Permaculture Database

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [permaculture] Our sister WIKI is ready to go...
Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:09:24 -0700
From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
Reply-To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>

Lawrence London has provided the domain...
UNC's IBIBLIO project has provided infinite web storage...
Rich Morris has loaded software...

And now this list has a sister WIKI.

http://www.permaculture.info

## What is a WIKI ###
A wiki is an interactive website that anyone can edit and add to.  You
can put up pages of your personal projects, describe your bioregion,list
local resources, or collaborate to produce articles that summarize
permaculture design ideas.

## What is special about THIS WIKI? ##
I have been working on a structure so that you can go into the wiki and
find what you are looking for.  Every page in the wiki can be tagged
with a category during editing.   A set of core categories organizes all
the pages and is described on the start page and at
http://www.permaculture.info/index.php/PIW:Pagetype

ELEMENT (PLANT/ANIMAL)
GUILD | BUILT | PATTERN
CONTEXT (SOIL/WATER/DISTURB/LANDSCAPE/BIOSTRUCTURE)
LOCATION (ECOREGION/SITE)
TECHNIQUE (TILLAGE/FORAGE/HARVEST/STORAGE/IRRIGATION/PLANTING)
TOOL
ENTITY | MEMBER
CORE
BOOK | DOCUMENT
ZONE (1/2/3/4/5)

These categories organize the wiki into a pattern language of design.
Not about the biology of chickens... that can be found elsewhere, but an
analysis of chickens as a design element, needs, outputs,
characteristics, and how it fits with other elements and patterns.  By
looking at the category you can see all related articles.

You can create new pages, edit old ones, upload pictures and PDFs to
share.

It is still rough, but I think it could be a tremendous resource.  I
have noticed that several individuals on this list have been doing a
wonderful job of identifying topics of interest and facilitating
discussion (Dieter's rhizomatous grass thread, no till potatoes,
rodents).  Information is cheap.  The next step is sifting that
information into knowledge, what we know, what we don't know, where the
uncertainties are, capturing it and building it over time.  A listserve
is great for brainstorming.  A strong permaculture WIKI can be an online
resource that becomes better over time (not just larger).

Please do check it out.  If nothing else, providing a clearinghouse for
projects would be a nice start.  If you are interested, but are
intimidated by the WIKI interface, do speak up... I am learning as I go,
and am motivated to support people who want to contribute.

~Paul Cereghino