Hello Wikisourcerers,
We are excited to announce that we have been developing a Wikisource reader
app for Android mobile users for the last three months and the beta version
of the app is almost ready for testing. The development of the mobile app
was a much-awaited request from the Wikisource community and when fully
released, hopefully, it will help bring more readers to Wikisource
platforms.
*Necessary links of the reader app*
- A documentation page is in draft on meta wiki here -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisource_reader_app
- The Github repo of the code is here -
https://github.com/cis-india/Wikisource-Reader
*Wikidata integration*
We have been using the FRBR data model used in the Wikidata WikiProject
Books <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Books> to handle
the descriptive metadata needed for filtering and categorizing the contents
of the app. To be included in the app, an edition should have
- fully proofread or validated
- transcluded into the main namespace or NS:0
- a Wikidata item with descriptive metadata property like title, author
etc.
- Wikisource index page url (P1957)
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P1957> property linked with that
item
- Wikisource sitelink for the NS:0 transcluded page linked with that item
- a proofread and/or validated badge linked with that sitelink.
Here are a few example of the book editions which are included in the app
- An example of a Bangla book edition is this one
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105763275>
- A list of all French books to be included in the app can be found here
- https://w.wiki/CkMP
*Pilot languages and API*
In the beta version, we have piloted with English, French and Bangla as
these three languages are storing their metadata on Wikidata. We will roll
out for other languages gradually. An API was built using Django and
deployed on Toolforge which serves a catalogue of books following the data
model described above. It periodically runs a set of SPARQL queries to
retrieve data, processes that data and updates the database.
- Link - https://wsindex.toolforge.org/books/
- Repo - https://codeberg.org/ph4ni/wsindex
*Features*
We have decided to display the books in epub format which will be generated
through WS-export tool <https://ws-export.wmcloud.org>. Any issues related
to epub generation can be reported here
<https://github.com/wikimedia/ws-export>.
Right now, the following features are available
1. Browse through a list of works which are completely proofread or
validated.
2. Filter based on the language or literary form of your choice.
3. Search for books by title or author.
4. Download books to your local device for offline access.
5. Share links to the Wikisource page of each book.
6. Read, delete, and track completion percentage of books in your local
library.
7. Change font size, look up words, and access a dictionary.
8. Switch between dark and light themes for comfortable reading.
9. Use the app in multiple languages.
Currently, we are working on the following areas
- Internal epub reader which can render the styling of the contents as
much as possible
- Design of the contents and metadata within the app
- Fixes here and there
*Next steps*
In coming days, we will
- start conversation with the Wikisource communities to make aware about
the app, share the workflow needed to include contents there and get
feedback for further development. (We had one call with the Marathi
Wikisource community already).
- *Next community conversation hour*
- Sunday, 26 January 12:00 – 13:00 UTC
- Video call link: https://meet.google.com/khd-qvfy-nsr
- discuss with all stakeholders regarding necessary steps.
- register for Google Play Store and release the stable version of the
app there
- release the app in other play stores gradually.
We would like to specially thank Sai Phanindra, who has developed the app
as an assignment from CIS-A2K.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
(Part-time consultant, CIS-A2K)