[Greenbuilding] Pharos Wiki for green building materials now open

[Leslie Moyer]

*Pharos Wiki is Open!*   http://www.pharosproject.net/


		 HBN's Pharos Project 
Team <HealthyBuildingNetwork at mail.democracyinaction.org>  	

The wait is over!

We are now pleased to announce that the *first phase of the Pharos 
Project - **PharosWiki* 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=1&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page>* 
-** is up and running.*  If we zapped your information during your visit 
to the Healthy Building Network's 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=2&url=http://www.healthybuilding.net/> 
Booth 18 at Greenbuild or have already registered on the Pharos Project 
website, click here 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=3&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin&type=signup&returnto=Main_Page> 
to pick a username and password and start Wiki-ing away.

The success of the Pharos Project depends upon the support and 
participation of the green building community.  We consider the Wiki the 
heart of the project. Users are invited to participate and take 
advantage of the framework and tool provided to:

    * Compare declared environmental attributes of building materials
      against one another and against ideal impact scenarios;
    * Share experience and knowledge about materials and products with
      other users and experts;
    * Discuss important issues affecting the green building community;
    * Share ideas for improving this project including the Pharos
      Framework
      <http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=4&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Portal:Pharos_Framework>,
      Lens
      <http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=5&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Pharos_Lens>
      and Label
      <http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=6&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Pharos_Label>;

    * Compare the meaning and values of various labels and rating
      systems; and,
    * Customize evaluation criteria to reflect the user's own values,
      priorities and experiences.

If you consider yourself cyber-challenged, don't fret!  Even the most 
digi-phobe amongst our team found Wiki user-friendly and intuitive.  
We've even created a sandbox 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=7&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Sandbox> 
for you to practice your Wiki skills.

The Pharos Project 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=8&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/> 
is rooted in the principles of the open source technology movement, and 
the first phase of our project is built upon the platform of one of the 
great open source collaborations of our age, Wikipedia 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=9&url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.  
Using the Wiki Software platform, we have opened the PharosWiki, which 
we envision will become a free encyclopedia of green building 
information built collaboratively by the green building community.  Soon 
we will make even more tools available via the Pharos Project website, 
including the Pharos Label 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=10&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/about_pharos/label_howto.php> 
tool, an exciting innovation that will allow users to create their own 
library of product labels.

We want to encourage open and candid discussions. To that end, 
participation in the PharosWiki is currently open to anyone. However, 
our Wiki Editorial Board 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=242462058&url_num=11&url=http://www.pharosproject.net/wiki/index.php?title=Editorial_Board> 
will monitor the discussions and may suspend users engaged in commercial 
activity, disrespectful behavior, dissemination of disinformation or 
inappropriate domination of discussions.

Thank you for your interest in the Pharos Project.  We look forward to 
your input and participation.

Pharos Project Team