[wsfii-discuss] What content might help one set up a wi-fi network?

Sat Aug 25 20:10:17 UTC 2007

Gerard Mourits wrote:

Gerard,

Thank you for replying.  Though I will dare to say, given the noble 
purpose of this list, if you were from Africa and you got such a 
response...  would you ask twice?  But I'll give you a second chance if 
you like...!

Jeff, great answer - that's extremely helpful and will give us a start 
with wi-fi.

Trying to be more specific, I'm still looking for any good tutorials, in 
the Public Domain or a version of copyleft that allows for commercial 
use, for:
* assembling computers from parts
* computer basics
* HTML basics

Thank you!

Andrius

> On Sat, 25 Aug 2007 01:15:46 +0300, "Andrius Kulikauskas" <ms at ms.lt>
> said:
>   
>> I want to ask, What content might we put on flash drives and distribute 
>> in Africa that would be useful for people who want to try to set up 
>> their wi-fi network?  In particular, we're working with Samwel Kongere 
>> in rural Kenya to build a local wi-fi network there.  Andrius 
>> Kulikauskas, ms at ms.lt
>>
>>
>>     
> Simple question many answers..
> Like the fairy tail said: If you don't know where you're going any
> direction will do.
> There is so much software etc. free on the Internet that you have to go
> up to the people where you're sending it.
> Ask them what they need. And remember that there is a huge gap between
> those who have access to the Internet and to those who don't.
>
> Gerard
>
>
>   
>> ---------------------------------------
>>
>> I have purchased a dozen USB flash drives to send to our participants in 
>> Africa (and potentially to other places with marginal Internet access, 
>> please speak up!)  My purpose is to understand how much they might be 
>> sold for and what they might be used for.  Here in Lithuania I can buy 
>> 256 MB flash drives for $9 and 512 MB flashdrives for $11.  And we have 
>> an opportunity to buy 300 flash drives for about $5 each directly from 
>> Shenzhen, China.  Whereas in many places in Africa the cheapest flash 
>> drives sell for $30.  So we want to practice selling them and learn more 
>> about the market and the capability of our network.  This is also a step 
>> towards organizing the manufacture of a device for displaying the 
>> contents of a flash drive and editing them with a standard keyboard.
>>
>> Furthermore, this is an opportunity to publish content which might be 
>> shared in Africa.  What do we suggest we put on these flash drives?  
>> They should include a combination of our own concerns and those of our 
>> African participants.   Here is what we have considered so far:
>> http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?FlashDriveContent
>> Thank you to Sasha Mrkailo for helping!
>>
>> I will make a CD-ROM and distribute that and portions can be put on the 
>> flash drives.
>>
>> We will certainly have available the activity of our lab:
>> - Our email archive, about 20,000 letters and 200 MB.
>> - Our wiki, http://www.worknets.org, about 3,500 pages and 100 MB.
>> - Our chat transcripts, http://www.worknets.org/archive/, less than 3 MB
>> - Our food stories http://www.myfoodstory.info 5 MB text plus photos
>> - Our videos, or at least some of them!
>>
>> Note that the materials need to be in the Public Domain or encourage 
>> sharing.  Among the copyleft licenses, for the purpose of distributing 
>> content, the GNU FDL license (used by Wikipedia) and the Creative 
>> Commons "attribution" licenses are fine.  The Creative Commons 
>> "noncommercial" and "share alike" licenses are not.  Unfortunately, we 
>> can't use many good sites because of copyright restrictions.
>>
>> Our African participants Samwel Kongere, Fred Kayiwa, Helen Mahoo, 
>> Josephat Ndibalema, David Mutua, Wendi Losha Bernadette, William Wambura 
>> have endeavors that I think reflect their interests:
>> http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?Endeavors
>>
>> * Health: AIDS, Malaria, Community clinic
>> * ICT: Assembling computers, Internet, InternetCafe, Video, Websites,
>> WiFi
>> * Economics:  Aid, BottomUp economy
>> * Rightful living: Brickmaking, KnowledgeWork, Shoes, Crafts
>> * Inclusion: Deaf, Orphans, Refugees, Street Children, Women, East 
>> Africa regional network
>> * Education: Literacy, ICT for Education
>> * Agriculture: Integrative Farming, Poultry, Beekeeping, Urban
>> Agriculture
>> * RuralUrban: Kibera, Neighborhoods
>> * Local languages: Kiswahili
>> * Values: Motivation, Selfishness, Sports
>>
>> We should also share materials that reflect our own interests including:
>> * Appropriate technology
>> * Community currency
>> * Global villages
>> * Architecture
>> * Renewable energy
>> * Flu pandemic
>> * Solaroof
>> * EcoBnB
>> * Nonviolence
>> * Loving God
>> This will help us engage each other.
>>
>> Below are some resources that we have so far.  Please add your ideas!  I 
>> especially would like to include more works on:
>> * Health
>> * Appropriate technology
>> * Textbooks for children
>> * Local languages
>> * Agriculture
>> * Computer tutorials for hardware (assembling computers, setting up 
>> wifi) and software (using computers, making websites, simple programming)
>>
>> Thank you!  I will send out the flash drives some time next week, and 
>> then we'll keep adding to our collection.  If you know of any 
>> collections so far that's a great help.  I was a bit surprised that One 
>> Laptop Per Child doesn't have any collection yet, they are just 
>> organizing themselves, I think.
>>
>> Andrius
>>
>> Andrius Kulikauskas
>> Minciu Sodas
>> http://www.ms.lt
>> ms at ms.lt
>> +370 699 30003
>> Vilnius, Lithuania
>>
>> http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?FlashDriveContent
>>
>>     *  Wikipedia or parts of it
>>     * Bible (Public Domain), New Testament (Luo), New Testament
>>     (Kiswahili)
>>     * Quran in Arabic, English (which text?)
>>     * Other scriptures, classics
>>     * http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
>>
>> also there is a CD for download with the most recommended books, lots of 
>> classics there. Textbooks
>>
>>     * Mit Open Course Ware
>>           o Democratization in Asia, Africa and Latin America, Fall 2001
>>           o 21A.460J / SP.620J Medicine, Religion and Politics in Africa 
>> and the African Diaspora, Spring 2005
>>           o AIDS and Poverty in Africa, Spring 2005
>>           o Information and Communication Technology in Africa, Spring
>>           2006
>>           o 21M.293 Music of Africa, Fall 2005
>>           o 12.453 Crosby Lectures in Geology: History of Africa, Fall
>>           2005
>>
>> Languages
>>
>> Kiswahili
>>
>> Lou
>>
>> Luganda
>>
>> MinciuSodas Archives
>>
>>     * Letters - at least 178 MB for about 15000 letters, per day about 
>> 20 letters =
>>     * Wiki - 267 MB for 3500 pages (including all changes) for 3500 
>> pages, per day about
>>     * Chat transcripts -
>>     * Food stories - 2000 stories
>>
>> Programming Manuals
>>
>>     * PHP
>>     * Perl
>>
>> Pictures
>>
>> Sound
>>
>>     * Public Domain Audio Books
>>           o The Federalist Papers
>>     * Interviews
>>     * Gospels spoken in various languages
>>
>> Video
>>
>>  From SamwelKongere, KennedyOwino, ...
>>
>> Software
>>
>>     * Gimp - (possible moneymaker)
>>     * other FOSS software
>>
>>
>>
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>>     
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