The Knowledge Bank

[Hrusai]

so after reading the article "the real point of what we do" i started thinking about post event knowledge, in short theres nothing we can do to prevent widescale loss of scientific and cultural knowledge, but we can try to preserve a good chunk of it! so i started thinking about how we could do this and i came to the conclusion that it would be good practise for every prepper to pack his/her own knowledge bank, something small, stable and easily recoverable! and failing that simple knowledge cache's something airtight and able to stay buried for decades without decay.

so in keeping with this i'd love hear peoples suggestions of things we could use as a storage medium, what you'd like to have in this knowledge bank, and other potential ideas regarding this!

personally i'm still weighing up pro's and con's of various digital storage mediums as i believe that there will always be some salvageable electronics no matter the nature of the event (unless its a 1000km asteroid that melts the surface of the planet in which case it wont matter)

i also think the main things to cover in such a knowledge bank would be a comprehensive library of basic education (at very least everything from kindergarden to A-levels) with special emphasis on certain subjects for instance mathematics and science.

another area that i feel should have special attention is a complete medical and pharmaceutical library, covering everything from basic surgery to complex diagnoses and fabrication of medicine.

another obvious area would be basic survival (which im sure alot of us already know a fair amount about) things like fire making techniques, building materials, both simple and more complex shelter building, basic first aid and all manner of other bushcraft type things.

anyway i could go on but i'd love to hear peoples suggestions on these ideas so far! and depending on how much we can decide on ill try and put together a decent compedium of knowledge regarding these subjects, putting the entire project online and open for contributions from anyone (although all contributions would need thorough reviews and checks before adding to the main library, as if this ends up being something that is used to kick start a new society the last thing we want is any mistakes!

[Weyoun]

I have an ipad with a solar charger. Works well. I also get to play Tetris to while away the time it takes for the country to depopulate. Doubt if email will work though.

[Hrusai]

lols well i fully intend to load up a kindle with lots of survival books and some light reading, that with a solar charger means ill have plenty of knowledge on hand all the time

i'd like to see you play tetris for a few years straight xDD

[bigpaul]

i prefer to print off all the useful info and keep it in a ring binder, that way i dont lose it if the computer crashes or the power goes off.

[Hrusai]

(30 June 2012, 11:18)bigpaul Wrote: i prefer to print off all the useful info and keep it in a ring binder, that way i dont lose it if the computer crashes or the power goes off.

i mean thats superb for a personal stash of information, but paper is relatively unstable, unless stored in a buried capsule of some such, and is not exactly the densest of storage mediums i mean a kindle can hold 3500 books and thats only 4 freakin gig i got a hard drive next to me with 5000 times more storage than that!!! so thats 17500000 books all in something smaller than my head (not a hard task) but honestly its the thickness of a 500ml coke bottle and 2 or 3 inches shorter and just over half a bottle long, its really not very big! and it would be easy enough to have a paper book or even a kindle full of all the stuff needed to successfully salvage and retrieve the information of the hard drive, either that or find a reasonably intact computer and plug in the hard drive xD

[bigpaul]

yeah right, but if the power is down..i mean the heading title is rebuilding society..you aint got no terminal to stick the memory stick in then its just so much plastic right....might be a reason to do both then your covered both ways....at least with a file copy i just grab the file and look up what i need to know...with no power you might just as well use that memory stick to scratch your arse with...no offence meant!!

[Skean Dhude]

I store what I can on a HDA but I also buy a lot of books. Charity shops, car books, library sales. Cheap books that I may not get the best from but others may. I concentrate on scientific and technical books but will have, if cheap enough, fictional books. No autobiographies with a small amount of history and geography.

[Timelord]

How many books do you need?? It's all just numbers with the gig stuff. All you need is a number of quality books & documentation. Why would anyone need 135000 books upwards on prepping. Big numbers but why?

[Pagan-Mist]

Sorry but I go with BP on this one. Store everything on a laptop whatever and you have a complete electric wipe out eg solar storm, emp, or just a plain old extinction level event then your screwed I prefer pen and paper

[Skean Dhude]

(30 June 2012, 18:37)Timelord Wrote: How many books do you need?? It's all just numbers with the gig stuff. All you need is a number of quality books & documentation. Why would anyone need 135000 books upwards on prepping. Big numbers but why?

Because information is power. Having that information available will mean our childrens children should not have to spend time experimenting and will get back up to speed quicker. We can find techniques in areas that we have not been involved in that will help us survive, grow and rebuild. Basic stuff to the experts but new to those entering the area.