Rexford a écrit :
the coding of a software, WikiFundi, that provides an off-line editing environment that mimics the Wikipedia environment. The software will be made available in French and English.
How will the edited content offline eventually get merged into Live Wikipedia?
This is an excellent question. And the answer is "manually" (copy paste) because the people involved considered any type of automatic merging would create much trouble.
And how different will it be from Kiwix?
Kiwix is a reader. It features the entirety of Wikipedia content, to be read, and only to be read.
Wikifundi will not include Wikipedia. It is a mediawiki based website, which will be as much as possible set-up like our mediawiki, and which will include the most used templates. The idea is that Wikipedia style articles could be created or improved directly in WikiFundi (for example during an edit-a-thon), and more or less copy-pasted into Wikipedia once an internet connexion is available. Which means that the edit-a-thon could be made with one box and one electrical plug, with all participants accessing wikifundi through the local network created by the box.
Note that in the pack, we will provide kiwix as well.
Flo
rexford
On Monday, June 13, 2016, Florence Devouard < javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','fdevouard@gmail.com');fdevouard@gmail.com javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','fdevouard@gmail.com');> wrote:
Hello everyone
WikiAfrica has recently started a new project, the Wikipack Africa.
The project amalgamates:
- the coding of a software, WikiFundi, that provides an off-line editing
environment that mimics the Wikipedia environment. The software will be made available in French and English.
- the creation of action packs for use by local Wikimedia chapters, user
groups or isolated individuals in Africa, and
- a Wikipedia Writing Contest to be run in African Schools,
#WikiChallenge African Schools
It will roll out in two phases :
Phase 1 involves the creation of the WikiPack Africa. WikiPack Africa is a digital kit located via a local network device (Raspberry PI). The local network device will provide access to an off-line editing platform that mimics Wikipedia, and provides related materials and additional OER resources. The WikiPack Africa will both facilitate the outreach work of Wikimedia chapters, User Group and individuals, and encourage the growth of digital skills and content contribution by teachers and students across Africa. The pack allows for ongoing training and contribution even when technology, access and electricity outages fail or are not available at all.
The WikiPack Africa delivered to users will comprise two Raspberry PIs and some offline materials (posters, leaflets, pull-up banner, tee-shirts, etc.). The WikiPack will be delivered to several Wikimedia User Groups located in Africa end of 2016. A Call for Interest will be made to identify which groups will receive the Packs (8 countries will be covered as part of the pilot launch).
The project has been conceptualised and conceived by Isla and myself after seeing how frustrating limited access to internet or even to electricity could be when trying to participate to Wikipedia.
The WikiPack Africa is primarily meant for individuals and groups wanting to implement outreach projects and:
- work with galleries, libraries, archives and museums to bring cultural
content online;
- work with education partners to get educators and students contribute
or better understand Wikimedia projects;
- more generally, organise edit-a-thons, photo hunts, workshops, press
conferences, etc. to promote Wikimedia projects.
The #WikiChallenge African Schools (Phase 2) will use the WikiPack Africa to facilitate an entertaining, powerful, collaborative and interactive content creation competition between schools in Sénégal, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinée, Niger, Tunisia, Madagascar, and Cameroon (countries may change...). The challenge will run early 2017.
The full project is run in partnership with Wikimedia CH and the Orange Foundation. It will be primarily implemented by Florence, Isla and Emmanuel Engelhart (Kelson, from Kiwix) from May 2016 until summer 2017.
The project proposal, its documentation and its outcomes will be under a CC BY SA 4.0 licence.
CALL for SUPPORT
Current next steps include in particular
- working on the WikiFundi software. This shall be lead by Kelson and
part of the development should be done during the Kiwix Hackhaton prior to Wikimania. If you are interested to help, and simply interested to better understand what is planned, please get in touch;
- working on the content that will be put on WikiFundi.
We will NOT provide the entirety of Wikipedia on the plateform, but only a mix of "presentation material", some "help:pages", "showcase of best articles" and a large % of templates currently available on Wikipedia. If you want to help or provide insightful input, please get in touch (with me), by email or on the wiki talk page or during Wikimania. We start working on the English content first. My current challenge is to identify the most relevant help pages... and adapt them to this offline editing environnement.
- To read more about Wikifundi:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFundi
- More information about the wikipack :
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipack_Africa/en and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipack_Africa/fr
- WikiProject page on the English Wikipedia :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wikipack_Africa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wikipack_Africa
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