CHIAS...Small Idea Turns Big?

Since my previous post about the beta release of CHIAS a lot has happened.  I continued to develop it and started a beta site at Mbingo Hospital (also mentioned in previous posts).  The project has gone from a small idea to potentially a full time project.  I have talked to anyone who will meet with me about what it takes to take this idea and get it into peoples hands.   It's well...underway.

The BUZZ

I have received a lot of positive feedback from my beta sites and people I've talked with who have similar projects.  The overwhelming response is, "there is a huge need for this worldwide".  The need is real for a solution to this difficult challenge:  making Internet and educational resources available and affordable to people who need it most, the Third World.

The Concise Name

The original project "CHIAS" (CBC (Cameroon Baptist Convention) Hospital Internet Access System) has been changed to a more generalized name (and to remove nested acronyms) of SIAS (Sustainable Internet Access System).  In Spanish "con" means "with" so the new name is conSIAS said "concise".  Since the code runs with a Linux firewall it makes sense to say Linux con SIAS.

The Code

Some massive changes have been made to the code over the past year.  The program now offers many beta tester recommendations including:

1. Bill by data transferred instead of time
2. A completely new user and administrative graphical interface
3. Separate login for higher level administrative actions
4. Compatibility with Linux security hardening software PAX.
5. A full automatic Installer
6. Dozens of little bug fixes

The Freeloaders

ConSIAS now comes with RACHEL, a robust free offline education platform that includes Khan Academy, Wikipedia and tons of other resources.  We continue to add more offline software to conSIAS.  Recommendations welcome!

The Website

A website has been created to tell the world about what conSIAS can do.  It is still a work in progress but it hopes to communicate the basics.  Check it out at http://joshuashinar.wix.com/sias.

What's Next

I'm in talks with a lot of people about this project going a lot of different ways.  My hope is to spend my time while stateside to continue to develop conSIAS into something incredible.  I hope that I can start a 501c3 and get funding to develop this software.

NEED MORE TESTS!

We are still wanting to get as many testers out there as we can.  We are offering our box at cost for the first 20 people who are willing to beta test for us.  All we ask in return is feedback on how it works.  Contact us at consiasproject [...at...] gmail.com.