From: "Andy Rabagliati"
<andyr(a)wizzy.com>
Folks,
[...]
Due to the time taken to download new snapshots, I only
do these between semesters - it can take a week or so to
download, using UUCP at cheap rates in evenings and weekends.
1. Graphics (you knew that was coming !)
Hi Andy,
I work with three different
school districts in SW New
Hampshire, USA. We have
the students using Wikipedia
as a resource with different
access. One school has an
AOL dial up account at
33.6k another a frame
relay connection and one
more on local cable broad
band. We've tried it all!
One outlying school cannot
afford a live fulltime connection
and we download whole websites
and mirror them on the server when
requested by teachers, so the process
is during nighttime. For this school
I've brought a lot of information on
CD-R's, shared it out of the drive
and have the kids access the info.
These are all just ways to make do,
untill they get faster access in the
area, (which is very rural).
I was thinking that if you could use
a backup sent to you on CD-R or a
DVD of whatever images or tarballs
will be needed it would save you
incredible amounts of download time,
wouldn't it?
2. A daily SQL update for the main page.
Even a weekend update would be quite
recent and something to look forward
to for the students and teachers.
Thanks again for an invaluable resource that
almost replaces
the web at one fell swoop in places that cannot afford the web.
Cheers, Andy!
I wholeheartedly agree, Andy.
I feel that Wikipedia is an excellent
resource for schools!
Andy brings the problem down to earth. We can still find places with
limited Internet access without having to look in Africa. The United
States has some of the best colleges and universities in the world, but
an OECD study a couple years ago showed that education at the elementary
and secondary levels it is remarkable for the inconsistent quality
between one district and an other.
The poorer school districts need all the help they can get.
Ec