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Talk:Searching Resources

From iA wiki

slated to be moved to iA wiki/Talk -- rack

A list of searching resources is really inappropriate as far as being usefull. Something with more structure than a list is needed. A cardfile metaphor would work well. One page per formatted entry. This allows all the annotation of the entries to be kept in one place. -- nw

It's all new and just sitting in a working form right now. It hasn't even properly been broken up into subcategories yet. ->
The big problem is with linkrot and the like. Maintaining lists of resources is reasonable as long as they're ancient and stable links (Everything I've posted up is 2 years old and more). The big push is to make How To Search more universal such that maintaining links isn't really necessary. -- rack
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I agree that maintence should not be necessary, and that is what I was getting at. The big problem is that subcategories don't suit this need. Heirarchical organization is only useful if you already know what you are looking for. A reverse index is much more suitable. Something like wiki categories used on C2. http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiCategories ->
Categories allow the user of the wiki to use the search feature of the wiki to find just what they are looking for, rather than require them to search for it by reading through everything. An example Dogpile -- nw
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Note: similar conversation exists in Name Pages/Talk
I'm stepping back for a moment. The original comment speaks of a cardfile metaphor, where there are individual pages which can be found via a master list page, or even through a backsearch function. The backsearch is quick and dirty, but doesn't allow the commenting which master list pages would allow. ->
I see this concept in the homepage, with a nice list discussing the major categories on the wiki. Ultimately I'd like to see the additional linkage on the homepage be the "house favorites".. maybe the favoured status of these items could be discussed on /Talk pages or some such thing. ->
Applying this cardfile concept to a list of resources isn't helpful unless those individual links, or categories of links really need so much description as to warrant an individual page. Right now, there is a hand-edited master page with these items.. it's all self-contained. ->
Moving to the more recent comment on the reverse index concept. This is useful in auto-generating a bland list of common items. The current method being used is to have a hand-edited and user-maintained list. The advantage of the current method is that it allows some description and organization. I don't see how the search function could be relied upon to build a list of related links. Take, for example, a wiki search for Instant Messengers to see all pages which link to this. The generated page isn't particularly useful. It lists all pages with that particular link. On the other hand, the Instant Messengers page allows for some sorting and description. ->
This wiki currently has categories, as seen on Homepage.. and the subcategories (like, say, Instant Messengers, allow for greater organization. I'm not sure I understand how there could be a better way. ->

Heirarchical organization is only useful if you already know what you are looking for.

I'm not sure how any alternative would be better. A heirarchical structure is meant to organize existing information without concern as to how it would be found. A reader is charged with knowing what they want and finding it. They view the Homepage and see the major topics this wiki discusses. They delve into a particular category and are witness to a master page discussing related topics. Sometimes topics go off into tangents and there are dead-end pages like lol. If a user wanted to get to lol without going through the heirarchy then the search function (albiet currently obfuscated) is still available and fills this need. ->

A reverse index is much more suitable.

This is the list of links provided through a search function, right? I find there is a lack of functionality with this. No descriptions, no organization. The current method is manpower-intensive, but not terribly so imo. ->
I hope I didn't restate myself too much.. I'm trying to be descriptive. Perhaps some mockup examples of proposed organization types would help me understand more fully? I went looking through the C2 Wiki Categories link and still don't really understand the value of any method other than what's in current use. -- rack
Ok, I see it is not the details of the idea in question. My point is that there is no better method for organizing a large list of links. But that the best method is to provide the largest reasonable variety of ways to access the content in question.

A reader is charged with knowing what they want and finding it.

I disagree. Tools should be charged with the task of finding what the user wants. The user should only be charged with stating their want.
The issue with the lack of functionality in generating search results is rather trivial. Searching a wiki is just plain quick and dirty. IMO, its an ugly kludge. A little refinement here can go a long way in improving the utility of wiki in general, and make reverse indexing substantially more usefull.

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