Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
-------------------------------------------------- Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi
Good idea. I watched a report on TV where they said some refugees have been waiting for years for processing. It would be nice for them to be able to use and maybe contribute to Wikipedia while they are waiting. Maybe we should set up edit-a-thons and wikiclasses about life in Europe and the politics of the crisis, for the refugees and the Europeans both!
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 9:45 PM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
contrary to the name, it doesn't actually have 'internet access' ..they can read, but not contribute..
On 9/8/15, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
Good idea. I watched a report on TV where they said some refugees have been waiting for years for processing. It would be nice for them to be able to use and maybe contribute to Wikipedia while they are waiting. Maybe we should set up edit-a-thons and wikiclasses about life in Europe and the politics of the crisis, for the refugees and the Europeans both!
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 9:45 PM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
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This reminds me of several conversations I had with Barbara Schack of Libraries Without Borders [1] at the Lyon hackathon (I've copied her on this email).
They've developed the Ideas Box [2], a portable media center intended for locations like refugee camps. It's similar to the Internet-in-a-Box, although it takes the concept further by including client devices, toys, and furniture as well as an offline content server (it's really quite cool). As you'd imagine, the Ideas Box includes read access to downloaded Wikipedia content; however, Barbara told me she wanted Ideas Box users to have the opportunity to contribute as well as simply read, and asked us what it would take to make that possible.
We talked about it a good deal and had a brainstorming workshop on the subject; I recorded many of the ideas in Phabricator [3]. The technical challenges are significant, so I don't think anybody has pursued the project since then. However, if anyone out there wants to work on bridging this aspect of the digital divide, I'm sure Barbara would be excited to work with you!
[1]: http://www.librarieswithoutborders.org/ [2]: http://www.ideas-box.org/en/ [3]: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T100154
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 3:36 PM, Comet styles cometstyles@gmail.com wrote
contrary to the name, it doesn't actually have 'internet access' ..they can read, but not contribute..
On 9/8/15, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
Good idea. I watched a report on TV where they said some refugees have
been
waiting for years for processing. It would be nice for them to be able to use and maybe contribute to Wikipedia while they are waiting. Maybe we should set up edit-a-thons and wikiclasses about life in Europe and the politics of the crisis, for the refugees and the Europeans both!
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 9:45 PM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages, a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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-- Cometstyles
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Offline access is a nice idea, but the logistics of delivery seem daunting. Thankfully, a large number of refugees and migrants have smartphones.[1]
Probably the biggest ways we could help refugees are really to:
A) make Wikipedia super performant on mobile, particularly for low-end Android devices
B) make Wikipedia free via mobile programs like Zero or SMS gateways, so people who can't pay for data can access it
C) get more relevant, updated content in Arabic. Articles on relevant subjects are much shorter than in English, etc.[2]
1. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/world/europe/a-21st-century-migrants-ch... 2. https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 11:00 PM Neil P. Quinn nquinn@wikimedia.org wrote:
This reminds me of several conversations I had with Barbara Schack of Libraries Without Borders [1] at the Lyon hackathon (I've copied her on this email).
They've developed the Ideas Box [2], a portable media center intended for locations like refugee camps. It's similar to the Internet-in-a-Box, although it takes the concept further by including client devices, toys, and furniture as well as an offline content server (it's really quite cool). As you'd imagine, the Ideas Box includes read access to downloaded Wikipedia content; however, Barbara told me she wanted Ideas Box users to have the opportunity to contribute as well as simply read, and asked us what it would take to make that possible.
We talked about it a good deal and had a brainstorming workshop on the subject; I recorded many of the ideas in Phabricator [3]. The technical challenges are significant, so I don't think anybody has pursued the project since then. However, if anyone out there wants to work on bridging this aspect of the digital divide, I'm sure Barbara would be excited to work with you!
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 3:36 PM, Comet styles cometstyles@gmail.com wrote
contrary to the name, it doesn't actually have 'internet access' ..they can read, but not contribute..
On 9/8/15, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
Good idea. I watched a report on TV where they said some refugees have
been
waiting for years for processing. It would be nice for them to be able
to
use and maybe contribute to Wikipedia while they are waiting. Maybe we should set up edit-a-thons and wikiclasses about life in Europe and the politics of the crisis, for the refugees and the Europeans both!
On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 9:45 PM, Leinonen Teemu <
teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi>
wrote:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages, a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software
and
source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people packed in a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year (since 2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper textbooks for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be just one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people packed in a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year (since 2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper textbooks for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
-- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably right after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity). Still, I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- Teemu
PS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be just one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people packed in a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year (since 2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper textbooks for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
-- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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-------------------------------------------------- Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi +358 50 351 6796 Media Lab http://mlab.uiah.fi Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture --------------------------------------------------
I think in some situations Kiwix http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page can be a really good option. This might be one of them.
Alternatively, is Wikipedia Zero active in countries such as Yemen, Syria and Libya? If so, perhaps it is worth co-ordinating with some disaster relief NGOs such as MSF, Red Cross and Oxfam?
Teemu, thanks for raising this important issue.
Steve
On 8 September 2015 at 10:46, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably right after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity). Still, I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- TeemuPS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be just one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com
wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people
packed in
a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year (since 2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper
textbooks
for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
-- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi +358 50 351 6796 Media Lab http://mlab.uiah.fi Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture
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On 08.09.2015 11:52, Stevie Benton wrote:
I think in some situations Kiwix http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page can be a really good option. This might be one of them.
Yes, this has already been done a few times in the past with Kiwix-plug, a small device you just need to plug and you get a whole offline library (with Wikipedia, Gutenberg library, youtube videos, etc...). See: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Kiwix-plug.
Wikimedia CH prepares&sends Kiwix-Plugs to NGOs which need it.
Emmanuel
Excellent points Steve. On Sep 8, 2015 3:23 PM, "Stevie Benton" stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
I think in some situations Kiwix http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page can be a really good option. This might be one of them.
Alternatively, is Wikipedia Zero active in countries such as Yemen, Syria and Libya? If so, perhaps it is worth co-ordinating with some disaster relief NGOs such as MSF, Red Cross and Oxfam?
Teemu, thanks for raising this important issue.
Steve
On 8 September 2015 at 10:46, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably
right
after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity).
Still,
I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- TeemuPS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be
just
one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com
wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people
packed in
a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year
(since
2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper
textbooks
for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are
set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software
and
source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and
world-wide
mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee
camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
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Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
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Really sorry for the typo, read it "Stevie"
(Messages sent using Android) On Sep 8, 2015 3:23 PM, "Stevie Benton" stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
I think in some situations Kiwix http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Main_Page can be a really good option. This might be one of them.
Alternatively, is Wikipedia Zero active in countries such as Yemen, Syria and Libya? If so, perhaps it is worth co-ordinating with some disaster relief NGOs such as MSF, Red Cross and Oxfam?
Teemu, thanks for raising this important issue.
Steve
On 8 September 2015 at 10:46, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably
right
after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity).
Still,
I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- TeemuPS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be
just
one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com
wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people
packed in
a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year
(since
2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper
textbooks
for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are
set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software
and
source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and
world-wide
mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee
camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
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Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
On 08.09.2015 21:47, Tito Dutta wrote:
If so, perhaps it is worth co-ordinating with some disaster relief NGOs such as MSF, Red Cross and Oxfam?
This is the point. Concerning offline, the technology works. The problem is definitively the lack of advertisement/awareness/coordination with NGOs which are on the field.
Emmanuel
I think it is a a *very* good idea, but I think anything involving hardware can't be sponsored by WMF
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 11:46 AM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably right after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity). Still, I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- TeemuPS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be just one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com
wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people
packed in
a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year (since 2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper
textbooks
for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
-- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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Just a thought: would the European chapters, or a single European chapter, be willing to fundraise for this project?
Also, in Seattle we have at least one charity that provides or donates basic computer hardware. I imagine that other cities have similar charities. Perhaps a European chapter could get donated hardware from such a charity, so that the only costs to the chapter would be shipping and labor.
Pine
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 11:31 AM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Just a thought: would the European chapters, or a single European chapter, be willing to fundraise for this project?
Also, in Seattle we have at least one charity that provides or donates basic computer hardware. I imagine that other cities have similar charities. Perhaps a European chapter could get donated hardware from such a charity, so that the only costs to the chapter would be shipping and labor.
That would be cool.
However, before we get all excited with plans, it might be important for someone who is interested to contact the project lead and see if internet-in-a-box is even still active. The website hasn't been regularly updated since April of 2013. If there are no resources available from the project still then it's back to square one.
On 8.9.2015, at 20.04, Keegan Peterzell keegan.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
However, before we get all excited with plans, it might be important for someone who is interested to contact the project lead and see if internet-in-a-box is even still active. The website hasn't been regularly updated since April of 2013. If there are no resources available from the project still then it's back to square one.
Right. I think we should not go with the internet-in-a-box, but rather with the Kiwix. See: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Kiwix-plug
- Teemu
-------------------------------------------------- Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi
On 08.09.2015 20:37, Leinonen Teemu wrote:
On 8.9.2015, at 20.04, Keegan Peterzell keegan.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
However, before we get all excited with plans, it might be important for someone who is interested to contact the project lead and see if internet-in-a-box is even still active. The website hasn't been regularly updated since April of 2013. If there are no resources available from the project still then it's back to square one.
Right. I think we should not go with the internet-in-a-box, but rather with the Kiwix. See: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Kiwix-plug
Side information: Projects like internet-in-a-box (merged meanwhile with xsce school server) or Ideas Box use anyway Kiwix and ZIM files to provide Wikipedia (and also other content) offline.
Emmanuel
Just a reminder that Siko and company are in the middle of a major refresh of Community Resources. See https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Reimagining_WMF_grants
Pine On Sep 8, 2015 3:27 AM, "Jane Darnell" jane023@gmail.com wrote:
I think it is a a *very* good idea, but I think anything involving hardware can't be sponsored by WMF
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 11:46 AM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hi all,
Right, Jane. The ”box" is not connected to the internet but is a mass storage with WiFi. People can access the content saved to the device with their mobile phones.
There are initiatives to provide Internet connections to the refugee camps, as it is nowadays relatively high in a priority list (probably
right
after the sanitation, water, food, health services and electricity).
Still,
I am afraid that there are many less well-organized refugee camps where there are no internet connection. In these locations thousands of people could find the offline content, such as the one provided by the internet-in-box very useful.
This would be a nice way to realize our mission "to disseminate educational content effectively and globally".
- TeemuPS. In general I am against offline-Wikipedia but exceptional situations need exceptional solutions.
On 8.9.2015, at 10.13, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
all they need is wifi to connect to the box I think, so it would be
just
one box not connected to the internet with a wifi access.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/surprised-that-syrian-refugees-h...
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Tomasz Ganicz polimerek@gmail.com
wrote:
Well.. this is imaginable scale - I don't think if WMF have enough resources to provide free internet to such a huge group of people
packed in
a number of huge camps sometimes without basic facilities such as electricity... See the picture of just one camp:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refugee_C...
Syrian people live in camps in Lebanon and Turkey for third year
(since
2012)... There is even not enough basic schools and simple paper
textbooks
for children...
2015-09-07 21:45 GMT+02:00 Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people,
mostly
residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are
set
in
all in these countries.[2]
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37
languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software
and
source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and
world-wide
mapping down to street level.”
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee
camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi +358 50 351 6796 Media Lab http://mlab.uiah.fi Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture
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Heh, It's times like these I realize I'm still in a minority here. As one of the few non-american/european readers of the list, my perspective, differs on this issue.
I don't know what people imagine when they think of the conditions in these refugee camps. Allow me to paint a picture using commons [1][2] - These places have some of the highest population density anywhere in the world. Most have make-shift housing - tents or shanty, electricity - which is mostly for a single light or to charge an old phone - is unreliable, water in tankers has to be collected in jars and carried back[4]. Sanitation, roads - if such things exist, are equally troublesome. The designated monthly food vouchers/allowance, if they can get, is already being cut [3]. Add to that some petty crime and occasional police clashes. There's always the constant fear of outliving their host countries welcome, and being thrown out, left homeless. All that remains is just a harsh desert, a few sandstorms.
These are people fleeing their homes from a civil war, with no end in sight. Food, water, shelter, safety and their own dignity has to rank higher as a major concern. I'm not saying that we can't help, just that we figure lower in priorities from avoiding a civil war, genocide, to just surviving - things are far from stable at these places still, sadly. These refugees don't even have a legal status in most places, when they do it is only temporary.
On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leinonen@aalto.fi wrote:
Hello people,
Just an idea. Number of Syrian refugees is over 4,000,000 people, mostly residing in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.[1] Refugee camps are set in all in these countries.[2]
Between ISIS and kurdish forces, Iraq and Turkey are likely to have some instability in these camps. Turkey with the highest number of refugees has concentrated them at overcrowded refugee camps at borders while denying them refugee status. Lebanon refuses to set up any refugee camps, Jordan might have some of the highest density population center on earth, at one of its two camps. While the other gulf states have outright refused these refugees.
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
This device sounds like a portable hotspot with an attached storage.
I don't understand however, what device people would use to access this hotspot? ios, android- smartphones aren't as common in that part of the world yet. And you would still need electricity to charge those devices, all that remains is the language barrier...
Anyway, I think we already have something better - Wikipedia Zero. It was designed for very similar situations. We just need some sort of a carrier relationship to avail free access for everyone with a phone in those region, I seem to recall a light text only version too that would work on any phone. The carriers might even be receptive to the idea, if approached correctly - Kul might know.
Regards Theo
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_Aerial_View_of_the_Za%27atri_Refu... [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syrian_refugee_camp_on_theTurkish_bo... [3]http://www.unhcr.org/55b7737b6.html [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Children_filling_water_in_Al-Zaatari_Camp...
Could we as a movement get the internet-in-a-box to the refugee camps?
- Teemu[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_refugee_camps [3] http://internet-in-a-box.org
Teemu Leinonen http://teemuleinonen.fi _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
I think that access to open-access, easily accessible and editable maps might be quite helpful to refugees. Info about different countries' policies and practices toward migrants might also be helpful.
Pine
<snip>
Internet-in-a-Box[3] is a a WiFI-device with "Wikipedia in 37 languages,
a
library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level.”
This device sounds like a portable hotspot with an attached storage.
I don't understand however, what device people would use to access this hotspot? ios, android- smartphones aren't as common in that part of the world yet. And you would still need electricity to charge those devices, all that remains is the language barrier...
Anyway, I think we already have something better - Wikipedia Zero. It was designed for very similar situations. We just need some sort of a carrier relationship to avail free access for everyone with a phone in those region, I seem to recall a light text only version too that would work on any phone. The carriers might even be receptive to the idea, if approached correctly - Kul might know.
Regards Theo
Interesting. Over here, the 'experts' are adjusting the image exactly the other way around: that smartphones are much more common there than we would expect, and that we underestimate the inventivity of people to get access to information/the internet. Especially in the context of people being suspicious of all those refugees being photographed with a smartphone.
I don't know what is the truth, and why this difference of understanding exists - just adding to the noise here.
Lodewijk
Hiya Lodewijk :)
I apologize if this is going off-topic.
On Sat, Sep 12, 2015, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org wrote:
Interesting. Over here, the 'experts' are adjusting the image exactly the other way around: that smartphones are much more common there than we would expect, and that we underestimate the inventivity of people to get access to information/the internet. Especially in the context of people being suspicious of all those refugees being photographed with a smartphone.
Those "experts" seem to be building a narrative, I suppose. There might be political motivations or general apathy at play there so I won't know what image people are formulating in Europe. There are two groups of refugees at the moment, one that are making their way through Europe and fleeing constantly and the other, that are stuck in overcrowded refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. The original post seemed directed towards the second group. So, those entering through Greece pay as much $2500 per person to smugglers, they take huge risks with their lives, and physically carry all they own in this world on their backs, in comparison, smartphones cost less than $100[1]. It starts becoming a necessity for a family to stay together and keep in touch with relatives - phones become quite necessary for this group of refugees fleeing across borders. The article does state that human rights group in Serbia are setting up free wifi, and UN agencies are handing out thousands of free SIMs, similar to what Teemu envisions - but you have to remember that is mostly in Europe.
The other group in refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which is more than half of the total number of refugees, have more dire concerns - Food, being the most prominent one[2][3]. They are usually the poorest and most vulnerable group of refugees in the situation. Things are getting so close to rock bottom in fact that the refugees are considering going back to the Warzone in Syria instead of starving in the camps.[2]
I don't know what is the truth, and why this difference of understanding exists - just adding to the noise here.
It's certainly a bad situation all around.
Coming back to my on-topic suggestion, Wikipedia Zero is a much better alternative. Partnering with other agencies and setting these devices up physically in sometimes hostile areas, is a huge undertaking that I believe we are not set up for. WP Zero already exists in a dozen markets in the developing world, all it needs is a single agreement with a local carrier - it just makes access to Wikipedia free for everyone with a phone (smart or not). It's a better fit in my opinion.
Kind regards Theo
[1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/for-syrian-refugees-smartphones-are-a-lifeline-... [2] http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/sep/11/destitute-syrian-r...
Hi all https://openideo.com/challenge/refugee-education/brief may be of interest looking for innovation around: 'How might we improve education and expand learning opportunities for refugees around the world? '
The call for that has now closed, but it may be useful to look at how people intend to actually implement, who people are working with (and who has submitted proposals), and where Kiwix (or other open knowledge resources) could be effectively used.
Cheers
Simon
On 12 September 2015 at 15:48, Theo10011 de10011@gmail.com wrote:
Hiya Lodewijk :)
I apologize if this is going off-topic.
On Sat, Sep 12, 2015, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org wrote:
Interesting. Over here, the 'experts' are adjusting the image exactly the other way around: that smartphones are much more common there than we
would
expect, and that we underestimate the inventivity of people to get access to information/the internet. Especially in the context of people being suspicious of all those refugees being photographed with a smartphone.
Those "experts" seem to be building a narrative, I suppose. There might be political motivations or general apathy at play there so I won't know what image people are formulating in Europe. There are two groups of refugees at the moment, one that are making their way through Europe and fleeing constantly and the other, that are stuck in overcrowded refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. The original post seemed directed towards the second group. So, those entering through Greece pay as much $2500 per person to smugglers, they take huge risks with their lives, and physically carry all they own in this world on their backs, in comparison, smartphones cost less than $100[1]. It starts becoming a necessity for a family to stay together and keep in touch with relatives - phones become quite necessary for this group of refugees fleeing across borders. The article does state that human rights group in Serbia are setting up free wifi, and UN agencies are handing out thousands of free SIMs, similar to what Teemu envisions - but you have to remember that is mostly in Europe.
The other group in refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which is more than half of the total number of refugees, have more dire concerns - Food, being the most prominent one[2][3]. They are usually the poorest and most vulnerable group of refugees in the situation. Things are getting so close to rock bottom in fact that the refugees are considering going back to the Warzone in Syria instead of starving in the camps.[2]
I don't know what is the truth, and why this difference of understanding exists - just adding to the noise here.
It's certainly a bad situation all around.
Coming back to my on-topic suggestion, Wikipedia Zero is a much better alternative. Partnering with other agencies and setting these devices up physically in sometimes hostile areas, is a huge undertaking that I believe we are not set up for. WP Zero already exists in a dozen markets in the developing world, all it needs is a single agreement with a local carrier - it just makes access to Wikipedia free for everyone with a phone (smart or not). It's a better fit in my opinion.
Kind regards Theo
[1]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/for-syrian-refugees-smartphones-are-a-lifeline-... [2]
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/sep/11/destitute-syrian-r...
[3] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34220590 _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Relevant to the conversation about how migrants can, and have, used technology to communicate and organize: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/20/world/facebook-groups-push-for-safe-land-p...
Pine
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