Precisamos dar acesso da conhecimento gratuito para todos! De volta para o futuro :)
--Kul On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 10:05 PM, Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton < rodrigo.argen...@gmail.com> wrote: > Isso, para ter uma noção, é uma ideia que tenho ouvido desde 2008! :D > > On 22 February 2013 23:38, Marco Aureliopc <marcoaureli...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2013/2/22/getting-wikipedia-people-who-need-it-most/ >> ** <http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/>*Knight* >> Blog<http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/> The >> blog of the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation Getting Wikipedia to >> the people who need it >> most<http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2013/2/22/getting-wikipedia-people-who-need-it-most/> >> >> Feb. 22, 2013, 8:11 a.m., Posted by Kul Takanao Wadhwa – 0 >> Comments<http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2013/2/22/getting-wikipedia-people-who-need-it-most/#comments> >> >> *The Wikimedia Foundation recently received Knight News Challenge >> funding to create ways to deliver Wikipedia for >> free<http://www.knightfoundation.org/grants/20123673/> to >> users in the developing world.** Below, its head of mobile, **Kul >> Takanao Wadhwa <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Kwadhwa>, >> writes about the project. * >> >> We’re in the middle of an information revolution that’s changing the way >> billions of people in developing countries obtain news and knowledge. With >> a $10 cell phone, a high school student in New Delhi or a cab driver in >> Dakar can access the Internet and -- through Wikipedia and other websites - >> learn volumes about virtually any subject. If knowledge is power, then the >> developing world, with almost five billion cell-phone >> subscriptions<http://blogs.worldbank.org/growth/mobilizing-development-mobile-phones>, >> is poised to make amazing changes. >> >> There’s just one catch: An overwhelming percentage of new mobile users in >> India, Senegal and other developing countries can’t afford data charges, so >> they’re effectively excluded from sites like Wikipedia. It’s a de facto >> blackout, a kind of information segregation that shunts potential Internet >> users to the side of a very important road. >> >> That’s why the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates >> Wikipedia, has established Wikipedia >> Zero<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero>, >> a program where we partner with mobile operators to give their mobile users >> free-of-charge access to Wikipedia and its growing trove of 24 million >> articles. >> >> In 2012, the Wikimedia Foundation signed Wikipedia Zero partnerships >> with three mobile operators, which is bringing free Wikipedia access to >> 230 million mobile users in 31 >> countries<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships>. >> In January of 2013, we signed a fourth partnership that extends Wikipedia >> Zero to at least 100 million more mobile users in five more >> countries<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/VimpelCom_partners_with_the_Wikimedia_Foundation> >> . >> >> And with the recent support of the Knight News Challenge grant, designed >> to accelerate media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and >> information, a series of exciting new developments is on the horizon. We >> are: speeding up the development of Wikipedia Zero; hastening the >> development of the software that lets a simple feature phone (the dominant >> phone in developing countries) connect easily to Wikipedia’s mobile site; >> augmenting the development of the engineering that, on Wikipedia, makes >> hundreds of native languages readable from mobile devices; and pioneering a >> program to give mobile users >> USSD<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unstructured_Supplementary_Service_Data>& >> SMS access to Wikipedia. >> >> We’re very excited about delivering Wikipedia via text, which we expect >> to roll out within the next few months. With the program, users will send a >> text request to Wikipedia and, within seconds, they will get the article to >> their phone. To deliver this innovative technology, we’re partnering with >> the Praekelt Foundation <http://www.praekeltfoundation.org/>, a >> nonprofit based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s another example of the >> tremendous collaborative spirit that has always driven Wikipedia and always >> will. >> >> The number of mobile users who can get free access to Wikipedia is >> increasing rapidly, and so is its usage. In the countries where Wikipedia >> Zero has already been deployed, Wikipedia readership of local, non-English >> languages grew upwards of 400 percent in six months#. On our partner’s >> network in Niger, Wikipedia’s mobile traffic increased by 77 percent in the >> first four months of Wikipedia Zero, compared to 7 percent growth on Niger’s >> mobile networks that don’t have Wikipedia >> Zero<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/10/29/wikipedia-zero-grows-readership-in-africa-and-asia/>. >> In Kenya, the growth from Wikipedia Zero was even higher - 88 >> percent<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/10/29/wikipedia-zero-grows-readership-in-africa-and-asia/>. >> The demand is there for much more growth, and word-of-mouth is spreading. >> >> And the movement for access to knowledge is coming from all sides. Last >> December, a group of 11th-graders at Sinenjongo High School in Cape Town, >> South Africa, wrote a heartfelt letter to four mobile operators, imploring >> them to give their South African customers free-of-charge mobile access >> to Wikipedia <http://www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=5613>. They had >> learned about Wikipedia Zero, even though the service is not yet available >> in South Africa. The Cape Town students have the technology in their hands, >> but they lack the money to pay for data charges. In their letter, which was >> published in Gadget, an online South Africa magazine that covers consumer >> technology, the 24 students wrote: >> >> *“We recently heard that in some other African countries like Kenya and >> Uganda certain cell phone providers are offering their customers free >> access to Wikipedia. We think this is a wonderful idea and would really >> like to encourage you also to make the same offer here in South Africa. It >> would be totally amazing to be able to access information on our cell >> phones which would be affordable to us.* >> >> *Our school does not have a library at all so when we need to do >> research we have to walk a long way to the local library. When we get >> there we have to wait in a queue to use the one or two computers which have >> the internet. At school we do have 25 computers but we struggle to get to >> use them because they are mainly for the learners who do CAT (Computer >> Application Technology) as a subject. Going to an internet cafe is also not >> an easy option because you have to pay per half hour. 90% of us have >> cellphones but it is expensive for us to buy airtime so if we could get >> free access to Wikipedia it would make a huge difference to us...Our >> education system needs help and having access to Wikipedia would make a >> very positive difference. Just think of the boost that it will give us as >> students and to the whole education system of South Africa.”* >> >> Their letter is a reminder that the human spirit craves access to free >> information. Indeed, I firmly believe that access to free knowledge should >> be a universal human right. News and knowledge change lives for the better. >> They always have. >> >> From the beginning of the Wikimedia movement, and more broadly across the >> free knowledge movement, the goal has been to break down the digital >> divide, and render barriers to knowledge obsolete. There’s no better time >> than now to make gigantic inroads in that quest. Eighty percent of all new >> mobile phone subscribers are in developing countries, according to the United >> Nations’ International Telecommunication >> Union<http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/material/pdf/2011%20Statistical%20highlights_June_2012.pdf>. >> For now, of the 25 countries that have the highest rate of mobile traffic >> on Wikipedia, 22 are developing >> countries<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/12/20/the-countries-in-which-mobile-matters-most/>. >> The top eight countries are all in >> Africa<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/12/20/the-countries-in-which-mobile-matters-most/> >> . >> >> We will do what it takes to get free knowledge into the hands of students >> like those in South Africa who are clamoring for it. We will continue >> partnering with mobile operators who donate their resources to the service >> of Wikipedia Zero. In the next two years, we will write more blog posts >> that detail the progress we make in the developing world. >> >> The Knight News Challenge mobile >> grant<http://www.knightfoundation.org/grants/20123673/>is an important >> milestone in our movement to make free knowledge available >> to everyone, including every person in the developing world. We see 2013as a >> year of significant transition as we make our vision a long-term >> reality. As I said, access to knowledge should be a human right. And the >> Wikimedia Foundation is thrilled to be part of the Information Revolution >> that is bringing free knowledge around the world. We want others to join >> us, and as the 11th-graders in South Africa have shown us, to also be >> leaders in this movement. With hard work and true partnership, this dream >> will become a reality for the students in South Africa, and indeed, >> everyone, everywhere. >> >> *By Kul Takanao Wadhwa <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Kwadhwa>, >> head of mobile for Wikimedia Foundation* >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WikimediaBR-l mailing list >> WikimediaBR-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediabr-l >> >> > > > -- > Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton > rodrigo.argen...@gmail.com > +55 11 979 718 884 > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaBR-l mailing list > WikimediaBR-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediabr-l > > -- Kul Wadhwa Head of Mobile Wikimedia Foundation
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