pcplantdb

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

Chad Knepp wrote:
> Good question Lawrence,
>
> Well, I've pretty much used up my self alloted time this winter and
> never got to working on PIW again, in part for more reasons than are
> easy to list.  I am ready to hand off the project to anyone who feels
> ready (and capable) to make it move forward.  I've been in some
> contact with Lonnie Brown who sounds like he might be interested.  If

Hello Chad:

I guess Lonnie is the person Scott referred to you. He should be on this list 
and the new pcdb one,
forum for a new pc db project that had its start, again, in the permaculture 
list.
I have subbed you to it so you can see what has been discussed so far in the 
archives.
Hope this is OK; you can always unsub. You will probably find it interesting. 
There are a number
of new people in that list who are not in this one.

> no one steps up I will be willing to give it a go again this comming
> winter.  I will continue to do basic maintenance and fix broken bits
> as soon as I am alerted which currently is not more than every two
> weeks.  I still think that this is a valuable/worthwhile project.

So do I and it would be great if someone could put something online that 
would enable
pc people, and farmers around the globe :-), to begin building a pc guild 
database/wiki/blog/cms, something to use to
help identify, describe and document pc guilds but go a bit further and reveal relationships between elements within a 
permaculture system.

:
observe and describe a collection of elements that occupy a common ecological 
niche
explore the relationships between these elements
propose that this collection of interdependent elements qualify as a guild
+
by this time you have identified a number of elements and their relationships 
to other elements
and entered this data into the plant/animal relationships database while also 
identifying
and documenting a new guild
:

The ideal thing would be for all the people in both lists be combined to work 
on a common project.
Of course there is the need to complete work committed to in Threshhold grant. Is PIW/Eden/PCPlantDB as you have 
developed it so far and as it may evolve in the future going to be a relational database only or can it take a different 
form to include such things as wiki, cms, blog, etc. The general thrust of discussion in the pcdb forum is that a wiki 
could work very well for a pc db. Rich has created a Mediawiki that has the PFAF database within.

I guess my curiousity leads me to this question, should everyone pool their energy to see your original work through to 
completion, as you've conceived it or should we look for multiple (PIW/Eden+Mediawiki/CMS/Blog) options or alternatives 
to PIW for the software used?

Hope its OK to repost this recent input from Bear and Paul d'Aoust; this may 
help bring you up to date:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [pcdb] list neophyte here; question about wiki
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:57:20 -0700
From: Paul d'Aoust <paul@heliosville.com>
Reply-To: pcdb <pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
Organization: Helios Communications
To: pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org

Hello, folks. I just joined this list, and looking through the archives,
it appears that the last proper conversation ended in December. Has
everyone moved to a development wiki that wasn't mentioned in the list?
And what was the consensus on using a wiki not just for devel discussion
but also for the database itself (à la PFAF's new wiki)?

Question aside, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Paul, and I live
in the Okanagan valley, which is where the last remnants of the Sonoran
desert biome poke their fingertips into Canada. My interest in
permaculture started when my dad took Permaculture One out of the
library. I didn't read it -- I was pretty young at the time -- but he
talked about the ideas he got from the book, and how exciting they were.
I guess it rubbed off on me, because now I'm about to start work on a
permaculture project. I just got the job this week!

Anyway, I would like to help develop a permaculture database. It's
something I've been thinking about for a while, ever since I found
Plants for a Future and started thinking about how a database like that
could be made more serviceable. I've designed a few web apps, and I'm
fairly experienced with UI design and graphic design.

That's all!
Paul d'Aoust

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [pcdb] list neophyte here; question about wiki
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:17:51 -0700
From: Bear Kaufmann <bear@ursine-design.com>
Reply-To: pcdb <pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: pcdb <pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org>

Hi all,

I've been rather busy, so haven't had much time to post, but I'll chime
in for a quick minute here.
The discussions on the pcplantdb list moved towards a vision of a
wiki-based system which I think has merit.
So, I'm excited to see what Richard Morris has done with the
PFAF/MediaWiki combo.
Complex syntax is an issue to be resolved, but the basic idea, with XML
export and MySQL storage of attributes is quite cool.
The attribute table R.M said MediaWiki can store would be amenable to a
browsing system like what I developed here:
http://piw.openpermaculture.org
If you haven't seen it before, the initial page shows the attributes of
the entire 7,300 plant 'set'. Clicking a link narrows the set to plants
with the attribute, continually refining the set unless you remove a term.
Note that this is a beta version/proof of concept, the UI could be
vastly improved by thinking over the user search modes, customizing the
layout for different search methods, and finding ways to reduce the
info. overload.
Developing input/output info and matching algorithms between
plants/objects is another vital step.

Cheers,
Bear

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:
:
:
I'd like to help this valuable project along any way I can.
I like the mediawiki idea as well as the rdb one (though that
is as mysterious to me as the color of Schrodinger's cat's fur
but I am sure that if I spent more time exercising PIW's capabilities I
could get on more familiar terms with the rdb apporach).

Cheers,

LL
--
Lawrence F. London, Jr.
Venaura Farm
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://market-farming.com/venaurafarm
http://venaurafarm.blogspot.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech