on 4/29/07 9:00 PM, K P at kpbotany@gmail.com wrote:
Set theory is deceptively simple and powerful, and the type of organization that people like librarians, and one would hope data base designers (implementation, not coding), do is simply not something that lends itself to inexperienced group think. Not everything Wikipedia is attempting to do, be, and provide, can be had for the efforts of a bunch of volunteers. Having seen it in action, I'm in awe of the type of insight into organization and categorization done by people who organize data for a living.
IMO, as long as we have the mentality that the problem with categories can be solved just like everything else has been solved on Wikipedia categorization will be a failure. This needs a dedicated professional for something this huge, and probably more than one. I don't see anything but wasting time in CfD, categories, and etc., all over Wiki space, until something is put in order with categories.
KP,
I love where you seem to be going with this.
A thought, an idea, an hallucination ;-) - call it what you want, but listen up, I am serious about this: What would you say to the possibility of recruiting a number of professional librarians to volunteer to take an objective look at the WP Category system, formulate some ideas and feed back thoughts on how best to change and/or improve it?
I have no idea how many librarians are already presently editing the encyclopedia as registered Users, but perhaps a notice could be placed at the top of the Main Page (or wherever) asking for such volunteers.
Thoughts on this?
Marc