Template:Community initiative

Here at Appropedia we are creating and collating content that can be accessed by all people - including those with poor or no internet access. Various organizations and individuals have had this idea (see below, #Groups that are already doing offline content.)

If people don't have internet access, possible media includes:

  • CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
  • paper (it is Appropedia's intention that pages from this site can be freely printed and copied, as pages, pamphlets or books as is or modified)
  • on the hard drives of computers used in remote or unconnected areas

This page is about how we creating and collating content that can be accessed by people with poor or no internet access. Various organizations and individuals have had this idea. This includes OLPC, which is happy for this work to be done here. Appropedia can do the curating and development of content - taking it from the original providers to the offline content distributors.

This content does not form a separate section of Appropedia; rather, an offline content project will be a collection of Appropedia pages. This means that the offline content benefits from the editing activity at Appropedia, being frequently updated, and corrected, below.

The main project on this on Appropedia is the one to make on an OLPC bundle from Appropedia content: see OLPC bundle frontpage.

Mel Chua & Chriswaterguy · talk think it makes sense to develop content on Appropedia, and have a page describing the collaboration at the laptop wiki.

Groups distributing offline content

Free

(free licensed content only, allowing reuse and remixing):

  • OLPC, through the XO laptop.
  • The Jhai PC and Communication System, a project of the Jhai Foundation, is a computer and communications system designed to meet the needs of villagers in remote and rural areas.
  • Wikipedia content:
  • Moulin - Focused on Wikipedia content. (French based, Africa focused plus Persian language. Renaud Gaudin spent several months volunteering with Geekcorps Mali. They're working with the US Peace Corps, in discussion with UNESCO? Apparently approached OLPC in the past, so they're interested in cooperating.)
  • WikiAfrica
  • [ http://schools-wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia Selection for schools], English language selection aimed at UK curriculum - also available as a torrent.

Restricted

(includes mostly copyrighted material that can be accessed, but cannot be freely reused):

  • CD3WD - note that although they have permission to use the content, this is not the same as having a free license, so it should be assumed the content is not under a compatible license, and can't be used, unless there is solid reason to believe it is free licensed.
  • EldisOnDisk by Eldis[1]
  • Human Development Library - It contains a total of 160,000 pages and 30,000 images, which if printed would weigh 340 kg and cost US$20,000. It is available on CD-ROM at US$2 for distribution in developing countries.
  • Food and Nutrition Library 2.2

Unknown license

Groups which could benefit from free content

Other outlets - groups doing related activities which could easily add value to their programs with free content:

Please add any others that you are aware of.


The plan here is to combine our efforts. Even if we use different methods and channels of distribution, we can share the work of creating open license content, freely available to all in the world, including those without a reliable internet connection.

Notes on size

Each XO (Children's Machine) can take up to 20 MB per project. Each school server can take much more - up to say 2 GB, so particular topics from the larger library can easily be accessed by the students.

Content type and language

PDFs are acceptable, but wiki pages are preferable where they have already been transferred.

Photos are fantastic, but must be well selected as they take up space.

Translations are awesome! Especially in the pilot languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Russian... (see full "Launch countries" list at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Image:Olpcmap.jpg)

Groups that might be interested

  • Would Nabuur be interested in taking this on as a broad, cross-village project?

Other content

We can also suggest other contents/sites to be used on the OLPC. Some of our partners such as CD3WD have great material, which we also have permission to use at Appropedia. Probably the easiest route in these cases is to move it to wiki form at Appropedia and then include it (with attribution) in Appropedia's OLPC content. In the case of some other sites, it's best to take directly from those sites. Suggestions:

You can help

Check out the current projects below to see where you can contribute. Various kinds of help are needed, including:

  • selecting suitable articles
  • editing articles
  • making simple English versions of pages (or just making sure existing articles are as clear as they can be)
  • translating into other languages (particularly the ( target languages of the projects).

Target languages

When translating content, any major language of the developing world is an appropriate target language.

The main target languages of the OLPC project can be explored by checking the country release plans for the XO-1.

Current projects

Appropedia projects

Affordable textbook projects

Licensing

Different approaches have been taken by the projects. For content to be useful to all projects, however, it is essential that it is released under an open license.

Some projects such as EldisOnDisk and CD3WD have gained permission to publish material for their specific project, but not under an open license. OLPC will only use open-licensed content for the offline content included in their project, although other content may be posted elsewhere for users to find. Open licenses are ideal however, to enable sharing and further creation of content.

Content types

Ideally we want content in wiki format. Existing formats can be translated - see the work being done on Word to wiki and PDF to wiki conversions.

See also

Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.