KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE SOFTWARE
KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE CODE
KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE OFFLINE

We built a solution, and people have started using it for needs or regions we hadn't dreamt of covering. Now they're touring schools in their hometowns up north, but also in large cities where you would not expect connectivity to be such an issue. Theirs is an immensely popular project, because it is simple, and it is free. Show people how they can browse their favourite encyclopedia even without internet access, but also other projects like Vikidia for kids, or the Gutenberg library. They organize workshop to show how Kiwix works. Ross Patrick and his colleagues want to help others deal with costs and connectivity issues.

I have no idea how he found out about us - he simply tweeted this photo a couple of weeks ago.

Never asked for support, just decided it was what they needed and went at it.

KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE OFFLINE

Look at the picture below: I've never met Ross Patrick Azogbonon - he's a teacher in Benin, and found Kiwix offline to be so useful that he and some friends decided to go evangelize the country about offline access. How do you define success? Seriously - what's your metric so you can start thinking 'I'm getting there'? Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise.

KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE SOFTWARE

The strength of open-source software is that it is easier to fix, easier to adapt, easier to scale. I did not even know that this village existed, so I'm super stoked to see our work put to good use.

KIWIX FROM A THUMB DRIVE CODE

This could not have happened if Kiwix' code had remained proprietary and closed. An Ilimbox uses 5V to power so electricity is not any issue, and it can create a local network for a whole classroom. They loaded up Kiwix offline onto their very own, and very cool Ilimbox, packed it with local educational content, and distributed it around rural, mountainous Kyrgyzstan. That's when our friends at the Internet Society Kyrgyzstan Chapter decided to step in and provide internet content without internet access. Problem is, places like Jaz-Kechuu are so remote that it's not a viable option. The Kyrgyz government decided at the start of the pandemic that all schools should be connected to the internet. They're watching a very traditional game of Kok-Boruu or, as everyone knows, вЂњhorseback polo with a goatвЂќ (yep). This old man and his grandson live in the village of Jaz-Kechuu, Kyrgyzstan. (special thanks to Martin Sauter and Toby Negrin for being the right people with the right connections) We are also partnering with Swarm and working on a decentralized version of the Russian Wikipedia that will be censorship-resistant - we're already doing this with Protocol Labs, but the more the merrier. But at this stage it's only an idea and will need a bit of resource allocation on our side. It could easily be updated every day and be a fairly quick download. we are discussing the possibility of generating a mini-subset with all war-related articles so as to use as an alternate access to neutral information. Next step will be to use our Google Ads to advertise it in Ukraine.ДЄs far as access to information goes, and should Wikipedia be blocked: We made an ad hoc page on our site listing them all, and it will be translated to Ukrainian. We now have a fairly decent collection of medical / combat care manuals. We had something similar back in 2017 when Turkey blocked Wikipedia, but this one is just another dimension. Our Russia-based traffic has been multiplied by fifty (50!) within a week (to 5'000 *new* users per day), and Russian downloads now constitute 42% of all traffic on our servers (up from 2% last year). I have been contacted by a Russian newspaper asking how/if the current threats from authorities had impacted downloads of the Russian Wikipedia via and I figured I might as well share here:

Kiwix from a thumb drive