October 1, 2007—The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation launches FMpedia, a free online resource for the global facility management (FM) community. With just the click of a button, users can now have FM terms and definitions available at their fingertips any time.
Built on the Wikipedia model, FMpedia presents a non-commercial facility management glossary with an international scope, says IFMA. It provides an opportunity for users to “chat,” post new definitions, comment on existing ones and provide a repository for related material. Initially, the online glossary took definitions from four different sources:—one from Australia, one from Europe and two from the United States. It houses between 350 and 400 definitions to date.
The Internet-based glossary took nearly five months to create. The IFMA Foundation board provided tremendous feedback after reviewing the initial FMpedia pilot. The site had to be open allowing contributors to create and edit definitions, create links to other Web sites and so forth. Users must also provide e-mail addresses so the FMpedia Webmaster can ensure the material’s validity.
For more information, or to access the site, go to the Web site.
