Jason Griffey Launches Kickstarter Campaign To Help Fund Development of LibraryBox 2.0

UPDATE: Totally Impressive!!! In only a few hours (literally) Jason Griffey’s Kickstarter campaign for LibraryBox 2.0 has met and passed the $3,000 goal. If you haven’t donated, no problem. Donations are still possible through July 28, 2013. 
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Jason Griffey, the founder and developer of LibraryBox has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund version 2.0 of wi-fi enabled device.
Griffey is hoping to raise $3,000. The campaign runs through July 28, 2013.

In a Nutshell

LibraryBox uses open source technology to provide content to users via a small wi-fi enabled device. Users can access the content even if they don’t have Internet access or are entirely off the power grid.

History

Learn about the history and development of LibraryBox thus far in this blog post by Jason Griffey.
View Video, Make a Donation on Kickstarter

From the Kickstarter Web Site

LibraryBox is currently in use around the world by libraries, teachers, museums and more, in more than 7 countries on 5 continents. The v1.5 release is useful, but with work LibraryBox can be much better. Moving towards the 2.0 release, there is a host of ways that LibraryBox could be better, should be better, and this Kickstarter is a step towards making the LibraryBox project even more useful.

Development Plans for LibraryBox 2.0

• Much easier installation. The goal with the 2.0 release is to bundle all needed packages together and remove the need to be connected to the Internet to pull packages down.
• More control over user interface and general look and feel. The current release is difficult to modify, and the desire is for the 2.0 to have complete customizability for the pages served and to host those pages on the USB external drive rather than the internal storage of the MR3020, giving far more flexibility in access and design process.
• An instruction set for easy off-the-grid use with recommended purchasing and how-to for a weatherproof solar LibraryBox installation.
• Instructions and builds for alternative hardware, including the Raspberry Pi, that will allow the project to be more flexibly implemented.

Again more info, background, video and a place to make a donation here.

Learn More About LibraryBox

• Awesome! DPLA, SXSWLAM, UT iSchool are Distributing LibraryBoxen Around SXSWi (March 10, 2013) 

• Open-Source LibraryBox Project Branches Out (The Digital Shift; July 12, 2012)

• Visit the LibraryBox Web Site

Hat Tip: @mattrweaver

Filed under: Libraries, News, Patrons and Users