Web architecture for Wikis

This is a learning project.

This thing is big, and it changes all the time.

Web architecture combines elements of Information Architecture with the technical aspects of developing resources on the web. This learning project aims through a collection of resources, discussions, and real activities on the wiki, to explore the challenges posed by the rapid emergence of large scale, highly participatory wikis.

The project outputs aim to be useful for other wikis by highlighting the implications and challenges in regards to organizing spaces in these types of environments.

This project aims to establish 3 things:

1. A record of existing practices and patterns in Wikiversity;
2. the discussion and development of a set of tools that may be of value in scaling, maintaining, navigating, and other functions within the Wiki environment;
3. suggestions and modifications of significant structural pages within Wikiversity (or other large scale Wikis);

We will, for the most part, use the wiki itself to reproduce and sandbox pages for analysis, discussion, design. Tools to facilitate this process would be greatly appreciated. Please start a separate page if you have pre-existing suggestions; ie, templates, etc.

Case studies

Case studies should involve a particular Wiki or proposed Wikiversity component.

The Wikiversity Main Page

Wikiversity Main Page

Redesign of this important page is taking place and is at version 0.3

There is an interesting post here: Wikiversity_talk:Introduction_Overhaul_Taskforce#Wikiversity_organisation_proposal about reorganising the overall structure of Wikiversity.

WAW Discussion: Wikiversity Main Page

Portal:Reading clubs

WAW Discussion: Portal:Reading clubs

Namespaces

What are Topics? Need to review the existing language of organization that is appearing on WV.

Tools

Templates

Template syntax combined with Parser functions can create some powerful tools to assist users in navigation, page creation, and content development. The Web Architecture for Wikis project will develop a variety of tools for these purposes.

• Template:WAWtranscluder - use to create a viewable version of any page in the wiki. Will be refined with addition of various subpages for discussing relevant issues related to redesign, etc. For some issues regarding the use of transclusion and templates see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Transclusion_costs_and_benefits

ToolSandbox

Resources

Center for Wiki Science

Generating dynamic content with MediaWiki

Wikiversity:Wiki as a tool for learning

Wiki Science at WikiBooks

Wikiversity:Introduction_Overhaul_Taskforce#Pages_needing_improvement - lists pages that need improvement.

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Naming_conventions#Main_namespace

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Instructional_Technology

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. 3rd ed. by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld.

Glossary

Images

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Server_layout_diagrams - these diagrams give a bit of an overview of just what we're dealing with here. This thing is big and it changes all the time.