[Bug-gnupedia]Broad Technical Issues

[Simon Cross]

Poing!

I'm sure we're going to get a massive amount of redundant postings until
the list sorts itself out but here goes...

My first worry is that the encyclopedia as envisioned by Richard
Stallman seems to be a very loose structure.  I'm worried that if sections
of the encyclopedia are not bound together by some underlying structure
we'll end up with a horribly fragmented mess.  Or phrased differently, if
we don't organize this properly we'll end up with just another world wide
web.  I personally would like to see the core of the encyclopedia kept on
reliable servers (and mirrored all over the place) and then link to less
vital or more fluid content on smaller/less well known sites.  Some parts
of Richard's announcement seem to suggest this arrangement.

Secondly, I'd like to raise a hand in support of the peer review for
articles.  This is what is going to make the encyclopedia work.  I suggest
that the search engine be able to search for articles based on who has
reviewed them.  For instance I might want to search for articles on
"String Theory" which have be reviewed by "Rovelli".  We might need some
categories for reviewers to place the articles in (e.g. "Good", "Ok",
"Bad").  Or at least a consistent rating system for the search engine to
work with.  We also need to build peer review into the specification of
the article format.  Since authors will have control over which reviews
they tag on to their work the negative categories I mentioned above should
be dumped.  No one is going to say, "Joe Bloggs said my article has as
much factual content as a chewing gum wrapper".  I agree that reviewers
need to be able to sign the particular version of an article that they
review.  Provision for the signing also needs to made in the article
format.  Readers also need some way of checking that the signature is
legitimate.

Thirdly, is there a case to be made for writing GNUpediaServer?  
Essentially this would consist of a simple (static content only) webserver
which in addition to serving the encyclopedia pages supports requests for
searching its content and connecting to other GNUpediaServers.  Perhaps it
would be worthwhile to just have the server handle searching and
connecting to other servers.

Well. My first thoughts. Take 'em or leave 'em.

Ciao
Simon

--- Imagine there's no heaven.  It's easy if you try.  
    No hell below us.  Above us only sky.
                           John Lennon, Imagine.  ---

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