h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Dewey decimal system: A147232

* 000-099 - Generalities
* 100-199 - Philosophy and Psychology
* 200-299 - Religion
* 300-399 - Social Science
* 400-499 - Language
* 500-599 - Natural Science and Mathematics
* 600-699 - Technology (Applied Sciences)
* 700-799 - The Arts
* 800-899 - Literature and Rhetoric
* 900-999 - Geography and History

this system sounds like every Entry would have their own category, does that really help?

Very nice. Should'ave thoughts of this. Specially since I am acquainted with a couple of Librarians, or OOOk!s as I call them.

BUT.
Since we are extremely busy re-inventing the round thingy we are able to investigate whether we want it to be able to laterally displace itself orthogonally with respect to it's intended linear aspect of motion.

And what reflective aspect to visible wavevorms should these categories contain in the subset of particular mechanics inherent to the potentialities of the definition? <- again

ANYWAY.
To categorise Entries with the Dewey system or the Life, Universe and Everything or Tag-cloud or Yummy or Like! is nice and all but what is the driving Reason for all this?

At the top the target groups are identified which we (h2g2) want to 'empower' to find what they want in a way that is as easy and as correct as possible.
Have we carefully Researched the modus operandi of these target groups and modelled their behaviour or are we just venting knee-jerk reactions ?
To be sure, I knee-jerk quite a lot and in the course of a Conversation I find myself sometimes holding something distasteful in my mouth, often resembling dirty sock.

To recapitulate:
* We want different types of readers to be able to find the relevant information they seek in a consistent and easy way.
* We would also like to improve our ratings on the searchengines like Google.
Can we combine these two objectives in one solution? I do not know.
If it should turn out that one solution undermines either of the objectives then we should reconsider and try to find a different solution. If there is none to be found that satisfies both objectives then the favouring the Reader is preferrable. IMHO.

Are there any OOOk!s around that can shed some light on this ?

Cheers!
Martin

And it doesn't deal with how top heavy the site is towards certain areas - so lot's of articles on Ohio, or the Isle of Wight, or geeky stuff, but nothing on China or Jazz music or whatever.

And it puts all the 'non-factual' stuff in one section.

sprout

Taken to an obsessive extreme, such as in a research library, yes, you are absolutely correct. But taken to the level needed at a bookstore, you only have to get to the right bookshelf to find poetry. Which shouldn't be under fiction.

Poetry is under language arts, I think.

The point is, there should be some way to browse the h2g2 stacks and see what sort of Guide entries there are. So if I wanted to see what we had in the way of poetry, I could easily do so.

I agree and if this system is used for filing this would be some help maybe. But we need something easier for non-librarians who just want to read something.

HN, your comment made me think "A bookstore is a better analogy than a (Research) Library".

Is there a standard system how bookstores categorise their inventory ?

Cheers!
Martin
---
Excuse the footwear induced halitosis.

Ummm...
I think this is a bit too much : http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/CategoryBrowser.aspx

Cheers!
Martin
---
Excuse the footwear induced halitosis

>>> To categorise Entries with the Dewey system or the Life, Universe and Everything or Tag-cloud or Yummy or Like! is nice and all but what is the driving Reason for all this?

1) So readers can find it.
2) So researchers can find it.
3) So newbies know where to start.

When I am suggesting things, I am doing so from the viewpoint of stuff I found handy as a researcher here or elsewhere.

Currently if I want to find something in h2g2, I can search using a broken search function or google 'keywords' site://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2 or I can 'browse the stacks' by wandering through the current life, the universe, and everything categories.

If I am looking for something specific, I use google. If I want to read for pleasure I browse the stacks or read the Post.

When I write for h2g2, the first thing I do is make sure I am not just putting in something that's been done before using google.

>> If I am looking for something specific, I use google. If I want to read for pleasure I browse the stacks or read the Post.


So if you are or or or you use google.

If you are or you browse the stacks or read the Post?

I usually go through the categories to see if an Entry already exists for a certain topic. If I want to read something about a topic I use the search function and usually get annoyed.

I think there will be lots of different ways to find information, not One Right Way, because we do all hunt and gatehr in different ways.

>>> So if you are run or towel or chef or geek you use google.

>>> If you are tea or bus you browse the stacks or read the Post?

Yes, exactly. Thank you. An emoticon is worth a thousand words or something like that.

SML - Smiley Modelling Language - like UML but yellower.

>>> I think there will be lots of different ways to find information, not One Right Way, because we do all hunt and gather in different ways.

Yes.

Under the Unified Guide Theory, in which there is one Guide that can encompass the best of all possible writing, readers and researchers should be able to find what they are looking for regardless of .

>>> Is there a standard system how bookstores categorise their inventory ?

I don't think so, Martin. It probably has to do with the focus of that particular bookstore. Although a few of them use a modified Dewey system to get down to the bookshelf.

The link you provided was pretty intimidating but impressive. For my purposes, I think I'd only like a screen-full of options presented at a time.

There are Many Ways, but One Guide

Here's a Google Search for Tag Cloud images:

http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=tag+clouds&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbs=isch:1&ei=651aTav-JcGGhQepuIHJDQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBAQ_AUoAQ&biw=923&bih=426

tagclouds! We expect heavy overcast today.

This one I found bihind one of the pics : http://www.nosolousabilidad.com/hassan/visualizious/

Very interesting material and because it allows for indirect links outside the tree it may well be incorporated to our system.

Cheers!
Martin
---
Excuse the footwear induced halitosis

Thanks again. I find this a very calming journal, must be all the .

I know there are a few vocal people who want to preserve the EG as is, and it may seem strange that I would argue against this, since I don't write for the UG, but here's my point:

As a newbie I didn't even realize what 'UG' meant. But I did understand the terms 'Life' 'Universe' 'Everything'. So I gravitated to the part of the guide I understood. As a result, I only found this gem about 18 months ago: A2032516

This is why I support the Unified Guide Theory.

And I'm sorry, Martin, if I seem to jump in and say 'this is how I want the Guide to be' rather abruptly. But from my point of view I've been a h2g2 researcher since June 2007 and have been struggling with most of these things since that time.