Re: Wiki Classification Schemes [Was: Page rename crashed second time around]

@ Claudia and @Murray :

The NameSpacePlugin is really a very simple, convenient plugin.

IMHO, it is very natural and powerful to organize information in a
hierarchical matter, although there are indeed limitations to such an
approach. (may be we are all intoxicated by the way computer file
systems work ;-)
Wiki's have the capabilities to support much more complex,
multi-dimensional, categorization.  But I think, JSPWiki still lacks
good support to help a user to exploit that capability.
Eg, tagging a page should really by very simple. And not require you
to go to edit to add category-links. It should be easy to select from
the available WikiCategories when you need them, while you are viewing
the info. Probably we would need an extra security level,
'page-tagging' , to limit the tagging process to a smaller
WikiGardener group of people to keep the tagging space clean.
Eventually, a workflow could help to ensure all create pages are
getting tagged, etc etc.

Something to be added to the wishlist of v3.0.

- - - -

Claudia,

There are a few issues you should consider before using the Namespace
plugin, as this is not really integrated in the core of jspwiki.
Eg: renaming a page inside the hierarchy will not automatically rename
all pages in the hierarchy; the referenced-by plugin is incomplete,
cause links generated by a plugin are not seens by the engine.



dirk

On 8/3/07, Murray Altheim <[email protected]> wrote:
> Claudia Frers wrote:
> [...]
> > In short I just want to have some way of keeping track of what I am doing as
> > the number of pages grow and I am not sure that i trust that a search will
> > make the right page pop up.
>
> Hi Claudia,
>
> Yes, a common issue as the wiki grows.
>
> > thus I have been poking around Multiwikis and categories and namespaces and
> > i assume that it's all about trade offs....
>
> To some extent, yes, complexity vs findability. Trying to find a balance
> that doesn't require users to learn classification schemes, use complex
> and problematic syntax (ala the "semantic wiki" solutions), or create a
> nightmarish world of rigid rules, well, there's gotta be an 80/20 solution
> here somewhere.
>
> > Will copy my answer to him here as well:
> > Dirk  wrote:
> > "
> >
> > Due to the absence of a hierarchical folder concept in JSPWiki, I am using
> > extensively a dot syntax to group related pages together. (similar to the
> > java package concept) Therefore, I needed a way to generate Index pages of a
> > subset of wiki pages, based on a certain Namespace or page prefix.
> >
> > "
> > Perhaps I am using the wrong plugin. The Namespace Index Plugin seems to
> > give me what I want.
> > But I still need to test it.
> >
> > The multiple categories is a good second choice if I cant get the
> > NamespaceIndex Plugin to work.
>
> I've not tried using the NamespacePlugin so I can't really comment on how
> it works in a production environment, i.e., on whether people can figure
> out how to use it effectively. My criticism of any such system is that it
> does then rely to a great degree on designing and following a controlled
> vocabulary of terms. For example, in the example on the NamespacePlugin
> page it uses
>
>     Zoo.Birds.Flamengo
>
> which points out a few problems. First, why is the top level category
> "Zoo"? In most zoological taxonomies the level above birds (the zoological
> "Class" of "Aves") would be "Order". If one wanted to skip the various
> levels the next might be "Animalia", but skipping levels would be a
> problem if at some point there needed to be something between "Zoo."
> and ".Birds". In the case of using "Birds" there are potentially name
> conflicts with other things that use the same five characters for their
> common descriptor (since "Birds" is a non-scientific, colloquial term for
> "Aves" that provides no context and is only expressed in English, and in
> plural -- should it be expressed as a singular or plural term?).
>
> Then there's the issue that "Flamengo" is misspelled. I'm assuming
> someone really meant "Flamingo", but I might be wrong: perhaps "Flamengo"
> is a common name of some other bird or the name of the flamingo in a
> different language than English. There's also six species of flamingo,
> which one does this refer to?
>
> I'm using the above example to point out the various kinds of problems
> that *will* arise in any use of a simplistic classification system (i.e.,
> my questions are rhetorical). There can be no simple solution to a very
> complex problem. We need at a minimum either a means of expressing scope
> (aka context) or having great flexibility in our navigation and search
> (e.g., potentially permitting "flamengo" for "flamingo").
>
> > To have to remember to add a link on each page is a bit of a strain on the
> > old memory. If I forget to add a link to a page, that page can be easily
> > forgotten. For me, its easier to attach the category as a name
> > Zoo.Birds.Stork
>
> Or how about having the page inherit characteristics, so if you're on the
> "Birds" page you'd only have to attach "Stork"? So that all of the
> characteristics of Birds are also true of Storks...
>
> You may also look into using the QueryPlugin which includes regular
> expression matching on wiki page names. It probably could be used
> as an alternative to the NamespacePlugin, but either of them would
> have many of the same issues, and would require users to learn an
> arcane query syntax in order to obtain query results. Another possibility
> would be to set keywords in page metadata (like tags) and query on
> matching keywords/tags. There's stuff in the works for that but
> nothing available right now that I'm aware of.
>
> Murray
>
> ...........................................................................
> Murray Altheim <murray07 at altheim.com>                           ===  = =
> http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     = =  ===
> SGML Grease Monkey, Banjo Player, Wantanabe Zen Monk               = =  = =
>
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