Re: Research database?
From: Dirk Herr-Hoyman (hoymanddanenet.org)
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 06:48:41 -0700 (PDT)

On Aug 30, 2006, at 10:14 PM, Tree Bressen wrote:

Hi Anthea,

We have been doing a lot of research on cohousing communities, organic gardening, permaculture, hybrid housing, etc., towards developing one or more coho communities. Has anyone got a simple solution for organizing that kind of research on computer? Ideally, we need to be able to pull together scattered references to a variety of topics we've got notes on.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
  Anthea

You could try asking the folks at the nonprofit Grass Commons
http://grasscommons.org/ (email
<mailto:info [at] grasscommons.org>info [at] grasscommons.org). It's the kind of thing that the software they are developing might be either suitable for or that they would know who does have software for the kind of application you are describing. It sounds like you need something based on tagging, but
i'm not tech savvy enough to know the specifics.

Catching up to this after being on vacation...

There is certainly a need in the cohousing community for access
to factual information along these lines.  I know our community
(Arboretum Cohousing) has wanted to look many bits.  I also see
ongoing discussions on this list about things like financing and
rules.

The software used at grasscommons.org, something called WagN which
combines wiki and tagging, and further allows for "networks"
of information, could be useful.  A bit on the experimental side
(not that I'm against experimentation, this is what I do for
a living).  This does show promise, but it's also going to be
a bit "wet" as the paint is still drying.  Perhaps if the folks
at Grass Commons might foster this a bit, since they are trying
to enable consumer information, someone(s) could give this a go
for the cohousing community.

Wikipedia or more likely the underlying software Mediawiki could
be another choice.  I do see 100s or even 1000s of sites that
are NOT Wikipedia using Mediawiki, and have done so in my day job.
This isn't a bad way to go, it's clear the the software is easy
enough for "mere mortals".  This too could work, if someone would
foster it.

Overall, the need is as much for someone to jump start this
sort of effort.  The exact details of the software can vary, 2
examples given above and no doubt more could be found.   I do like
weaving in something highly collaborative, not forcing there to
be a single point of collection.  Wikipedia is an example of how
this can work, with the "community" correcting the information
in an ongoing way.

The real product is background information needed to start or operate
a conhousing community.  Might be a project for cohousing.org to take
on...

--
Dirk Herr-Hoyman
Member of Arboretum Cohousing
Madison, WI
http://arboretumcohousing.org



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