All,

I want to invite you to test out the process I've outlined for building
out the CZ category scheme, definitions, and glossaries (all part of the
same system, on my proposal).  This system would be, I think, a superior
replacement for Wikipedia's ill-thought-out, hard-to-manage,
way-too-many-mouseclick categorization system.  But first, a little
background.

I've been working closely with a number of people on the wiki in the
last few weeks on subpages--debating about what templates to use,
thinking about the general concepts, deciding on a list of subpage types
to launch, etc.

Among the next steps will be to expand our descriptions of the different
subpage types.  Right now, all the types are listed here:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Subpage_Pilot

I've spend many hours developing the templates and processes, the tools,
we might use to expand our lists of related topics.  These lists, in a
"See also" section, used to be placed at the bottom of articles, and
some people have used MediaWiki categories.  I'm proposing that we
discontinue the use of MediaWiki's category feature for except for
administrative purposes, and instead develop our article categories
deliberately by hand on subpages, where lists of related articles are
expanded and augmented with definitions.  For examples, see these pages:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Biology/Related
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Chiropractic/Related

(Both are still under development but should give you a rough idea.)

For the proposal, see these pages:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Related_Articles
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Definitions

What I'd like you to do, if you're interested in helping to test the
concept, is pick a general topic, move the "See also" section to a
"Related" subpage, expand it, and add definitions per the instructions.
You might also develop a few Related Articles pages for subtopics and
subsubtopics, just to see how the system might work when iterated.

Could be fun, could be a nice shot in the arm for us, too.

--Larry

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