[Offline-l] Re: Notes from the WM Summit

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Thanks SJ, very interesting. And cool to hear that there’s interest around 
offline wikis.

The million-dollar question I guess after what you wrote is whether we should 
support or not this Charter when it is put up for a vote?

SCM

> On 28 Apr 2024, at 13:29, Samuel Klein  wrote:
> 
> Dearly offline,
> 
> The Wikimedia Summit was last weekend in Berlin, which I attended on behalf 
> of WOW.  It focused entirely on the idea of a Charter for our movement and 
> setting up a representative Council that could make global decisions 
> independently of the WMF.
> 
> Notes from the WM Summit 
> 
>  compiled by the hosts.
> Photos from the event 
>  
> 
> Charter thoughts
> 
> I found aspects of the current charter draft to be arbitrary and too 
> operational 
> ,
>  creating a large body without clarity about what it would do, with little 
> connection to the work of editors on the projects, and with hard-to-change 
> founding documents. 
> 
> The main focus of the Berlin discussions was to identify changes that 
> attendees felt had to be made to the charter, for it to work. Answers to 
> questions posed ['what do you see as deal-breakers to approving a charter? / 
> how would you improve the current text?"] were workshopped over two days in 
> groups. Then there was a final filtering into 46 condensed suggestions that 
> those in attendance voted on, and this filter removed some important points 
> of feedback.  Given how the whole progressed, it would have benefited from 
> input from a broader group [at least sharing regular photos back with our 
> groups? I would try this next time] and from having already responded to the 
> most common feedback given on the charter talk page 
> .
> 
> I don't feel the conclusion of the process worked. Some of the condensed 
> statements were underspecified, overcomplicated, or costly for little 
> benefit. Some common points -- for instance, that the charter had to be 
> simpler; or that a supermajority should be needed for ratification -- were 
> filtered out entirely. Only one proposal even mentioned unaffiliated editors 
> + groups, and translated that concept as 'unorganized volunteers' which, 
> considering the wealth and depth of on-wiki organization, is not accurate at 
> all. The emotional build-up to the vote, and the presentation of proposals in 
> isolation, as though there were no tradeoffs involved, contributed to every 
> proposal getting majority support.  
> 
> As an alternate example of how we could make progress in global governance, I 
> drafted a minimalist charter 
>  that 
> captures tasks I heard people expect such a body to do, and would stay 
> flexible while we try to actually address those tasks in the coming year.  
> This is a wiki document: if the idea appeals, please edit it.  
> 
> The drafting committee's plan is unchanged: to revise the charter draft once 
> more, then hold a movement-wide vote to ratify it in June. The ratification 
> would include a vote of affiliates (one vote per affiliate?), and a 
> simultaneous vote of all editors (one vote per person).
> 
> Other movement thoughts
> 
> Many recurring topics at the Summit seemed healthy: WMDE was adamant about 
> helping others learn to manage movement-governance events like the Summit, 
> and about not hosting themselves in two years' time. The spirit of peer 
> support and mentorship was very strong.  
>   And some recurring topics felt unhealthy: mainly a sense of dependency. 
> Some affiliates said they felt they could not do anything without WMF 
> approval and grants, but did not want to feel any obligation to learn how to 
> develop independent support and partnerships. Some committee members felt 
> they could only function with WMF-assigned staff and substantial budgets, 
> based on a bureaucratic model of governance that has not worked well for us. 
> 
> WOW interest
> 
> There was much interest in offline wikis among other attendees, and people 
> who said they would reach out in the coming weeks.  We might think about 
> running an online workshop on getting started with offline wikis, before 
> Wikimania.  Jan Ainali interviewed me and others about our groups, for a 
> podcast series; I will let you know when it comes out. 
> 
> — SJ
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to 

[Offline-l] Re: Fwd: Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user groups recognition changes

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Nothing outrageous I would say, though I am not sure we tick the “offline 
engagement” box in the way they meant 

 

De : Florence Devouard  
Envoyé : samedi, 10 février 2024 01:45
À : Using Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki offline 

Objet : [Offline-l] Fwd: Feedback invited on proposed requirements for 
affiliates & user groups recognition changes

 

Hello everyone

 

I hope every one is ok !

 

Please allow me to share with you a recent message from Natalia related to 
proposed modifications to requirements for affiliates to stay in good standing. 
Short version, look at this page on meta : 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Review

 

Best

 

Florence

 

 

 Message transféré  


Sujet : 

[Wikimedia-l] Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user 
groups recognition changes


Date : 

Wed, 7 Feb 2024 17:56:25 +0200


De : 

Nataliia Tymkiv   


Répondre à : 

Wikimedia Mailing List   



Pour : 

Wikimedia Mailing List   


 

Dear all,

 

I would like to share with you the outputs of the Wikimedia Foundation 
Affiliate Strategy process [1], and to invite you to give feedback on the 
proposed changes to requirements for all affiliates & to user groups 
recognition process (more below). 

 

The 2017   
Strategic Direction says that we, the Wikimedia Movement, would build “the 
services and structures that enable others to … advance our world by collecting 
knowledge that fully represents human diversity” while carrying on “our mission 
of developing content”. As Wikimedia affiliates are a key and integral part of 
the Wikimedia movement and have knowledge and expertise to share, the 
movement’s success depends greatly on affiliates as they help people join us in 
doing mission-aligned work. The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy report 
[2] identified a need to streamline the role of the Affiliations Committee 
(AffCom) on recognition of Wikimedia Affiliates, and identified issues with the 
current state of the process.

 

After conversations with AffCom, the Board liaisons to AffCom identified two 
areas for improvement. These areas are about the relevant work and mandate of 
the Board related to affiliate recognition: 

 

1) requirements for affiliates; and 

2) improving the workflows around the process for the creation and recognition 
of a user group.

 

The proposal on Meta [3] is suggesting to change the requirements for all 
existing Wikimedia affiliates, not just the legal entities. There are ten 
proposed criteria for a healthy affiliate. Examples include focusing on 
continuity by being an active group and welcoming new users, having good 
governance, and actively delivering on mission goals. Compliance with these 
requirements would be self-reported by the affiliates. The Board liaisons will 
work with the Affiliations Committee to publish a resolution outlining how 
affiliates would be expected to fulfill these requirements to remain in good 
standing. 

 

Throughout the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process, there was also 
feedback about user groups. Initially, user groups were meant as a first step 
toward creating chapters or thematic organizations. Over the years, user groups 
have evolved and there are now legally incorporated user groups, user groups 
with boards, etc. Getting started does need to be easy, but also needs to make 
sense, and so there is a proposal for changes to the current workflow. The 
recommendations [3] include an outline of the sequential steps of a revised 
process. 

The feedback can be given from today up till March 20, 2024 (Anywhere on 
Earth). Hopefully a fairly long feedback period will allow affiliates to 
consult with their membership, thinking it through practically.  

 

To provide your feedback, please review the page here, on Meta, [3] and leave 
comments on the talk page. Alternatively, you can join an open call (February 
14 and 28 at  14:00 to 14:30 UTC) or request a conversation as a part of  

 Talking:2024. You can use the  

 Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Talking: 2024#Let’s 
Talk|Let’s Talk feature to sign up for a time to speak with me and other 
trustees about this conversation or any other topic regarding the Wikimedia 
Foundation Board, Movement Strategy, and more.

 

Note: New user group applications will be placed on hold for the duration of 
this conversation – but the ones received before will be reviewed according to 
the current process.

 

Best regards,

Nat & Mike & Lorenzo Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the 

[Offline-l] Re: Affiliate notification about new user group - Kiwix Wikimedians

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

I’ve got Ibrahim’s contact but I remember him saying he actually was a member 
of this ML (I’ll ping him nonetheless).

@Ibrahim: I think it’s important for you to develop your rationale on wiki. 
There is no blocker on this group’s part but as Florence says if we’re looking 
at future collaboration we need to know your drivers (and these can be 
anything, there’s no judgment there just curiosity).

> Le 9 janv. 2024 à 02:44, Željko Blaće  a écrit :
> 
> Anyone knows proposers personally? 
> Can contact them via WhatsApp and Telegram?
> 
> On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 2:16 AM Florence Devouard  > wrote:
>> Hello
>> 
>> 
>> They still have not shown any sign of awareness of our questions...
>> 
>> Is not a great sign in favor of future collaborations :(
>> 
>> Flo
>> 
>> Le 27/12/2023 à 17:54, Emmanuel Engelhart a écrit :
>> > Hi Florence,
>> >
>> > Thank you for the hint. Following yours and SJ remarks, I have put my 
>> > own interrogations (and all of them go in the same direction).
>> >
>> > We are missing the users of offline solutions in our UG offline, would 
>> > be great if we achieve to change this at this occasion.
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > Kelson
>> >
>> > On 20.12.23 01:25, Florence Devouard wrote:
>> >> Hello everyone
>> >>
>> >> Dumi is seeking feedback from us regarding this new Nigerian based UG 
>> >> "Kiwix Wikimedians"
>> >>
>> >> Any feedback from your side is welcome.
>> >>
>> >> Florence
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>  Message transféré 
>> >> Sujet : Affiliate notification about new user group - Kiwix 
>> >> Wikimedians
>> >> Date : Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:25:28 +0200
>> >> De : Dumisani Ndubane > >> >
>> >> Pour : Florence Devouard > >> >, Sj 
>> >> mailto:meta...@gmail.com>>
>> >> Copie à : Affiliations Committee list for Wikimedia user group 
>> >> applications > >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Dear Wikimedians for Offline Wikis User Group,
>> >>
>> >> I'm writing on behalf of the Affiliations Committee to request your 
>> >> feedback on a proposed new user group.
>> >>
>> >> As you probably know, Wikimedia user groups are intended to be simple 
>> >> and flexible affiliates which offer an initial recognition for 
>> >> qualifying groups to be able to operate with a brand name and logo 
>> >> use for local projects and events.[1]  User groups may come and go, 
>> >> or stay to thrive and grow as user groups, or sometimes develop into 
>> >> chapters or thematic organisations.
>> >>
>> >> User groups do not have "ownership" or "exclusivity" of any 
>> >> territory, and we encourage many user groups to coexist within the 
>> >> same region. We aim to ensure peaceful coexistence by working with 
>> >> all new and existing groups to identify their planned activities and 
>> >> goals, to connect on shared movement goals, and to balance any 
>> >> potential overlaps with agreements for operating in shared spaces.
>> >>
>> >> At this time, we are reaching out to let you know that there is a new 
>> >> group, Kiwix Wikimedians User Group [2], which has submitted an 
>> >> application for recognition as a Wikimedia User Group. We are 
>> >> requesting your feedback because this group seems to be working in 
>> >> some of the same community or thematic spaces as you are.  We want to 
>> >> hear any observations, concerns, or other thoughts that you might be 
>> >> able to offer regarding the group and its work so that the committee 
>> >> can consider them as it reviews this application.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Links:
>> >> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates
>> >> [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kiwix_Wikimedians_User_Group
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Dumisani Ndubane
>> >>
>> >> Snr Governance Committee Strategist
>> >>
>> >> Wikimedia Foundation 
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Dumisani Ndubane
>> >>
>> >> Snr Governance Committee Strategist
>> >>
>> >> Wikimedia Foundation 
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> ___
>> >> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
>> >> 
>> >> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org 
>> >> 
>> >
>> ___
>> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
>> 
>> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org 
>> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

___
Offline-l mailing list -- 

[Offline-l] Voting is open for WMF board elections

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hola,

I did not see a notification on this list, so FYI after the chapter/UG-led 
first round of selections the second round is open to everyone:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:SecurePoll/vote/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Elections_2022
 


Voting takes place until 6 September.

I know Florence had a round of interviews with most (all?) six candidates, 
might want to take a look. I’ve seen it on Twitter (@WikiAfrica) but couldn’t 
figure out a place where they all are - please share a link!___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Offline-l] Re: offline wikipages within 2 degrees of separation

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Ok this sounds a lot like our Wikipedia-on-Demand project, ie enter a list of 
articles on one end and get the corresponding zim file on the other end. 
Release is planned for this Fall, so we’ll make sure to put out a call so 
people can test it.

Doing something that works cross-wiki, on the other hand, is another ball game 
entirely and not on our roadmap at the moment (but make no mistake, this would 
be a very cool feature).

SCM


> Le 6 juil. 2022 à 15:01, Samuel Klein  a écrit :
> 
> Sounds like a lovely idea.  Mapping to tiddlywiki would be very interesting.
> 
> What are the kiwix tools for compilation these days?  
> WikiBrowse  used to 
> do something similar.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jul 6, 2022 at 6:09 AM Željko Blaće  > wrote:
> Dear fellows  - I would like to offline host
> minimal set of Wiki pages (Wikipedias, Wikispore, Commons)
> and minimal set of media (images, video and audio) 
> that all branch out from single Reasonator 
> (or Portal.toolforge.org ) search...
> ...and that keep global links beyond 2 degrees
> (so that one can use them to continue online).
> 
> For now I think of just downloading pages offline
> and hosting them as mobile wiki-to-static pages
> using wget with manual corrections.
> 
> I would love to do this for monuments and
> tiny libraries like this https://w.wiki/5QWn 
> so maybe have library-like single-file wiki
> (like https://tiddlywiki.com  system)
> so that users could connect to it 
> and live notices.
> 
> Anyone has idea if and how to do this better
> and package in the most elegant way?
> Anyone interested in collaborating?
> 
> Best Z. Blace
> 
> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
> 
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Samuel Klein  @metasj   w:user:sj  +1 617 529 4266
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Offline-l] Re: WMF board elections are back

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for this Florence. I’ve gone through the list of candidates and there 
are very fine people (better that than the opposite!). 

We at Kiwix, however, would like to single out Kunal Mehta 
 (legoktm), who has been a 
long-time supporter of Kiwix within the Foundation (I might stand corrected but 
he also single-handedly ensured Debian ports for it and volunteered top code).  
Needless to say (but I am still saying it), Kunal has been getting our 
Kiwix-branded chocolates ever since we started sending them out.  

I encourage you to read his bio/user page 
 - Kunal is not just a coder, but 
has a vision for free knowledge. I am told he left the WMF last December, so my 
take here is that we would have a trustee here that 1. Understands the tech 2. 
Understands the WMF and 3. Understands us (the offline crowd). That’s a lot 
boxes to tick.

My little informative email has turned into a longer-than-expected soapbox 
campaigning, but so be it. If you home chapter is undecided about whom to 
support, I encourage you to forward it to them as well.

Cheers,
Stephane

> Le 18 mai 2022 à 20:22, Florence Devouard  a écrit :
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> 
> It is back again the time to select representants for our Wikimedia 
> Foundation Board of Trustees.
> 
> This year, the process is different from previous year. If you want to go 
> look in details, I invite you to read ALL the details on : 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022
> 
> However, if you want to get the essence of it... here is what you should 
> know...
> 
> 1) Two people will be selected to join the board, following a two step-process
> 
> Step 1: From 1 to 15th of July, all affiliates will vote on the initial list 
> of candidates. Only one (1) vote per affiliate. From all votes pooled 
> together, a short list of 6 candidates will be sorted
> Step 2 : From 15-29th of August, the community will vote on that short list.
> 
> In between the two... the community can ask questions to the candidates
> 
> 
> 2) Currently, 13 people are candidates. You may find details here : 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Candidates
> They have provided initial statements.
> 
> 3) Our affiliate will vote beginning of July. Sam and I will prepare a 
> process so that you may cast your votes. From your propositions, we will sort 
> ONE name.
> 
> 
> 4) I will invite all current candidates to promote themselves, should they be 
> interested to, on this mailing list
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> Florence
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Offline-l] Re: Offline Category at Wikimania

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Excellent idea, thanks Florence. I remember we gave a presentation or two in 
Montreal, I will add them if I can put my hands on them.


> Le 23 août 2021 à 13:53, Florence Devouard  a écrit :
> 
> Hello
> 
> 
> A few days ago, Wikimania took place. I thought it could be useful to put all 
> former presentations related to the offline projects in a specific category.
> Thus I created : 
> https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Offline_Projects
> 
> I went quickly through 2021 and 2019 and added some of the presentations I 
> could find.
> 
> Please if you presented a talk at a previous wikimania session in related to 
> offline projects, add the category to it
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Flo
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Offline-l] Re: Kiwix Hotspot 2.4 released!

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Yeah this Kiwix is apparently a Belgian company installing servers / telecom 
hardware. They’ve been around for a while, though I think we’re older.

There’s also a French Gamer going with that handle, FWIW :-).

> Le 23 juin 2021 à 19:51, Samuel Klein  a écrit :
> 
> This is great!  I hadn't looked at the new releases lately.  Thanks for 
> keeping us updated.   SJ
> 
> PS - I just found this curious org  who has their own kiwix 
> server -- trying to horn in on the namespace?  
> 
> On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 2:16 PM Emmanuel Engelhart  > wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> We are proud to announce that Kiwix Hotspot v2.4 is out and ready to be
> used on Windows/macOS/Linux:
> https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-hotspot/v2.4.5/ 
> 
> 
> As I write this email, I realize that no release announcement, for Kiwix
> Hotspot, has been made since Summer 2019! This is really not fair to the
> product on which we have invested so much energy and which is developing
> well its own audience.
> 
> As a reminder, the Kiwix Hotspot is a click-and-play solution to create
> offline library on Raspberry-Pi hardware. Download and run the soft on
> your computer, choose the works & softwares you love in the library and
> Kiwix Hotspot will prepare automatically your micro-SD card. It has
> never been that easy to create and offline library on Raspberry Pi.
> 
> So many things has been improved in this new milestone (and the other
> one before), that I have no other choice than to just to share the
> CHANGELOG here:
> https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-hotspot/blob/master/CHANGELOG 
> 
> 
> What is important to notice as well, is that we have a fully working
> Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) version of Kiwix Hotspot. The so-called
> "Kiwix Hotspot Cardshop" allows users to build there own custom RPI
> image "in the Cloud". You can buy an access to it for a cheap price at
> https://www.kiwix.org/en/cardshop-access/ 
> .
> 
> Regards
> Kelson
> 
> -- 
> Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
> * Web: https://kiwix.org/ 
> * Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline 
> * Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/ 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
> 
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Samuel Klein  @metasj   w:user:sj  +1 617 529 4266
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

___
Offline-l mailing list -- offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe send an email to offline-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Offline-l] New tool : Zimit

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hola,

Since I’m bearded and moderately overweight let me be the one to bring the 
first present for the holiday season and introduce Zimit, a pretty cool new 
tool that allows people to produce their own Zim files. Yes, you read that 
correctly.

* If you are the type that cannot wait to unwrap presents, you will find it at 
https://youzim.it  

* For everyone else:
The interface is pretty minimalist, and that’s part of the message:
1. Insert target URL
2. Insert email address so we can tell you when your zim is ready
3. Download zim file

There is a limit at 1,000 items for each zim because (a) we don’t want to DDoS 
unsuspecting websites with requests; and (ii) also would not be able to afford 
the bill If it becomes as popular as we think it will be (we need to find an 
acceptable business model and pricing structure: any advice welcome). But since 
this is free software, you can obviously cut the middleman by copying, 
studying, modifying and redistributing the code that can be found here: 
https://github.com/openzim/zimit 

Because this relies on newly-implemented service workers, these new zim files 
will only work on Kiwix-android and Kiwix-serve at the moment, but this will 
obviously expand to other platforms in 2021.

This project was entirely funded by a Mozilla Open Source Support Award, thanks 
to them!

Cheers,
Stephane___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Re: [Offline-l] UserGroup new logo proposition :)

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hi Zeljko, I think that like everywhere on-wiki things are consensus-based. If 
there is reasonable support and nobody has any strong objection it can be 
adopted.


> Le 29 oct. 2020 à 10:28, Željko Blaće  a écrit :
> 
> Hi! I just joined and therefore not sure if this or other UGs have any
> specific protocols to reach a decision together?
> 
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 8:28 AM Amirouche Boubekki
>  wrote:
>> 
>> Great logo :)
>> 
>> Le mer. 28 oct. 2020 à 20:44, Florence Devouard  a 
>> écrit :
>>> 
>>> Hello everyone !
>>> 
>>> 
>>> This is my privilege to suggest the adoption of a dedicated logo for our
>>> UserGroup :)
>>> 
>>> We currently operate under the generic wikimedia logo for our UserGroup.
>>> A couple of weeks ago, Stephane told me one of his team members
>>> (user:Schlag88) would possibly have some free time to do a design work.
>>> I thought suggesting a brand new dedicated logo for our UG would be very
>>> welcome and sweet to us.
>>> 
>>> And there you go ! We have a really well-done proposition in our hands.
>>> Please check it out : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Offline_UG.svg
>>> 
>>> I am in support of this logo because it carries a meaningful message to
>>> me. Here is what I see in it :
>>> 
>>> * Low part of the logo is our planet, figuring our World.
>>> * Middle part represent the "disconnection", being offline
>>> * Top part is our worldwide network, connecting people
>>> 
>>> What do you think ? Do we adopt it ? :)
>>> 
>>> Flo
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ___
>>> Offline-l mailing list
>>> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Amirouche ~ https://hyper.dev
>> 
>> ___
>> Offline-l mailing list
>> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l
> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l


___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] At long last, a new version of offline enwp

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hi everyone, 

quick announcement for a major success on our side: we finally released late 
last night an updated version of the English Wikipedia[1]. The last full 
version (ie. with images) we had was from October 2018 (!), and since then we 
had been plagued by regressions, bugs, resource limitations and probably some 
very dark magic.

The new .zim file adds 900,000 articles (6.1 vs. 5.2 millions) and a healthy 11 
Gb in size (89 vs. 78 Gb). The numbers are somewhat misleading because we need 
to include internal links and redirects, which brings the total to 100+ million 
interlinked items. Emmanuel will have more details on the hurdles that he had 
to deal with.

Updates will now run on a monthly basis, which is another major improvement: we 
had initially planned on bimonthly updates as a single run used to take up to 
three weeks. It can now be done in 5-6 days \o/

Congrats to everyone involved or who supported us one way or another, including 
the Foundation with the new & bigger servers they recently gave us access to. 
Hopefully now we can move on to newer problems.

Stephane



[1] http://download.kiwix.org/zim/wikipedia/wikipedia_en_all_maxi_2020-06.zim 
 
You can also torrent it by adding .torrent at the end (seeders welcome, as a 
matter of fact)___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] [AAR] Interesting online/offline use case across West Africa

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hello everyone,

We might as well keep this list rolling - it’s been an eventful couple of 
months and there’s plenty to tell.

Just as COVID-19 lockdowns started to roll out across much of the world, our 
good friends at Orange (the French Telco) reached out asking for us to roll out 
Kiwix directly onto their West African network. So yes, here’s the short story 
of us making offline available online (!)

Background
In a nutshell, it’s easier/faster for a telco to carry data on its own, local 
network than it is to carry that same amount of data internationally. It does 
make sense in hindsight, particularly if you think of the internets as a series 
of tube.

Mission
They asked that we roll out Kiwix and a collection of ZIMs in Arabic, French 
and English onto their Ivory Coast hub: Orange customers were to be directed to 
a specific page[1] and would be offered the content at zero-rating or special 
low rate (markets could chose their pricing model). 11 markets were selected 
for the operation (mostly sub-saharan Africa).

We rolled-out the whole thing in a few days using Kiwix-serve[2] - most of the 
time needed was for them to secure a big-ass server and grant us root access. 
It’s been running smoothly ever since - up to 100,000 users/month at peak, 
which was nice. Contents deployed were Wikipedia, Khan Academy, Wiktionary, 
Vikidia and a couple of video channels we also serve as ZIMs.

So what did we learn?
- Kiwix-serve is super easy to install, and can manage large loads robustly;
- Most demanded contents: Wikipedia and Khan Academy, then Wiktionary & 
Gutenberg library;
- Information circulated around somehow: we’ve had users from 130 countries so 
far (about 20-30% of total traffic), definitely not bots. A gentleman from 
An-Najah university in Palestine even reached out asking that we deploy the 
same thing on their local network.
- The URL that Orange set up was overly long, which probably impacted adoption. 
We lobbied to get https://kiwix.orange (they own the TLD) but to no avail :-/ 
There is also a huge difference between markets that communicated on the 
initiative in a sustained manner (e.g. Liberia) and those who did it as a 
one-off.

Cookie points
They made a simple but sweet video[3] - in French only but you’ll get the idea.



[1] https://kiwix.campusafrica.gos.orange.com/ 

[2] https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-tools 
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ug0XEFhByc 




___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Re: [Offline-l] wikifundi synchronisation

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hi Manfred,

Last year Mark Herschberger developed a first prototype of what he called 
Multilateral, Asynchronous Bidirectional Synchronisation 

 (MABS). The prototype did work, but it did not go much farther because time 
and funding - the project is now on hold (and I’m not entirely Mark got around 
publishing all his code, I should check with him). 

As for getting additional languages, as Emmanuel said there’s a bit of work 
around selecting and preparing the content that should go on a WikiFundi 
instance. This tool was initially developed to help teach editing, and thus 
goes a bit further than just slapping a copy of Wikipedia on an offline 
Mediawiki. We certainly could prepare more than just the currently available 
French and English versions, but that’d be more labour intensive than simply 
pressing a button and would require a bit of funding (not much, but still).

Cheers,
Stephane

> Le 11 févr. 2020 à 17:01, Manfred Gruening  a écrit 
> :
> 
> Somewhere I read that wikifundi is working towards synchronizing with
> the online wikipedias. Is this something for the near future or very far
> out??? That would be REALLY exciting!
> 
> Also, can wikifundi be used for a wikipedia / wiktionary in a newly
> setup language - or only for the few languages currently available for
> download???
> 
> Thanks,
> Manfred
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] Kiwix wins Mozilla MOSS award

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hey all,

We got a bunch of prizes this year but the one award that really matters is the 
one that was officially confirmed this morning: the Mozilla Foundation has 
selected Kiwix to build ZIMit, a universal scraper to turn online content to 
the offline-compatible ZIM format. 

The plan at this stage is to start work early next year and have the project 
completed by end of 2020. Ultimately we hope that everyone will be able to 
create their own zim files to distribute in offline environments :-)

Cheers,
Stephane
___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] 2-for-1 release announcement, aka 32 and 64-bit goodness

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hello all, 

we have published our latest release candidate for Kiwix-dekstop (Windows & 
GNU/Linux)! And if you are running deployments on old machines (like, 
XP/Vista/7 old, ie 32-bits), then stay tuned until the end of this mail

- Kiwix-desktop 2.0 RC4: nothing major, but still a few improvements. Here's 
the log of new features and fixes for this RC4:

* New "Settings" page
* Better aria2c error message
* Fix Reading list with bookmarks from missing books
* Support video fullscreen mode
* Support the default zoom level setting
* Support zoom level per content
* Remove page view source feature
* Stop crashing if a download fails

- Now for the interesting bit: Kiwix-JS has been ported to work on all flavours 
of Windows 32-bit systems. It actually runs on all architectures, but that'll 
be especially relevant to anyone having to deal with older machines (Windows 7 
and below, there's still plenty of XP and Vista around).
Please note that just as with the (Firefox/Chrome) browser extensions, there 
might be some limitations compared to the real thing. But hey, the reference 
point here is having nothing instead since the old Kiwix-desktop 0.9 doesn't 
handle so well the new flavours of our zim files. But even then, Jaifroid and 
Mossroy have done nothing less than an Amazing Job*.

You can download it all here:
* Windows x86 64 bits:
https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/kiwix-desktop_windows_x64.zip 
[https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/kiwix-desktop_windows_x64.zip]
* Linux x86 64 bits:
https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/kiwix-desktop_x86_64.appimage 
[https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/kiwix-desktop_x86_64.appimage]
or
https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/org.kiwix.desktop.flatpak 
[https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-desktop/org.kiwix.desktop.flatpak].
Also available on Flathub https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kiwix.desktop 
[https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kiwix.desktop]


* Kiwix-JS for Windows x86 32 bits
https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-js-windows/kiwix-js-windows_0.9.9.96.appxbundle
 
[https://download.kiwix.org/release/kiwix-js-windows/kiwix-js-windows_0.9.9.96.appxbundle]
 

* Kiwix-JS Chrome extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kiwix/donaljnlmapmngakoipdmehbfcioahhk
 
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kiwix/donaljnlmapmngakoipdmehbfcioahhk]

* Kiwix-JS Firefox extension
https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/kiwix-offline/ 
[https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/kiwix-offline/]


Thanks to everyone who made these possible.

Enjoy,
Stephane


* alternative wording would be Stellar, Excellent, Great, YUGE.___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] Knowledge equity advent calendar

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hi everyone,

I see that Wikimedia Deutschland is running an advent calendar on knowledge 
equity (ie access to knowledge for, you know, people without access).[1]

They have a couple of stories lined up already on famously sidelined places 
like Norway and Taiwan. I'd expect most of the 20+ others to be written up 
already, yet to my knowlege they haven't reached out to Kiwix so we could point 
them to people doing deployments in Africa, India, South America, US & European 
prisons und so weiter.

By the look of it they seem very much focused on people building knowledge 
rather than distributing it, and I can see a couple of good reasons for that. 
But I'm still half hoping that they did, in fact, reach out to someone else on 
this list and that offline access will be mentioned somehow. Can anyone confirm 
they spoke with our German friends?

Cheers,
Stephane

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Calendar 
[https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Calendar]___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] Wikimedia Tech Conference nominations

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hello all, this is a short FYI/reminder to let you know that nominations for 
this year’s Wikimedia Tech Conference are open until Monday June 17th (this 
coming Monday)

Form: https://forms.gle/CLeGFSMiEasJgEU27 
FAQ: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Technical_Conference/2019/FAQ 


I’ve obviously nominated Emmanuel Engelhart (aka Kelson; 
https://github.com/kelson42 ) to be invited 
because I think it’s important for the offline community to be involved in the 
Foundation’s engineering thinking - if only we use a shit ton of their stuff, 
work across another metric ton of platforms and quite often have to coordinate 
with WMF tech on some issues.

I would of course gently encourage you to nominate him as well - or anyone you 
think would bring value to the upcoming discussions (nominations are open to 
all individuals and orgs, and by the look of it you can nominate as many people 
as you like).

Cheers,
Stephane

___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] Kiwix is looking for an Android Dev! (60-100%, 6 months)

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Hello everyone,

We are looking for an experimented Android developer with a good sense for UX 
to prepare the version 3 of Kiwix Android. This new version would include the 
following:
Stabilisation of the ZIM download service;
Full revamping of the library UI;
Improve automated testing infrastructure;
Improve continuous integration.

The full posting is here: https://www.kiwix.org/android-dev/ 
 

If you are interested, or think you know someone who could be interested, feel 
free to reach out at j...@kiwix.org 

Cheers,
Stephane___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Re: [Offline-l] Internet-in-a-Box

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Bottom line: we need a local distribution network / evangelist. The Cuban 
government has done it with Kiwix in their local Youth Computer Clubs and it 
did wonders. It also gave it the added value of government-approval, so people 
wouldn’t have to second-guess the quality of the product (not to mention its 
political acceptance). People are fundamentally risk-adverse and there needs to 
be a form of validation, either by authority or peers.

SCM

> Le 25 déc. 2018 à 00:24, Samuel Klein  a écrit :
> 
> Thoughts:
> 
> 1)  pitching the idea, and creating language, around distributing sets of 
> 5-10.  bundle so that shipping is half the total cost of a set.
> Networks of people who all share one point of contact who knows how to update 
> or troubleshoot them have more meaningful access and a better experience (and 
> lower total cost of ownership).  
> 
> 2)  lack of awareness tracks marginal cost for local groups.  $30 for a 
> school or clinic, including travel time for the person dropping it off --> 
> something I would do for every clinic + nursing school + other school in a 
> district.  Lower cost makes it reasonable for a graduating class of nurses + 
> doctors to all have one to take with them to their next place of work.
> 
> 3)  tipping points of awareness in a region make use + communication about 
> nodes more reliable, more useful (general purpose; not just in one location) 
> -- and lead to better feedback about types + languages of content most needed 
> that is still not included.
> 
> 4)  maps of where these are desired but not available, so that others can 
> send them, is a parallel need that can offset unit costs.  Plenty of people 
> want to help complete delivery to points on such maps (including UN orgs 
> trying to provision global information goods).
> 
> On Sun, Dec 23, 2018 at 7:14 PM James Heilman  > wrote:
> As the price of hardware continues to drop the financial barriers to health 
> information for all continue to fall. We are now able to package and ship an 
> offline version of Wikipedia in multiple languages for around 40 USD. And we 
> have sent out nearly 250 units in just over a year.
> 
> The question now is what are the remaining barriers to widespread 
> distribution and access? Is it a lack of awareness among those who need this 
> technology? Is it still too expensive? Are people looking for different types 
> of content? Or maybe different languages?
> 
> Peoples thoughts?
> -- 
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Samuel Klein  @metasj   w:user:sj  +1 617 529 4266
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l




___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Re: [Offline-l] Fwd: 100 Wikimedia User Group milestone - Call to action

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Well there are the Kiwix Facebook  and 
Twitter  accounts (KiwixOffline in both 
cases).
A good follow up question would be: what would the Offline UG’s message be ?

« 4 billion people don’t have reliable access to internet, but… ? »

> Le 25 sept. 2018 à 15:39, Samuel Klein  a écrit :
> 
> From Dumi -- what offline social accounts and pages are there?  Say for 
> individual projects?
> 
> -- Forwarded message -
> 
> As you may know, we're about to pass a significant milestone in the Wikimedia 
> movement in the next two weeks: having 100 user groups.
> 
> To celebrate, we'd like to propose that each user group post a short message 
> on social media the day that the 100 user group milestone is passed, with a 
> unique fact about yourself and using the hashtag #100usergroups. We will then 
> amplify some of these messages into the @wikimedia account. (We'll email 
> again once the milestone has been passed.)
> 
> 
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l



signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP
___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Re: [Offline-l] offline-wiki is back!

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Interesting. Send him our way!


> Le 6 août 2018 à 20:27, Samuel Klein  a écrit :
> 
> If you remember the old offline-wiki google site, it's been rewritten and is 
> back online.  I met Kevin, its maintainer, at the DWeb summet last week: he's 
> still thinking deeply about these things.  [elsewhere at the event we talked 
> about effective ways to distribute incremental updates to knowledgesets like 
> this; something that should be connected to the related thinking withink 
> kiwix :)]
> 
> https://offlinewiki.app/ 
> 
> SJ
> ___
> Offline-l mailing list
> Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l



signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP
___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] Wikimed Mini release

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

[Cross-post]

A quick note to announce that Kiwix released this morning a new version of the 
Wikimed App called Wikimed Mini [1]. It basically complements the earlier app 
in that it is 90% smaller and should therefore make it easier to download and 
store by users who need it most (50% of installs for the English version happen 
on the Indian subcontinent; for the French one, 80% are in Africa).

But apart from this PSA I wanted to share the thinking that went behind the 
design of this particular app, as I’ve been told it could be of interest to 
this list:
There basically were three reasons for this "mini" version:
1. When connectivity is an issue, size does matter. If you look at the 20+ main 
offline medical apps out there, you'll see that they all range in the 25-40Mb 
(the largest being 120Mb). Several of them have 1M+ downloads, and even if I am 
no physician I'd say their content is rather minimal and that WP content is far 
better: yet people download the other, smaller apps rather than our gigantic, 
all-encompassing 1.2 Gb one;
2. You may have heard that thing about 60% of mobile readers not going past the 
Lead section [2]. We did too, and took the drastic step of removing everything 
below that - basically keeping only the lead part and infobox. That saved us 
about 60%;
3. Then we looked at what was left and figured that infobox illustrations 
weren't that helpful: either because they look good but are not very 
informative, or because if they are in fact informative offline limitations 
make it impossible to see more than a thumbnail. Don't get me wrong: the 
ability to see high-res images comes high on the list of requests, but a choice 
was to be made and that one was a low-hanging fruit. So we removed the 
illustations as well, and now we're left with a 90% smaller app.
In spite of its size, the current Wikimed is rated higher (4.7) and kept longer 
(75% retention at D30) that most apps (4.2/20%, respectively on average): we’ll 
keep you posted on how the new app fares in comparison to that.

Cheers,
Stephane



[1]  
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedmini 

[2] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Which_parts_of_an_article_do_readers_read
 







signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail
___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

[Offline-l] WikiVoyage Europe available on Android

[Stephane Coillet-Matillon]

Dear all,

With Summer vacations in full swing, we’ve just released an offline version of 
WikiVoyage specifically dedicated to Europe!

The app runs on Android and can be found at the Google Store [1]. Other regions 
will follow, this is a first shot at getting something rather lightweight and 
region-specific.

Feel free to download, rate… and go visit something!

Best regards,
Stephane



[1] 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikivoyageeurope
 

 


-- 
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & so much more
* Web: http://www.kiwix.org 
* Twitter: @KiwixOffline ___
Offline-l mailing list
Offline-l@lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l