[Foundation-l] One Wikipedia Per Person (regarding the distribution of and the ability to read Wikipedia)

Sun May 31 19:56:57 UTC 2009

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 3:20 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/5/31 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> > HTTP uses TCP/IP, not UDP/IP.  Your comment was "If it doesn't work over
> IP
> > then it isn't the internet".  If you'd like to change that to "If it
> doesn't
> > work over TCP then it isn't the internet", fine.  But it probably
> wouldn't
> > be difficult to run the Wave protocol over UDP.  Then you could send
> one-way
> > Wave updates through a one-way satellite feed, or a one-way OTA feed.
>  Add
> > in a low-bandwidth or intermittent connection to send in the other
> > direction, and you can get an email account better than most people had
> in
> > 1995.  Remember when BBSes used to subscribe to UUCP email?
>
> However that has expensive upkeep costs and is reliant of functioning
> infrastructure. Books do not stop working just because somebody broke
> SAT-3/WASC.

Depends on the topic.  Some books go obsolete pretty quickly, and delivering
new ones is quite expensive.

I've got nothing against books, though.  They're a big part of any
solution.  That said...

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 3:14 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2009/5/31 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> > On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 2:34 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> There are a number of existing projects to send out school text books.
> >> An encyclopedia however is a useful part of wider learning.
> >
> >
> > I guess, but a print copy of some subset of Wikipedia doesn't seem like
> the
> > best solution for someone who already has access to school textbooks.  If
> > you're talking about a major language, there are already encyclopedias
> > written for them, and copies can probably be had for much less it would
> cost
> > to publish a print edition of Wikipedia.
>
> Evidence? Remember there are rather a lot of major languages where any
> native speaker well educated and rich enough to actually buy an
> encyclopedia (even in the west britanica was a middle class symbol) is
> unlikely to want to buy one in that language.
>

Brand new and for retail price, sure.  But used and/or at cost (which surely
there are publishers willing to provide for this sort of thing), I don't see
how you could beat the established players.

>If you're talking about a minor
> > language, I don't know.  Are there languages for which Wikipedia is
> > unarguably the best encyclopedia, with enough native speakers to make a
> > print run feasible, and for which offering an encyclopedia in a
> non-native
> > language wouldn't be more effective?
>
> Tagalog is the first example that comes to mind. Telugu perhaps but
> the pro English bias there would be an issue.
>
> > Maybe.  Want to start that focus group?
>
> It's not a focus group issue. It's a document what encyclopedia's
> actually exist in non European languages issue.

I'm not sure we should waste everyone on this mailing list's time going
through the details and formulating a plan.  Let's take Tagalog.  We've got
22 million native speakers, of which what % have internet access, and what %
of those without it would be interested in a copy of Wikipedia?  What kind
of technology do these people have?  What % have electricity?  What % have
access to a library?  What are the schools like for them?  Do the schools
have computers?  Do the libraries have computers?  What topics would be most
important?  How big is the Tagalog Wikipedia?  What are its strengths?  What
are its weaknesses?  What is the government's role in education?  How is the
funding?  What's the mean and median income?

I'd love to put something into action here.  But it's not something I see
being worked out over foundation-l.