Filed under: iPod Family, Cool tools, Education
Wikipedia on your iPod
Way back in 1993, I can remember purchasing the entire works of Shakespeare on a CD-ROM to help me in a college
course I was taking. I also had the printed works, but the CD-ROM allowed me to do keyword or character searches in a
way the printed text didn't. For me, it was a breakthrough in how I was using computers to access content in a
different way. The CD-ROM was accessible with hyper-links to other content on the disc which is notable because before
the World Wide Web, hyper-links were really only being used in content like this Shakespeare CD-ROM (and in HyperStudio
and HyperCard projects). It was my experience with this CD-ROM and gophering into the University of Minnesota's system
to study 1990 Census data that opened my eyes to the coming World Wide Web explosion.My point is that while content doesn't actually change much over the years, the way in which we access it does. And today, I've learned of yet another interesting way we access content. You can now get the Wikipedia on your iPod. [Note: this requires you to install Linux on your iPod].
The Wikipedia is the free, online, open-source encyclopedia. I've been consulting it for years, particularly for entries that likely wouldn't appear in a traditional encyclopedia. Since Wikipedia content is all user-contributed, it tends to be significantly more up-to-date than traditional sources. Some people worry about the accuracy of the Wikipedia's content, but I've never found it to be a problem.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Muir said 12:33PM on 2-28-2006
This is where the data's at:
http://encyclopodia.sourceforge.net/en/library.html
The text only English edition of the Wikipedia is a mere 753mb ... intriguing.
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Lee said 8:06PM on 2-28-2006
This ability is not NEARLY as cool as it first sounds. What's missing from the story is one VERY important requirement: you have to install a dual-boot configuration onto your pod. Yes, my friends, this requires installing linux onto your ipod. While this is supposedly non-destructive -- and while not simple, not especially difficult either -- I draw the line and geekery like this. This was the reason I switched from Windows in 2002: the beautiful simplicity of Apple software/hardware.
You might want to include such important details in your stories.
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John Gaskell said 10:12PM on 2-28-2006
Uh, ditto. I know you guys get paid by the post, but damn. Don't be in such a rush next time.
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