ICT Site Tools
From apc.au wiki
Contents |
ICT Site Tools for Home Lands Project
Issue
The Home Lands project involves using computers onsite at refugee camps in Kenya and Thailand. These are not typically an ideal location for getting online for the following reasons:
- Power quality (if they have it, it usually has brown outs, spikes, outages)
- Internet links (poor phone lines, expense of satellite systems)
- Environment (heat, moisture, dust)
- Security (theft target)
Mobile Solution
A mobile setup involving a central "base station" in a vehicle may provide the best solution, for example:
- 4WD vehicle with power converter/generator and a main "base station" laptop computer with a copy of the website on it
- Multiple cheap laptops that use wireless to connect to the main laptop to access the site
Cheap Laptops
The One Laptop project has created an inexpensive laptop designed for use by children in developing worlds. It is a rugged, wireless, easy to use computer that comes with software providing a combination of library, videocam, audio recorder, music maker and drawing kits as well as communications.
Base Station
A single, modern laptop can act as a wireless access point and web server that the cheap laptops connect to. It will provide a local copy of the Home Lands web site (no Internet connection required on site) that is synchronised when it is returned to an Internet connection (new content from the site is uploaded, latest posts from Australia are downloaded, etc).
Pilot to Production
The initial version of the Mobile Solution could be a single laptop and two or three cheap laptops carried on site by team staff. Once the validity of the entire Home Lands project has been confirmed and funding secured, the solution can be scaled up to a dedicated vehicle, power supply, etc.
Further Work
- Review One Laptop specifications
- Site audits of all refugee camps for the project (power, environment, security, etc)
- Refine "Pilot to Production" to include stages, pricing, etc
