Comments on new Outernet content selection

Syed · 2015-12-31T07:05:41.764Z

You’re right, this will be changed. I think the problem you are describing with the location of this week’s files is an uploading error on our part, as opposed to a somewhat broken user interface.

branko · 2015-12-31T11:24:41.092Z

kenbarbi:

Ben had said there would be new content, but I couldn’t find it where I expected it. I finally found it buried in the Files tab under a new Tab called Content that had the week of 12-28-2015’s stuff:

Content that appears in the files section is indexed by FSAL, which in turn notifies Librarian, which indexes the metadata, and puts it into the Library section at some later point in time. Unless there’s some new bug in the indexing code, it should appear after a while (where ‘while’ depends on the total amount of new indexable content).

That is as long as the content is indexable. You can find out if content is indexable by looking at the folder icon or the physical directory on disk.

If the icon is a video player icon (same as video section icon in the Library app) the content has been indexed already, and should be available in the library section.

If it is not indexed, but a file named .contentinfo is physically present in the directory on disk, then it will be indexed by Librarian later (or we have a bug that prevents indexing). If there is no .contentinfo file, it may not have been downloaded yet, or it’s missing to begin with.

Here’s a screenshot from my Pi2 which has TED videos, but no .contentinfo file to allow Librarian to index the videos.

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kenbarbi · 2015-12-31T12:44:48.919Z

The only content that I have ever seen indexed (with the ORxPi or Lighthouse) are the HTML pages which show up either in the “all” or “pages” Tabs. The received audio and video files have never appeared indexed as this picture of audio content shows, but are visible elsewhere.

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They are on my device (either ORxPi or Lighthouse), but I have to go to them by clicking on the Outernet ^ then the Files folder

and then drill down into Content

Eventually reaching MP3 files in String Cheese Incident which play fine

Nothing ever shows up in the Files Folder Tab below the Video Folder Tab. It is empty too. Ken

branko · 2015-12-31T16:57:04.371Z

kenbarbi:

Nothing ever shows up in the Files Folder Tab below the Video Folder Tab. It is empty too. Ken

See my previous notes.

Ben · 2016-01-01T16:30:04.994Z

As Branko mentioned the files that have been broadcast lately do not have .contentinfo files associated to them. Unfortunately, i made a mistake on monday while uploading files which resulted in this week’s bin being under content/Outernet Weekly Selections/.

kenbarbi · 2016-01-01T18:28:04.574Z

Ben, I think it would be worthwhile in next week’s satellite up link, if you put one of every type file so we could all see how they get indexed - - HTML content, Music (String Cheese Incident or someone), video (such as TED), WikiPedia, WikiNews, Malawi News, Rachel content, Project Guttenberg, etc.

Over the months, we have gotten them all, but not necessarily using the same Version of ORxPi or Lighthouse software.

Every time I run a new release, I wipe out all my old content to start fresh, so I don’t have any of your past transmissions to migrate and view.

Librarian v1.0.post1 / Lighthouse 2.3.001 seems stable enough now, so I have attached a 1 TB hard drive to save data. My ORxPi is still operating on a single 16 GB SD chip with no external storage. Ken

pradeeka · 2016-01-07T10:12:28.394Z

A very good source to get comic books for learning Physics

physicscentral.com

PhysicsCentral

Learn about public engagement activities from the American Physical Society

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pradeeka · 2016-01-07T17:46:00.034Z

kenbarbi:

Every time I run a new release, I wipe out all my old content to start fresh, so I don’t have any of your past transmissions to migrate and view.

yeah. i also.

pradeeka · 2016-01-10T13:31:48.337Z

Can we broadcast this beautiful Percian song. I think the language is Farsi. But I haven’t any idea about the license attributes of this song. And there is Sinhala(Sri Lanka) version also available But they eat the original version of this beautiful song

Persian:

Sihnala

kenbarbi · 2016-01-19T13:19:06.684Z

I’ve been comparing my content on Galaxy 19 and Wolfgang’s content on Hotbird 13, and am seeing differences. Neither one of us has any content showing in the Library

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But on Tweets, Galaxy 19 shows content to Jan 15 9:24:16 AM with 19 tabs of Tweets, while Hotbird shows content to Jan 18 12:15:21 AM with 6 tabs of Tweets. (Wow, Hotbird just picked up another 20 Tweets since I copied the sample page below, and Galaxy 19 remained the same)

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Also our Files selections are different. Most surprising is Galaxy 19 is not showing Weekly content for the Week of 2016_01_18

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What are others seeing on Galaxy 19? My time now is 19 Jan 2016 1300 UTC and Galaxy 19 content is shown in the Opera Browser window (which inconveniently I switched sides on). Ken

(PS I’m sending my system log to Branko by e mail)

ThaneRichard · 2016-01-19T18:46:35.259Z

@kenbarbi, so sorry for the delayed response but I want to respond to your ideas.

First, it is certainly possible that the way I wrote the instructions for suggesting content and adding content are not straightforward. Currently only admins can edit that page because I didn’t want someone to write incorrect instructions. However, if you and the rest of this community think it would be valuable to have them editable, I’m open to it.

I have added a page (outernet.is/learn) and a section on the wiki homepage called “Outernet Learning Projects” that are designed to be smaller, digestible ways to participate in Outernet. So rather than “how to add anything to Outernet” a project could be “make a photo collage and share it on Outernet.” I would LOVE to see you and others who have a more sophisticated understanding of Outernet create ways for others to contribute. Projects should not just be created by me.

With regard to making content requests, I have created mechanisms for Twitter and email requests. If you tweet @ThaneRichard or @OuternetForAll and include #request, the request gets logged. Similarly, if you email request@outernet.is, thane@outernet.is, or hello@outernet.is and include #request anywhere in the message (subject or body), it will get logged. All requests are displayed publicly here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EusqDD3HBG_2uojNH2NOSj1QzX5JjTen9Ei7yPpOU0o/edit#gid=0. The suggestion columns are publicly editable, so anyone can see the requests and suggest a piece of content as a response. We are testing this this week with the UMass Amherst library acting as the curator and requests coming from libraries and schools in Malawi. We will discuss the results on this week’s community call (https://wiki.outernet.is/wiki/Community_Calls).

For other suggestion methods, they will have to wait. I think we have enough experimenting to do with these two pathways and the entire feedback loop as a system before we invest more time in expanding the input pathways. For our current users in Africa, requesting via email and/or Twitter are very workable.

Ken, I also want to point you to this blog post from last week: https://blog.outernet.is/sharing-classrooms-from-space-9d32bc5f0d51#.ti8zh4ybs. I hope you and others on this thread join our community calls and share your feedback there too. As you’ve probably gathered, forums aren’t my strong suit but I’m trying to get better

ThaneRichard · 2016-01-19T19:06:23.256Z

And this may have to be modified so that only emails coming into request@outernet.is since it appears that Google is not very smart at searching the exact format of “#request” - every message containing “request” or “#” appear, so hashtagging is not supported. Expect more update on this process later this week.

Ben · 2016-01-19T20:05:01.312Z

I’ve only read this second part so far Thane, but you can use + signs in emails to make gmail ignore everything after the +.

e.g. hello+suggestions@outernet.is

ThaneRichard · 2016-01-19T20:09:29.666Z

I just read more on the topic and it is a Gmail issue - Gmail search does not recognize # and other special characters. Google Product Forums. For now, only requests coming to request@outernet.is will be recognized.

barleyguy · 2016-01-23T11:47:27.675Z

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Outernet, about 3 questions:

If this is “Humanity’s Public Library”, what do people generally use public libraries for?
What is the pattern of how people tend to use the internet, with the content currently on Outernet as an example?
If I moved off the grid, what would it take for Outernet to be my primary data source?

On question number one, let’s ponder why people go to libraries and what they do while there. In my local public library, I’ve noticed that the places that get the traffic are: The computer room (i.e. software), the auto repair manuals (because that information is still hard to get online), the novels and other entertainment such as DVDs, and the research sections.

I’d say 50% of people go to the library to be entertained, the other 50% go for either research or because they don’t have a home internet connection or computer. Some young adults only have a mobile data connection, while other people can’t afford the $60 a month or so it takes to get decent internet in non-urban areas.

Entertainment is a valid reason to visit a library, because people seek to be happy by passing time in interesting ways, and also because things that are entertaining can also be educational. Also, sometimes people choose the library because it’s free or just because it’s quiet.

On question number 2 and 3, I’ve been pondering associated content, or hyperlinks. I was listening to this week’s music selections, to the first track of the Jamendo collection, and I’m like “Gosh, this artist sounds like the same artist that did Suntoucher. I wonder if that’s who it is?” My first instinct is “Hmm… I bet the Wikipedia page for this artist has that information.” Also “Who the heck is Jamendo? Is that an independent label?” and “This Radiators concert is from American Music Hall. Where is that? Is it a large venue?”

So as a crazy idea, what if when some music comes down from Outernet, the Wikipedia page for the artist and the venue come down with it, and they are linked by ht (hypertext)? And if it’s a collection of songs from a particular label or festival, what if some information about the label or festival comes down as well?

Another idea: What if the text for a book came down from Gutenburg, and the audio for the same book came down from Librivox? That would allow people to read the book at the same time they are listening to it, or switch back and forth between the two mediums. It might even help people learn English.

I realize this would be a lot more work than just bundling requests. But it would also, in my opinion, make Outernet really rad, and make it fit a model closer to how people use the internet.

And while I’m at it, a couple more suggestions:

What about having the Outernet website as part of the core content of Outernet? It would allow people to answer the question: What the heck is this Outernet wifi hotspot I just connected to? Also, a PDF user manual for the system would be useful. That’s a chicken and egg of course, but it would allow diagnosing issues with upgrades and things like that, for people without internet connections. It would also allow using the information from a neighbor’s Outernet to set up your own Outernet.

My two cents.

Thanks.

branko · 2016-01-26T14:43:12.723Z

A post was split to a new topic: No content in Library

6eh · 2016-01-27T12:59:58.638Z

Hi guy I wanna use outernet what should I do please help me

6eh · 2016-01-27T13:04:22.619Z

Hi guy I wanna use outernet I live in Iran which is located in south east Asia I don’t know exactly how I can use it help me

Syed · 2016-01-29T02:15:09.020Z

Incredibly valid point. If we enable a way to hyperlink content within a library, then users with an internet connection (or even something like WhatsApp) can submit content relevant to the main piece of content. Although Outernet is primarily a one-way service, we do want to engage online users to contribute to the broadcast, This seems like one such way.

branko · 2016-02-01T12:06:40.704Z

A post was split to a new topic: Trouble opening music files