Message from the board[edit | edit source]

Dear Appropedians!

Three years ago we announced our search for a person to take over the operations of our ever-growing community and repository of projects. Today we are happy to announce that we have finally found that person, and he began his work on June 20th. Please join us in welcoming Emilio Velis as our new Executive Director.

Emilio developed his previous professional career over the past ten years on volunteer management and fundraising, most recently at Habitat for Humanity El Salvador. Emilio supported the design and improvement of programs for service-learning and ethical volunteerism, as well as other areas such as innovation and social resiliency. At the same time, he founded and developed Red de Acción Comunitaria, a technological initiative of sensors and communications to empower rural communities in areas vulnerable to natural disasters. More recently, Emilio has focused on design and community engagement as the basis for collaborating in research for a wide variety of subjects such as citizen science, education and violence prevention.

For the past few years, Emilio has participated on different networks that focus on openness and collaboration such as Internet Society, the Fab Lab Network and Creative Commons through local and international projects and governance. His work has opened the doors for him to collaborate on many different projects to explore with others the use of technologies for solving social problems in North and South America.

Our Board of Directors was very impressed with Emilio after seeing his experience, dedication, and track record on how technology and communities can build sustainability through well-focused programs of design and participation. He has also shown his commitment to not only making open works more accessible to people who need them, but also on learning how to best provide communities with the tools to make and share as equals and co-participants of the commons. Now that we have met him, we are very hopeful for the future of Appropedia and unanimously and confidently appointed him.

As the new Executive Director, Emilio is eager to work closely with the community in learning what motivates individuals and communities to document their local projects, and to find avenues on which these initiatives take life through replication and growth. As Appropedia grows and develops new ideas, he is committed to creating an open space for different groups that take part and benefit from the thousands of articles and many experiences created by the community.

We believe that having a new Executive Director dedicated to the operations of the site and the execution of the many ideas that Appropedia has built over the years will open the possibility for the community to grow even more. He will base his work in San Salvador from which he will find new opportunities of social change through the Appropedia Foundation.

The Board of Directors and the community warmly welcomes Emilio into Appropedia.


Thank you,

-Lonny, Chris, Curt, Andrew & Kiva

Message from ED[edit | edit source]

Dear Appropedia Community,

Our new ED, Emilio!

As of June 20th, 2019, I have taken the position of Executive Director for the Appropedia Foundation. I would like to begin my work by sharing some thoughts on what this means to me.

I feel very honored for this appointment. From the beginning, I can see that Appropedia is born out of a passion to share knowledge and to make sustainable societies. I would like to express my gratitude to the Board of Directors for being open and supportive during the selection process, and for the trust that you have put in me for taking this role at an organization that means so much to you.

I am happy to be a part of Appropedia because it represents many of the values that I support such as openness, collaboration and honesty toward development practices. I promise to bring into my work many other values that I've learned over time, especially the lessons on work ethic and a spirit of service that thousands of volunteers have taught me over the years.

Appropedia was created over a decade ago out of the vision of a more sustainable world. At the time, many open platforms and open source movements were seen as eccentric and alternative by society, but the rise of information technology led many of these organizations to become an integral part of the world. I believe that Appropedia will follow suit, as the word sustainability has risen to become a core value for organizations and governments as a response to solve the problems of human settlements around the world.

I would love to get to know you as a community, and hear about what Appropedia means to you, so I can become a part of it. I also want to know about your vision and how can we think of next steps. Please drop an email to emilio.velis@appropedia.org to say hello. When the time comes, I'd love to organize an event to meet all of you and share stories–or even better, to build something together.

Technology reflects our view of ourselves and the world. More than ever, there is a need to tell the stories of sustainable technology. As we stand today, sustainability is not an alternative future, but the only one we can think of. Thank you for allowing me to work with you to share the values of living simple, clean and in collaboration, emerging from the rural and frugal to cities around the world.

Looking forward to working with all of you,

-Emilio

Discussion[View | Edit]

Moved from Appropedia:Executive Director.

Message from the Directors of the Appropedia Foundation[edit source]

In April 2016, Appropedia will celebrate its tenth birthday!

One decade since its launch and over 75,000,000 visits later, we can celebrate the wonderful work of the many thousands of contributors to Appropedia from around the world. With tens of thousands of articles - edited over 300,000 times - on solutions for building rich, sustainable lives, Appropedia has become a vital resource for international development, sustainability, education, research, making and sharing.

The Appropedia Foundation has been privileged to support the development of Appropedia. We have, we think, developed a culture and an approach which has worked well and gotten us this far. But we now want to go further.

Appropedia has now grown to the point where we think that new levels of commitment and investment are required to enable it to grow further. To reach more people. In more languages. With more content. With more quality. With the latest tools. And to bring its users together more.

The Directors of the Appropedia Foundation would like to hear your opinions on how we should invest and support Appropedia over the next ten years. While we remain committed to the mission and values that have guided Appropedia from the start, we want to explore how we might change our structure and how re-energize our engagement with the wider world.

We think that the Appropedia Foundation should recruit its first full-time Executive Director to oversee the development of Appropedia. This would take a fairly traditional structure for a non-profit, with the Executive Director reporting to the board and with responsibility for fundraising (including, initially, for their own salary). They would not necessarily need to be an expert in web technologies, but would rather support and develop a team to work on Appropedia.

Over the next four weeks, we would like to hear your thoughts on this idea of recruiting an Executive Director. What do you think of this idea please?

Once we have considered your feedback, we will make a decision on how to proceed and may come back to the community for input into the priorities of the Executive Director.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and, indeed, for for all your contributions to Appropedia. It literally wouldn't exist without its users!

-Lonny, Chris, Curt, Andrew & Kiva

Feedback[edit source]

Please add your feedback here by clicking edit. If you remember please also click the signature button or type --~~~~ after your statement.

i also feel that it's a good idea. It would be interesting to see how many of these (our) projects could obtain the help through the internet that they would like to have. For example our proyect needs someone who can help us who knows Python since we don't have any programming skills. Even if he/she could just be available as a resource person it would help a lot as we cycle through the code that we are trying to adapt to our Parabolic Solar Hot Water Heater project and come across problems. Sometimes it's difficult to get colaborators at the local level, especially with special know-how, so it would be super if we could find a way to not only add more projects, but better support the ones that are already on-going.

The comment below about the usability of this wiki setup is also pertinent - we're always having difficulties uploading new images and then having to format the wiki itself to insert them. Uf.

for example i didn't see any Signature button at the bottom of the page... So i kinda made my own --Fred 19 January 2016


Great idea - make it so! --Joshua (talk) 12:59, 23 November 2015 (PST)

I've been mulling this over a few days. I think the main priority of a director would be building up the userbase/networking. Wikis in general seem to be less popular than they once were (see: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/ActiveWikipedians.PNG ). However, over the last ten years the subjects covered by this wiki seem to have become more popular. I think we can bridge this gap. So I'd say the best candidate for a director would be someone with experience in networking or community organizing, in both in-person and online communities. A second concern: will we be able to attract the best candidates if there is not already a decent bit of cash saved up for their first year salary? I looks like maybe this concern is already being addressed via the work on supporters? --Ethan (talk) 18:24, 29 November 2015 (PST)

Hi Ethan,
Thanks for your input. I love the idea of an ED that can bring in more community engagement and I agree that it will be hard to find the best candidate without already having cash for their first year salary. I don't think we will be able to cover that with sponsorships, but maybe we could with a grant or an amazing sponsor! If you have any ideas, please let us know. If we can't find the money, hopefully the ED will be able to rectify that quickly. :) --Lonny (talk) 14:31, 6 December 2015 (PST)

Ethical sponsorship[edit source]

I know this question might seem more relevant elsewhere, but thought it'd be good to have it here:

To what extent will we, and will we be able to ask for and get what might be called "ethical sponsorship". (On Wiser W there was a group to consider such things - as website has now gone can't give a reference, Socially responsible investing W is nearest thing I can find on wikipedia, but the point of ethical sponsorship is to consider ethics at the other end eg as assessed by receivers not just the givers) Philralph (talk) 01:32, 29 November 2015 (PST)

Hi Phil,
Great timing for this question. I copied it to where we happened to just (re)started the conversation about this at Appropedia_talk:Supporters.
Thanks, --Lonny (talk) 17:29, 29 November 2015 (PST)

open value or contributory accounting[edit source]

This question might have already been asked somewhere else, but I wonder if there's any shared interest in investigating this? Brief intro via Shareable (no. 3). Michel Bauwens suggests "The most appropriate way to reward those contributing to such a process may not be the traditional salary..." Philralph (talk) 09:11, 15 August 2016 (PDT)

Very interesting. How would you see this being incorporated here?
Thanks! --Lonny (talk) 16:53, 16 August 2016 (PDT)

FELICITACIONES[edit source]

Desde El Salvador estamos felices de contar con todo el talento que posee Emi y al que ahora le apuesta Appropedia. Nos sentimos orgullosos de tí, Emi. Mis mejores deseos en esta nueva aventura en fomentar la apropiación tecnológica.

--Karlalhdz (talk) 21:10, 24 June 2019 (CDT)

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