pcplantdb

[Paul d'Aoust <paul@heliosville.com>]

I like the idea of a common project. Compromises and sacrifices would
probably have to be made on everybody's part (for instance, I like the
RDBMS idea, but there's a lot of support for the straight Wiki idea),
but this is a very huge undertaking, and it wouldn't be beneficial for
the pool of resources to be diluted.

Paul

On Tue, 2007-27-03 at 01:25 -0400, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> 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
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pcdb mailing list
> pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/pcdb
> 
> -------- 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