Welcome to Appropedia: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:30, 10 October 2006

Welcome to Appropedia

Appropedia is a living library, a wiki, focusing on success in three global initiatives:

Encouraging use of Appropriate Technology
Reducing poverty through International Development
Increasing Sustainability

Appropedia follows an open design approach. Anyone can write or edit articles, and anyone can plant the seed of an idea. Others will build onto the ideas, or get inspired to create something new altogether. Which of your ideas or concepts would you like to add? The table below has some ideas for contributors. We invite you to jump aboard today!

Or perhaps you came here in search of information. The material on this site is here for your use! Use the search box at left, click on one of the categories in the table below, or browse all categories, or all articles. If you don't find what you're looking for, please let us know on our Requested content page. We value your feedback!

Main Areas

Contributing at Appropedia

Projects: Onsite and Academic Projects e.g. UTC_Solar_Distiller
Organizations: Organizations working on the initiatives, e.g. Demotech
Topics: Public education and discourse topics, e.g. Photovoltaics
Programs: Schools, Summer Intensives, Classes, Workshops
How tos: A directory of those articles that are considered "how-tos"
Theses: Thesis papers related to the initiatives
Coordination: For managing events, publications, projects, etc

We encourage you to boldly create a page or article. Others will welcome you and offer help and suggestions as they notice the new content.

Create a user ID. It's not required, but it does provide these benefits.
Click on an interesting category in the column on the left. You'll find some guidance on creating your article.
It's easy. Go to our Practice Page and do your first edit.
Click Here for more help on how to edit a wiki.
Don't worry if your articles aren't complete, edited, or formatted! Others can help you with this. Your content and ideas are what bring the most value.
See the Ruleset for Appropedia's guidelines.
See what we're working on. Click on Help Out on the nav bar to the left.

Useful Tips

Content and Format Suggestions

Have an idea that isn't fully developed? Short on time? Create a brief article stub. You and others can grow it over time.
Enable email alerts whenever a particular page changes by clicking the "watch" tab at the top of the page.
Use the "discussion" tab at the top of articles to join or start a discussion about the article.
Click on the "History" tab at the top of articles to view revisions and their authors.
If you like a page's formatting and want to see how it was done, simply click on the edit tab (or section edit). Exit safely via Cancel or your browser's "Back" button. Try it on the Practice Page.

Appropedia has no hard content or format rules, just suggestions:

A brief description of a technology and its uses.
Regional considerations such as climate, locating raw materials, etc, as well as cultural, social and political context.
A materials list, including possible alternative materials
Simple how-to sections for building or using a technology or material
Possible alternative approaches when building or using a technology
Common mistakes to avoid in building or using a technology
Photographs and diagrams for more interesting, informative content
Case study of a technology being used

Recent Praise for Appropedia

Engineers Without Borders-International solution of the month for September, as well as inclusion in their Comprehensive Appropriate and Sustainable Technologies Databases and placed among their list of 12 phenomenal Useful Tools
Listed as one of Ethan Zuckerman's, links... and quote, "very cool idea".
A mention on the O2 Nederland site.

Respect Copyrights

Content on Appropedia is made available under the terms of the GNU-FDL copyright, which has been chosen to ensure that the information will continue to be available. See our copyright page for details.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 __NOTOC__
-<big>'''Welcome to Appropedia'''</big>
 {{template:Highlighted project}}
-Appropedia is a living library of [[:Category:Appropriate technology|appropriate technology]], international development and sustainability, replete with [[:Category:collaborative pages|collaborative pages]], networking, [[:Category:Projects|project]] writeups and [[:Category:How to|how-tos]] and original research such as [[:Category:Theses|theses]]. We are also starting to add material on the "soft" issues in development, such as [[:Category:Culture and development|culture and development]] and gender and development.
+<h2>'''Welcome to Appropedia'''</h2>
-Feel free to contribute or just browse. If you contribute, please consider creating a [[Special:Userlogin|login]].
+Appropedia is a living library, a ''wiki'', focusing on success in three global initiatives:
+*Encouraging use of '''Appropriate Technology'''
+*Reducing poverty through '''International Development'''
+*Increasing '''Sustainability'''
+<!-- perhaps Sustainability is implied in increasing use of AT? -->
+Appropedia follows an [[Wikipedia:Open_design|open design]] approach. Anyone can write or edit articles, and anyone can plant the seed of an idea.  Others will build onto the ideas, or get inspired to create something new altogether. Which of your ideas or concepts would you like to add?  The table below has some ideas for contributors.  We invite you to jump aboard today!
-==Browsing==
+Or perhaps you came here in search of information. The material on this site is here for your use! Use the search box at left, click on one of the categories in the table below, or browse [[Special:Categories|all categories]], or [[Special:Allpages|all articles]].  If you don't find what you're looking for, please let us know on our [[Appropedia:Request|Requested content page]].  We value your feedback!<br clear="all" />
+{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width=100%
+|-
+| width=50% style="background:#FDAFAF;border-right:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | '''<big>Main Areas</big>'''
+| width=50% style="background:#B3DDF4;border-left:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | '''<big>Contributing at Appropedia</big>'''
+|-
+|valign="TOP" style="background:#FFDADA;border-right:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" |
+;[[:Category: Projects|Projects]]
+:Onsite and Academic Projects e.g. [[UTC_Solar_Distiller]]<br>
+;[[:Category: Organizations|Organizations]]
+:Organizations working on the initiatives, e.g. [[Demotech, design for self-reliance| Demotech]]<br>
+;[[:Category:Topics|Topics]]
+:Public education and discourse topics, e.g. [[:Category:Photovoltaic|Photovoltaics]]<br>
+;'''[[:Category: Programs|Programs]]
+:Schools, Summer Intensives, Classes, Workshops<br>
+;[[:Category: How to|How tos]]
+:A directory of those articles that are considered "how-tos"<br>
+;[[:Category: Theses|Theses]]
+:Thesis papers related to the initiatives<br>
+;[[:Category:Coordination|Coordination]]
+:For managing events, publications, projects, etc<br>
+|valign="TOP" style="background:#D4EDFB;border-left:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" |
+We encourage you to [[A:BOLD|boldly]] create a page or article.  Others will welcome you and offer help and suggestions as they notice the new content.
+# [[Special:Userlogin| Create a user ID]]. It's not required, but it does provide [[Appropedia:Benefits_of_registering|these benefits]].
+# Click on an interesting category in the column on the left.  You'll find some guidance on creating your article.
+# It's easy.  Go to our [[Practice Page]] and do your first edit.
+# [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents#For_editors Click Here] for more help on how to edit a wiki.
+# ''Don't worry'' if your articles aren't complete, edited, or formatted! Others can help you with this.  Your content and ideas are what bring the most value.
+# See the [[Appropedia:Ruleset|Ruleset]] for Appropedia's guidelines.
+# See what we're working on. Click on [[Appropedia:Community_portal|Help Out]] on the nav bar to the left.
+|
+|}
+{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width=100%
+| width=50% style="background:#F9D163;border-right:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | '''<big>Useful Tips</big>'''
+| width=50% style="background:#CCCCFF;border-left:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | '''<big>Content and Format Suggestions</big>'''
+|-
+|valign="TOP" style="background:#FCE9B4;border-right:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" |
-There are several ways to browse. You can:
+* Have an idea that isn't fully developed? Short on time?  Create a brief article [[wikipedia:Stub|stub]]. You and others can grow it over time.
+* Enable email alerts whenever a particular page changes by clicking the "watch" tab at the top of the page.
+* Use the "discussion" tab at the top of articles to join or start a discussion about the article.
+* Click on the "History" tab at the top of articles to view revisions and their authors.
+* If you like a page's formatting and want to see how it was done, simply click on the edit tab (or section edit).  Exit safely via Cancel or your browser's "Back" button.  Try it on the [[Practice Page]].
-* Use the search box at left,
+|valign="TOP" style="background:#E8E8FF;border-left:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" |
-* Browse the [[:Category:Fundamental|category tree]] (i.e. starting at the broadest category),
-* Browse [[Special:Categories|all categories]], or
-* Browse [[Special:Allpages|all articles]].
-==Editors and Creators Getting Started==
+Appropedia has no hard content or format rules, just suggestions:
+* A brief description of a technology and its uses.
+* Regional considerations such as climate, locating raw materials, etc, as well as cultural, social and political context.
+* A materials list, including possible alternative materials
+* Simple how-to sections for building or using a technology or material
+* Possible alternative approaches when building or using a technology
+* Common mistakes to avoid in building or using a technology
+* Photographs and diagrams for more interesting, informative content
+* Case study of a technology being used
+|
+|}
-* Go to our [[Practice Page]] to see how easy it is to get started.
-* See the '''[[Ruleset]]''' for the overarching guidelines of Appropedia.
-* For additional help, click the [[help:contents|Help]] button in the navigation box to the left.
-* See these [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing Editing help] contents from wikipedia, especially those on editing.
-** See [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:FAQ MediaWiki FAQ] for much greater detail.
-==Project Page Creators Getting Started==
-To start:
-*Type your project name in the search field to the left.
-**Please make sure to use a unique name, such as '''Location''' or '''Organization''' followed by '''project description''' in lower case, e.g. [[AEF greywater]].
-*Click <strong>Go</strong>.
-*If there is no page titled with your project name, you can create the page by clicking <strong>create this page</strong> under search results.
-See the list of [[:Category:Projects|projects]] for some examples and the general getting started notes above for editing information.
-==Organization Page Creators Getting Started==
-To start:
-*Type the organization name in the search field to the left.
-*Click <strong>Go</strong>.
-*If there is no page titled with the organization name, you can create the page by clicking <strong>create this page</strong> under search results.
-See the list of [[:Category:Organizations|organizations]] for some examples and the general getting started notes above for editing information.
 ==Recent Praise for Appropedia==
 *[http://www.ewb-international.org/solutionofmonth.htm Engineers Without Borders-International] solution of the month for September, as well as inclusion in their [http://www.ewb-international.org/ASTdatabases.htm Comprehensive Appropriate and Sustainable Technologies Databases]  and placed among their list of 12 phenomenal [http://www.ewb-international.org/Tools.htm Useful Tools]
@@ Line 42: / Line 73: @@
 *A mention on the [http://www.o2nederland.org/main.asp?pid=5&sid=0&iid=395 O2 Nederland] site.
+==Respect Copyrights==
+Content on Appropedia is made available under the terms of the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html GNU-FDL] copyright, which has been chosen to ensure that the information will continue to be available.  See [[Appropedia:Copyright|our copyright page]] for details.
 __NOEDITSECTION__