[hackerspaces] Interconnecting Semantic Media Wikis (HSF round-table topic)

Bartosz Kostrzewa zoombat at runbox.com
Thu Jul 2 12:26:40 CEST 2009


Hellekin O. Wolf (/tmp/lab) wrote:

Hi,

>> I don't think detailed project information should be transferred to
>> hackerspaces.org since that is reproduced on the given hackerspace's
>> wiki page anyway. A link to the original page should be more than enough
>> IMHO as a source for detailed info.
>>
> *** That's the point: having a single page introducing the project in
> general terms, and linking to *as many* hackerspaces project pages *as
> possible*. If a project has spin-offs in 10 hackerspaces, having a
> "detailed page" for all links is much better than having a single page
> listing all projects and all hackerspaces at once. I guess.

The problem with that is that the "same" project will be named RepRap at
/tmp/lab, MakerBot at NYCR and BorgReplicator in Bochum. I suppose HSs
hosting the "same" project could agree on a common "UberName".

The detailed page would have to be added to the hackerspaces.org wiki by
hand for each such UberName and would then contain the links, individual
names and links to source wikis (these items can be added automatically
through a SMW query). (see 1 below)

But it would certainly cut down on the number of entries on the "short
info" page. I agree with you that this is probably the best solution.

This would then place two more requirements on hackerspaces.org (simple
to achieve though, we use forms to generate our project pages)

1) a form to add a new UberName to the list of projects while defining
its type and subtype, the form can be configured in such a way that it
adds the correct queries to the resulting wiki page for the given UberName
2) a form to define new types and subtypes

>> There's a slight problem in that some spaces (such as Bochum AFAIK) run
>> a multilingual wiki so I'm not sure how to deal with that.
>>
> *** English should be preferred for all outgoing links, but if a hackerspace
> has all or most of its documentation in a local language, then this language
> should be specified (e.g.: DE). The simplest thing that could possibly work :)

Agreed. Simply requires one more tag.

> 
>> Another problem is grouping: many projects will be available at
>> different hackerspaces at the same time (such as the reprap). I suppose
>> the page could be structured as such:
>>
> *** Exactly the opposite we want to achieve:
> 
> *** I'd prefer sorting by project name, and having the categories as tags,
> or inside the description.

The categories are SMW 'tags' anyway so they could be displayed after
the project name just as well (and then browsed via the browsers find
function)

I still think that a grouping by project type and subtype is better
because there will potentially be hundreds of projects and I share the
opinion of the person who was sitting behind me during the round-table
that not every project is interesting to every person. Since the wiki
produces a table of contents automatically, this can be used for
comfortably browsing to one's interest.

Discoverability of "unfamiliar things", as was noted during the
round-table, would not be impeded because all projects in call
categories will be listed on one page.

-Bartek

---------------


so:

Type
	Subtype
		UberName - ubername short description

UberName can be clicked and links to a page on hackerspaces.org which
lists all the hackerspaces with this kind of project and provides links
to the individual pages.

Optionally the UberName page contains a longer description of the given
UberName.


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