Phenix is a library of practical knowledge that works without the internet, that anyone can read, correct and grow. It doesn't bet on the end of the world. It bets that knowledge should be there on the day you need it.
What it is
Phenix gathers sheets: how to find water, fix a tyre, treat a burn, read a circuit breaker, make soup for twenty out of almost nothing. Each sheet is a simple text file. The software sorts them, links them and filters them, but if Phenix disappears, the sheets stay readable in any text editor. That principle governs everything else. The format of a sheet is described in La fiche Phenix.
The three axes
- Axis 1, Memory: what happened, and what it teaches us.
- Axis 2, Technique: how something works, with the numbers, plans and tables that go with it.
- Axis 3, Survival: what to do, now, when things go wrong.
When a subject belongs to two axes, we write both sheets and link them. We never write the same thing twice.
The three building blocks
- Phenix Base, the app: on a phone, a computer, or simply in a browser. It works entirely offline: sheets, search, saved maps, markers, reading lists, inventory, notes. Your data stays with you.
- Phenix Lab, when there's a connection: suggest an idea or a whole sheet, vote for what's useful, comment, share a map or a layer of markers.
- Phenix Hub: every version of the library. The official one, and those that communities publish for their language, region or group. You choose the one you read, build your own by ticking axes, categories, sheets, maps and layers, and share it.
What sets it apart
- Open: anyone can write a sheet, on any useful subject. The limits come after, not before.
- Participative: people suggest, vote, correct and discuss. On specialist subjects, those who know debate until they reach a consensus.
- Practical: knowledge that says how to do and how to fix, not just how something works.
- No account, no required server, no advertising. The connection is only used for sharing features.
Licences
- The sheets are under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 licence: you can copy, print, translate, modify and redistribute them, even to sell a book, as long as you credit Phenix and keep your changes under the same licence.
- The app's code is under the MIT licence.
Contributing, in practice
- Write a sheet: the "+ Sheet" button in the app, then "Suggest to the corpus". Without a connection, export it as .md and drop it on Phenix Lab later.
- Vote and comment on other people's suggestions on Phenix Lab: that's what brings the best ones up.
- Translate: a translated sheet keeps the same identifier and becomes readable in another language.
- Map: a layer of markers (springs, shelters, crossing points) for your area, shared on Phenix Hub.
- Build a device: the plans and code of the prototypes are open, see The Phenix devices.
What isn't there yet
The project is young and says so. The corpus holds a few hundred sheets where it aims for thousands. The online features are recent. Sheets aren't digitally signed yet. The devices are prototypes. All of this moves forward one sheet at a time, and faster when there are many of us.
Where to find it
- The website, the online app and downloads: anthrophobicc.github.io/PhenixProject
- The code and the sheets: the PhenixProject repository on GitHub
- New sheets, week after week: @phenixprjct on Instagram
Knowledge doesn't go out as long as someone keeps it.