How To Access Wikipedia During SOPA Blackout Protest [Top 8 Methods]

If you have been looking for ways how to access Wikipedia offline during SOPA protest blackout on 18th Jan 2012, we have good news. Wikipedia’s English-language pages have gone completely black at 9 PM PT, with a splash page saying “the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet.” The online encyclopedia’s blackout will last 24 hours.

But Wikipedia may have gone dark but that doesn’t mean it’s going offline completely. With very little work, you’ll be able to access the online encyclopedia — even if that does mean going against the entire spirit of the protest. Here are top 8 methods to access Wikipedia during current SOPA protest blackout:

1. Via Mobile:

A Wikimedia spokesman has confirmed today that the mobile version of Wikipedia website will remain online at en.m.wikipedia.org.

2. Via APIs:

Also, any API that pulls information from the Wikipedia servers will remain active as well. That means you’ll also still be able to access Wiki content through Facebook.

3. Offline Wiki Chrome Extension:

If you are a regular user of Wikipedia and don’t want to lose access to the website for tomorrow, then Offline Wiki, a Chrome application, can be of great help. It allows you to save and download a copy of nearly all of the textual content locally, so that it can be accessed while Wikipedia is not available, or when you don’t have an internet connection.

It downloads and saves a compressed dump file and an index. Two file storage versions are available, a smaller version of 14MB and a larger version of 1GB. All you have to do is launch the app, hit OK in the notification bar and select a file size. The download will start automatically, and you will be able to access and view articles in the index.

4. Google Cache:

Good-old Google takes a snapshot of each page it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. This means you’ll be able to see a version of a Wikipedia page when you type the subject into the Google search box.  Start a search and then hover over the gray box with double right arrows next to the search results. The page will appear on the right-hand side of the screen. Click on “Cached” and Google will take you to the page, except there will be a grey box at the top of the screen.

5. Use an App:

Wiki Offline for iOS and WikiDroyd – which runs on Android – will grant you offline access to Wikipedia.

6. Disable JavaScript:

Since Wikipedia’s blackout implementation uses javascript, it’s a piece of cake to bypass it. Just turn of javascript support in your browser and Wikipedia is fully accessible again.

7. Try a Mirror Site:

Most of Wikipedia’s content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike license, which means sites like The Free Dictionary Encyclopedia are free to mirror it. The content up there might not be totally up-to-date but it should serve you good when Wikipedia is down.

8. Download Wikipedia for Offline Reading:

Did you know that  an offline version of Wikipedia is available for download?  Please note that the ‘Wikipedia for Schools‘ version is only recommended for use by students of age 8-18 as it only consists of topics relevant to their education! But as they say, something is always better than nothing, eh?

Wikipedia is joining blackouts by sites such as Reddit, Boing Boing, the Cheezburger Network and others.