[WikiEN-l] Sidewiki

[stevertigo]

Charles Matthews <charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Oops, can't read/can't count at this time in the morning - was launched
> 23rd September (see [[Google Toolbar]]). Does anyone actually use this
> in ways relevant to WP?

Its a good question. There have been web annotation tools out there
for a while, and while it would make sense for WP, there are caveats.
The main one is that it does not make sense for anyone to just use one
on their own - some coordination has to be involved, and if
coordination is involved, some selection of which web annotation tool
we use is necessary. In that context an open source tool like
ShiftSpace will probably be of higher concern than a Google tool, but
OTOH if Google made something that was extremely popular these
concerns might be on the back board at least until something free and
usable.

It's long been my opinion that we need a web annotation system for WP,
but someone will probably just retort with a comment like: "*cough*
'talk pages?'" The idea behind web annotation on WP is to basically
have meta tweets about editorial points from an interface that's even
easier than wiki editing of the article or talk pages. An annotation
layer could do at least things that our current setup cannot: 1) It
could be easier to make a quick editorial note 2) that note could
point directly to a specific item of text. If we take this kind of
functionality - a div layer with editable notes probably - and
integrate it into our current system - automatic (redundant) posting
to a new talk page section...

Eh. I could go on. And Mr. Ross just chimed in ahead of me..

-Stevertigo