Howdy,
This thread is a branch from
Modularizing Permaculture: The Lego Method to discuss what information technology exists or is currently being developed by permies for permies. Much of the discussion so far has been on databases, but there is also some information on existing design applications.
The information below was initially posted on the thread above, but should now be discussed here. That thread is now being reserved for the non-technical discussion of modularizing permaculture.
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I suppose first off we should have everybody post exactly what they've accomplished so far and what their end goals are. The reason I say this is because many of us have started down a similar path, but where we wind up might be quite different. Although this may be the case, we have a lot of common needs, specifically in regard to a database.
For example, I'm not sure what Mike Hagar's database looks like, but I need a database that essentially represents the functional analysis of a plant. As such, Practical Plants has an infrastructure that seems to be aligned with mine. This has been echoed by others in the forum to be a preferred way to organize the data. So what I need is contact with Andru Vallance and access to the practical plant API.
On another note, I quite support Mike Hagar's comment about the internet not being a reliable resource. We're concerned with sustainability, and as such we should be applying permaculture principles to how we're designing technology for our community... right?! So, in the case of collapse or crisis our technology should continue to be useful... we can call it adaptable, and in the mean time we should be working together to achieve as much good as possible. I can see we're on track and that makes me quite happy.
Ok, so lets get to work. I propose each of us who are already developing some form of information technology list what their goals are, what their application specs are, and what progress we've made.
Given this information we will be equipped with the knowledge to align our forces in the most beneficial and effective ways.
I'll go first:
GOAL STATEMENT:
My goal is to create a tool that helps users organize and visualize the information needed to plan a perennial guilds / small-scale food forests for surburban settings in effort to rip out the lawns and put in edible and sustainable landscapes.
A lesser goal, although also important, is for this to be robust enough and well thought out enough to serve as my PhD dissertation research in computer science. It should be noted that development of such an application is worthy of several dissertation projects, so collaboration with all of you fits perfectly with in this requirement.
SPECIFICATIONS:
1. Suggests plants / rule plants out : this was a request of some of our senior permies and permie educators. Their reasoning was so that students and newbies had it as an aide / learning tool. Furthermore, it could encourage seasoned designers be variable in their plant selection, not automatically defaulting to their go-to species. Suggesting plants and ruling them out are dictated by the constraints of the site and the clients needs, as well as the key species that support the users needs.... you all know the drill.
2. Visualize client / user needs fulfillment in design process : This goes with the point made above.
3. Instruction on the permaculture principles : For those who come across this who aren't permaculture designers, they're gonna need to know why they're doing what they're doing.
4. Design canvas : This is the meat and potatoes. Complete with ability to modularize designs, visualize site analysis, and of course place plants for a design.
5. Collaborative Opportunity : Need to see what your neighbor has done so that you have added context to your design. Although whats over the fence may be out of sight, it should not be out of mind. Furthermore, there should be ability to borrow components of other's designs. Again, why require people re-create the wheel.
6. Produce an implementation plan
There are a lot more details to our design, but these are the big requirements.
PROGRESS:
1. Database designed, but little data inserted. On hold to see if we could grab data from another resource.. then we found practical plants! I'm waiting for a response from Tiny Mighty.
2. Prototype of canvas up and running - presently using javascript and html5. Runs in browser, doesn't require internet, but is augmented with data from internet. Basically it is better if you have the internet then if you don't. Not a big surprise there. Currently developing means to create a visual site analysis.
3. Interaction design for guild/food forest design underway. This is the stuff that decides how the design process goes down in the application.
I can already see several differences between my app and what some may want. For example, I'm not including animals for production purposes (human needs) because my scope is for suburban sprawl places which are already battling home owners association that forbid the growth of food in the front yard. I can very much see my envisioned application being expanded to incude animals, but because we're only five people right now just working with plants is plenty. Collaboration could change that.
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In summary, we're still early in our development, but our team of 5 here at UC Irvine is working on it and each week we make a good amount of leeway. We're on schedule to keep this up through the end of March, then start back up in late April. As I said above, I'd love to collaborate with anybody who has already started working on something like this or wants to get involved. I'm not eager to re-make parts of technology that people have already essentially built, but instead I'd like to apply your efforts to achieve a greater goal and thank you tremendously for playing your part.
I look forward to seeing everybody's explicit goal, specifications, and progress.
Juliet
