[WikiEN-l] Putting Wikipedia on a CD or DVD

Wed Mar 23 22:07:16 UTC 2005

Tom Haws wrote:

> Charles Matthews wrote:
>
>> I have some experience at the YMCA Kampala (Uganda) - which has its 
>> own computer room; and my mother is just back from a secondary school 
>> in the coffee-growing area of Tanzania.  The latter has no working 
>> computers, and is not likely to be able to get technician-level help.
>>
>> Those are relatively typical, I suppose, of the capital 
>> city/up-country constrasts in Africa, where things are relatively 
>> hopeful (for example, high uptakes of primary education).
>>
>> Any donated software is likely to find its way to institutions, 
>> rather than individuals - that's one point.
>
> Of course we have to get Wikipedia ready with a working Wiki 
> rating/tagging/validation system.  That is really our whole job.
> I work with a help-Africa charity called Care For Life that is based 
> in Mozambique, and I think if Wikipedia could provide reliable, 
> selectable content, that humanitarian organizations like Care For Life 
> could creatively solve the problem of distribution.  I could ask the 
> board of Care For Life, but it seems it would be a small matter to 
> create a Wikipedia Appliance that was optimized for price and utility 
> in a given area.  For example, Care For Life could purchase or receive 
> donations of cheap computers and provide them with Wikipedia 1.0 
> loaded at their Literacy Centers. 

One needs to consider what requirements should be a part of a "cheap 
computer".  CD drives are relatively recent in the technological 
history, and the older slower drives may be made available for these 
machines.  On the other hand, it may not be cost effective to upgrade 
these machines to have great graphics.  This would suggest that there 
should be a 1.0 version with all pictures stripped out so that the 
recipients can at least benefit from the text.

Ec