The Kiwix app empowers Android users to download and view large sets of Wikipedia content on their devices while offline.

Kiwix isn’t just Yet Another Wikipedia app. Once you install it on your Android device, you can actually use it to download the whole website, and access its millions of articles even when you’re offline (or when you don’t want to use your data plan). You can also download smaller (and custom) selections of pages, if you’re short on storage space.

Providing access to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites to as many people as possible is one of the Wikimedia movement’s core goals. While their regular desktop, online version is enough for most users, it is inadequate for many others.

This is the reason why, throughout the movement, Wikimedians are working to diversify and facilitate access to Wikipedia and its sister sites:

• Kiwix is a software that allows users to browse full snapshots of Wikipedia (and numerous other resources) from a personal computer that isn’t connected to the internet.
• The Wikipedia Mobile App allows smartphone users to browse Wikipedia on mobile devices, save articles and much more.
• The Wikipedia Zero initiative allows cellphone users in Africa and Asia to access parts of Wikipedia without incurring data charges.
• The Kiwix-plug empowers African students to access full snapshots of Wikipedia and Wikisource right from their campus, on their own laptop or phone.

Kiwix for Android is the latest innovation in this series: This app, available from the Google Play Store or from the Kiwix website, allows users of Android-powered devices to browse offline content from Wikipedia and its sister sites.

The market of Android-powered devices is exploding. It is not limited to mobile phones and tablets, but it also powers TV, appliances, “USB computers” and an increasing range of cheap computers.

In places where connectivity is a difficult (at least 30 countries on the sole African continent), the only way to access Wikipedia content is Kiwix Desktop, but it still requires a computer and electricity. Cheap Android devices might spread more quickly, and we really want to facilitate access to free content everywhere.

That said, Kiwix for Android can also be just as useful to Westerners who want to walk around with the entirety of the world’s largest encyclopedia in their pocket (if they have a big enough SD card), accessible at no cost or data fees.

Where do I get it?

It’s very easy to use:

1. Download the app from the Google Play Store, and launch it;
2. Click on the “Open” button, select a ZIM file from the list (from your device or SD card);
3. That’s it! You’re already browsing offline content.

If you don’t already have a ZIM file, Kiwix leads you to its online repository so you can download one. You can also use any of the Books created on Wikipedia.

Being a mobile version of a feature-rich desktop software, the Android version is lightweight. It provides access to the most essential features: opening and reading a ZIM file, search with auto-completion on article titles, in-page search, random navigation, zoom in & out, and access to the mobile-friendly ZIM file catalog.

How does it work?

Kiwix for Android uses a native Android user interface in Java (which offers a nice look & feel) and is built on the Kiwix and libzim C++ code. We combine these tools using the Java Native Interface.

It’s very easy to improve the app. Just download the code from our code repository and read the COMPILE file. You don’t even need to compile the C++ code: it’s available as a pre-compiled file. You can directly start hacking the UI and easily rebuild the APK package file.

What’s next?

This is the beginning of Kiwix for mobile. This Android version was developed during a one-week hackathon sponsored by Wikimedia CH (Switzerland) and our focus was on providing a stable and comfortable experience.

Our strategy for mobile development is not set in stone. We have some ideas but are also expecting feedback from users. Give it a try, and tell us what you want: new features, new paradigm, new platform target, etc.: We’ll try to make it happen.

Beside the Kiwix app itself, we are also working to provide more content in the ZIM format, so that every Kiwix-enabled device can become a large library of free content.

About Kiwix

Kiwix is an offline content reader working with ZIM (OpenZIM) files. It works on Windows, Linux, Mac and now Android. Additionally, it is available as a Web Server solution and powers the Afripedia Plugs.

Renaud Gaudin, Kiwix Developer

The Afripedia project was initiated in late 2011, and engaged Wikimédia France, the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and the Institut Français (IF). Kiwix also supplied technological support.

The partnership, which was signed in June 2012, started materializing in November 2012 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

What is the project about?

The Afripedia project aims to enable significant off-line consultation of Wikipedia and also to train contributors in French-speaking African schools and universities.

Hardware for Afripedia project.

Our starting point was the fact that, although African universities have begun to be well-equiped with computer hardware, their Internet connectivity is often poor, or at least too weak or irregular to allow frequent, natural use of Wikipedia. These issues and lack of Internet access at home are factors that prevent students and teachers from using Wikipedia as much as they might like.

It was important for us to combine the dissemination of Wikipedia with contribution trainings so that students and teachers could contribute to Wikipedia and enhance content about Africa, which is notably under-represented on Wikipedia (only 2 percent of contributors are from Africa, and most of them from North African countries). Thus, when quality Internet access comes, Wikipedia contributors will be ready.

Using Kiwix, which has been offering off-line consultation of Wikipedia for several years, we implemented a computer deployment project to broadcast Wikipedia through offline WiFi networks. This mechanism, in place in universities of West Africa and Central Africa, allows people from those universities to connect easily to the network and freely read Wikipedia without an Internet connection or desktop computer. A more detailed description is available on Wikipedia: projet Afripédia.

What have we done?

Afripédia training, Abidjan, 2012.

With the help of AUF, we hired about 15 people from French-speaking digital campuses in 11 African countries: Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Chad, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Niger, Togo, Mali and Burundi. From 5-9 November 2012, training took place at Abidjan’s French speaking digital campus, located in the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Cocody (Ivory Coast). Over five days, we taught how to use and install the Wikipedia offline consultation tools. We also taught Wikipedia editing, explained concepts such as free licences and introduced the various Wikimedia projects. The week ended with a public lecture available to students (around a hundred people attended), and a contribution workshop animated by the people trained during the week.

These few days of training showed the need for developing best practices, which where not necessarily identified before. For example, the importance of a future offline export of Wikisource at the next content update would be very useful for accessing classical texts for French-language litterature teaching. There was also interest in an offline Wikipedia implemented directly on university servers, so that people who do not have WiFi access can consult the encylopedia on the university intranet.

We paid particular attention to the project follow-up, including the personal investment of each trainer, who has to master Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects in order to teach these concepts efficiently to the local communities.

How far have we gotten two months later?

This report comes some weeks after the training in Abidjan in order to take a step back after the initial enthusiasm.

Afripedia training in Niamey, Niger.

The situation is different depending on the country. For example, in Burundi and Abidjan, strikes in the university heavily slowed the implementation of the project in November. Elsewhere, however, installations and trainings were a success. In other countries, for planning reasons, the project will begin in January.

• For example in Chad, offline Wikipedia has been available since mid-November in the Campus Numérique francophone (CNF — French-speaking digital campus) of N’Djamena and trainings for the use of Wikipedia were organized by Francis Beninga Deouro, technical manager of CNF of N’Djamena.
• The same in Mali, where Michel Namar, manager of the CNF of Bamako, is leading an intensive action around the project: deployed it on the server of the Bamako University as well as in the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Bamako, Wikipedia is available through WiFi thanks to the plug-computers. Deployments are currently being organized in Segou (in central Mali).
• In Senegal, Stefano Mekoudi is having a strong presence promoting the project and sharing information, especially taking the opportunity given by the “Carrefour des Possibles” forum that was held in Dakar at the end of November 2012.
• Benjamin Sia, the person responsible for trainings at the CNF of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, established a system and created posters in both universities of the city to inform students of this new opportunity to consult Wikipedia. Training for contributors is scheduled in January.
• Thanks to Abdoul Kane’s work, the system has been installed on a server and at the IT department of the University of Nouakchott, Mauritania.
• Offline Wikipedia is also available in Niamey (Niger), thanks to Mariama Abdoul-Moumouni in the CNF and the university.

The first statistics about offline page requests and activity on Wikipedia are expected by mid-february.

Each trainer who attended the training in Abidjan in November is expected to become a regular contributor and also develop the contribution within their own university. The number of contributions was closely tracked for two month and first results are very encouraging:

• After Abidjan, 15 active contributors were identified thanks to the Afripedia project. By mid-January 58 contributors made at least a contribution to Wikipedia in addition to 71 new accounts created.
• Within a month, 233,700 bytes of text were published on Wikipedia, with around 600 distinct contributions. More than 85 articles were created, and more than a hundred modified.
• More than twenty pictures have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, illustrating mostly daily practices or architectural elements.
• Very few articles have been deleted thanks to kind and watchful support provided by more experienced contributors who acted as “Afripedia sponsors.”
• Contributions related to the project are available here: Projet Afripédia/Contenus
• Informations can also be tracked on twitter: @Afripedia

Conclusion

One month after the first deployment, and a little more than one year after the beginning of the project, we are pleased to note that it seems to have fulfilled its objectives.

• It meets a true need of accessing Wikipedia’s ressources online and offline, especially for some universities that do not have internet access—like those in Niger, for example.
• The CNF staff trained in Abidjan got really involved in the project, with both dissemination and contributions. Their energy when they came back to their respective countries indicates that the Afripedia project can be efficiently led from the CNF in Central Africa and West Africa.
• The training week in Abidjan brought out new ideas and improvements that we will try to implement shortly.
• The project was well-covered by the French speaking press (technology and Africa focus) and the bloggers from the Ivory Coast. It was also circulated to countries where we weren’t represented, raising great interest. For example, the CEDESURK network in the Democratic Republic of Congo (helped by Wikimedia France and Kiwix), is installing an off-line Wikipedia on its servers in the universities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, in advance of full deployment in the eight universities of the country and implementation of a training program.

A second step is necessary to expand the project to the countries of French-speaking Africa that aren’t part of Afripedia yet. This will probably take place in Spring 2013. It will also be an opportunity to review the project in further detail with the people who were already very involved, so as to facilitate Wikipedia access and expand African contributions to the Wikimedia projects.

Adrienne Alix, Wikimedia France
(Translation from French by Wikinade, Adrienne, PierreSelim, Mariiwakura, Seb35, and Chamatou)

This post is available in 2 languages:

français  • English

In English

Signing the partnership agreement for Afripedia

In mid June, Rémi Mathis, chairman of Wikimédia France, signed a partnership with the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (Association of Universities of the Francophonie – AUF) and the Institut Français (IF) to support a project called Afripedia. This initiative supports the development of Internet access in countries where, for now, the network is not stable and affordable enough. In French-speaking Africa, where most people have limited, expensive and poor quality access to the Internet, the goal is to encourage contribution and access to free knowledge. Wikimédia France intends to support future local contributor communities to move Wikipedia forward in French and in local languages.

The partnership is facilitated by the work of Kiwix developers, who for several years have been facilitating offline versions of Wikipedia in various languages. Utilizing the Kiwix platform, content from Wikipedias in different languages can be downloaded and shared all over the world to be used in diverse ways.

For Afripedia, Wikimédia France –working with Kiwix, the AUF and IF — will establish offline WiFi systems in areas where internet is not prevalent. The system essentially works like an Intranet. We will install small computers (Plug Computers) without screens or keyboards, which are very energy-efficient. Then we will connect a flash drive with the content of Wikipedia (and maybe other Wikimedia projects, like Wiktionary, etc.) and all the content will be shared by WiFi with all the computers that receive the WiFi network. To update content, you just have to update the original flash drive and every computer will receive the new information. We think that this system is better than the traditional sharing of content with flash drives or DVD, because it allows for easier and more accessible updates.

In a lot of countries, the AUF has a network of digital campuses near universities. We are in partnership with the AUF in order to benefit from that network and logistical help. We will start by setting up the project in about 20 universities in 15 countries in West-Africa and by training the staff to use Wikipedia, especially for educational use.

But we also want to encourage contribution by African people on African topics, given that there is too little coverage of those on Wikipedia. For this purpose, while we develop the offline dissemination of Wikipedia, we will organize tutorials and workshops to make it easier to contribute and collaborate with the Wikipedia community. With this training, we’re hopeful users will be able to contribute more easily when their internet connection allows them to do so.

If the project goes well, we intend to develop it further in 2013 with help from the AUF and IF. We’re starting with universities, but we can consider sharing Wikipedia content this way in schools, cultural centers and even (with wireless repeaters) in residential areas and villages.

This is a particular and unique experience for us to take part to this kind of project. It is very interesting to work with institutions with extensive experience in educationnal and cultural development. Since we have announced this partnership, and based on coverage in African media outlets, we have received several contacts from associations or people involved in cultural development. This should allow us to support new communities of contributors (and maybe future wikimedia chapters?) in these countries.

We look forward to updating you on our progress as the initiative proceeds.

Adrienne Alix, Director of programs, Wikimédia France

En français

Le 15 juin dernier, Rémi Mathis, président de Wikimédia France, a signé un partenariat avec l’Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie et l’Institut Français pour le lancement d’un projet appelé Afripedia.

Ce projet consiste à diffuser les contenus de Wikipédia le plus efficacement possible en Afrique francophone, où le prix et la qualité de la connexion à internet ne sont aujourd’hui pas satisfaisants pour la plus grande partie de la population.

Depuis plusieurs années, les développeurs de Kiwix travaillent pour créer des versions hors-ligne de Wikipédia dans de nombreuses langues. Ces contenus sont ensuite téléchargés et distribués un peu partout dans le monde pour de nombreux usages.

Avec Kiwix, l’AUF et l’IF nous avons travaillé à un projet qui permet de diffuser le contenu de Wikipédia de façon massive grâce à un système de wifi hors ligne. Nous installerons des petits ordinateurs (Plug Computer) sans écran ni clavier et qui se branchent simplement sur une prise de courant, très économes en énergie. On branche ensuite une clé USB contenant le contenu hors-ligne de Wikipédia (et pourquoi pas d’autres projets Wikimédia comme le Wiktionnaire) dessus et tout est diffusé par wifi sur tous les ordinateurs du secteur qui sont branchés sur ce réseau.

Ainsi le système fonctionne comme un intranet. Pour mettre à jour le contenu, il suffit de mettre à jour une seule clé USB et tous les ordinateurs bénéficient immédiatement de cette mise à jour. Ce système est avantageux par rapport aux traditionnelles diffusions de clés USB ou de DVD parce qu’il met à disposition des mises à jour de façon beaucoup plus faciles et accessibles.

L’AUF gère dans un grand nombre de pays des campus numériques situés dans les universités affiliées à son réseau d’univeristés francophones. Nous sommes donc en partenariat avec eux pour bénéficier, au départ, de leur réseau et de leur logistique. Nous allons commencer par installer ces dispositifs dans une vingtaine d’universités situés dans une quinzaine de pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest et former des personnels de ces universités à l’utilisation de Wikipédia, notamment dans un cadre pédagogique.

Mais nous souhaitons aussi favoriser la contribution sur Wikipédia, par les africains et sur les sujets africains, qui sont pour l’instant bien trop peu nombreux sur Wikipédia. C’est pourquoi en même temps que nous allons développer cette diffusion hors ligne de Wikipédia, nous allons organiser des ateliers d’apprentissage à la contribution. Ainsi, les personnes formées pourront plus facilement contribuer lorsque leur accès à internet le permet.

Si le projet fonctionne bien, avec l’aide de l’AUF et de l’Institut français nous pensons le développer davantage en 2013. Nous commençons avec des universités mais il est tout à fait envisageable de diffuser ainsi le contenu de Wikipédia dans des écoles, des centres culturels, ou pourquoi pas (avec des répéteurs wifi) sur des quartiers d’habitations ou des villages.

C’est une expérience unique et particulière pour nous de participer à ce type de projet. C’est vraiment intéressant de travailler avec des institutions qui ont une longue expérience dans l’éducation et le développement culturel. Depuis que nous avons annoncé ce partenariat, relayé sur les médias africains, nous avons reçu plusieurs contacts d’association ou de personnes investies dans le développement culturel. Cela peut nous permettre de soutenir de nouvelles communautés de contributeurs (et peut être de futurs chapitres Wikimédia ?) dans ces pays.

Nous donnerons bien sûr des nouvelles de ce projet au fur et à mesure de son avancement.

Adrienne Alix, directrice des programmes, Wikimédia France

OpenZIM files can be read in multiple reader applications, the most popular of which is Kiwix, available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Sugar.

Start your BitTorrent client and grab a copy of the 9.7GB file (.torrent link, other download options). You can also download content packages directly from within Kiwix using its library feature, including content from sister projects like Wiktionary and Wikisource, as well as non-Wikimedia content.

While the ZIM file doesn’t include images (that would blow it up to ~100GB for thumbnail-sized images), it does come with all the lists, tables, citations, and even mathematical formulas included in the online version.

Wikimedia content has always been made available under free and open licensing terms in raw copies, but ZIM content packages offer a higher level of convenience for the end user.

Please note that this OpenZIM file was prepared by Emmanuel Engelhart, the developer of Kiwix, and feedback should be directed to him (contact at kiwix dot org) or submitted through the Kiwix feedback system.

Source: “Fuse-Project”; upload to OLPC-Wiki: OLPC user “Walter” (CC-BY-SA-2.5)

In the quest to get the information resource Wikipedia into the hands of the entire world, we are excited to note that the offline Wikipedia reader Kiwix has recently been extended to read offline Wikipedia files on the Sugar operating system!

Sugar is an open source desktop environment specifically customized for children. It runs on the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) XO computers, which are often distributed throughout areas of the world without access to the Internet. Now, the students who get one of these computers will have the ability to access information from the largest open educational resource in the world via a great interface!

Congratulations to developers reg and Kelson and to Wikimedia Switzerland for the execution and funding of this project. We hope to hear many inspiring stories about deployments and use cases! To help beta test, see the downloading options at sugarlabs (be sure to download Sugar first). See the Offline Projects page for a broad overview of Offline Wikipedia and information on how to get involved.

Jessie Wild
Special Projects Manager, Global Development

About Kiwix:

Kiwix is a full featured offline reader for Web content, specifically designed for the Offline Wikipedia projects. It stores the content in the ZIM file format, a highly compressed open format with additional metadata. The project is supported by a host of volunteers led by developers reg and Kelson. Kiwix is free software and offers localized options. For more information, see www.kiwix.org.

Seven Indians and a German created an input method for their language. A Russian keyboard method is promised for the next day. There was a jQuery wizard who created a wonderful and necessary addition to the Narayam extension: a visual cue to where the characters are on the keyboard. This information comes directly from the Narayam definitions and the best part is that the visual cue actually works as well.

The WebFonts extension got its reality check. WebFonts provides default fonts in order to ensure that nobody sees the infamous Unicode squares and numbers instead of the desired characters. The MediaWiki software is exclusively open source, and consequently the fonts we deliver through the WebFonts extension need to be freely licensed, too.  The default font we use for the Indic languages is the Lohit font produced by Red Hat. It was quite astonishing to learn that some of the characters are not what the character should look like. Bugs have been filed for this at Red Hat and more work will be done.

We are going to roll out the WebFonts extension on December 12th. Our aim is to install it on the Indic projects. When we have freely licensed fonts that show languages correctly, we will finally be able to provide readable content to everyone. We will be working towards resolving the issues identified at the hackathon.

The Mumbai hackathon has also been good for the Kiwix off-line reader; not only was the software localised into several languages, new developers also familiarized themselves with the software itself to implement further improvements. This is quite important because many Indian people have no or intermittent access to the Internet. In addition to Wikipedia content, there are many projects in India to transcribe books that are in the public domain; as the Kiwix software gets ready to support this content, it will help more and more people get access to India’s rich cultural heritage.

Mobile support was the third centre of gravity; many first-time Wikimedia hackers teamed up with seasoned Wikimedia developers and this produced great results. This included work on a mobile landing page for India, as well as a gateway that allows users to receive Wikipedia articles over SMS and the carrier-specific USSD technology. To appreciate this, many people do not have access to the Internet and consequently to our content. Work also continued on the “Wikipedia Zero” project, which aims to bring Wikipedia and other Wikimedia content to millions of users without data charges.

We also saw an interesting connection with the October 2011 Coding Challenge. Developer Yuvipanda implemented Android 2.2 support for one of the coding challenge submissions, the “Share with Wikimedia Commons” Android app (as well as for the official Wikipedia Android app).

All this will get some review, maybe some polishing but we are quite eager to bring this functionality to you.

Many of the hackers were new to MediaWiki. With an introduction by Erik and private tutoring by Sumana, Tomasz, Patrick, and others, several people really got into the swing of things to the extent that some bugs were smashed.  The hackathon proved as always that when you bring great people together special things can and do happen.

Thanks,
Gerard Meijssen
Internationalization / Localization outreach consultant

There are many instances where people do not have an Internet connection available, or where it is cheaper to work offline, notably in the “Global south”.

Data from Wikimedia projects can be exported to the openZIM format, and then read offline on Kiwix, the only openZIM client.

Several projects with local developers invested a considerable amount of time creating their own offline app for their language, their script or for special requirements like formatting for books.

With the localization of Kiwix on translatewiki.net, it is now much more of an option to work on such features in Kiwix. Customizations like including fonts with a package or having specific formatting for a book or a source remain possible.

We hope our community will help localize Kiwix in the 270+ languages we currently support with Wikimedia projects. Please start translating the interface and let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Gerard Meijssen
Internationalization / Localization outreach consultant

We’ve added some features that I’ll talk about below but for those of you that are just looking to get involved: download a fresh copy and give us feedback. Head over to our project pages if you want to see our full roadmap.

With this new beta we have some exciting new features:

• Mac OS X version;
• Content Manager
• Revised search interface

While the majority of our user base is Linux and Windows we didn’t want OSX users to feel left out. It’s now part of our regular build process. Three platform builds per release .. that’s our goal.
We’re especially happy with how the content manager has turned out. Rather than having to scour the internet to find openZim files you’ll now be able to discover new ones right within Kiwix.

We’re starting out with a limited set of data files to simplify our testing, but we’ll be expanding in the next months as we connect the download manager to the Books collection extension. This will greatly expand the amount of content you can download from Wikipedia. With the extra content, we’ll also add filtering capabilities to make sorting easier.

Finally, we’ve tweaked the look and feel of search results. It’s now far more similar to search engine results pages, which will hopefully make both search and browse much easier.There are also lots of others change under the hood and for those curious head over to the change log.

Tomasz Finc
Director Mobile & Special Projects

We were inspired by a presentation that Trevor Parscal did last year which showcased how easy it is to run a usability study.

With the help of Sumana Harihareswara and numerous others, we conducted seven interviews that highlighted some of the pain points our users were facing.

Some of the quick observations were:

• Bookmarks are too complicated;
• Tabs are not intuitive;
• Some common command key combinations are not supported.

The test script and full results are available, and we’re now using what we learned to guide our next development sprints.

Some of the issues have already been resolved, as they were either in development or quick fixes, while others will require more research.

All the tests were recorded and the videos are already available on Wikimedia Commons.

We’d like to thank our testers who helped us immensely!

It was also great to see how easy it is to run such a study. We have many great opportunities to do research like this at meet-ups, hackathons, conferences, Wikimania, etc.

I’d love to see our community do more informal testing sessions; running just one in a geographic region would quickly surface issues our users are facing.

Are you interested? Don’t wait! Do your own and let us know how it went, or leave a comment below if you want more information.

Tomasz Finc
Director of Mobile and Special Projects