[Foundation-l] New project proposal: wiki-based troubleshooting

[Yao Ziyuan]

Possible names:  WikiTroubleshooting/WikiWizard/WikiWiz/WikiSolve/WikiFix/...

Motivation:

Wikipedia provides factual knowledge (e.g. 7th-grade geometry) but not
problem-solving capabilities (e.g. helping a visitor solve his
geometry problem).

Solution:

A hypertext system like a wiki can implement a step-by-step wizard (as
seen in Windows XP's Troubleshooter help system; screenshot:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/cms/contentPics/multimon-e.gif)
that lets a visitor incrementally select symptoms of his problem, and
finally the wizard leads to a wiki page that shows possible causes for
and solutions to his problem. Any problem in life can be included in
this wiki. For example, the visitor can start at a "Troubleshooting
Your Health Problem" portal, and the portal lets the visitor select a
body part that feels uncomfortable, and subsequent wizard pages let
him select more specific symptoms, until enough symptoms are specified
so that a final wizard page can show possible diseases and their
causes and solutions. Like Wikipedia, WikiTroubleshooting should cite
credible references.

Best Regards,
Yao Ziyuan
http://sites.google.com/site/yaoziyuan/