"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
About building websites
This is mostly a response to Ursula's questions
in this post, but I think the answers are relevant to others too. (It's also a follow-up to this one about business plans.)
As for your project itself, I think it's a wonderful idea. Now let me please get on my soapbox and shout at you about tools for building websites.
DO NOT ever start hand-coding xml and css, or trying to recruit programmers until you have first exhausted all the free off-the-shelf options out there.
There are thousands of people worldwide writing free software that can be tweaked to do all sorts of amazing things. I am familiar with one called Joomla which is a good content management system with many extra features that enable you to manage communities, maintain directories of stuff, etc. It's not really suitable for your needs, but how about a wiki? You could have your own (empty) wikipedia in place in just a few days if you wish. Of course, it's not really ideal because you need to be able to search a database. But let me ask you a question:
Is your idea really any different a from computer dating site? People would search on the criteria you mentioned (site, sun, soil, water, sq footage, time to tend and zip code) and maybe a few others such as indoor/outdoor, food plants of different kinds, flowers, etc. It's no different from looking for a date, and each 'profile' would be information specific to that plant in those circ**stances.
I just took a quick look and there are FREE softwares out there which claim to enable the creation of dating sites. Why not try one and see if it's suitable for your needs? You may want to change the template later, to get the look and feel you want, but the first job is to get the functionality you need. This would be the easiest way for you to test the concept out without having to build a complex site.
I'll go out on a limb and say that you can also probably 'bridge' between different softwares. This would mean that you could have a searchable database (dating site) linked to a detailed wiki giving generic information about each plant, or each locality, or both. You could probably even embed the dating search within the wiki, so that the entry for any given community will also have a 'click here to find suitable plants for your situation' function.
As for the issues you mention:
Getting started: there must be info out there that is fairly universal. If not, then it needs to be written, and a wiki sounds like the way to do that.
Climate data: is available from various sources online, and there are applications for some CMS programs that grab that data and make it available within any site.
Complexity/failure: I think it's just not that simple, and succesfully raising plants requires a lot more thinking and commitment than some of us want to admit. Are you sure that this project isn't inspired by a sense of personal failure resulting from the erroneous belief that it should all be easy?
#14: People need to make a living. Why is Windows not free? Your response, effectively to start an open-source movement, is excellent.
I didn't read much of the rest (not enough time, but you've obviously put a lot of thought into this) but I must say that the guilds idea was very intriguing.
Seriously, I doubt you'll make money reselling seeds. I would focus on building a community, and then act as an advertising channel to seed suppliers and others with relevant products.
in this post, but I think the answers are relevant to others too. (It's also a follow-up to this one about business plans.)
As for your project itself, I think it's a wonderful idea. Now let me please get on my soapbox and shout at you about tools for building websites.
DO NOT ever start hand-coding xml and css, or trying to recruit programmers until you have first exhausted all the free off-the-shelf options out there.
There are thousands of people worldwide writing free software that can be tweaked to do all sorts of amazing things. I am familiar with one called Joomla which is a good content management system with many extra features that enable you to manage communities, maintain directories of stuff, etc. It's not really suitable for your needs, but how about a wiki? You could have your own (empty) wikipedia in place in just a few days if you wish. Of course, it's not really ideal because you need to be able to search a database. But let me ask you a question:
Is your idea really any different a from computer dating site? People would search on the criteria you mentioned (site, sun, soil, water, sq footage, time to tend and zip code) and maybe a few others such as indoor/outdoor, food plants of different kinds, flowers, etc. It's no different from looking for a date, and each 'profile' would be information specific to that plant in those circ**stances.
I just took a quick look and there are FREE softwares out there which claim to enable the creation of dating sites. Why not try one and see if it's suitable for your needs? You may want to change the template later, to get the look and feel you want, but the first job is to get the functionality you need. This would be the easiest way for you to test the concept out without having to build a complex site.
I'll go out on a limb and say that you can also probably 'bridge' between different softwares. This would mean that you could have a searchable database (dating site) linked to a detailed wiki giving generic information about each plant, or each locality, or both. You could probably even embed the dating search within the wiki, so that the entry for any given community will also have a 'click here to find suitable plants for your situation' function.
As for the issues you mention:
Getting started: there must be info out there that is fairly universal. If not, then it needs to be written, and a wiki sounds like the way to do that.
Climate data: is available from various sources online, and there are applications for some CMS programs that grab that data and make it available within any site.
Complexity/failure: I think it's just not that simple, and succesfully raising plants requires a lot more thinking and commitment than some of us want to admit. Are you sure that this project isn't inspired by a sense of personal failure resulting from the erroneous belief that it should all be easy?
#14: People need to make a living. Why is Windows not free? Your response, effectively to start an open-source movement, is excellent.
I didn't read much of the rest (not enough time, but you've obviously put a lot of thought into this) but I must say that the guilds idea was very intriguing.
Seriously, I doubt you'll make money reselling seeds. I would focus on building a community, and then act as an advertising channel to seed suppliers and others with relevant products.
Views: 26
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Comment by Chris Ke Sihai on April 30, 2010 at 8:07am
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Ok, here we go. I'm goint to try and set up a new site for this project: http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/evoke-15-for-teachers-and
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Done!
Archive old site at http://ingeniousity.net
Create new primary database
Install Jomla 1.5.17
Download phpbb and dokuwiki
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done:
Upload and install phpbb3 and dokuwiki.
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Done:
Install additional functionalities enabling communities, groups, user profile customization, private messaging, project management, etc.
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Done:
Duplicate primary installation to /innovation folder.
(Some problem with Wiki.)
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Installed multi-language support and user bloggin with tagging and image/video upload.
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Integrated userlogins between forum, main site, wiki
Deleted secondary database and installation - couldn't get usernames to synch between two installations. No big deal.
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Fixed the problem with the wiki! Everything works fine.
Experimented with the project management software, and figured out approximately how it works.
Wrote an introduction, emailed my Evoke contact list, updated discussion at http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/evoke-15-for-teachers-and
Now, who will help me to copy info from Evoke to the new site?
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Changed the template so it looks a lot nicer.
Found a hack that enables me to use the same wiki software as Wikipedia, installed mediawiki, and deleted the original 'dokuwiki'
Added an integrated forum called Agora and spent a couple of hours trying to resolve an issue with permissions between all the different extansions. It's working now.
Added a full craigslist-style advertising platform, configurable to enable users to broadcast their needs or offers.
Added latest article, random quote, search engine and played with layout and design. Very happy with the way it looks now.
Tomorrow: Set up category trees and articles for the missions, configure user profiles for the quests, add group management system. Create 'to do' list using project management system.
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Basic category trees set up for missions. If anyone cares to help me import the mission descriptions from evoke then that would be great.
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