Editing Appropedia:Biofuel Content Initiative

{{Archived notice}}

== Introduction ==

The need for renewable energy is enormous, but the impact of biofuel is variable and often unclear. Clear information is needed for policymakers, and the public, to separate the positive and negative practices in biofuel production, and appropriate uses and choices of biofuels.

== Volunteers needed <!-- Remove "needed" after all positions filled --> ==

At least 2 committed volunteers (aside from provisional steward) are needed for the project to be viable on a basic slow-moving level, but 3 or more is much healthier.

Time commitment is flexible, but to make it worthwhile, expect to spend at least 2 hours every week, for 3 months, to keep the project taking practical steps.

The following roles are needed. There may be overlap in practice, especially if there are less than 4 people.

* Provisional [[Appropedia:Content Initiative stewards|steward]]: ([[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]]). Initial contacting of influential contributors and service learning partners, to recruit volunteers/interns. After a steward is recruited, remains a key support person for the project, especially for the steward.
* [[Appropedia:Content Initiative stewards|Steward]]: ([[User:Jason Michael Smithson|Jason Michael Smithson]]). Continues the work of the provisional steward, and solicits [[#Suggested pages]], content and participation. Supports and guides the other volunteers.
* Content & porting volunteer(s): ([[User:Darren|Darren]]). Identify and solicit permission for [[#Content sources]]. Work on [[#Porting]] suitable content into wiki pages. This process involves some basic copyediting to turn content into wiki pages. More than one porting volunteer would be ideal.
* (If possible): PR volunteer, to blog, engage bloggers and media in the potential of a "Biofuel Wiki".

== Partners ==

(Organizations, institutions and/or high-profile individuals who can lend energy, resources, publicity and/or credibility to the effort, and help to find volunteers.)

Potential: [http://web.archive.org/web/20170714005543/http://www.bioenergywiki.net/About_BioenergyWiki BioenergyWiki] and its supporters. (Exists as a separate project because of funding and organizational structure early on, and now has an incompatible license. Nonetheless very supportive of Appropedia.)

Confirmed:

Active (already at work):

== Target launch date ==

(Does it depend on an upcoming conference, or the availability of volunteers?)

== Specific action requests ==

(Examples below.)

# Site notices asking for input and participation...
# Tell potential volunteers and interns about the program
# Tell us about partners and projects we should be aware of by clicking (add link).
# Apply for a three month stint as the "Biofuel Content Steward" (or another volunteer?).

== Suggested pages ==

Think about what kinds of pages would be useful. List these, and add examples of each. Invite others to add to the list.

* (list suggested pages here)


I'm not sure that this is the right place for this?... but....

I'm a bit unsure about how best to structure this maybe start by porting some of the content from these sites 

*[http://wiki.obed.org.uk/index.php?title=Main_Page OBED wiki]
*[http://vegburner.co.uk/report.html vegburner report]

or work with the structure that already exists here at approprapedia

There are a number of things I think are important for a good biofuel implementation (I'm probably missing some stuff here) -

*understanding different biofuels - properties, production, handling and storage.  Feedstock and methods of production. (and costs) 
*understanding how different engines work - also costs, availability of parts, ease of servicing(local knowledge?)
*understanding how to modify (or produce?) engines to suit your chosen biofuel and situation. - also costs, availability of parts, ease of servicing(local knowledge?)

== Content sources ==

Look for content:

* Give preference to HTML format as [[WikEd|conversion]] is much simpler.
** If you find content in PDF which is very high quality and is open licensed, contact [[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]] 18:40, 25 September 2010 (UTC) (who has some contacts who may help).
** If PDF content has very simple formatting (e.g. just a few headers) then this is also possible - just export to text and manually format in the wiki.
* Check [[Appropedia:Porting]].
* Identify open licensed or public domain information source, with search engines.
* Identify sources, esp blogs, that would suitable for creating wiki content. (Less news commentary or personal narratives, and more design principles and practices, and/or reporting on technologies, new and in the field.)
** Ask for suggestions through social media (FB, Twitter) and directly from those in the field. Filter the suggestions (check for yourself).
** Make contact and ask if they'd be interested in using an open license, so that their good work could have a wider impact through Appropedia. Mention the license, and the attribution they'd receive, but be brief (leave details for later). Better to send 10 two line emails than one longer email.
* Actively contact:
** Academics - who might wish to participate through service learning
** Content creators re open licensing
* Pass on the sources to porting volunteer(s)/intern(s).

== Porting ==

Info for porting volunteers:

# convert the content, using [[wikEd]] (for web pages) or the PDF or Word porting tools. See [[Appropedia:Porting formatted content to MediaWiki]] and [[Appropedia:Porting PDF files to MediaWiki]].
# tweak the formatting, add [[attribution templates]]
# add {{Cl|Biofuel}}, and or sharper categories, and/or {{Tl|catneeded}}

== Navigation ==

Steward:

* Create and refine [[Portal:Biofuel]]
* Are navigation templates of use, e.g. for particular subtopics? Esp where several pages make a logical unit, e.g. all the components of a particular technology or project. Volunteers and steward can discuss this

== Publicity ==

=== Outreach ===

Blogging, other social media

(later task for content volunteer):

* Actively contact via email (be friendly, but brief and to the point):
** NGOs, who might find the content useful, and tell their network, and even make their own content available.
** Experts, especially bloggers with expertise on the field, as they are already making their knowledge available at no cost and might agree to an open license.
** Academics, university departments and campus-based organizations, highlighting our request for service learning partners.
* Ping [[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]] to share highlighted pages, blog posts and news via microblogging, our FB page and
* Other social networks - through your own account and other networks that we haven't used yet.

=== Blogger(s) ===

Can you make a single post, or once per month, on the project or the content? (It can be a very short post, so it's not a big commitment.) Add link to user page and/or blog site. (Steward and/or volunteers can also blog):

* Appropedia Blog (contact [[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]])

=== Links to key pages ===

Links that are helpful in explaining the project and demonstrating its importance. Incl blog posts about the project and relevant tags on the Appropedia blog.

=== Noteworthy pages ===

Use these to show our progress. May vary from "rough but informative stubs" in the early stages to "highly informative and well laid out" as the project advances. Eventually move or copy them to [[Appropedia:Highlighted pages]].

Rough but informative stubs:

Good basic pages:

Highlighted pages - highly informative and well laid out:

Also check the category/categories:
<categorytree>{{{1}}}</categorytree>

=== Talking points ===

Highlighted pages, partnerships, blog posts.

(Make a note whenever a post, tweet, etc, is done on a particular talking point so that we can make sure that each point gets covered over time. )

== Relevant events ==

Can we provide a paper/speaker/poster/leaflets?