In collaboration with Wikimedia, the Praekelt Foundation is attempting to bring the world’s biggest and growing repository of information every device, including the most basic ones that don’t connect to the internet. Using USSD and SMS technology, non-IP enabled phones will be able to query the Wikipedia database via shortcodes and access information on their mobile networks for free. The initiative is an extension of the Wikipedia Zero project that offers free access to Wikipedia’s mobile site via partnerships with telcos, but is available only on internet enabled phones.
Zeroing in on free mobile access to Wikipedia | Praekelt FoundationThere has always been one unsettling flaw in Wikipedia’s goal to ensure that all the world’s knowledge can be accessed by the world: not all the world has access to the World Wide Web. To overcome this, Wikipedia, the world’s largest encyclopedia, developed a mobi site which makes it possible for those with internet enabled phones to access Wikipedia on the move.
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