Jesse, You can always count on me, too. :) Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch Sharing is Caring! Doctoral Student Educational Leadership Curriculum and Instruction Get ready for CO10: http://connecting-online.ning.com/ Free online workshops on WikiEducator: http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops
On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Jesse Groppi <[email protected]> wrote: > Nellie: Thanks for your confidence, but it won't just be the two of us > accomplishing this big task. I'm confident that WE will do it together. > > Wayne: I am very equally glad there are people like that, here. > > Gita & Valerie: Good to hear others are on the same page. Thank you both > for offering to help! > > Jesse > > > On 12/10/2009 23:50, elizabeth mbasu wrote: > > Dear Jesse, > I know about web pages in terms of pages and sub-pages i.e parent, > children, grandchildren etc. and can generate a structure for this. I have > read your write up and am signing in hoping to learn more about categories > along the way. I am not sure that I really understand everything about > categories. > Many thanks, > Elizabeth > > --- On *Mon, 10/12/09, Jesse Groppi <[email protected]><[email protected]> > * wrote: > > > From: Jesse Groppi <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > Subject: [WikiEducator] Announcing the categories workgroup and inviting > new members > To: [email protected] > Date: Monday, October 12, 2009, 2:49 PM > > Hi all! > > There's another workgroup a-brewin' down on the wiki! This one is about > categories; yes, dreadful fun, I know. Before I talk about the workgroup, > I'd like to introduce you to the concept, and the rationale behind their > use. > > *What are categories?* > > A category is just what it sounds like: a method of grouping pages > according to their content. Categories also work with parent-child > connections in the same way that subpages do. The category you put a page > in will actually be a subcategory of another. A category system will have > many levels within it. Where the category system gets even more useful than > the subpage system is in the number of relationships that can be defined by > it. While a subpage can only have one parent page, any page or category can > be in as many categories as we like. This is where the mediawiki software > becomes genius in its use of virtual reality; even though there exists only > one document, at a single url, it can be found and related to other > documents in any number of ways. This creates a powerful browseability that > is trumped only by the searchability of the SemanticWiki extension, which > involves a steep learning curve. > > *Why categories?* > > The category system is a built-in method of organising content far better > than the subpage system method. It creates relationships between content > that cannot be defined by subpages, making it easier for members to move > from page to page and between related information. Want to know what other > projects there are on astrophysics? The category system will tell you > that. Want to be able to find all the resources from Otago Poly-Tech > easily? Curious about what 10 year old children are learning elsewhere in > the world? The category system allows for these. Using the category system > is preferred over contents pages because it requires far less effort from > members to keep current. To add a page to a category, one never has to > leave the page, itself! > > The other key factor for categorising pages is a concept called "search > engine optimisation" (SEO). You may have heard of this if you are in any > way involved with web publishing. I'm not going to explain SEO, but I will > tell you the point of it is to increase readership organically (they come to > us, we don't market directly to them). This is done by appealing to the > formulas Google and other search engines use to determine who goes at the > top of any search list. The thing is, if there aren't any links to your > page, Google never sees it! Categories create a link-based map of the > website, allowing Google's programs to see each page that has a category. > > *The workgroup* > > Sounds great, right? Well, WE's category structure is a bit out of shape > at the moment. For example, about 30% of the categories used don't actually > exist, yet; there are a handful of central/root/contents categories, none of > which go deeper than a few levels; there are (as I write this) 12,200 > uncategorised pages out of 68,992 total, or about 15%; and most of the > existing categories aren't connected to any other category. > > So, Alison Snieckus and I have seeded a workgroup to get WE's category > system in tip-top shape, as well as working to educate WE members on > categories and advise the style guidelines workgroup on guidelines that > affect category usage. We're still organising the group, and there are some > tasks to be done, and we could use your help with both! WE would really > benefit from your opinions and ideas, so please stop by ( > http://www.wikieducator.org/Workgroup:Categories ) and sign up. There are > lots of informational links, and it isn't necessary you be an expert on > wikis or the category system to take part, but you might find you know a lot > more when we're all done. If you have any questions, please feel free to > ask here, or on the workgroup talk pages. As with the style guide > workgroup, membership isn't required to participate in discussions, it just > helps us to know who wants to be involved so we can give them credit and to > make sure everyone has something to do to help. > > Looking forward to seeing you there! > > Jesse > http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Jesse_Groppi > skype: jesse.groppi > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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