Content-Type: text/html

# Wikipedia category schemes

HomePage | RecentChanges | Preferences
You can edit this page right now! It's a free, community project

Add your category scheme below!

Let's discuss the different category schemes on /Talk

The category scheme on the HomePage is only one category scheme; it might not be the best, or the only one possible.

A three-part category scheme attributed to Jefferson:

- Memory : Countries of the World -- History -- Language -- Quotes? -- Religion -- United States
- Reason : HumanComputerInteraction -- Mathematics and Statistics -- Philosophy -- Politics -- Science -- Technology
- Imagination : Architecture -- Arts and Entertainment -- Dance -- Literature -- Music -- Recreation -- Sports

Found while perusing the Library of Congress website: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/

Thomas Jefferson, whose personal library became the core of the Library of Congress, arranged his books into three types of knowledge, corresponding to Francis Bacon's three faculties of the mind: Memory (History), Reason (Philosophy), and Imagination (Fine Arts).

JoshuaGrosse says: Off the top of my head, I would propose a different system:

  Understanding the way the world works - Philosophy, Mathematics and Statistics, Natural Sciences
  Understanding what's actually in it - [Biological Sciences]?, History, Geography
  Making stuff for practical use - Technology
  Making stuff for its own ends - Arts and Entertainment,Mathematics

Year in Review

Read a review about each year

1999 - 2000 - 2001

As arbitrary a classification scheme as you can find: This day in History

We all know the familiar dot classification design of the Usenet.

- alt.activism
- alt.activism.ecology
- alt.arts.origami
- ...
- biz.general
- biz.healthcare
- ...
- comp.databases
- comp.databases.adabas
- comp.lang.c
- comp.lang.c++
- ...
- comp.programming
- comp.sys.arm
- comp.sys.atari
- comp.sys.att
- ...
- rec.arts.origami
- rec.arts.puppetry
- ...
- sci.anthropology
- sci.archaeology

why not figure out a similar navigation system ?
Let's look at a proposed HomePage :

- history.* (time) -> http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/history_category
- world.* (physical world - geography) -> http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/world_category
- computers.* (computer related) -> http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/computer_category
- man.* (physical man not his mind) -> http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/man_category
- mind.* (works about man's mind) -> http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/mind_category
- science.* (empirical knowledge) http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/
- language.* (???) http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/
- anima.* (living world around man) http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/
- culture.* (culture itself and sociology) http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/
- rec.* (recreation) http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/
- and more ? It is open for discussion

And again on http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/history_category page that is labeled "history.*"

- history.world_war_1.* http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/ww2_category
- history.world_war_2.* http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/ww1_category
- history.roman_empire.* http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/roman_empire_category

and so on...

I think it would be great fun for all of us Wikipedians if such or similar system could be implemented in the inner workings of Wikipedia software.
Automatic links feature of Wiki is a revolutionary achievment but wiki was never designed to cater for projects of such magnitude and complexity especially where good classification and navigation is crucial.
I wonder if TopicMaps is a viable option to solve classification and navigation problems (in the future).
Alternatively maybe beside Page_A.db Page_A.lck there should be a Page_A.cls files holding classification info. Just a thought.

     --Kpjas

I have installed another slightly different scheme in the German version of the wikipedia which is I think a compromise between the standard version and new ones. My intention was to shift the standard somewhat from the purely scientific world view. Three main parts stress this view. Others have or might have a different world view or world feeling. This is even symbolized in the use of some words. Although the german homepage now more looks like a Portal I find this more appropriate. Which should NOT be misinterpreted by anybody to shift the content which should remain being encyclopedic (objective rsp. encompassing different views).

Others should find alternate schemes or portals direct from the entry of wikipedia.

Another scheme is functionally different. I have tried to make something more suitable for direct search. So consecutive pages will supply something if someone knows he searches for a person. ..

--StefanRybo

Biographical Listing: An index of all people noted in Wikipedia articles, which should, in theory give access to all Wikipedia content. -- STG

I would propose adding a scheme based on a [Ranganathan-style] classification system. Such a system is based on five properties of any information item - Time, Space, Matter, Energy and Personality. Ranganathan came up with a complex notation to describe each property of the system (called [Colon Classification]? ), but that's neither helpful nor necessary here.

Each property would presumably lead to an index. For example, the Time property might lead to an index that looks like:

Neolithic period Chalcolithic period Bronze Age Iron Age 255 BCE 1066 AD

Each item here should be a link to a list of articles that encompass the time period or date in question. It should also be possible to refine a search by going from index to index in a constrained manner. That is, click on an item in the Time index (say, Bronze Age), then in the Space index (say, Greece), to find all of the articles that mention, say, bronze age Greece.

There are other considerations here. Multiple indices of the same information property can exist and be compared (think different calendars). Index items change over time (the Soviet Union has come and gone), but the index items are still relevant.

/Talk

HomePage | RecentChanges | Preferences
You can edit this page right now! It's a free, community project
Edit text of this page | View other revisions
Last edited July 26, 2001 2:50 pm (diff)
Search: