Free Knowledge Communities is an initiative that was discussed while
Erik and I were in South Africa
(<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Conference_reports/FLOSS,_South_Africa_2005>).
One of the aims of the initiative is to make it possible for anyone
anywhere to gain the knowledge required for any purpose, by providing
access to knowledge via the web, or on CDs distributed to remote areas
with limited connectivity. The intention is to augment efforts to
provide access to information and communication technologies in
developing countries with provision of open content.
The vision is "Knowledge for all - Education for all, Empowering
Communities to Empower Themselves with Knowledge - Towards Wisdom".
I believe this fits very well with Wikimedia's goals, so, along with
other groups such as CSIR and MIMOS, I am hoping we will make a grant
proposal related to this to the World Bank by the end of this year.
If anyone is interested in taking part in the development of the
proposal and grant application, I would like to invite you to join the
new mailing list at <http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/fkc-l>
The list content is to be kept private since the exact details of the
grant application should not be made public before it has been
accepted. For this reason, membership of the list is moderated. Public
information will be placed at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Free_Knowledge_Communities
Angela.