Internet-in-a-Box is a low cost digital library, consisting of a
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
access point with storage, which users nearby can connect to.
[
Its realization in hardware and software has changed since 2012, as miniaturization of storage space and electronics progressed. As of 2017, its hardware may consist of a ]Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi () is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom. The Raspberry Pi project originally leaned towards the promotion of teaching basic ...
with a replaceable storage card.
In 2016, Columbia University's Masters in Public Administration in Development Practice (MPA-DP) explored using these boxes in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
for three months.
Digital library
The digital library is composed of multiple modules; modules may be pre-installed, or users may choose which to install. Examples of modules include Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
in a specific language, Wikipedia's Medical Encyclopedia, Khan Academy
Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...
Lite, and OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
.[ Other content includes ]Moodle
Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in sch ...
, Nextcloud
Nextcloud is a suite of client-server software for creating and using file hosting services. Nextcloud provides functionally similar to Dropbox, Office 365 or Google Drive when used with integrated office suite solutions Collabora Online or Only ...
, MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...
, PhET
PhET Interactive Simulations, a project at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a non-profit open educational resource project that creates and hosts explorable explanations. It was founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman. PhET began with ...
(interactive mathematics and science simulations), TED Talks
TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...
.
History
The concept grew out of One Laptop per Child's school server project.[
File:IIABona202017.jpg, 2017 version of IIAB with medical content
File:Internet-In-A-Box.jpg, An older version of offline Wikimedia content and a WiFi transmitter.
File:Offline Innovation - Bridging the Digital Divide in Latin America.webm, Video overview of efforts in Dominican Republic
File:Internet-in-a-box 2019 compared to passport.jpg, Internet-in-a-Box 2019 version compared to passport
File:Internet in a Box.webm, Video discussing the rollout of IIAB in Peru in 2018
]
See also
Internet-in-a-Box.org
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Project updates
*
Software repository
*
Community tech docs
*
Frequently Asked Questions
* Meta: Internet-in-a-Box
* Kiwix
Kiwix is a free and open-source offline web browser created by Emmanuel Engelhart and Renaud Gaudin in 2007. It was first launched to allow offline access to Wikipedia, but has since expanded to include other projects from the Wikimedia Foundati ...
** Afripedia Project
The Afripedia Project is a project to expand offline Wikipedia access in French-speaking Africa, and encourage Africans to contribute to Wikipedia. The project installs local Kiwix-serve wireless and intranet server (computing), servers and p ...
* Related
PirateBox alternatives
NetHood
References
{{Commons category
Educational technology non-profits
Information and communication technologies for development
Digital library projects