Work with TransClusion seems to have progressed to the point that it may be worth taking the risk of posting this to attract some constructive criticisms. Hence, this collection of some point-form Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations.
Feel free to jump in!
Some Findings(Observations)...
- AlexSchroeder would like refactoring to be as simple as possible, in the hope that we will create better pages, and is considering extending TransClusion to extract MicroContent blocks out of pages. (See some notes currently on the SamRose page.)
- DavidCary is looking for a (distributed) ‘fail safe’ wiki.
- FridemarPache is “Bi-Linking” (adding bi-directional links) to wiki pages on different sites in an effort to associate similar Content.
- HansWobbe (who can’t type) wants to never have to type any block of text more than once!
- Tags are also seen as critical elements in the development of the EnDimensionalArray? (a mathematical view of many of the concepts embodied in OneBigSoup).
- This is particularly evident in the TagGridArray?(s) that are automatically generated by in EricShulman?’s TiddlyTools adaptation of TiddlyWiki, and …
- The experimental use of OddMuse pages to store content that is pulled (wrapped) into TiddlyWiki automatically to gain access to additional Client-Side capabilities such as Tagging, inline TransClusion, Dynamic Mapping of LocalNames, …
- The MicroContent & MicroContext? concepts will become increasingly important to me during 2011.
- I’m even planning to use Twitter as a type of RecentChanges and RSS (preferably ATOM) as a type of RPC or SOAP message.
- Throughout 2008, considerable time was invested in developing a methodology that assumes OddMuse will function as a Server-Side WikiEngine and that TiddlyWiki will function as a Client-Side WikiEngine.
- One surprising result is the realization that TiddlyWiki’s AjAx nature makes it relatively easy to develop “Context Sensitive” methods that “read” information from the current “working” tiddler and automatically provide the likely “next” commands. This seems to be very effective as a type of ExpertSystem!
- LionKimbro’s work with LocalNames and his interests in Tagging seem to be directly related to the issues HansWobbe is considering regarding how to name MicroContent blocks.
- One emerging idea is to provide dynamic translation of Tags values, based on a LocalNames type of substitution. Then, as Tag values become “accepted” by groups of people, “path” resolution mechanisms can be used to reduce the search effort. Or, it may be possible to implement this as a form of local substitution dictionary using GreaseMonkey techniques within the Browser environment.
- MattisManzel is dedicated to building WikiHive(s) that can spawn additional wiki communities.
- Being able to build a page by using TransClusion to assemble standard MicroContent blocks is quite appealing in the light of wiki OnlyOnce? concepts.
- Context considerations are extremely important in this regard, however.
- SamRose is interested in MicroContent for ArgumentPyramid & TheoryBuilding.
- …
- (event “limited”) TransClusion(s) among OddMuse wikis is very effective and makes it possible to achieve the following benefits…
- the oddmuse …copy:http… action is a very effective way of automatically cloning a page to multiple sites whenever it is Save(d).
- There are (of course) some implications to this…
- Lowest Common Denominator wiki markup and formatting have emerged as a significant concern, given the desire to have MicroContent blocks that can be used in multiple environments.
- So far, the two environments that are being used include the OddMuse and TiddlyWiki WikiEngines.
- Results have been surprisingly good, notably since…
- The dynamic capabilities of javascript that make TiddlyWiki and ideal Client-side engine allow this wiki to import the source of an OddMuse page and render it very effectively within a TiddlyWiki wrapper. This has PROFOUND benefits in creating “pages” that offer the best of both worlds!
- …
initial Conclusion(s)...
Context modifies meaning.
- Copying a microContent block into a second site that is not literally identical, generally changes the context within which the block exists. Some aspects of this include…
- The results of the new host’s rendering process will generally change the appearance of the text. Obviously, CSS matters; but so do all of the other “local” controls that become apparent within an oddmuse WikiHive; such as…
- Everyone who has heard the statement “… taken my words out of context” can readily understand how the context within which a block exists can alter (sometimes even negate) its original intended meaning.
- …
- …
Using One Wiki Engine to control content in another, may be preferable
Recent experience in creating MicroContent blocks that exist in many different (OddMuse) wikis as evolved into a methodology in which TiddlyWiki is used to control access to OddMuse content.
A couple of examples in which this appears to dramatically more productive, include…
- If elaborate tagging is to be used to find information in an OddMuse page structure that has several SubWiki layers (a WikiHive), then it may well be very much easier to create the Tags in a TiddlyWiki file and use features such as the tagGridPlugin and the sliceGridPlugin to automatically create arrays of tags.
- TiddlyWiki’s animation engine and its inline TransClusion provide the facilities to support different types of MicroContent “objects” (via Eric Shulman’s NestedSlidersPlugin?). “Floaters” and “Panels” can be created that contain the Control hyperlinks needed to generate many of the OddMuse features via the …action=… URLs which OddMuse recognizes.
- …
Recommendations...
- Folks interested in a deeper understanding of MicroContent may find it insightful to create a block of text, with some markup and then include it in a number of different sites.
- Throughout 2008, Hans is going to work on this page by including components from other oddmuse sources.
- The oddmuse blicki will initally be used as a ‘staging area’ for such blocks as…
- Hwo:MicroContentTn? ( Tn being a WikiWord syllable for … Time Next )
- Content could be considered to be an extensively nested continuum… (web.content (site.content (server.content (page.content (section.content (block.MilliContent? (tiddler.MicroContent (personalStle.PicoContent?))))))))
Next steps
- Provide a link to a TiddlyWiki file that demonstrates TransClusion by using the oddmuse …”<include… raw…” capability.
- Demonstrate metadata tagging using the extensive TiddlyWiki tagging capabilities, wrapped around content stored within OddMuse … one (short-term) solution to the current lack of robust server side storage of TiddlyWiki’s tiddler content (although this limitiation is rapidly disappearing as the developers work towards their Community objective of a MicroKernel with the emerging dynamic importing of content.
rough notes being accumulated for this page...
<include "http://www.communitywiki.org/odd/HansWobbe?action=browse;id=MicroContentPlansOfHwo;raw=1">
…from… Hwo:MicroContentPlansOfHwo?
.../include>
Discussion(s) ...
http://wagn.org/wagn/Wagn.org creates “cards” instead of “pages”. Allows TransClusion by attaching cards to other cards through a very simple page naming scheme:
“Sam_Rose” could be the main “card” (page)
“Sam_Rose+current_work” would make “current_work”, but also automatically transclude it into “Sam_Rose”
Also, there is a “WQL” being developed to query Wagn http://wagn.org/wagn/WQL
I am talking with some of them now about ideas around InterWiki and NearLinks, at least between Wagn installs.
This comes very, very, very close to what I had in mind for doing this type of things with OddMuse. Thought you might at least fidn it interesting, HansWobbe.
PS. HansWobbe:
The dynamic capabilities of javascript that make TiddlyWiki and ideal Client-side engine allow this wiki to import the source of an OddMuse page and render it very effectively within a TiddlyWiki wrapper. This has PROFOUND benefits in creating “pages” that offer the best of both worlds!
That is quite interesting. Do you have examples of this working? Also, where do you detail how you integrate with OutLook? (if at all)?
Re: OutLook? integration…
MicroContent needs to anticipate migrating among diverse MicroContext?(s).
- Recent releases of TheBrain are increasingly integrated with OutLook?. Not only do these feature good GUI interfaces, but they both support RTF, making it relatively easy to “publish” documentation for both electronic and print media. While I am not a fan of MicroSoft’s OutLook? and Exchange server technologies (I consider them “bloatware”), they are almost universally used in the “enterprise” class organizations that I work with. Furthermore (at least so far) OutLook? seems to dominate in synching its standard Objects between mobile and desktop systems. As a result I find myself letting my content objects “migrate” among these environments, as well as between TiddlyWiki (and its emerging server-side TiddlySpace? evolution) and about a dozen OddMuse sites (which are used to host Content for specific groups).
- The fact that my MicroContent is increasingly mobile and generally appears in many different environments, is one of the reasons that I find myself defining a “lowest common denominator” for wiki source, that can coexist, migrate and sync in many different “MicroContexts?”.
Sam…
- Sorry for the delay in responding, but I’ve had to focus on a few other matters and will likely have to continue to do so until the end of the month.
- Thanks for the “Wagn” reference.
Hans, no problem. Consider us in the WikiNow, and I am sure you’ll engage when you can 