Mailing List Archive: newbie interested in table of contents

Hi there.

I've got a bright idea (imho) about a user interface for a table of
contents system in the wikipedia. I'm sure there's been a ton of
discussion of this subject before, I just don't know where. So please
forgive me if this is a commonly dismissed concept:

Each page could have a list of attributes that describe a location in a
unified hierarchy. There could be an interface for browsing this
unified hierarchy from the top down.

If these two (work intensive, perhaps) changes were made, the result
would be:

My entry on prince charles would state that it is located in two places
on the hierarchy:
/humans/royalty/european/british/
/humans/facial features/big ears/

My entry on orangutans would state that it is located in one place on
the hierarchy:
/animals/primates/apes/

Does anyone feel like discussion of this set of features is worth
while? Other methods for achieving a top-down hierarchy of entries
leap to mind. Feel free to email me privately about this if you do not
feel that it belongs on the list.

Thanks for your time,
Ben

Ben Donley wrote:

> I've got a bright idea (imho) about a user interface for a table of
> contents system in the wikipedia. I'm sure there's been a ton of
> discussion of this subject before, I just don't know where. So please
> forgive me if this is a commonly dismissed concept:
>
> Each page could have a list of attributes that describe a location in
> a unified hierarchy. There could be an interface for browsing this
> unified hierarchy from the top down.
>
> If these two (work intensive, perhaps) changes were made, the result
> would be:
>
> My entry on prince charles would state that it is located in two
> places on the hierarchy:
> /humans/royalty/european/british/
> /humans/facial features/big ears/
>
> My entry on orangutans would state that it is located in one place on
> the hierarchy:
> /animals/primates/apes/

Some of this exists already.

In the case of the orangutans this would come under [[WikiProject Tree
of Life]] where a structure has been suggested. A lot of the articles,
however, were written before that project was developed, and they could
stand to be converted. As you correctly recognize this is all work
intensive, and your contributions would be welcome.

If you put "WikiProject" in your search box you can find a list of
projects that have been started. Royalty does not appear there, but
there are various lists that have been started which some enterprising
person could turn into a WikiProject. I would still caution a Newbie to
take the time to become more familiar with what exists on Wikipedia
before taking on a whole new WikiProject. Otherwise, you could find
yourself duplicating work that already exists, but is expressed in a
slightly different way from what you might propose.

As things stand, only five Wikipedia articles mention physiognomy. The
prevailing view is to consider it to be a pseudoscience. Nevertheless,
I could imagine someone making a link between Prince Charles's ears,
Transcendental Maditation and the ability to fly.

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