[wiki-research] Link density in wikis

[Uri Dekel]

Thanks for the pointer.

I am looking for the graph to have a numerical estimate of how many
"proximity situations" there are so I don't need to actually render it, just
run a network calculation on it, so it can be as ugly as it wants...

For an actual implementation, I would only have to modify the rendering
function in the Wiki implementation to not only check if the file exists,
but also to open that file and look for the specific string. Haven't tried,
but I doubt it would be that much of a problem.

I actually have a similar idea implemented for software development. As part
of my PhD thesis I explore what happens if we take important usage knowledge
(e.g., don't run this from the UI thread ) and instead of counting for the
user actually looking for it (e.g., hovering to get a javadoc or actually
opening it), I'm pushing it passively so he sees it with the call. It's more
interesting with OOP because of polymorphism, but I think it can have an
interesting impact.

However, Wikipedia is the only Wiki I am familiar that has a really
consistent mechanism for things that need work. If someone knows another
Wiki like that, let me know.

Uri




On 4/4/08 7:27 PM, "Steffen Poulsen" <steffen at forskernet.dk> wrote:

> Uri Dekel wrote:
>> I'm trying to construct a network where the nodes are Wiki pages, the edges
>> are links, and I can associate each node with a flag indicating whether
>> there is an action item in that page (e.g., an {{expand}}). In most Wiki
>> implementations, if a page refers to another page and that page is missing,
>> the link will be highlighted so the user is encouraged to add it. However,
>> if there is an action item there is no way to know unless one actually goes
>> and looks at that page.
>>   
> In the TWiki project actually a plugin for doing this kind of graph
> exists already, it is available at
> 
> http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/DirectedGraphWebMapPlugin
> 
> perhaps it could be usable for inspiration.
> 
> As can be seen at
> 
> http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/DirectedGraphWebMapPluginDev
> 
> (~middle of the page) this kind of graph can get pretty large, even for
> "normal size" webs (up to a couple of thousand pages) - so the concept
> has some problems associated with it :-)
> 
> But the idea is great, would be great to be able to single out the "dead
> ends" and point a map of them at users caring for the integrity of the wiki.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Steffen Poulsen
> 
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