permaculture

[Niels Corfield <mudguard@gmail.com>]

Michael Kuehnert wrote:

> Niels Corfield wrote:
>
>  
>
> > 1. Increasing member contribution. Moving to a largely member-driven
> >    content. Providing fully-featured personal/project web-presence
> >    hosting services.
> > 2. Embedded delicious-style Tagged database retrieval technology
> >    throughout the site. Possible opensource technologies include:
> >    Scuttle.org
> > 3. Image hosting. Obviously we would like to have something as slick
> >    as Flickr integrated into the site but at the very least I want to
> >    see at least the basic functionality with technologies for
> >    uploading directly from members PC/Macs. Possible technologies:
> >    Gallery 2, Coppermine (as used by Geoff Lawton).
> >    
>
> A few initial thoughts:
> * With PC's focus on design and diversity, projects should have
>  a broad range of options to customize the look of their
>  presentation
> * You mentioned a central repository for project reports. This
>  would be comfortable, fast and easy, but projects should
>  also be able to host the material on their individual servers,
>  as a central server or even a grid of central servers might
>  just one day fall prey to Hierarchy's trappings. It is one
>  thing to have copies of reports in central positions which
>  would be able to backup the data to a secure location, but a
>  distributed structure would be more robust by design. Perhaps
>  those two organizational structures can be brought to overlap,
>  providing distributed security and ease of use at the same
>  time.
>  
I agree using a decentralised server-base is worthwhile.
I still think the database should function as a single entity, or be it 
mirrored to fuck. (See indymedia UK's "visit" from Uncle Sam)

>  I could also imagine that some projects will only be
>  accessible via "snail mail", at least as a fallback measure.
>  This kind of choice should be left up to the individual
>  project itself, and the software should be able to deal with
>  it, seamlessly integrating the different sources.
>
>  
The intention at the PAB right now is go completely electronic.
Since we have filing cabinets full of data ATM.
All of which are unavailable to those that do not reside in Leeds, UK.
And the office is quite small, we want more people using the space/services.
Any thoughts?

> > If anyone has an opinion on any of these technologies or would
> > like to input in the design or consultation phase they are
> > most welcome. We are planning to have at least one session on
> > consultation at this years Convergence
> > http://www.permaculture.org.uk/mm.asp?mmfile=conv2006
> >    
>
> It is a good thing to have a consultation to give people an
> opportunity to meet and think about this project. Yet with all
> the (very thought-provoking, thanks a lot everybody!) talk about
> Rhizomes and Permaculture's model of cooperation, please
> consider the fact that many or most of those on this list will
> not be able to join you for this or any subsequent meeting.
>
> My suggestion is to have at least a two-stage process, with the
> first design stage taking place in a Wikiwiki context, where
> the real requirements of the new platform can be sorted out.
> An email list is okay to set up the project, but has too much
> overhead to allow effective cooperation.
>
>  
Anyone using Graham Burnet's Permawiki at mo?

> Only after the first stage has been completed, all ideas have
> been incorporated into a concept and everyone has more than a
> general idea of what the result ought to look like, one would
> start with the programming process itself. Also, unlike a finite
> project with a limited budget etc., an open source or even free
> software project can go on forever, evolving over time and
> reacting to new inputs, possibilites and requirements that are
> found along the way.
>
> The key to all this, apart from the technical knowledge, is
> constant feedback. The programming aspect does not pose the same
> kind of challenge it used to do perhaps twenty years ago, these
> days it is all about projects succeeding or failing (speaking
> with that antiquated concept of dualism firmly in mind). Given
> sufficient time and a well-(self-)managed process, it should be
> possible to develop a piece of software which will really suit
> the needs of the community.
>
> On a side note, try to avoid the potential pitfalls of thinking
> in finite products like Flickr or Coppermine, which will of
> course serve as valuable models for what is possible. 
>
> In a nutshell: It would be wasteful to simply award this
> contract to a small number of programmers without strong links
> to the collective intelligence of the potential users of the
> platform.
>
>  
Got anyone in mind?
Contracts mean money and we haven't started fund-raising yet.
Anyone know about the International Perma Convergence?

> > I hope that these goals will overlap with some of yours own
> > personal/work/activist agendas and that it can become a
> > reality.
> >    
>
> They most certainly do overlap. In fact, if the resulting piece
> of software is as versatile as it could be, many organizations
> from all fields can adopt it for their own use. The question
> remains just how much work everyone can put into this project...
> oh well.
>
> By the way, is it just me or does the concept of "agile
> programming" <http://www.agilemanifesto.org/> bear a lot of
> rememblance to permaculture's ideals? Having recently read
> Alistair Cockburn's "Agile Software Development", I was rather
> surprised and pleased to find a very familiar mindset in there.
>
>
> Greetings from Germany,
> Michael
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
>
>