© 2015 The Regents of the University of Michigan

YOER Pi: A portable, adaptable local area network even in restricted Internet and powerBob Riddle – April 2015

Common Challenges to Digital Learning in Developing Countries

• High technology cost• Limited technology

availability (equipment, understaffed dept.)

• Unpredictable infrastructure

The “last mile” on the Internet is

often challenging …

What if you could…• provide a local wireless network …• provide content via web browser …• provide content via file or app server …• do this with or without the Internet …• do it with or without an electrical outlet

…• buy the supplies from Amazon.com for less than $200 …

Hardware - Raspberry Pi and accessories• An ARM GNU/Linux box

(Model B): ……………… $35

• Plastic case: …………… $10

• WiFi adapter: ………….. $10

• USB 128GB thumb drive:$60

• USB 1TB external drive: $80

• USB ultra-mini hub: ……. $10

• Rechargeable Battery Pack: …………………………... $40

You can use any micro-USB power source:rechargeable battery, laptop, or wall chargers.If you use one of therechargeable batteries shown, it can act as an uninterruptible power supply.

What about lack of available techies?

• Just plug it in … or unplug it when done• Wireless network name: YOERBPI• Server name: www.yoerbpi.net• If you want to be a “techie”

• User name: pi• Password: <……….>• ssh address: 198.168.42.1 OR www.yoerbpi.net

How it compares to “other” things i.e. Librarybox, egranary, Rachel, GLOWM

Similarities with YOER PI:• provide digital content over local wireless network capability

in areas

• Can connect to rechargable battery pack for backup power source

• Connect the USB storage device and the content is available to users in range of the wireless “neighborhood”

Differences: • Others are read only for users, while YOER Pi can be

configured to be either read-only or read-write

• YOER Pi content is easily modified, non-techie can add/delete/modify content

• YOER Pi has a full Linux operating system, which allows full applications and more customization of services (e.g. Dropbox, Moodle), and user interface.

• The pre-packaged content either has copyright or technical restrictions that limit adaptation.

If you happen to be in Africa …

• Ethiopia–St. Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College

• Kenya–Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School–School of Public Health (University of

Nairobi)

• Ghana• Malawi• Liberia

Try it!• Wireless UMMSPI

http://www.yoerbpi.net/rasppi/http://www.yoerbpi.net/histology/http://www.yoerbpi.net/eyes/

• It will provide an uplink, if an ethernet with that capability is plugged into the Raspberry Pi

• What do you think?https://wiki.umms.med.umich.edu/display/ET/Raspberry+Pi

Image Attributions

• “Electricity” by Phillip Martin is under a Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0.

• “Network” by Vis.js is Public Domain Ineligible.

• “SixHardDriveFormFactors” by Paul R. Potts is under a Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 3.0.

• “Coder” by ousia is in the Public Domain.

• “25 Feb 2011 River Road" by Schwede66 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

• “Surprised Face” is under a Creative Commons license CC0 Public Domain

• “Raspberry Pi – Model B” http://de.wikipedia.org is under a Creative Commons license CC-BY-SA 4.0

© 2015 The Regents of the University of Michigan

Thank you!

Presenter: Bob Riddle bdr@umich.edu

Visionary: Kathleen Ludewig Omollo kludewig@umich.edu