permaculture

["scrooge McDuck" <declan@planetmail.net>]

On 05/06/2016, 06:36 Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com> wrote:
 > Yes, it can be done in the list and use the Google site: search function to
>  locate specific information contained in posts.
>  Really, that information should be located, coopied and placed in an easy
>  access site. A combination of Google Sites,
>  Google Docs and Google+ would be perfect to archive a diverse array of
>  information valuable to permaculturists. These three resources can be
>  interlinked
>  between them easily. I have been doing exactly this for years as well as
>  pumping as muct good info into this list's message archives as possible. 

 

Lawrence, if there's a repository atm of interest to a learner, I'd love the link(s). I will even join google+ and somer other of google's spying services if I have to to get to it. Google have gone from being nosey to downright intrusive, and I no longer trust them.  Did you read what they ask you to accept? A Hollywood script writer googled how to kill his wife, as research for a script. The police were on his door next evening!

Personally I don't think you are thinking big enough with google docs..
Permaculture is global, therefore also multilingual. The internet is global. It needs to be organised globally and could be funded globally.

What about a single internet site devoted to permaculture which could be located in a low overhead location, and funded by small annual donations from permaculture organisations. The brunt of payment would be undertaken by 1st World countries, of course. There you could host websites, wikis, documents, forums, blogs, databases. I suggest leaving most videos on YouTube - let Google pay for that bandwidth. An area could be set up where PDC Holders could log in and the rest (like myself atm) would be excluded. An online PDC, or courses further education for pdc holders could be facilitated if required. The possibilities are endless.

You then harness the global enthusiasm and labour instead of having everyone nodding while a very few undertake a massive workload, or everyone say what should be done, and nothing happens. The Wiki format allows anyone registered to edit, and there's a parallel chat page to debate the edits, or site policy on that page. Translations of the website & docs might be provided by those with the relevant languages. If you want an example of what's possible, click on the top right on the word "Languages" on the world's most translated website:

 http://www.jw.org 

As you will see, there's currently 815 languages, and I bet there will be more next time you check.
 
A global seed bank could likewise be a huge boon.  No master storehouse is required, just that server and loads of little ones. Seed suppliers might be verified by their country's permaculture organisation, and then allowed free advertising, if they ship to all (or most anyhow, given political conflicts) of the world. So I could buy seeds from Pakistan, for example, if someone there was selling.  Getting on the web now to Pakistan presents a problem - I don't speak Uigur, and don't know either Cyrillic or Arabic alphabets.
 
Permaculture is "Permanent Agriculture, " but many areas outside the core permaculture principles are of interest to us. You need an agreed approval system for those interests. For example, I imagine most would approve bee keeping as a permaculture interest but frown on organic weedkillers as one. A financial model of offering commercial opportunity to approved traders in return for modest remuneration might make the thing self financing.

The final benefit is perhaps the greatest: Quality Control in documents and video would be possible