pcplantdb

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

John Schinnerer wrote:

> 1) Image acqusition - quality issues - as you say, PIL (python image
> library) and perhaps other options will enable on-the-fly image scaling
> for particular purposes from "master" images in the database.
> However, we can't make it any better than the original, so the better the
> originals the better!
> In my experience, most people who buy, have and use digital cameras know
> almost nothing about the camera's resolution and quality settings in
> relation to actual image quality.  They do things like shoot highest
> resolution saved at lowest quality, etc.  So it may behoove us to provide
> a FAQ for image contributors.  I have given half-day workshops called
> "basic digital image wizardry" so I have some documents that I can offer
> as the basis for a FAQ, with a bit of rearranging or whatever.

Could you post those documents to this list, John. I would like to add them to
the new wiki I am planning for.

> 2) copyright - thanks for clarifying what I was trying to say earlier.  By
> default people retain their own copyright (for three years I believe in
> the USA, much longer if they have actually filed hard copy paperwork).  So
> for contributed images to be "free" as we intend, contributors will need
> to agree to some other specific license for images contributed by them. 
> We'll need to be extremely clear and up-front about that to maintain
> goodwill of contributors.

I also need a list of and definitions for and preferred versions of public 
opensource license agreements
that HG will use. I will create a document on the preferred on to put in the 
wiki so people can release
material they submit for use by HG.

> > I think close intergration of a plant database and a knowledge
> > base would strengthen both. There will be a higher visability
> > and hits for a combined resource.

HG may want to do its own wiki but I will do mine anyway as I have planned on 
this for some time.
I have keept collections of info online in my websites since the days when 
the Interest was email, email lists, usenet news and ftp;
websites, lists, wikis and weblogs are a continuation of that. It is a 
rewarding pastime for me and helps me develop an online presence
that will serve my market farming, metalworking, digital 
photography/video/audio/web development and woodworking business.

> I've still yet to see a wiki that wasn't a lot of work to find whatever I
> was looking for in - assuming I could even figure out how to look in any
> useful way. 

You need to look closer; wikis have a lot to offer. Its free and offers people
an easy way to collaborate on collection building.

> Which means, I suppose, that I'm generally with Chad on the expansion of
> the intially plant-focused DB to encompass more elements and aspects of
> permaculture.  I think we can make information much more accessible than
> it will be in a wiki. 

There's no doubt about that and it has never been an issue; db's and wikis are
very different; db's are much better but a group of folks wanting to 
collaborate on a project
aren't going to be able to do it with a db easily and for free.

 I have no objection to a wiki - that's not what I'm
> here to work on though.
>
> I also don't want to get distracted by this very question.  We have a

That's up to you whether you get distracted. I am here to do lists, websites 
and wikis
and that is what my contribution to the project will consist of, since I am 
not a programmer
and can not be part of the HD software development effort. I will make 
suggestions about HG content,
features and structure and hope that the wiki I create and maintain will be 
useful to overall HG
development.

> fairly clear high-level first stage plan for HG (permaculture-centric
> plant database), and Lawrence wants to get this wiki thing going.  So
> let's carry on with both, respectively, and see how they might tie
> together.  At the very least each can point people to the other.

I had hoped that with proper public licensing, material could be extracted 
from the wiki for use in HG.
Of course the wiki can link to the db and with SSI a website can contain some 
interesting linking to external web resources.

LL
--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech