Proposal:Wiki in a Stick, with auto-update
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- Achieve continued growth in readership
- Focus on quality content
- Increase Participation
- Stabilize and improve the infrastructure
- Encourage Innovation
Proposal
I propose releasing Wikipedia in a USB stick, which would include an easy solution for auto-updating.
There are already movies being bundled with high-capacity USB sticks, so why not a USB-stick with Wikipedia? The content + auto-updating software could be either given for free (USB manufacturers should be interested = max coverage), or it could be used to bring in money (select coverage).
Using Wiki(pedia) in a Stick would also reduce the load (hits) on online wikipedia. But auto-updating would increase it in another way.
Motivation
- Increasing coverage in online-challenged environments (esp. developing countries)
- Taking a leap from geeky "offline wikipedias" to a polished, easy to use, version with better chance of wide adoption
Key Questions
- Which parts would be included (size limit). Most popular articles, articles with most encyclopedic value, articles without media or categorized packages?
- Free or profit
- Specs of the auto-updating software (what kind of an edit in the online WP would mark the article as updated, and to be included in autoupdate download)
- User interface: Should the stick include a customized browser for this one purpose?
- USB stick not the only possible physical media for this use. Bluray would be one alternative (video consoles!).
Potential Costs
- Creating auto-updating software
- Increased volume of dump downloads
References
Community Discussion
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