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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.

  1. Create a user ID. It's not required, but it does provide these benefits.
  2. Click on an interesting category in the column on the left. You'll find some guidance on creating your article.
  3. It's easy. Go to our Practice Page and do your first edit.
  4. Click Here for more help on how to edit a wiki.
  5. 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.
  6. See the Ruleset for Appropedia's guidelines.
  7. 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

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.

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