Hi Teemu,
I agree that there is a lot we can, and should, do for people who are not online... I'm really excited about this partnership with Kiwix because they are the base of a lot of different initiatives in the offline space.
Are you aware of WikiFundi[1]? It is a project, built on Kiwix, that is taking steps towards offline editing. Offline editing is a really complex problem from a technical and user experience perspective. The WikiFundi team has been working on the product for a couple of years now, with support from WMF and the Orange Foundation.
In January, the Foundation funded a project grant[2] to support WikiFundi developing their user experience and effectiveness.
Cheers, Anne
[1] http://www.wikifundi.org/ [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/WikiInAfrica/WikiFundi
On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 11:39 AM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Offline is important but when doing these things we should same time remember our vision statement’s part saying “*every single human being* can freely *share* in the sum of all knowledge”.
We should never consider the people in the “offline world” being only readers, users or consumers of the content, but people who naturally have a lot of knowledge to share for the rest of the world.
With the offline distribution, let’s keep working on to have more languages and active communities in the Wikimedia. Let’s have the edit-button when ever possible.
-Teemu
James Heilman jmh649@gmail.com kirjoitti 20.7.2018 kello 12.54:
Agree amazing news. Offline is key for much of the world.
We are developing and distributing "Internet-in-a-Boxes" to help
compensate
somewhat for the pull back from zero rating.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Internet-in-a-Box
James
On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 4:27 AM Lucas Teles teleswiki@gmail.com
wrote:
Those are excellent news!
I wonder if there are any plans on working on less rich countries. They usually have less internet access and would benefit from that.
Wikipedia Zero has just expired in Angola and I can’t imagine a best
way to
replace that source of knowledge withou having to deal with the negative side of it.
Concerning the many users from Angola that reached out to me complaining about the end of Wikipedia Zero in Angola, giving them access to Kiwix
will
be of enormous help.
Teles
Em qui, 19 de jul de 2018 às 19:16, Samantha Lien slien@wikimedia.org escreveu:
This press release is also available on the Wikimedia blog here:
foundation-and-kiwix-partner-to-grow-offline-access-to-wikipedia/Wikimedia
Foundation and Kiwix partner to grow offline access to Wikipedia *The Wikimedia Foundation and Switzerland-based Kiwix announce a global collaboration to increase offline access to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.*
Lausanne, Switzerland, and San Francisco, USA, 18 July 2018 – The Wikimedia Foundation has announced a partnership with Kiwix, the free
and
open-source software solution that enables offline access to
educational
content, to expand and improve access to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects globally. This partnership will include a $275,000
contribution
to
Kiwix to further enhance offline access to Wikipedia in parts of the
world
where consistent, affordable internet connectivity presents a
significant
barrier to accessing Wikipedia.
“Our hope is that one day everyone will have access to the internet,
and
eliminate the need for other offline methods of access to information.” said Kiwix CEO Stephane Coillet-Matillon. “But we know that there are
still
serious gaps in internet access globally that require solutions today. Kiwix is a tool to start fixing things right now.” The Wikimedia Foundation and Kiwix have had a long-standing
collaborative
relationship to expand access to Wikipedia around the world. This
includes
recent support to Kiwix and WikiProject Medicine to improve the availability of offline Wikipedia medical content [1], as well as improvements to the Kiwix desktop experience.
Through this partnership, the two organizations will collaborate to
create
a long-term strategy for third party reuse of Kiwix’s free access
platform,
fix longstanding code debt, improve Kiwix’s usability across mobile platforms including Android, and integrate Kiwix’s and the Wikimedia Foundation’s technical operations more closely for improved Wikipedia offline experiences.
“As part of the 2030 direction for Wikimedia’s future [2], we’re
thrilled
to be partnering with Kiwix to invest in solutions to address one of
the
critical barriers to participating in Wikipedia globally: reliable
internet
access,” said Anne Gomez, Senior Program Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation. “We have made a commitment as an organization to actively address the challenges and barriers to reaching our global Wikimedia vision: a world in which everyone can freely share in knowledge. Today marks an important step toward realizing that commitment.”
The Wikimedia vision is global: a world in which everyone can freely
share
in the sum of all knowledge. While there has been a significant
reduction
in high mobile data costs and other barriers to participating in
Wikipedia,
more than half the world’s population is not yet online. [3]
Today, Kiwix sits at the heart of the offline ecosystem with more than
3
million users from more than 200 countries. It can store millions of Wikipedia articles from any of Wikipedia’s nearly 300 languages along
with
thousands of books and videos on a single flash drive or microSD card
for
access on smartphones and computers. Kiwix has also worked with
nonprofits
such as the Orange Foundation, Human Rights Foundation, Internet in a
Box,
WikiFundi, and Digisoft to scale distribution of offline education materials around the world to students, teachers, and the general
public.
More information about the Wikimedia Foundation’s work to expand access and participation to Wikipedia globally, including information about
this
partnership with Kiwix, can be found in the Wikimedia Foundation’s 2018-2019 annual plan. [4]
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports
and
operates Wikipedia and its sister free knowledge projects. Wikipedia is
the
world’s free knowledge resource, spanning more than 45 million articles across nearly 300 languages. Every month, more than 200,000 people edit Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, collectively creating and
improving
knowledge that is accessed by more than 1 billion unique devices every month. This all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties
in
the world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation
is
a 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and
grants.
About Kiwix
Kiwix is an open-source software that brings internet content to
millions
of people without internet access - be it because of cost, poor infrastructures or even censorship. Websites like Wikipedia, TED talks,
the
Gutenberg library and many more can be stored and browsed as if users
were
online. Kiwix is available in more than 100 languages, and runs on all major desktop and mobile platforms. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland,
Kiwix
Association is a registered Swiss Verein that is funded solely through donations and grants. For more information, see www.kiwix.org.
Press contacts
Wikimedia Foundation Kui Kinyanjui press@wikimedia.org
Kiwix Stéphane Coillet-Matillon +41 79 215 8510 or stephane@kiwix.org
[1]
Kiwix/Offline_medical
[2] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/11/03/wikimedia-movement-
new-direction/
[3] https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers/Annual_Plan_1819
*Samantha Lien* Communications Manager Wikimedia Foundation 1Montgomery Street Suite 1600 San Francisco, CA 94104
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