permaculture

["Bob Waldrop" <bwaldrop@cox.net>]

I think that cyberspace can be fairly compared to an eco-system. 
Mono-cultures are an issue.  I think it is better for the movement to let 
many flowers bloom in cyberspace.  All of the permaculture sites can be 
linked and their articles and such should show up in search engines, so I 
don't know that there is any inherent advantage in everybody working on only 
one site, since links back and forth effectively make the whole 
cyber-ecosystem for permaculture potentially available from every 
permaculture site linked to the others    .  Sort of like rhizomes 
underground and runners above ground.  There is an article about and a link 
to the Appropedia wiki at www.permaculture.info , but it is rather 
rudimentary.  Perhaps when you get back online you could expand it a bit so 
it is more useful.

I also don't see any particular utility on concentrating on one domain name. 
I have  six active websites, each with a different domain name, linked to 
each other, the names are immediately recognizable and thus are utility. 
Every day an average of 1,000 people download 2.5 pages of information, and 
the server logs indicate that the various domains point traffic to each 
other, which is good.  So if someone finds me because they searched for 
"hamburger casserole" or "how to bake bread", then they may continue on to 
learn something about energy conservation, or permaculture design, or social 
justice, or how to start a local food cooperative or how to make and use 
bulgar.

I am glad you are working on making the Appropedia site a more useful 
resource. But I am also glad that others are doing their own thing with 
other permaculture-related wikis.  The multitude of sites suggests 
resiliency to me.

Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma City
www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org
www.energyconservationinfo.org

----- Original Message ----- e
From: "Chris Watkins" <chriswaterguy@appropedia.orge
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>r,
Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 8:59 AM
Subject: [permaculture] Permaculture wikis & making a major impact


> I see that permaculture.info as some activity again, and the spammers seem
> to have been pushed back - this is great.
> I work with Appropedia.org, knowledge sharing for sustainability. (Note I
> "work" rather than "get paid" but it's my passion and I'm nsure many of 
> you
> understand what I mean). This is a very active sustainability and
> development wiki, covering all topics in green technology, green living,
> design, agriculture, appropriate
> tech<http://www.appropedia.org/Appropriate_technology>,
> covering topical info, best practice, projects, how-tos... you name it. 
> It's
> the biggest such site, and is growing, with student classes in North 
> America
> and individuals around the world creating useful content and sharing their
> distilled knowledge and their wisdom.
>
> I have a few hours before I'm offline for a few weeks, so I'll be direct 
> and
> throw this out there:
>
>
> To make a real difference in the fate of humankind and our environment, we
> need to be having not even 100 times the current impact of Appropedia, but
> 1000 times. There's so much fluff and hot air in the media, when what is
> needed is to create more and more of substance, and get that in front of 
> the
> public.
>
> I believe this is achievable, but not by working separately.
>
> All of us together will help build something that stands out, above the 
> sea
> of greenwash, green commercialism, hot air (looking at you, Copenhagen
> conference) and misinformation, and provide the knowledge that the world
> needs.