I have been exploring charities to support, and believe Appropedia is one such project. I found out about Appropedia through Curt Beckmann, who I met during my Tech Field Day wanderings out on the west coast of the US. Curt is a Principal Architect at Brocade and Chair of ONF’s Forwarding Abstractions Working Group and member of Chipmakers’ Advisory Board. When he’s not too busy doing those things, he’s also working with Appropedia, which he co-founded as a non-profit in 2007.
Appropedia is a wiki-style repository of practical knowledge. The idea is to share real-world wisdom with the developing world, improving living and working conditions, as well as advocate for sustainable processes the world over. As they say on their “About” page,
Appropedia has been described as an “appropriate technology wiki,” but it is much broader than that – it is a green living wiki and a wiki for all matters of international development and aid. Appropedia is an open site for stakeholders to come together to find, create and improve scalable and adaptable solutions. This can include sharing information and collaborating with others on how we can lighten our ecological footprint and live in harmony with nature and our environment in developed countries, or discuss ie low cost technologies for use in the developing world. A key aim of Appropedia is to provide this information, to support sustainable choices – sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.
I love what’s going on here. Worth supporting? I think so. If you agree with me, you can support Appropedia here.