PIW:Pagetype

From PIW

Here is a schema for the major categories of pages that exist within this wiki -- also serving as classes of information present within a permaculture knowledge base. This system of categories can also be viewed in a narrative format on our Main Page

Contents 1 Pages about things and how they are organized 2 Pages about how we think about places 3 Pages about actual places and people and the things we do and tools we use 4 Pages that offer abstract information 5 Pages that are closely related to a specific zone

Pages about things and how they are organized

• category:ELEMENT - the living components of a system, and the building blocks of guilds. The next layer down could be species, but for permaculture purposes functional groups might be very useful. I don't know if we should somehow separate discussion of functional groups from individual species or list them all as 'elements'
  • category:PLANT - discussions about the adaptation, life history, uses, and cultural responses of individual plant species.
  • category:ANIMAL - discussions about individual animal species
• category:GUILD - combinations of living things that interact to increase yield, resilience or other desirable traits of an assemblage. It is unclear at what threshold a natural vegetation association becomes a guild. In the definition of guild there is some assumption that the system is being manipulated for human yields. [three sisters, apple guild]
• category:BUILT - those chunks of space that are occupied by relatively permanent structures created by people [cachement, dams, barns, kiva's]
• category:PATTERN - This is a step above a guild in that it includes the management regime that enables the efficient and effective creation and maintenance of guild structure over time. It is the process element of a human habitat system -- a combination of guilds and techniques.

Pages about how we think about places

• category:CONTEXT - the more responsive contextual elements of a place or a setting. The things you observe when making assessments. These pages catalog the groups of concepts that we use to sort, make sense of a complex whole.
  • category:SOIL - here is a discussion of concepts related to soil systems that are relevant to design. These monographs would ideally start with a method of observation. [texture, clay content, organic matter, worms, cation balance]
  • category:WATER - environmental conditions related to water and the hydrologic cycle [inundation, drought, field capacity, precipitation pattern, storm event
  • category:DISTURB - naturally occuring physical or ecological processes that result in stress or trauma to elements of a system. [fire, flooding, browse, slope failure]
  • category:LANDSCAPE - concepts related to topography and landscape position . [floodplain, ridgeline, keyline, estuary, v-shaped valley]
  • category:BIOSTRUCTURE - landscape structure created by natural processes [bogs, log jams, dunes, mole tunnels, beaver dams]

Pages about actual places and people and the things we do and tools we use

• category:LOCATION - a family of pages that describe places on earth
  • category:ECOREGION - moderate scale regions defined by shared biological assemblages and similar climate and weather. They can follow an international convention or local cultural convention, however most meaningful [pacific northwest USA, puget sound country]
    • category:BOREAL
    • category:TEMPERATE
    • category:SUBTROPICAL
    • category:TROPICAL
    • category:SITE - a particular farm, garden or site where folks are working [my house, your house, their house]
• category:MEMBER - a member of the permaculture.info community
• category:ENTITY - a front page for an organization of people doing or teaching permaculture related stuff.
• category:TECHNIQUE - the work we do
  • category:TILLAGE - techniques that turn, cut, or disturb the surface of the soil
  • category:FORAGE - techniques that involve applying the work of animals to the land
  • category:HARVEST - techniques for making use of what the land produces
  • category:STORAGE - techniques of saving harvest for later
  • category:IRRIGATION - techniques for saving and applying saved water
  • category:PLANTING - techniques for growing and introducing new species to a system.
• category:TOOL - an interesting or uncommon labor saving device that helps us design or install

Pages that offer abstract information

• category:CORE - a central abstract concept or permaculture or ecological design [guild, stacking function, edge]
• category:BOOK - pages to review and critique books.
• category:DOCUMENT - a review of a document or collection of documents that has been loaded into the wiki (typically as a PDF).
• category:DESIGN - pages where designers have posted designs that they would like to receive critique on or are happy to talk about.

Pages that are closely related to a specific zone

Primarily used for guilds and patterns

• category:ZONE - One of the five or six permaculture zones.
  • ZONE ONE - At the doorstep where commonly used things are located
  • ZONE TWO - The kitchen garden where most food is grown
  • ZONE THREE - The orchards and crops
  • ZONE FOUR- lightly managed and increasingly self-designing areas
  • ZONE FIVE - the wild