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{{:Hexayurt Project Header}}
{{:Hexayurt Project Header}}
 
= Introduction =
A hexayurt has a lot of surface area, and both of the materials we are considering are printable. This concept outlines how to prepare and print a basic educational curriculum on the hexayurt, with material for both adults and children. Material for children would be graded by height - small kids stuff at ground level, and material for eight year olds at the 4' height.
A hexayurt has a lot of surface area, and both of the materials we are considering are printable. This concept outlines how to prepare and print a basic educational curriculum on the hexayurt, with material for both adults and children. Material for children would be graded by height - small kids stuff at ground level, and material for eight year olds at the 4' height.


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So what to print?
So what to print?


= Wikipedia-type Content =
Well, let us first consider what is fast, and then we'll consider what is good. We could do a lot worst than pick a few dozen of the more useful articles from Wikipedia and other open-source materials and reprint them. However, there are some severe problems with this approach:
Well, let us first consider what is fast, and then we'll consider what is good. We could do a lot worst than pick a few dozen of the more useful articles from Wikipedia and other open-source materials and reprint them. However, there are some severe problems with this approach:


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The how-tos from this web site might provide more targeted guides but we have none written at this time.
The how-tos from this web site might provide more targeted guides but we have none written at this time.


= Repurpose Books =
Another approach would be to try and get reuse rights to books like [[http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php#wtnd Where There Is No Doctor]].
Another approach would be to try and get reuse rights to books like [[http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download.php#wtnd Where There Is No Doctor]].


In both of these cases, we are going to need to find a very, very high quality and professional team to advise on what material to print.
In both of these cases, we are going to need to find a very, very high quality and professional team to advise on what material to print.
= Custom Basic Educational Curriculum =
The right approach is a [[basic educational curriculum]] targeted to each area. A BEC would provide introductory reading materials, so that those who already read English could teach others. It would have material for children and adults alike and focus on practical knowledge, explaining concepts like germ theory and crop rotation, thermodynamics in the context of drying food or making fires burn better, and so on.
As an example, consider explaining germ theory to a five year old child in a no-TV, no-Internet village.
You start from what they can see: pick an ant or another bug. Explain that we have large bodies, and the ant only has a tiny body. Explain that there are creatures which are as small compared to the ant as the ant is small compared to us. Explain that these creatures are so small we cannot see them. Explain that a person can get infested with these creatures, causing diseases. This explanation of germ theory seems like it would work more or less anywhere, for more or less anybody, and then concepts like basic sanitation practices can be taught on top of the accurate scientific model.
These basic scientific models are incredibly powerful. Consider that the [[http://www.epigee.org/guide/sdm.html Standard Days Method]] gives excellent birth control results with essentially no technological base. Any culture with counting could apply this technique, and there is no solid reason that a stone age culture could not have maintained the technologies to apply this method ''if they understood the principles giving rise to the practice''. Hence, a properly prepared knowledge packet could describe a wide range of tools and techniques, all of which can be implemented with field-availble technologies, giving many of the benefits of 21st century science to people in essentially medieval living conditions. Of course, there are severe cultural problems related to magical thinking or cultural taboos which sabotage the success of some of these tools. Deep expertise and monitoring of results are required to ensure that this part of the project works.

Revision as of 02:08, 15 October 2006

Hexayurt Project Header

Introduction

A hexayurt has a lot of surface area, and both of the materials we are considering are printable. This concept outlines how to prepare and print a basic educational curriculum on the hexayurt, with material for both adults and children. Material for children would be graded by height - small kids stuff at ground level, and material for eight year olds at the 4' height.

If we cover the inside and the outside of the vertical walls with text, and leave the roof blank, we get the equivalent of 600 letter-sized pages on an 8' hexayurt, and 1200 pages on a 12' hexayurt.

So what to print?

Wikipedia-type Content

Well, let us first consider what is fast, and then we'll consider what is good. We could do a lot worst than pick a few dozen of the more useful articles from Wikipedia and other open-source materials and reprint them. However, there are some severe problems with this approach:

  • Wikipedia articles are long and boring
  • They are not written as how-to guides
  • They use a very large subset of the english language
  • Some articles could be just plain wrong and misleading at the time they were taken and printed

However, as a very basic starting point, we could do worse.

The how-tos from this web site might provide more targeted guides but we have none written at this time.

Repurpose Books

Another approach would be to try and get reuse rights to books like [Where There Is No Doctor].

In both of these cases, we are going to need to find a very, very high quality and professional team to advise on what material to print.

Custom Basic Educational Curriculum

The right approach is a basic educational curriculum targeted to each area. A BEC would provide introductory reading materials, so that those who already read English could teach others. It would have material for children and adults alike and focus on practical knowledge, explaining concepts like germ theory and crop rotation, thermodynamics in the context of drying food or making fires burn better, and so on.

As an example, consider explaining germ theory to a five year old child in a no-TV, no-Internet village.

You start from what they can see: pick an ant or another bug. Explain that we have large bodies, and the ant only has a tiny body. Explain that there are creatures which are as small compared to the ant as the ant is small compared to us. Explain that these creatures are so small we cannot see them. Explain that a person can get infested with these creatures, causing diseases. This explanation of germ theory seems like it would work more or less anywhere, for more or less anybody, and then concepts like basic sanitation practices can be taught on top of the accurate scientific model.

These basic scientific models are incredibly powerful. Consider that the [Standard Days Method] gives excellent birth control results with essentially no technological base. Any culture with counting could apply this technique, and there is no solid reason that a stone age culture could not have maintained the technologies to apply this method if they understood the principles giving rise to the practice. Hence, a properly prepared knowledge packet could describe a wide range of tools and techniques, all of which can be implemented with field-availble technologies, giving many of the benefits of 21st century science to people in essentially medieval living conditions. Of course, there are severe cultural problems related to magical thinking or cultural taboos which sabotage the success of some of these tools. Deep expertise and monitoring of results are required to ensure that this part of the project works.

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