Firstly, I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the wonderful job done by the kolibri team. I just started using kolibri about a month ago on a project to provide digital services to rural communities in Cameroon.
We are developing a platform to be deployed on a LAN which will most often not have internet connection. I know that in order to add content and import content from kolibri, the user will have to be connected to the internet. On that note, I would like to know if anyone has tried to run a cloned version of Kolibri studio offline and linked it to their Kolibri server in order to add content to Kolibri offline.
I am looking for a means to add content to kolibri offline and I thought about cloning and running the Kolibri studio and linking it to my kolibri server since the communities where my platform will be deployed in has very limited/no access to the internet. Please, I would greatly appreciate all guides, directions and advice as regarding this issue.
Thanks for your time, and again thumbs up to the kolibri team for their excellent work.
Hello @Noela_Tenku
No, we are not aware of anybody running its own Studio server. It would be possible as all the sources are published and online, but I can’t think of the amount of time that deploying it and getting all the content could take.
For the problem you mention, other people are either
a) preparing a server with the desired content and cloning its whole disk (using tools like https://clonezilla.org/ )
or
b) Using the methods kolibri provides to load the resources without an Internet connection
If you have sysadmin skills, a) is quicker but it’s harder.
Fo normal users, b) is the easiest method. With b) you have two alternatives:
Using a laptop, install Kolibri on it in a location with Internet access, download there all the content you need. Then you can take the laptop to any kolibri offline installation, and connect it to the same LAN where you have your empty kolibri server. In this empty server you will be able to autodetect and use the laptop as a content source, as a kind of portable Studio installation for all intents and purposes.
Many thanks for this useful feedback. The need to locally add content to Kolibri that isn’t part of the Kolibri Content Library or was not curated within Kolibri Studio (either delivered via sneakernet or peer to peer) is one that we hear often, and is one that is in our roadmap to directly address in 2020. Would it be alright if we reached out directly once we are deeper in the planning stages to address this need?
Add me to the list of people to contact once you allow people to create channels without making them generally available to the whole community.
We have been using the RACHEL Pi to make content available to Primary and Secondary schools in rural Zambia. Unfortunately, the RACHEL Pi folks don’t support Raspberry Pi 4, and don’t really support RACHEL Pi on the Raspberry Pi anymore – they want to sell their own $499 devices now.
So, we are looking at a new platform and I like the look of Kolibri. However, we have a bunch of materials that we have been given permission to distribute, but not distribute indiscriminately. So, we cannot just put them up on your Kolibri Studio.
If there is a way we can create the channels ourselves, we would be very interested.
Hi Victor! Glad that you have found us and that it may meet your needs. I do want to mention that Kolibri also supports more closed licenses such as All Rights Reserved or Special Permissions. Each channel created in Kolibri Studio once published has an associated token. The token is what is needed to import content into Kolibri, and only the people who have your token will be able to import your content (your “published” channel is not automatically added to the open Kolibri Content Library). Contact us at content@learningequality.org for access to Kolibri Studio, our curricular tool. Hope this helps!
I am interested in the local content creation option as well. I know that last year was a bit crazy for all of us, but is this option available now, or is it still under development?
I am interested in local content, but also large amounts of content with no intention for it to be made public. I think the local option may have a second use case for someone that has TB of content they want to share with a specialized audience.
I want to be able to create content w/out internet connection also w/out the need to upload content to the studio then download it again. I have a bunch of videos already downloaded and just need to create my own channels locally.
I dont mind having to run my own kolibri studio locally if need be but need a simple way to export the channel.
That would be amazing Lauren. I’m so excited, going to share this with my team now. Have a lovely weekend.