Some Useful Links

There is nothing as bad as a crummy web link, but there is nothing as satisfying as a really good one - it can take you places that you have never heard of, where you can learn things that you only imagined. These links have been tested extensively and they either point directly to useful Appropriate Technology information or they point to someplace useful in other ways (e.g. a source of good links). I promise. Feel free to post your own favorites (its nice if you provide a little info with each), or send me individual ones and I'll group them all together into a master list.

http://www.i4at.org/library.html#water – Institute for Appropriate Technology (USA)
http://journeytoforever.org/at_link.html - Intermediate Technology Development Group
http://www.itdg.org/ - the group Practical Action (formerly ITDG)
http://livelihoodtechnology.org/ - more ITDG resources on intermediate technology
http://www.alternative-finance.org.uk/en/ - ITDG’s microfinance literature resource
http://www.itdgpublishing.org.uk/ - more ITDG, they are distributed all over the web
http://www.developmentbookshop.com/ - even more ITDG! Good book title resource (
http://www.researchinformation.co.uk/apte.php - Appropriate Technology magazine
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/ - FARM Africa, farmer assistance group
http://www.mamud.com/ - ethnovetrinarianism, agroforestry, food security in Africa
http://www.yearofmicrocredit.org/ - International Year of Microcredit 2005
http://www.foodsecurity.net/ - Food Security Network (news articles)
http://www.fao.org/spfs/ - FAO’s Special Programme for Food Security
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/foodsecurity# - Development Gateways’s page on Food Security
http://www.eldis.org/ - Eldis (UK), sharing information on development
http://www.ifad.org/media/success/index.htm - success stories from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (UN)
http://www24.brinkster.com/alexweir/CD3WD/index.htm - 680 MB of downloadable documents on 3rd World development (many topics)

Photo: Wood and stone constructed, water powered grain mill - one of the very few uses of the wheel in the mountains of Nepal.

How to Use this Blog

Blogs are beautifully easy to use - just come to the blog, click on the Blogger icon in the top left corner, type in your password (this keeps blog spammers from interfering with us), select "create" a posting, and start typing. We'll start off with the basics (just cut and paste things into the space), resulting is a linear look, and then we will improve on it - with links to other webpages grouped together if that is appropriate, other pages off the main one for special topics, and so on. There should be a way to post just about any type of information, but sometimes we'll have to figure it out. For now try posting things like good web links, books that you feel are appropriate (add a little review of them), questions or comments for the group, photos, announcements (upcoming events, etc.), and more. A blog is only worth having if you use it regularly. If you wish use the "edit HTML" option to fine tune your posting, and always feel free to post photos using the photo icon. Look at other blog pages (including their HTML code) to see what is possible and effective. One of mine is http://travelswithcharlie.blogspot.com/. Blogspot has information on how to improve your technique as well.

If you want to become a "member", so that you can post, or if you have comments or questions email me (Charlie Sellers) at csellers42@yahoo.com

Photo - the streets of Vientiane, capitol of Laos.