Mission Statement Conversation

(This seemed more like a discussion topic. The Project Page can hold our best effort to date.)

What is the best way to go about creating our mission statement? It was always my intention that Appropedia be not just a repository of Appropriate Technology projects, but much more alive. I hope that our mission statement can meet that. The original mission statement/description, unfortunately too simple, stated: Appropedia is a living library of appropriate technology.

An expert facilitator has offered her services in cocreating a mission statement. See http://www.holonconsultants.com/ for some of her work. Any suggestions on some ways to develop this? A teleconference mixed with Appropedia editing? Just exchanging thoughts here? While we work on this, I think it is important to note that we can keep tweaking and changing our mission as Appropedia develops. I think it is an important part of appropriate technology, and an ability of wiki, that we change to meet the needs of our stakeholders. --Lonny 11:27, 1 October 2006 (PDT)

Great idea! I think we can make some good progress (already have) via postings, then when we get a little stuck, or even if we think we are there, we can engage with your expert and "put a bow on it". --Curtbeckmann 15:58, 1 October 2006 (PDT)
I believe she will be posting some questions here to help guide us. Look for them soon. --Lonny 18:45, 1 October 2006 (PDT)
I've made a stab at my version of answers to the questions at User:Curtbeckmann/Mission. Not much else has happened within the wiki (hopefully folks have been thinking about it offline), so perhaps this "posting" approach is not the right approach for us, and we should explore other options. I definitely want to continue this process because I want to have an inspiring message to help motivate folks who kind of want to help, but wonder what the point is. I would like Mission to be accessed from the nav bar.
One thought I've had is that, in addition to Mission, we should also have a vision. The vision is the larger picture beyond what Appropedia does. The Mission is essentially what Appropedia's role is within that vision; in that model, the vision really needs to precede the mission (or, alternatively, each Mission statement kind of presumes an implicit vision). Many of the questions below are vision-oriented. If we think in terms of the "build a cathedral" analogy, then I think the vision is what people can use the cathedral for, and how it helps the community grow and bond, etc. This story helps make "build a cathedral" that much more appealing.
We can puzzle over how to structure the pages. My recommendation would be that we have a Vision and Mission page, because they're pretty much inseparable.
To that end, I am going to go back to my Mission page and work on my personal versions of Vision and Mission. What are you going to do? :-) It's possible that my versions will be so compelling that everyone in the community will want to line up behind them. But don't count on it. These things work a lot better when every provides input. But I suppose the wiki way is to wait for someone to publish the page, then edit it. That works too.
Comments? --CurtB 21:09, 26 October 2006 (PDT)

Mission Statement 1

Appropedia seeks to facilitate successful and practical hands-on application of appropriate technology and processes in field or academic venues by all interested parties. We welcome content documenting field and academic projects world wide, including the technologies and processes (e.g. assessment efforts) used, plus the results and any potential pitfalls to avoid.

We've identified the following categories for contributions:

Mission Statement 2

Appropedia seeks to facilitate and support successful individuals, organizations, programs and applications of sustainable development, and appropriate technology and processes. We welcome all content from individuals and organizations working in these fields.

This content could be:

  • Documentation of field or academic projects world wide, including the technologies and processes (e.g. assessment efforts) used, plus the results and any potential pitfalls to avoid.
  • Organization or individual information, serving as a sustainability nexus.
  • Collaboration work serving as common working area (with benefits such as track and compare changes, and opening up the dialog to a much wider community).
  • How to instructions.
  • Lecture notes.
  • Common errors to avoid.
  • this is included just for an idea, it is obviously not fully developed and not part of a mission statement. In fact only the first sentence is really part of a mission statement.

QUESTIONS to consider as the mission is developed

APPROPEDIA MISSION KEY QUESTIONS: As you envision Appropedia 5 years into the future:

  • What are your highest hopes for Appropedia?
  • What do you see happening as a result of Appropedia: within your field, locally, nationally, globally?
  • Who is involved in Appropedia?
  • What has changed from the present state?
  • What are the greatest accomplishments?

=Reminder to consider the Mission Questions

I'll take this moment to encourage the active Appropedians (that is, those that check "Recent Changes") to spend a few minutes thinking through your answers to the Mission Questions! Thanks, --Curtbeckmann 16:20, 12 October 2006 (PDT)

My scheme was to create a subpage off of my user page, but seems it could more easily be done on one's user talk page. --Curtbeckmann 16:22, 12 October 2006 (PDT)
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