Many of us including students, researchers and content writers rely heavily on Wikipedia to get information on almost any topic, theme or subject. But Wikipedia has blacked itself protesting against the proposed US anti-piracy legislation for 24 hours starting Jan 18 10:30 AM IST. People are therefore facing an information blackout since they are not able to access the content of English version of the site.However, it is still possible to access wikipedia's pages. Following are five easy alternatives that enables you access Wikipedia content on the day the world's largest encyclopaedia has gone dark.
1. Browser Settings
Simplest method is to simply tweak a single browser setting. Apparently, Wikipedia's blackout implementation uses JavaScript. You can turn off JavaScript support on browser by doing some simple settings on it.Firefox users can go to Tools > Options > Content, and then Un-check the JavaScript option to disable JavaScript.IE users can go to Tools > Internet Options > Security, and then Select Internet and then the Custom level option. Under the Scripting section, disable "Active scripting".Google Chrome users can go to Setting > Options > Under the hood > Content Settings under Privacy > Choose "Do not allow any site to run JavaScript" radio-button.But you need to be careful since disabling JavaScript on your browser means that you may be unable to access many features on many websites. Therefore remember to turn on JavaScript on your browser to access other websites normally.
2. Google Cache Page
Instead of clicking on the Wikipedia article on a Google search page, click on the cached link to see the Google cache of the page which appears when you hover on the link to the page in Google search engine result, and then click on arrow icon on the right.
3. Use other sites that replicates Wikipedia's contents
You can also find English Wikipedia's contents replicated at other websites like encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com, or Reference.com or Answers.com.
4. Use offline Wikipedia's solutions
You can use some offline Wikipedia solutions which will help you access the same content offline which you would get from the actual Wikipedia website. Some open source offline readers like Kiwix allows their users to access wikipedia content offline.
5. Use Wikipedia Mobile Apps
Android App store, apple app store and even Nokia App store has mobile applications for wikipedia. So, download those applications on your smartphone or tablet and you will be able to access all the contents even when website is observing a blackout