[topicmapmail] Topic Maps Wiki Project: Status Report No. 1

[Markus Ueberall]

Hi everyone,

after three and six weeks have passed since the first call for participation
on the German and (this) English mailing list, respectively, it's high time
to fulfil my announcement regarding the aggregation of feedback and current
reflections.


*Feedback*

I am very pleased that at least four individuals expressed their willingness
to participate in moderating and/or maintaining the Wiki once it has been
made available.  :))
Hendrik Thomas suggested to utilise the Wiki at http://www.topic-maps.org as
a starting point in order to collect both information and comments regarding
the project planning.  I like this idea very much, because this allows for
easy topical arrangement and offers a means to deposit attachments as well
(cf. below).

Of course, the utilisation of Topic Maps is one of the "universal
objectives" of this kind of project in that this would also form a
proof-of-concept.  In connection with the CfP, Murray Altheim referred to
his work-in-progress CeryleWiki prototype (http://purl.org/ceryle/wiki/) and
his intention to add extensive documentation dealing with XML Topic Maps
1.0;  aside from that, I also had the opportunity to meet with Robert Cerny
and talk about his plans regarding the next Topincs prototype (cf.
http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/~tmra/2006/to.html), which will feature
a Wiki-like user interface.  Obviously, both projects embark on an antipodal
strategy, offering Wiki-like functions while being Topic Maps centric from
the beginning.  Finally, last week Are Gulbrandsen informed me that the
Norwegian Topic Maps User Group is already pursuing a similar objective
since some time using ZTM (Zope Topic Map system,
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ztm/), and that there are plans to make an
installation available in the run-up of the Topic Maps 2007 User Conference
(an official announcement should follow shortly, so this shouldn't be a
spoiler).


*Own Reflections*

As already mentioned in the CfP, I currently still consider myself part of
the fraction which holds the view that the deployment of a "classic" Wiki
without a native Topic Maps interface is worthwhile (meaning: less
time-consuming) especially for "semiautomatic" imports of existing documents
and resources;  after manual annotation of the resulting Wiki pages, the
transfer of the contents into a topic map or linkage of (parts of) Wiki
elements with objects within a topic map, respectively, should become
easier.  For example, TWiki (http://twiki.org) supports this by means of
Tags (for classification purposes), Templates (pages can be pre-annotated
with given metadata) and un-editable/protected sections (e.g., usable for
protection of annotations).  A "mini survey" concerning this matter is on my
TODO list...

Because of the (early) availability of prototypes mentioned in the preceding
section, it seems to make sense to first evaluate whether they are suited
for this project (yet)--and at the same time to additionally "pursuit the
original direction" using a Wiki for imports/annotated exports (albeit with
lower priority), because clearly the _main objective_ is to offer users a
convenient means to bring in/link/store their contributions at a central
place in order to counter the fragmentation of information sources dealing
with Topic Maps as pointed out in the CfP.  (One important issue I didn't
explicit mention previously: the project should also especially aim at
allocation and storage of relevant documents, e.g., TM related diploma
theses, that otherwise may get lost.)

If it should become apparent that certain objectives cannot be fulfiled
using the aforementioned approaches, e.g., because of the amount of
customisation needed, the idea of providing a "classic" Wiki as starting
point for smaller/individual contributions also, can be re-prioritised at
any time (in order to allow for a transfer of ready-collected contents
between different systems as "seamless" as possible).  Both the careful
appraisal of a possible "fallback solution" and the collaboration of
different interest groups (as there may be) are IMHO a crucial prerequisite
for the sustainable pursuit of this project.


*Further Project Advertisement*

Lars Heuer suggested the preparation of a project poster for the Topic Maps
2007 User Conference in Oslo, which may be supplemented by a small flyer so
that potential interested parties can take something to read about the
project with them (remember, "constant dripping wears away the stone").  In
coordination with Are Gulbrandsen, a first draft should come into existence
during the next two weeks.  Naturally, both comments and suggestions are
highly welcome, therefore I consider it reasonable to make the draft
publicly available somewhere.


*Outlook*

The next status report should follow by mid/end of March, again depending on

the results (the two week updated frequency mentioned in the CfP was clearly
too high);  with a little luck, first experiences regarding the
aforementioned ZTM installation should be available.

As usual, I will collect all feedback sent via email (to
ueberall at tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de), mailing list posting (to
tmlist at topicgarden.com or topicmapmail at infoloom.com, respectively) or IRC
(on channel #topicmaps at irc.freenode.net).

Ad astra, Markus