Does my community or organization have full control and ownership over data stored on an EDT Offline device?
That is only true if you're deploying EDT Offline using Docker, as we're currently relying on Balena Cloud, which gives the Balena team backdoors to any device. We have plans to shift to using Open Balena, which will remove those backdoors for the Balena organization.
Can I install EDT Offline in any computer?
Yes, there are two ways of installing EDT Offline in a computer, but both require some technical knowledge in either formating a computer or running Docker.
Why and what is Earth Defenders Toolkit Offline?
The reality of many communities is that Internet connectivity is unreliable, or non existent. For that reason can be deployed to computers on the ground so that all content can live offline, in a local network, and can be synced whenever the device goes online.
A computer running EDT offline creates a hotspot, where people with devices in wifi range can download, install, and use applications curated on the Earths Defender’s Toolkit platform. We've organized content around topics such as community mapping and land-based storytelling. For each of these topics we provide guides, use cases, assets and helper applications, which are made available through a simple interface.
On the local network, community members have access to applications for storing and sharing their content. The featured tool Terrastories can also be used locally.
Even on offline environments, devices (mobile or desktop) in good range of the WiFi created by the Offline Toolkit computer will have access to:
All content on the EDT platform: guides on community protocols and curated tools, as well as stories from communities from around the world on their experience using the tools
Installers for curated tools
A instance
A Mapeo instance to sync with
An interactive map showing Mapeo observations that have been synced with device
File browsing application for storing and sharing files, similar to Google Drive
Syncing of content, from EDT Cloud to local computer, or from local computer to any other device, including mobile devices, locally or through the Internet
Automatic syncing of default content (scrapped websites, application installers, Mapeo configs, map tiles)
Automatic creation of files that can be imported into Terrastories, from synced Mapeo observations
The Earth Defenders Offline Toolkit is intended to be used by a group that has a common physical meeting space, which is the coverage area of the device's wifi. That coverage area can be small or large depending on the devices wifi radio, but can expand to cover large areas, such as villages, by connecting them to routers and expanded through mesh networks.
Offline Toolkit is meant to help groups onboard new users to the tools curated on the Earth Defenders Toolkit platform, as well as provide common helpful assets and helper applications for these tools. It can also assist organizing data in a local offline environment, and provide ways to sync and share data locally or through the Internet. It's also a great tool for partner organizations to organize and synchronize data with the ground communities.
Some Offline Toolkit devices (such as single-board-computers) are small, but aren't so fragile, and with appropriate casing, they can easily travel within a backpack together with clothes.
The toolkit can be used mobile, during meetings or fieldwork with the right power supply and weather protection.
It's also great for indoor spaces such as a house, a remote base or an office, as long as it’s protected from the weather and other possible hazards, such as children playing.
The current included tool workflows are participatory mapping with Mapeo, and land-based story telling with Terrastories. These workflows are meant for:
on-boarding new users to the tools through config files, map tiles etc.
providing mobile and desktop installers for the tools
providing bridging services between the tools
providing documentation and use cases for the tools
providing running instances of the tools, such as Mapeo and Terrastories
providing local storage for organization data (documents, photos, videos, folders, etc.)
providing p2p syncing of the stored data, locally or remotely
providing a way for all content to be updated whenever device is connected to the Internet