appropriate technology and category:Appropriate Technology[edit source]

Hi MAC,

I redirected appropriate technology to here at Category:Appropriate technology. Following is a copy of the text you placed under appropriate technology, please feel free to add it under the category listing. Obviously there are some problems with the way we are using categories, and I would love any suggestions you have. One problem with the redirect to the category is that subcategories do not appear at the bottom of the category page after a redirect (although this does not affect category:appropriate technology as there are no subcategories). Thank you for your great contributions.

--Lonny 10:45, 26 June 2006 (PDT)

This category seems, er, inappropriate :-) That is, it seems like everything belongs here, and therefore it doesn't really add any value. I'm thinking (in part because of the words above) that this is a left over from some earlier thinking. Okay, so therefore bold steps are called for...but since I don't have time at the moment... Plus I'm not sure which bold step, I'l hesitate... --CurtB 07:05, 13 December 2006 (PST)

Agreed. Don't know what Lonny was thinking, must have been that June Mexican sun. --Lonny 07:16, 24 December 2006 (PST)

Text from appropriate technology[edit source]

Appropriate technology is technology that is most appropriate to the environment and culture it is intended to support. Suitable for use in developing nations or underdeveloped rural areas of industrialized nations, which may lack the money and specialised expertise to operate and maintain high technology. In practice, it is often something that might be described as using the simplest and most benign level of technology that can effectively achieve the intended purpose in a particular location.

The terminology is not very precise. Isolated rural communities in developed nations may also benefit by using some of the same technologies. On the other hand, large cities in developing countries may find it more appropriate to use technologies usually found in wealthy countries. An expensive technology may be the most appropriate in a wealthy community with the ability to pay for and maintain it.

Such technology, as asserted in the book Small is Beautiful [1] by E. F. Schumacher, tends to promote values such as health, beauty and permanence, in that order.

What exactly constitutes appropriate technology in any given case is a matter of debate, but generally the term is used by theorists to question high technology or excessive mechanization, human displacement, resource depletion or increased pollution associated with unchecked industrialisation. The term has often, though not always, been applied to the predicaments of developing nations or underdeveloped rural areas of industrialized nations.

It could be argued that "appropriate technology" for a technologically advanced society may mean a more expensive, complex technology requiring expert maintenance. However, this is not the usual meaning of the term, and is not the meaning intended in this article.

Name change to "Technology"[edit source]

After thinking about this for many months, I now have an opinion.

To put a page in Category:Appropriate technology is a judgement, in a sense, that it is "appropriate technology". We shouldn't be making that judgement, at least not when we're doing bookkeeping work like categorization - we should be leaving this for the development of ideas on the page and its related talk page, and in the forums.

I therefore propose a name change for this category, to Category:Technology. Other pages are a different story - subcategories such as Category:Appropriate technology demonstration events retain their name, as their defining characteristic is a focus on appropriate technology. We would definitely maintain an article on appropriate technology, and probably a Portal:Appropriate technology. Some people might use the phrase "appropriate technology" in page names, and that is probably ok.

How does that sound? --Chriswaterguy · talk 06:48, 29 October 2007 (PDT)

Just noting, a couple of years down the track, that we're now using the phrase and the category. It's still a bit problematic, but "appropriate technology" is a statement of intention of focus, and (very importantly) it's a term that people search for. We can work out the details - I'm sure our usage of the category will continue to evolve. --Chriswaterguy 15:53, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Hesitate to change name[edit source]

If someone is looking for technology that is normally deemed appropriate -- you want them to show up here -- if they are searching from outside appropedia. You are right everything on the site should be located in this master category. I think we can prevent placing judgment - by clearly stating that someone thinks that these technologies are appropriate -- but they may not be for specific locations or situations....--Joshua 20:18, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

I think this is a really good way to look at it. I've removed the note about deleting the category. --Chriswaterguy 19:17, 7 June 2010 (UTC)