Web architecture for Wikis

This is a learning project.



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 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.

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

Wiki as a tool for learning

Wiki Science at WikiBooks

Introduction_Overhaul_Taskforce - lists pages that need improvement.

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

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

[http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527341/ 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.