[Pmwiki-users] Re: Re: Categories instead of hierarchies? (was:can pmwiki handle hierarchical content?)

Fred Chittenden drfredc
Fri Oct 22 09:43:39 CDT 2004


> > * We should try to have meaningful URIs
>
> Why do you think this?  To me, one of the chief "selling points" of
> wikis is that you don't have to know or care about URIs (except
> inasmuch as you need one to get to the wiki). 

This attitude reminds me of one of my computer data base buddies who drove
around in a pickup truck.  

We went on a hiking trip a while back.  His idea of organization was to
toss everything he needed in the back of his truck, which soon turned into
a huge pile of who knows what.  Seems he was used to having a computer
search and find things he needed, when he needed them.  However, it took
him inordinate amounts of time to get ready at the trail head as most any
other time he needed anything out of the back, it was an archival adventure
of his 'stuff'.  The same was true on the trail, watching him paw thru his
pack to get something.  Depending upon the situation it was either
hillarious or frustrating to watch.  His computer drives tended to be in a
similarly organized hodgepodge mess of files, which only he could search
out and use with any ease.  However, he knew his stuff well and, for him,
his toss it into one big pile organization worked fine.

I'm one of those compartmental organized types.  I'll organize things in
various bags, pockets in the bags, and the occasional box.  I keep a spread
sheet of my backpack organzation, what is carried, what pocket it goes
into.  I get to a trail head, my pack is packed and I'm ready to go.  When
it comes time to break camp, everything has it's place when packing up,
logically organized according to how one breaks down camp, which in turn
makes it easy to set up the next camp.  When someone needs something on the
trail, I know if I've got it and exactly what pocket it's in.    My
computer drive is typically well organized so by myself and other's can
easily find things.  

IHMO, this depth of organization is important in an office clinical
environment where things are shared amongst many people.  Basically,
hierachical organization allows a group of people to commonly know where to
find what they need when they need it.  You can't have staff running around
pawing thru drawers looking for where the suture's are.  There's a drawer
for surgery stuff,  It's clearly labeled. 

The bottomline is "to each their own".  Just as the typical OSs directory
structure allows for both types of users to have a home, a wiki that wants
to be utilitarian to a greater audience, should provide organizational
facilities and utility for folks with various organizational fetishes,
needs, or lack thereof.  




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