[Foundation-l] getting Wikipedia to the 5.2 billion people who can't access it

[Anthony]

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 9:33 PM, Brian <Brian.Mingus at colorado.edu> wrote:

> How does Google Wave help the WMF achieve its goals?


Not sure, it doesn't really exist yet.  I'm sure there will be numerous ways
in which it can do it, though.

Wikipedia has already become a dominant information source for the 1.5
> billion people with Internet access thanks to Google.
>

How does being a dominant information source for people help the WMF achieve
its goals?

We need to focus on getting Wikipedia to the 5.2 billion people who can't
> access it.
>

Indeed.  What languages do these 5.2 billion people speak?  Are they
connected to the Internet?  If not, what's stopping them?  Do they have a
telephone, a computer, electricity, television, running water?  If not, what
is stopping them from being able to get these things?  Are the problems
things that are well geared toward the expertise of the WMF, or are we
better off letting other non-profits with more specialized expertise fix
them?

Personally, I didn't even know the number was 5.2 billion.  Should I do this
further research myself, or can someone answer these questions for me?