Hi Rupert, Our projects are run by the Centre for Commonwealth Education (http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/cce/), at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Our project work is mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in the Caribbean and Asia.
Sending a memory stick is possible in some circumstances, but it's not really scalable solution. A lot of the time an optimised, resumable download is the best option. There is some connectivity, but usually even a 'broadband' connection don't deliver more than intermittent modem speeds. However, with the right infrastructure, that's enough to transfer files of the order of 50-100MB over night. While that's slow, sending a memory stick is also slow, and it takes a lot of effort to coordinate. For instance, in our work in Zambia, we tend to send stuff out with people travelling, and hand it over e.g. to a local NGO, who then sends it out with somebody already travelling (by bus or car). All the best, Bjoern On 14 November 2013 18:05, rupert THURNER <[email protected]> wrote: > Where are you located if i may ask? Would sending an usb key via snail mail > be a viable update option? > > Rupert > > Am 14.11.2013 13:40 schrieb "Bjoern Hassler" <[email protected]>: > >> Hi Rupert, >> >> Yes, ZIM is definitely one possibility, and definitely something we >> would like to explore. We would like to be able to provide our >> resource on a memory stick, and ZIM could work well for that. >> >> There are two potential drawbacks: >> >> (1) ZIM requires the reader software to read the file, so in some >> circumstances, a plain html version might be the best way. >> >> (2) Emmanuel mentions that incremental ZIM updates are on the roadmap. >> For us, that's a very important feature, because we are dealing with >> low bandwidth - high cost connections. So we have to be able to create >> incremental updates. >> >> So for now, we'd would probably be best off with ZIM as well as plain >> html. >> >> Does the ZIM process create a stand-alone html version first, that is >> usable? That would be interesting. >> >> Emmanuel has offered to create a ZIM file for us, and I am checking >> with our computing service at the moment whether we can run npm and >> nodejs on our server. >> >> Bjoern >> >> On 14 November 2013 11:58, rupert THURNER <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > Is a zim file acceptable as well? >> > >> > Am 14.11.2013 10:50 schrieb "Bjoern Hassler" <[email protected]>: >> >> >> >> Hello! >> >> >> >> What script would you recommend to create a static offline version of >> >> a mediawiki? (Perhaps with and without parsoid?) >> >> >> >> I've been looking for a good solution for ages, and have experimented >> >> with a few things. Here's what we currently do. It's not perfect, and >> >> really a bit too cumbersome, but it works as a proof of concept. >> >> >> >> To illustrate: E.g. one of our wiki pages is here: >> >> >> >> http://orbit.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/OER4Schools/What_is_interactive_teaching >> >> >> >> We have a "mirror" script, that uses the API to generate an HTML >> >> version of a wiki page (which is then 'wrapped' in a basic menu): >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> http://orbit.educ.cam.ac.uk/orbit_mirror/index.php?page=OER4Schools/What_is_interactive_teaching >> >> >> >> (Some log info printed at the bottom of the page, which will provide >> >> some hints as to what is going on.) >> >> >> >> The resulting page is as low-bandwidth as possible (which is one of >> >> our use cases). The original idea with the mirror php script was that >> >> you could run it on your own server: It only requests pages if they >> >> have changed, and keeps a cache, which allows viewing pages if your >> >> server has no connectivity. (You could of course use a cache anyway, >> >> and there's advantages/disadvantages compared to this more explicit >> >> caching method.) The script rewrites urls so that normal page links >> >> stay within the mirror, but links for editing and history point back >> >> at the wiki (see tabs along the top of the page). >> >> >> >> The mirror script also produces (and caches) a static web page, see >> >> here: >> >> >> >> >> >> http://orbit.educ.cam.ac.uk/orbit_mirror/site/OER4Schools%252FHow_to_run_workshops.html >> >> >> >> Assuming that you've run a wget across the mirror, then the site will >> >> be completely mirrored in '/site'. You can then tar up '/site' and >> >> distribute it alongside your w/images directory, and you have a static >> >> copy, or use rsync to incrementally update '/site' and w/images on >> >> another server. >> >> >> >> There's also a api-based process, that can work out which pages have >> >> changes, and refreshes the mirror accordingly. >> >> >> >> Most of what I am using is in the mediawiki software already (i.e. >> >> API->html), and it would be great to have a solution like this, that >> >> could generate an offline site on the fly. Perhaps one could add >> >> another export format to the API, and then an extension could generate >> >> the offline site and keep it up to date as pages on the main wiki are >> >> changing. Does this make sense? Would anybody be up for collaborating >> >> on implementing this? Are there better things in the pipeline? >> >> >> >> I can see why you perhaps wouldn't want it for one of the major >> >> wikimedia sites, or why it might be inefficient somehow. But for our >> >> use cases, for a small-ish wiki, with a set of poorly connected users >> >> across the digital divide, it would be fantastic. >> >> >> >> So - what are your solutions for creating a static offline copy of a >> >> mediawiki? >> >> >> >> Looking forward to hearing about it! >> >> Bjoern >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Offline-l mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Offline-l mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Offline-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Offline-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l > _______________________________________________ Offline-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l
