Welcome to Appropedia

Template:Highlighted projectAppropedia is a living library wiki, focused on success in two global initiatives:*Reduce poverty through International Development*Increase Sustainability through the use of Appropriate TechnologyAppropedia follows an open design approach. Anyone can write or edit articles, anyone can plant the seed of an idea and any group can use these pages to work collaboratively, all to further the success in our global initiatives. Others will build onto the ideas, contribute to the work or get inspired to create something new altogether. Which of your ideas, projects or current works would you like to add? Would you like to help in our exciting project of porting valuable information from other sites (with permission of course)? The table below has some ideas for contributors. We invite you to start today.Or perhaps you came here in search of information. The material on this site is here free (as in speech) for your use! Use the search box at left, click on one of the categories in the table below, or browse all categories and all 14,607 articles. If you don't find what you're looking for, please let us know on our Requested content page. We value your feedback.
{| 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;" | Main Areas| width=50% style="background:#B3DDF4;border-left:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | Contributing at Appropedia|-|valign="TOP" style="background:#FFDADA;border-right:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | ;Project:Onsite and academic projects e.g. UTC Solar Distiller
;Organization:Organizations, e.g. Demotech
;Topic:Public education and discourse topics, e.g. Photovoltaics
;Program:Schools, Summer Intensives, Classes, Workshops, e.g. Parras
;How to:Step by step instructions, e.g. How to Weld wood
;Thesis:Thesis papers, e.g. Water management & culture in Indonesian cities
;Coordination:For managing events, publications, projects, etc. e.g. Car-Free Day
|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 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 some benefits.# Click on an interesting area in the column on the left, or check out the porting tasks. You'll find 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.||}{| 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;" | Useful Tips| width=50% style="background:#CCCCFF;border-left:2px solid white;border-top:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | Content and Format Suggestions|-|valign="TOP" style="background:#FCE9B4;border-right:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | * 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.|valign="TOP" style="background:#E8E8FF;border-left:2px solid white;border-bottom:2px solid white;padding-left: .9em;padding-right: .9em;" | 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".*One of five Links of Interest on Kofi Annan's Centre of Excellence in ICT Blog.*One of three recommended websites at Inveneo.*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.