Thanks for the clarification, Teemu. That's helpful. And I hear you - we
need to continue to work with communities worldwide to include their
knowledge in the "sum of all human knowledge." It's definitely not enough
to have them reading knowledge written by others.
Personally, I see the New Readers efforts as a step in that direction, and
not the end goal. We're working on bringing more people to understanding
Wikipedia/Wikimedia with the hope that they'll contribute down the line...
but, in my opinion, we can't expect people to contribute if they don't
visit our sites or understand the values and structures we have built to
support building knowledge.
I'm not as familiar with the ins and outs of the rest of the Foundation's
work as with mine (leading the new readers program), but there are other
projects happening that are designed to invite contributions from people
who primarily access the internet on mobile phones, in non-European
languages, etc..
It's a bit hard to tease out of the annual plan [0], but here are some
examples:
* In Audiences (Product), work for mobile contributions [1] and local
language content [2]
* In Partnerships, support for missing content in specific
geographies/languages [3]
* In Community Engagement, support communities in capacity development [4]
I hope this helps, and thanks again for the comments.
Anne
[0]
On Sat, Jul 21, 2018 at 12:05 AM, Leinonen Teemu <teemu.leinonen(a)aalto.fi>
wrote:
Thanks Anne,
I have followed the Kiwix and now checked the WikiFundi’s status, too.
Thanks for the links.
My point is that words matters and for instance, I find the concept “New
Readers” problematic in the case of us reaching “Global South” (often
offline).
-Teemu
Lähetetty iPhonesta
Anne Gomez <agomez(a)wikimedia.org> kirjoitti
21.7.2018 kello 0.00:
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(a)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(a)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(a)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(a)wikimedia.org>
>>> escreveu:
>>>
>>>> This press release is also available on the Wikimedia blog here:
>>>>
>>>
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/18/wikimedia-
> 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(a)wikimedia.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kiwix
>>>> Stéphane Coillet-Matillon
>>>> +41 79 215 8510 or stephane(a)kiwix.org
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [1]
>>>>
>>>
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Stephane/
> 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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> and
>>> Wikimedia Commons.
>>> Sent from mobile. Please, excuse my brevity.
>>>
>>> +55 (71) 99707 6409
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Pronouns: she/her
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
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*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
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