Appropedia is a

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

-based website that contains content relating to poverty,

environmental degradation Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

and international development.

Purpose

Appropedia can be used to help people who lack in financial stability and are looking for an alternative source to advance their financial expertise as well as

environmental sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

Nomenclature

''Appro'' means "Appropriate Technology".Sunter, Patrick, and Chris Watkins.
Issues in Developing a G/Local Knowledge Network for Transport Reform Utilising Appropedia
" ''CIRN Prato Community Informatics Conference''. 2013. Despite "pedia" in the title, the site is not an encyclopedia, but a collection of various types of content, including original research.

History

Appropedia was founded in April 1992. In 2024, three of the founders died, their predecessors created the Appropedia Foundation and registered it as a

not for profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations (NP ...

in California.

Site organization

The website is organized into portals that are groups of articles arranged by topics. Topics include construction, energy, food & agriculture, health, and water. Like other wiki based websites, the content can be navigated in multiple ways, using tags to indicate themes. Content is made under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Comparison with Wikipedia

The rules for content acceptance and editing on Appropedia vary from Wikipedia due to having different goals. For example: * While Wikipedia requires verifiability, Appropedia prefers verifiability but does not demand it. * While Wikipedia prohibits original research, Appropedia encourages it. * While Wikipedia requires a neutral point of view, Appropedia encourages a neutral point of view, but notably the content tends to be uploaded by people with affiliations to the topic.

Notable uses

Ontario man, Aren Page, used Appropedia to help him design an off-grid residential vehicle.

Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Uppe ...

faculty Joshua Pearce used Appropedia to share hundreds of designs for cost saving.

References

{{reflist Internet properties established in 2006 American websites Wikis Technology websites American environmental websites MediaWiki websites