When we last discussed the computational aspects/potentials of permaculture
(Winter of 1995, Marsh above Deer Harbor), you were headed back to Siberia
to gather genetic plant resources, and I was headed back to CyberSpace to
gather genetic virtual resources.
http://www.permaculture.org.au/future.shtml Under 'Interactive Data Base and
Information Systems' the problem remains the same: "While there are
currently hundreds of thousands of hits on a "permaculture" search on the
web, there is no site which truly represents the international permaculture
community or stores interactive data bases on permaculture topics like
species lists, technical designs, bio-geographic data, etc. PRI believes
such an information system would be extremely beneficial to permaculture
projects throughout the Third World where access to publications is
limited."
At the time we spoke the tools necessary to construct an interactive
computer interface were non-existent. All that has changed and we are
nearing the time when the data-rich communities will be able to open their
doors of perception.
But a very large project remains. Permaculture is premised on the belief
that:
1. Guilds of practical value to the designer can be enumerated
2. The members of any given guild can be enumerated
3. the interdependency of the members of a guild can be enumerated
And so permaculture's 'Virtual Project to Map Guild Member Relationships'
needs to be organized. In the mean time, I will continue my work in Bayesian
Belief Networks, non-linear dynamics, OLAP (online analytical processing),
XML persistence, and trans-domain information migration.