A history of Open Source Appropriate Technology

Appropriate technology wikis

Wiki Green
The Appropriate Technology Wiki Project by Village Earth.
The WinWinWiki and [[
As noted in Appropedia:A history of collaboration, a number of efforts have already joined forces. Not otherwise mentioned here are:

Akvopedia
Howtopedia
Open Source Ecology
Open Source Ecology: Mid-Missouri
Fab Lab Wiki
Hexayurt & How to Live Wiki
Demotech
Various Wikia sites:
- Solar Cooking Archive Wiki - an exceptional example of an active wiki on a narrow topic. Now the organization is branching out (e.g. portable microbiological labs), this raises additional issues.
- Renewable Energy Design Wiki (& in Italian: Energie Rinnovabili Alternative.)

Sustainable design, if not Appropriate technology:

Check:

Ekopedia
SDWiki
TipThePlanet
Wikia Green
Wiki Green
Many green wikis, that are not so much about design, but do have useful information about sustainable technologies, processes and practices.

MIT Collabatorium - highly structured; in concept phase.
OAN - very visual and requires the use of tools to create/present the design: CAD...; starts from a single viewpoint - is there an equivalent of a stub?

talk of OSAT

STAR-TIDES - uncertain commitment to platform, but making some use of Appropedia.
ThinkCycle? Didn't take off.

open manufacturing list.
Global Swadeshi forum & social network.
WikiIndex: The Wiki Synergy Project (set up by Chriswaterguy) - more of a manifesto, intended as something to point people to.

A series of blog posts on OSAT have been written, in particular by (Frank Aragona?) of Agroblogger and Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog:

Google hits for: "Open Source" "appropriate technology" on Agroblogger.com
Agroblogger: Open Sourcing Appropriate Technology Part I, 17 Nov 2005
Agroblogger: Open Sourcing Appropriate Technology Part II, 23 Nov 2005
P2P wiki page: Agroblogger on the state of the Open Source Appropriate Technology movement
Sustainablog: Building an Open-Source Community for Appropriate Technology, 11 Jan 2006. Responding to Agroblogger posts; mentions an open source design.
Agroblogger: Crossing the AT Chasm (responding to the Sustainablog post).
Sustainablog: March is Open Source for Appropriate Technology Month Sustainablog (Jeff McIntire-Strasburg), March 7th, 2006
Sustainablog: Hardcore DIY Sustainability Sustainablog (Jeff McIntire-Strasburg), March 9th, 2006 (refers to Vela Creations as a good example).
Sustainablog: This, On the Other Hand, Might Do Some Good… Sustainablog (Jeff McIntire-Strasburg), April 19th, 2006
Agroblogger: Open Source AT: What’s Next?, 18 Oct 2007: "It has been almost two years since I first began advocating for adapting an Open Source model to the development of Appropriate Technology." Mentions "A few online communities: Instructables.com, the Honeybee Network, Appropedia, and Howtopedia."

Open source hardware, usually refers specifically to computer hardware.
Open design - synonym, more general.
Open Source Appropriate Technology - used especially by Frank Aragona. (Note that open source software is not a perfect equivalent; the struggle is to make something functionally equivalent.)

Moulin - Focused on Wikipedia content. (French based, Africa focused plus Persian language. Renaud Gaudin spent several months volunteering with Geekcorps Mali. They're working with the US Peace Corps, in discussion with UNESCO? Apparently approached OLPC in the past, so they're interested in cooperating.)
WikiAfrica
The Jhai PC and Communication System, a project of the Jhai Foundation, is a computer and communications system designed to meet the needs of villagers in remote and rural areas. (Some thought has been given to providing content on the machines; openness is an expressed value of Jhai.)
OLPC, through the XO laptop. (MOU with Appropedia being worked on now - Nov 2008)