WikiContextualLinking

MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | Categories

Wikis create links by looking for simple patterns (like CamelCase) in plain text and linking to the page with the given name. In wikis with a NameSpace, that name becomes ambiguous. Writing the full name, with namespace, defeats the use of a PatternLanguage in flowing text. If disambiguation is done based on the namespace of the linking page, this prevents a lazy use of namespaces solely to differentiate two pages of the same name, forcing categorization information to be duplicated in the namespace, perhaps inappropriately.

Therefore, use all of a page's categorization information when disambiguating outgoing links. This demands a LatticeSpace, as categorization information is not ordered. On wikis like MeatballWiki, where a page is categorized by linking to the category page, the outgoing links should form part of the categorization information. On a wiki with a stricter MetadataSyntax, the metadata would be used instead.

But, this system has not been deployed outside of a prototype wiki. Its disadvantages are not yet known. Fortunately, a LatticeSpace/WikiContextualLinking pairing degrades to a flat wiki if the NameSpace is never used, allowing users to simply avoid the system if it becomes untenable, even without admin help.

PeriPeri demonstrates WikiContextualLinking, but currently uses outgoing links as well as strictly-formatted metadata, increasing the ease of adoption, but with the associated problem of LinkingWithoutIndexing.

CategoryWikiTechnology CategoryUncommonWikiTechnology CategoryLink FacetWiki

WikiContextualLinking

Discussion