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Back in 2009, we were excited about the WikiReader from Openmoko. This $99 device has the 3+ million Wikipedia articles at your fingertips with only a micro-SD card and 2 AAA batteries - no Internet required. We proclaimed it an Offline Digital Library of Alexandria that could fit in your pocket. Here is our video review:

The WikiReader comes with the entire Wikipedia as content and great functionality to surf it all, offline. Now the WikiReader also supports the complete Project Gutenberg library of 33,000 eBooks, making it an amazing cheap and long-lasting eBook reader. And since eReaders will transform the developing world, I am wondering if the WikiReader is the killer app for that.

Benefits

Beyond deep content, the WikiReader is amazingly cheap - just $99 for the device itself, 3 AA batteries that last a year. It is also dead simple to use, with just three buttons that navigate the Wikipedia and eBooks with ease. Give it to a student or a teacher and they can be browsing and learning in seconds.

Usage?

If you can say anything bad about the the WikiReader is that its just a browser for the Wikipedia and eBooks. The hardware is great, but it has no other use. So is that enough? Would you or have you bought a WikiReader? Have you used it in a project? And if not, what would it need to lure you to buy one?

Recently, Kiflom Bezabeh asked an interesting question on LinkedIn's African ICT Network:

While there were several good answers to Kiflom's specific needs, the overall question had me thinking about the implementation issues in providing offline educational content for high school and University teachers and students in Africa. Here are the three main issues that confront educational content delivery anywhere:

1. Digital Content

Locally appropriate content that follows the school curriculum needs to be created in a digital format. Ideally, teachers and students can modify this content and create new content as needed. This can be in direct conflict with the local University professors and their publishers who write and profit from physical textbooks

2. Local Storage

Internet access isn't always reliable, and it often doesn't even exist in developing world educational systems. So some form of local digital storage will need to be created that can serve as the host of current and future content. Ideally, this storage can be expanded and the content refreshed easily.

3. Content Delivery

Everyone usually gets most excited about the hardware - some form of content delivery that allows for individual visual absorption. It can as simple as a Wikireader or as complex as the iPad. Ideally it should be a) affordable b) sustainable c) available by the recipient institution.

Available Solutions

While there isn't one solution that fits every need, there are several that can fit certain situations. Here are a few that we've found:

1. Teachermate helps teachers reinforce and customize lessons for students, using local content
2. eGranary is an offline server full of online content. It cannot be loaded with local content
3. Wikireader is a handheld Wikipedia reader. Again, no local content access
4. Talking Book is a highly-customizable audio player, but doesn't present visual text

Do you know of a solution that provides offline educational content for high school and University teachers and students in Africa? Then be sure to add it in the comments.

No matter how much bandwidth comes via the new fiber optic cables, there still will be massive offline areas in Africa. So there will still be a great craving for the world's knowledge in classrooms and living rooms from Accra to Lusaka.

Openmoko has just released what might be the killer app to supply a large portion of that knowledge to offline areas - the WikiReader. This $99 device has the 3+ million Wikipedia articles at your fingertips with only a micro-SD card and 2 AAA batteries - no Internet required.

Intrigued? Then listen to Pat Meier-Johnson explain it in this exclusive ICTworks Interview:

Openmoko has been behind large open-source initiatives such as the openmoko opensource wireless phone, and have a greater purpose for the WikiReader. They say:

NGOs and governments in emerging countries are key to the core value of the WikiReader. We believe an uncomplicated device with long battery life and no strings attached could bring this vast repository of knowledge to many people around the world who otherwise could not access it.

I can see this being an amazing resource for educators in rural schools. They would now have access to the Wikipedia's wealth of knowledge at a fraction of the cost for computers or Internet access. In addition, with the Parental Control feature, they don't have to worry about young prying eyes seeing too much.

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