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pcplantdb - Re: [pcplantdb] [synthesis][12][8.19.04]

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: pcplantdb@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [pcplantdb] [synthesis][12][8.19.04]
  • Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:20:15 -0700

Stephanie Gerson wrote:

-ZOPE/Ibiblio –
Although Lawrence disagrees that ZOPE on Ibiblio is the ideal scenario,

MySQL/etc. and Zope are good development options (so I have learned from Rich
and Chad and others).
ibiblio is the only hosting option I support. I don't think there are many,
if any, free,
supportive of our type of project, hosting services with the skills, funding
and cyber resources
that ibiblio posseses. I have been on ibiblio nearly from their beginning and
have casually kept track of
systems like theirs that have gone online. They are almost one-of-a-kind,
very prestigious and perfect for us.
They are very generous folks, responsive and helpful.

Rich wrote, “1) I'd be happy to go with Zope if we could get it on ibiblio.
2) As current & future state of Zope on ibiblio is uncertain
I think it is pragmatic not to follow it at the moment.”
BUT. We can make the current and future state of ZOPE on Ibiblio NOT uncertain by doing something about it! By raising money to buy Ibiblio a server! Lawrence writes:

“Repeat for emphasis: If only 20% or so of our grant can be used for wages then buy the Zope machine for ibiblio, start work there immediately and look for additional funding to cover wages (I will chip in my $2200 to this).”

But if we can use 100% of our grant for wages, are you still willing to chip in $2,200 for Ibiblio’s server ;) Couldn’t hurt to ask, eh? Either

Definitely, if you can use 100% of the grant for programming wages then, by
all means
do it. As I said, I will contribute $$ toward wages or computer. Payment of
$250 per quarter for two years
are possible for me, made to the PI (they will absorb $200 for their fee).
If that $250 is better used to make payments on a PCU loan that's OK but
still made every 3 months.
Donation of this $2200 is contingent on our project being developed and
hosted on ibiblio from the start.

way, I think we can raise funds or take a loan from the Permaculture Credit Union for the server. I would like to pursue this plan. Feedback? And when you give feedback, please offer specific suggestions for fundraising for the server – at least with regards to donations vs. a loan from the PCU. (Scott, any feedback about a loan?)

* GOOD ideas for funding *

1) ask for donations from the folks in the permaculture list and the sanet-mg
list.
What about people in this list? The non programmers who might want to help
out a bit.
2) NC or Federal tobacco settlement money - ask in the sanet-mg list about
this funding possibility
and possible other sources - there are lots of organizations represented in
the sanet subscriber base
- what could be more useful to a tobacco grower looking for other ways to
make money farming than
the Plants For A Future database - made to order.
3) Get a SARE grant - go to sare.org and contact them. SARE = Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education

-THRESHOLD/FUNDS – Rich, I will once again respond to your questions, but this is for everyone:

“How much of a financial free hand will we get
from Threshold?”
What are you referring to here? The grant we received was for $10,000 – is this what you are asking?

“When you do get in touch with Jim, I think a very important Q to ask will be how much we will be able to spend on wages.”
As I already said, Jim is not in charge of this. He sits on the committee which assesses grant proposals for funding – he does not determine how much of our grant can be used for funding. However, I did some research, and I have some good news! As it turns out, although most foundations only allow 10-20% of funds to be allocated towards wages, the Threshold Foundation does not specify! Meaning, we can spend 100% on wages if we want to!
Still, it might be prudent to ask for an exception if I submit proposals to foundations that do have restrictions. So it’s a good thing that we had this discussion.

Great idea.

Also, thanks for the list of funders, Rich. Before I do research on them, do you know if they fund only projects which are located in the UK? Or, do you think that your participation in this project, and its internationality would render it eligible for funding from these foundations?
Lawrence wrote, “Mainly all that money should be used to pay the programmers and nothing else.
Waste of money:
1) a meeting
2) consulting fees
a) we will get this for free when the system goes online
b) when we get more funding we can spend it on consulting, datasets and photographs”
I’d like to remind you, Lawrence, that this is a collaborative process.

I certainly hope so.

We make decisions together, ok? Also, I don’t appreciate you deciding

A very good way to make progress.

that some things are a “waste of money.” Please explain yourself and try

Does "nonessential and possibly unproductive use of financial resources"
sound better?
What I wrote was _my opinion_ expressed in plain English in terms that I
thought conveyed my ideas
in a concise way. I was not speaking for anyone but myself.

I think I explained 2) pretty well.

to be less antagonistic in the words you choose, at least for my sake.

Not my intent to be antagonistic; reading between the lines helps understand
what people say sometimes.

On that note, not to pick on you, but I don’t appreciate your listing of ideas as "good" vs. "bad" – especially when the “bad” ones are ideas
that you supported 3 posts earlier.

If you'll read those posts closer you'll see why I changed my mind.
With each change I could have/should have explained why but didn't take the
time to do it.

-MISCELLANEOUS - ‡ Lawrence asked,

John Howe wrote this:

“I guess one question I have regards clarity towards
the current project. Are we designing a simple permaculture database and/
or enhancing it with a guilding application front end? Are they one in the same? Or does one build upon the other?” I would like to see both. The grant proposal includes both, but the former is necessary to create the latter. The latter pertains to la vision, involving systemic education.

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




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