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WikiIndex is the next version of SwitchWiki/OneBigWiki:
1. Description
2. Implementations
3. some inspirations
4. idea about local names and switch wiki
5. Comments

1. Description

Current implementation of the project: [WikiIndex:WikiIndex]

Moving earlier hosting at [WorldWideWiki:SwitchWiki] - the WikiIndex (SwitchWiki) project seeks to add another way to find wikis on the web. This is a new Wikizen's idea for helping new people understand more easily the ways that wikis connect, by connecting wikis and other information systems simply, in a wiki. (or rather - in a wiki?)

Although wikis have had the concept of InterWiki links for a long time, the InterMaps remain small, and wikis remain disconnected. (Here at MeatballWiki we currently have a policy of limiting the list of entries to those we actually use) WardsWiki uses a special way to link to wikis, called SisterSites. The TourBus Project here at MeatBall and the WikiNode (to show others what wiki are in a paticular wikis neighborhood) system are other ways to link communities and show people other wikis.

It is thought that an easy collaborative way to keep wikis connected would be through a public wiki. Newbies or "off topic" content might be more easily redirected to a better suited wiki. Content pertinent to certain wikis may also be discussed.

Why create another space with any overlap with MeatBall? The answer is that it would be helpful to have the part that would probably not be welcome on MeatBall: namely huge lists of known wikis.

2. Implementations

The project is moving from WorldWideWiki:SwitchWiki to SwitchWiki:WikiIndex (with the use of LocalNames? that would be real easy to do, right?

Please also read WorldWideWiki:OneBigWikiProjectDiscussion.

A related project is the OpenDirectoryProject wiki category which remains fairly unused, because of the closed process. Many have suggested that Meatball take over editing the category to remand it to the public, much like our PublicallyEditableInterMap. See OpenDirectoryProjectWikiCategory, which if remitted to the wiki way is purported to be able to swallow whole the OneBigWiki. Hopefully it will be a yummy project to swallow.

Discussed places for implementation:

FreeZope? http://www.freezope.org -- has database functionality (NTPLTD free zope - http://www.nipltd.net/Free) -

The best way of dealing with huge lists is not Wiki but databases (although we could in the future add database capabilities to Wikis, I don't know of this being done yet). We don't really want to maintain separate indices by alphabet and by category by hand, do we? and if we want to add database stuff ourself we can't really use any of the given free services (well, we could, but we'd have to augment with our own scripts, which means perhaps too much traffic to personal servers) (unless maybe Swiki is extensible in this way?). Two ways out: 1) the SeedWiki guys would be very willing to run extensions for us if we wrote them (they have to be in ASP). 2) FreeZope? allows various Zope components, I bet there is a database one. Anyone know?

On the database stuff in Zope issue, I just checked. There is a "database connection" to postgreSQL databases (I assume this means it can connect to one over the net as opposed to just over sockets?); also Zope itself seems to be a database and to allow you to create and manage new Zope objects and classes in a variety of ways; there are also tools called TinyTables? and MetaPublisher? which seems like they could help with this sort of thing. Finally, for $5/mo we could buy a local postgreSQL connection at freezope if we decided we needed that. I get the idea that Zope was made for just this sort of stuff.

Advocating using FreeZope? so that we can (probably) take advantage of this stuff to index, search, and categorize through a database of known Wikis. (out of those, I think using MetaPublisher? and Zope's own database is the way to go at first -- here's a book about Zope: http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/current/index_html) --BayleShanks

Didn't follow through on the Zope avenue because of lack of knowledge about the database angle. So, ironically at the WorldWideWiki?, WorldWideWiki:EvenHolen and WorldWideWiki:RalfLehmann came up with the idea for a similar idea. Ralf followed up with the WorldWideWiki:OneBigWikiSoftwareProject

Until a wiki with more appropriate features comes along, we are going to hand edit the damn thing to get it started. We would be real interested in having folks give a couple of hours to do some BarnRaising.

3. some inspirations

4. idea about local names and switch wiki

5. Comments

Suggestion to just add wikis to some grand InterMap of all wikis.

See: InterMapDiscussion.

MetaWiki (dot com) was originally intended for this kind of purpose, as a giant interwiki connection point, but it didn't work out that way. In fact, it's not really meaningful to have a central clearing point for links. Individual wikis don't even have such a space; so why should there be a metaspace above many wikis fulfilling this purpose? It's more meaningful to look for a stitching together of the individual commons a la UnifiedRecentChanges. -- SunirShah

I want MetaWiki (my MetaWiki) to be a sort of navigation tool for wikis. Mostly I want to develop better navigation methods, but it's not a problem to allow other sites to use the mechanism I develop for MeatballWiki. For instance, as time progresses, I hope to develop some sort of way to throw XML at it and then use it to navigate a wiki (or any similar website, really), complete with visualizations. Currently, the system scoops information from other known wikis. At any rate, MetaWiki may be different from OneBigWiki, but it's probably an important component in order to give people a sense of space. -- SunirShah

I wonder if a MetaWiki (just another wiki about wikis) would solve the problem of navigating wikis. I imagine the shifting of the navigation question to the interface between each persons own personal wiki and all the public wikis (supposing everyone has a personal wiki). So it merely becomes a question of a WikiInterchangeProtocol? than of a MetaWiki or MetaIndex? or ... (i have to stop ... my head's aching and my pizza's ready ;-) cu -FlorianKonnertz - P.S: See also: Wiki:AllInOneWiki

Discussions attached to lists of Wikis elsewhere might be considered offtopic. The "mission" of such a place could include not just listing and categorizing Wikis, but also discussing them. It would overlap with part of MeatBall's mandate; while this place is a meta-wiki, a wiki discussing issues about other wikis, MeatBall is a meta-Wiki, a wiki discussing issues about Wiki itself. -- BayleShanks

See two examples of WikiFarm's attempting to do this locally at their farms:

Alas, as of 2006-12-17, http://WikiIndex.com/ is offline. I hope this is only temporary. What can I can do to bring it back online? -- DavidCary

Contributors: MarkDilley, BayleShanks, SunirShah, BogdanStancescu

[CategoryInterCommunity]

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