Skip - I think the way we mentioned _is_ extremely simple. It consists of the following steps: 1) at the top of the wiki page, click on "Edit", 2) add keywords to the "#pragma keywords" statement at the very top of the page, 3) click "Save".
However, you make some good points about how this does not help us with non-wiki material. Also, this method does not work for an immutable page; you'd have to create a page pointing to the immutable one and add the keywords there. Could we agree on a more searchable phrase for J, like "J-language"? By the way, I'm by no means a wiki expert unless that encompasses knowing only about seven things. You can see these seven things on my "Wiki Tips" page (http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/DevonMcCormick/WikiTips) which exists partly just to remind myself of the few things I've learned. In any case, I'm glad to see others interested in this peristent problem of finding J-language information. Regards, Devon On 2/2/08, Skip Cave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Oleg, Devon, > > In order for the keyword scheme to work it must be extremely simple, so > that anybody can add keywords, without having to read directions, write > scripts, or know how to create a wiki page. Keep in mind, users looking > for answers are not interested in building wikis, only finding the > answers to their problems. The keyword-add process should be so easy, > that even casual wiki or forum browsers would have no problem dropping > in a couple of keywords, if they felt it would help someone else have an > easier time finding their discovery. > > The basic rules that need to be in place to really make the keyword > scheme work, are as follows: > > 1. Every forum post, wiki page, or reference book chapter, or article on > J, should have two things at the bottom of that post or page: > a. An active link which says "Add a new keyword" that, when clicked, > will bring up a dialog box that enables the user to enter a list of > keywords. Any keywords entered in the box will be added to the keyword > list for that page or post. > b. The list of all keywords that have been added to that page or > post should be displayed at the bottom of the page. Perhaps the list > could be hidden by default, with a view/hide button/link to allow > viewing or hiding the list. We may have to convert some of the reference > docs to html to make this keyword-add scheme ubiquitous across all of > the J documentation, but I believe that it would be worth the effort. > > 2a. There should be one single search engine that encompasses all of the > forum posts, wiki pages, reference books, discussions, and articles on > J. That search engine should be prominently displayed on the home page, > wiki home, reference book home, etc., and anywhere else that a user > might go to find information about J. Actually, this has already been > done pretty well by the J software folks. The engine just doesn't find > the appropriate item often enough, which isn't the fault of the search > engine. The information is usually out there. The users just don't enter > in the right search terms. The keyword scheme can help fix this. > > 2b. A very brief explanation of the keyword scheme should be displayed > along with every search engine box, and also perhaps with every "add a > new keyword" link, so users will understand how they can help others > find the things that they discover, by adding their own keywords. > > Devon's #pragma scheme is fine for experienced wiki builders to add > keywords to wiki pages. IMHO, simple as it is, the average wiki-browsing > user won't take the time to learn how to add keywords to the wiki that > way. Also, it does nothing for the forum posts or reference docs, which > have much great info hidden in them. The keyword plan must be structured > simply enough so that as soon as someone finds the information they > need, they could add a keyword or two which would have helped them find > their information quicker. > > A little incentive could go a long way to help the cause. JSoftware > could have a raffle so that registered keyword "taggers" would get an > entry to the raffle every time that the added a keyword to the doc. The > taggers could be tracked using cookies. The prize shouldn't be too big, > to discourage inappropriate tagging, but big enough to encourage typing > in a couple of keywords that could help others find that useful post or > page. > > There are many "user-graded" posting schemes out there, (Digg, Slashdot, > etc) where users grade the importance or usefulness of an article or > blog, so this keyword concept is not too far out. However, the J > keyword mechanism is about adding information to a post, to improve its > chance of being found, instead of a grading scheme. Both schemes rely on > people's altruistic natures. Actually, the keyword mechanism is a > simple-minded way to back into Tim Berners-Lee's "semantic web" dream, > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web) without all of the > technical complexities Tim throws in. > > When you think about it, if every document, post or wiki page had a > unique keyword in it, such as jlanguage, or jay language, or jsoftware, > or Iverson, etc., then general searches on Google which included one of > those keywords, would find the same set of information that the > specialized J search engine would find... > > This discussion may be moot, as I am not sure that there is any easy way > to add the described mechanisms to the forum postings or reference docs. > If it could be done, it would be an interesting experiment that could > potentially revolutionize how web information is categorized and > discovered. > > Skip > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Devon McCormick, CFA ^me^ at acm. org is my preferred e-mail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
