permaculture

["Michael Burns" <michael@fingerlakespermaculture.org>]

 I am a student at Syracuse University working on my masters in Library 
Science and I was wondering if you might be able to help me with a  project
that I am working on.  I am taking a class on digital libraries this semester
and as one of our projects we are required to  develop a project plan for a
digital library in a topic of our choice.  I choose permaculture because it
is something I know a little  about, but want to know a lot more about. While
this may be an  academic exercise I would like it to be as realistic as
possible.   Unfortunately, while I have been able find information about
permaculture I am having trouble finding out about the community and I  was
hoping you might be able to answer some questions for me.

 I am trying to find out where the best places to find information  online are
and who the most respected writers are.  In my digital  library I would like
to provide links to useful sites and/or integrate  them into the library. I
also want to find influential practitioners/writers for a blog.  In addition
I would be very interested in hearing what information and features you would
want or  find useful in a library of this sort.

 Thank you very much for your help and feel free to contact me if you  have
any questions.

 Thanks,

 Heidi Pettitt
 Ithaca, NY
 trebond@hotmail.com

 PS: To give you a better idea of what I want my library to look like I  have
cut and pasted the topic paper I prepared for class.  It is kind  of long so
feel free to ignore it if you wish.

 Permaculture is an alternative form of agriculture/culture that is  based on
twelve core principles that encourage working within the  natural
environment.  Permaculture practitioners (permaculturists)  range from
homesteading farmers who raise all their own food and use  renewable sources
of energy to city dwellers who work to develop a  greater sense of community
in their neighborhoods and encourage  reduced energy consumption.  One of the
most important aspects of  permaculture is the sharing of knowledge and
resources to create  informed decisions.

 Though this library is geared towards permaculturists, current global 
warming predictions and peak oil fears make this type of information  useful
to anyone.  Creating resources that suggest and develop solutions to these
issues may help reduce their future impact.   Permaculture is not the only
alternative; however, its mix of agriculture, community building, and
thoughtful planning make it an  important contributor to the solution.

 The purpose of this digital library is to assist in the transfer of 
knowledge among permaculturists.  Currently information on permaculture is
spread across numerous organizational and personal  websites and blogs.  This
library will collate the information that is  available and freely given to
make it easier to search.  New content  will be sought from current
practitioners.  To facilitate information  sharing a wiki area will be set up
to house user-generated content and  a discussion board will allow users to
connect.  The ability to browse  the library will be developed using a top
level of organization that  groups the content by the principle it addresses
and features such as  community tagging and a random website generator.

 Permaculture is a thoughtful, community oriented form of agriculture  that
has the potential to develop creative solutions to current energy  issues. 
Currently no centralized and browsable resource exists and  creating one will
increase its exposure and usability.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Michael Burns
http://www.cayuta.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Earn your permaculture design certificate.
The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute
offers affordable local classes.
http://www.fingerlakespermaculture.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -