|
|
The digital library project represents hundreds of
hours by volunteer librarians and includes the collective
contributions of hundreds of authors and publishers. These
individuals have generously given of their time and resources to
create greater learning opportunities for tens of thousands of
scholars in Africa. |
 |
Why the eGranary Digital Library? |
| |
Many of the
developing country universities, schools, clinics and hospitals with whom we work have no Internet connection.
Those that are connected to the Internet have such limited bandwidth
that they cannot offer free Web browsing to the majority of their
staff and students. Bandwidth in Africa can cost up to 100
times what it costs in the U.S., so for some organizations a slim
Internet connection can consume the equivalent of one-half their
operating budget.
Even for
those individuals who have the wherewithal to pay for Web browsing,
the experience can be frustratingly slow -- it can take hours to
download a single audio file.
|
| |
|
|
|
How Does the eGranary Help? |
| |
The eGranary
Digital Library addresses these issues by moving a large assortment
of educational Web documents onto the subscriber's local
area network (LAN) so that the documents can be made available to
everyone within the institution freely and instantly.
We
"store the seeds of knowledge" inside the institution where they can
be accessed even when the Internet connection is broken.
In a sense,
we say, "If you can't come to the Web, we'll bring the Web to you!"
|
| |
|
|
|
Here's how we do it... |
| 1. |
Identify
Web sites with rich educational content |
| |
Since the advent of the World Wide Web,
millions of individuals
and organizations have digitized their information to share
the general public over the Internet. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, we
look for Web sites with pertinent
digitized academic information (often guided by requests of
our African partners) and add these to our "wish list."
|
| 2. |
Secure
the author's or publisher's permission to copy their
materials |
| |
We contact authors and
publishers via email and simply ask, "can we replicate
your materials for educational institutions in developing
countries with
inadequate Internet connectivity?" Depending on the subject area, we
receive from 50% to 90% positive responses.
(So far, librarians lead the pack. Medical resources are
harder to come by.)
|
| 3. |
Copy
the permitted materials to a hard drive at the
University of Iowa's WiderNet Project |
| |
Using HTTrack, a Web
site "scraping" software, we make a duplicate of the
permitted materials on our server. We do not
change the content, although we remove links to
annoying advertisement servers and "hit" monitors.
Sometimes we copy an entire Web site, sometimes just the
portions that contain the most useful information.
|
| 4. |
Make
copies of the collection and distribute to
subscriber universities |
| |
Using large hard disks,
we deliver copies of the eGranary Digital Library to
subscribers. Most subscribers already have servers
and local area networks in place, so they simply add the eGranary hard drive to their existing server. We
work with other universities to set up their first
servers, sometimes using donated computers and software.
|
| 5. |
Update
and redistribute hard drives as time and travel
schedules permit |
| |
We return to update our
copy of each Web site on an occasional basis.
Then, taking advantage of traveler's schedules, we
deliver updated hard disks to our subscribers two or
three times a year. (The hard drive is only as big
as a paperback book, so it's easy to slip into one's
personal luggage...)
We've also developed a way to use
various technologies, like satellite digital radio, to update the collection on an
ongoing basis.
|
Want to know more?
|
The WiderNet Project