[Foundation-l] Project Wikineur

[Rebecca]

Wikibooks are on a specific theme. Work manuals can make good
Wikibooks. And Wikibooks, whether single or in a series, can be made
consistent, with the same set of headings and the same way of
detailing information. I just can't see any reason to make this a
seperate wiki - it'd just be a wikibook that we decided to promote
above all the others, which isn't fair.

-- ambi


On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:36:06 +0200, Gavin Chait <gchait at gmx.net> wrote:
> >This sounds like a project on Wikibooks - more or less writing textbooks.
> >Is there more to it than that?
> 
> Yes, there is.  Firstly, it's on a rather specific theme - and a very wide
> range of businesses.  Just like an encyclopedia is a set of books, any
> information could be packaged as such.  But this is not meant as course
> material for a school or university.  It is meant as a set of work manuals.
> 
> As such, each manual must cover information in a consistent way.  The same
> set of headings, the same way of detailing information.
> 
> More importantly, every input that is required for a business is the product
> of another business.  So too with every output.  These inputs and outputs
> can be tracked to create a webwork showing the interaction of different
> businesses (slightly different from just a set of textbooks).  This also
> allows for the tracking of required infrastructure and support.
> 
> So, if I want to start a grain mill, then there have to be farms nearby.
> There also needs to be transport, harvesting, maintenance for the mill.  If
> there is no electricity, then that changes the type of mill I can operate.
> And so on.  It provides insight into limiting factors preventing targetted
> industries from getting off the ground (inputs unavailable) while providing
> the necessary info on how to get input industries up and running.
> 
> Just as helpful is that the outputs must have a market.  No good producing
> plastic bottles if no-one wants to use them.
> 
> This is very helpful for people looking for gaps in the market but who
> aren't sure if it is worthwhile or what supply and demand is required.
> Products have direct and indirect markets.  For example:  rubber washers are
> used to make wheels in crafted wire cars; old wooden palattes (from the
> logistics industry) are broken down to make prefabricated walls for houses.
> Each topic can give novel ideas for inputs and outputs that may extend
> products into new industries.
> 
> Each topic covers the necessary inputs, outputs - and how to get from the
> one to the other.
> 
> In the long term it will become possible to develop a simple checklist to
> ascertain what gaps exist for what opportunities (similar to the way
> biologists have a species identification system:  does it have this type of
> leaf, go to pg 73, does it have these nodules? .... until you get to a
> specific set of possibilities).
> 
> This project is distinct.  Otherwise one could argue that wikibooks is just
> another permutation of wikipedia.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Gavin
> 
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