[Home]WikiNet

MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | Categories
WikiNet is an ambiguous term.

1. wiki-net (Manzel's concept)
2. The ProWiki concept of WikiNet
3. Discussion
4. Other Languages

1. wiki-net (Manzel's concept)

what is the wiki-net / what is our wiki-net?

See the wiki called ['wiki-net'] for more, please.

Physically
The wiki-net consists of several pages on every wiki automatically gathering contents from other wikis which help you to find communities of interest for a given topic.

Philosophically
The wiki-net is also an offer to wiki-communities to create stronger relations to each other in order to use synergic effects by integrating certain rss-driven node-pages into their wikis to stimulate interaction.

wiki-neighborhood
It is based the assumption that wiki-communities are able to develop an idea about a "neighborhood" of wikis - topically, technically or structurally related wikis that an interaction with is more likely than with other wikis. These get collected on the wiki-node.

Decentrality
The wiki-net is a cross-engine idea and entirely decentral. Every wiki-community is responsible for its part of the wiki-net called our wiki-net, all these together shape the wiki net.

Dynamic selection
Communities make dynamic selections of the neighbors listed on their wiki-nodes. This selection is called our wiki-net and it triggers three rss-driven internal wiki-pages that are nodes to the "outer wikiworld".

wiki-net changes
The first is wiki-net changes. It shows the recent changes of the (selected) wiki-neighborhood and the recent changes of the wiki itself merged. You see a recent changes page for several wikis. It's like zooming out in a picture, the view is more wide-angle. Recent near changes was the old name for this page. The contents of this page tends to be confusing - as recent changes itself tend to be confusing.

wiki-net blogs
The second is wiki-net blogs. It assumes that wiki-communities are able to write a common blog - a blog integrated in the wiki itself and automatically attached to the end of its home-page. On their blogs communities summarize what goes on on their wikis. The common blog is like a face to the outside. A new reader reads the last blog entries and knows about the wiki without having to dive into its recent changes. The blog is an act of politeness to the public, a help for the communities themselves to get aware of their own activities, and it keeps the members of a community together. To put it simply: "A wiki-community without a blog is like a band without gigs." <br> Similar to wiki-net changes the page wiki-net blogs merges the blogs of the (selected) neighbors and the blog of the wiki itself.

hints
The third is wiki-net hints. Assuming the selections for the first two interaction-nodes on a wiki are pretty stable (though still dynamic, like good friends, some are friends for life-time, some change) the hint part of the wiki-net offers a possibility to give a wiki-community a hint to an interesting wiki. It is more about the short term attention of a wiki-community. Likely the selections for the first two wiki-net pages will be taken within a wiki-community, outsiders shouldn't edit the selection or will be reverted. The hint section of the wiki-net gives outsiders (just as wiki-community members) the possibility to point the wiki-community to another wiki. Unlike the other two wiki-net pages the hints are limited by number and added/removed by date. Getting a new hint the oldest wiki in the selection is removed, thus hints wont't stay in a wiki's attention for very long. On hints changes the recent changes of the wikis given a hint to get merged.

Syndication
There is a separate rss-feed for each of these three wiki-net pages + there is an rss-feed for a wiki's selection of neighbors (its wiki-net) called wiki-net feed.

wiki-net server
The wiki-net feed is machine readable (machine code block). Using a cron-job wikis connect to a (currently only imagined) wiki-net server like once a day. The wiki delivers the information about its current selection of neighbor to it and receives information about what other wikis currently have it - the wiki - in their selection. That makes it possible to show on a page "who is watching us?", i.e. which other wikis currently have the "watched" wiki in their focus (that is on their wiki-net). "Feeling somebody's gaze on your skin". Showing who watches you creates a further interactive node: people will take a look at the watching wiki, and interaction becomes more likely.

[Mattis-Manzel-wiki: face / 2006-12-30] points to the lightning talk on 23C3 "What is the wiki-net?".

2. The ProWiki concept of WikiNet

ProWiki uses the term WikiNet for a network of wiki servers, each hosting wikis and exchanging various kinds of information in highly efficient protocols (5-min updating possible). This allows to build neighborhoods of wikis that are hosted, although they are hosted on different servers (even different engines, although this is just starting).

Currently in the wiki-world such neighbourhoods are special implementations. For example WardsWiki shows SisterSites but there is no backward linking from Meatball to WardsWiki. CommunityWiki has NearLink to MeatballWiki, but it wouldn't be easy to provide the same to WikiPedia.

Transported data:

Currently there are 3 servers involved:

so in principle 120 project can be configured to interact with concepts like SisterSite, NearLink or MultiLinking - depending on what the local engine supports.

Protocol:

Contact:

3. Discussion

Mattis, to simplify things, we could talk about "wiki node net" (wiki-net) and "wiki server net" (WikiNet). Then we could put the concepts side by side and compare what they do and plan to do on the server and the client side. We should also agree upon a place for discussion (I think you put similar information on http://ws2006.wikisym.org/space/WikiNet). -- HelmutLeitner

MattisManzel: Yes, the wiki-net of nodes and the WikiNet of servers maybe. A comparison will be interesting. I've got this feeling of wiki-net being an idea a little bigger than I first thought. Added on [community-wiki: wiki-net] about it.

Mattis, I have difficulties understanding wiki-net because it seems to be a melting pot for a lot of activities or ideas. wiki-net as the structure of connected wiki-nodes is a clear concept, but is does not extend natrually to having data exchange or RSS syndication (imho). How is this connected or is this un-connected? What is the current state of implementation, especially when we talk about something that spans wikis on different servers? -- HelmutLeitner

MattisManzel: Both are rather unconnected, The wiki-node kinda turns a repository of neighbors and potential neighbors. That from the community selects its wiki-net, the most interesting neighbors, a selection which is fed to other wikis (and to a wiki-net server) as the socalled wiki-net feed. The oddwikis I made the past months are integrated only up to now.

Mattis, what is "wiki-net feed" and what means "intergated"? Who are the devlopers involved? What wikis or servers are connected? -- HelmutLeitner

MattisManzel: The wiki-net feed is the feed containing the information about a wiki's present wiki-net (the selection of neighbors and wikis being given a hint to watch for a while). See [wiki-net: all feeds].

The sheep helped me during the past months with some css-hacks and other stuff while I made up the wiki-net. I'm the only "developer", I guess.

All "connected" run on oddwiki. Many of them are listed on [Mattis-Manzel-wiki-blog: 2006-05-27].

Some are:

  1. [eTerra-wiki]
  2. [teach-me-wiki]
  3. [wiki-Woodstock]
  4. [oddwiki-center]
  5. [city-wiki-center]
  6. [political-wiki-center]
  7. [hive-wiki]
  8. [collab-editor-wiki]
  9. [open-event-wiki]
  10. [sand-diki] (day-page based wiki, extending the day-pages on all wiki-pages, timestamping them in the title, every new contribution is a new page)
  11. [world-jam-wiki]
  12. [oddwiki-Zentrum] (in German)
  13. [wiki-net]

Closest to work cross-engine is Mediawiki with the [rss-extention] started by mutante like installed on s23-wiki, [s23-wiki: wiki-net]. I also made [moin-moin-wiki: wiki-net].

4. Other Languages

CategoryUncommonWikiTechnology CategoryInterCommunity

Discussion

MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | Categories
Edit text of this page | View other revisions
Search: