[Wikipedia-l] Re: Software Assisted Context Resolution (from wikitech-l)

Mon Mar 31 06:20:18 UTC 2003

This is also on wikitech-l, forwarded on to wikipedia-l at Cunctator's 
request.

I've already briefly discussed this with Gary on his user talk page. A few 
observations:

In his proposal below, Gary does not explicitly deal with what happens when 
a previously unambiguous name is given a second meaning. Here's what I 
suggest:

* The original page is moved to a disambiguated name. This name is selected 
by the user who creates the second page.
* All existing links are updated via the pipe trick to point to the 
newly-disambiguated primary article.

Gary's "resolve links" page, in my opinion, could be made easier to use by 
making it a list of links, each one followed by a combo box, rather than a 
clone of the full article.

As I said on [[User talk:Gaz]], this kind of software disambiguation, if 
implemented properly, could satisfy both camps in the city names preemptive 
disambiguation debate (see wikiEN-L). Pre-emptive disambiguation would be 
(IMHO) unnecessary, and since manual links to [[Perth]] instead of [[Perth, 
Australia]] are encouraged, I would see no reason to push primary-topic 
disambiguation.

Gary, are you offering to code this?

-- Tim Starling.

>From: Gary Curtis <wikiman at freemail.com.au>
>Reply-To: wikitech-l at wikipedia.org
>To: wikitech-l at wikipedia.org
>Subject: [Wikitech-l] Software Assisted Context Resolution
>Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 05:08:12 GMT
>
>Hi people.
>This is my first post to wikitech-l, and its a biggun. I've
>been mulling over this idea for a while now and have finally
>gotten the electrons moving...
>
>I propose a number of changes to the Wikipedia software to
>enable "software assisted context resolution", or if you
>prefer "software assisted disambiguation". The primary purpose
>of these changes is to allow users to more easily resolve
>ambiguous links at the time they are created, or if necessary,
>at some later stage. I stress that this is not "automatic"
>link resolution, although the process will be invoked
>automatically in many cases.
>
>The process, detailed below, is invoked in two ways. The
>first would be manually and explicitly by the user. The
>secound would be automatic when an article with new or
>modified links it saved.
>
>To enable this process to be invoked manually I propose that
>a new meta-link be added to the footer of every page that
>contains at least one link (most pages). IMHO, an appropriate
>position would be between "Edit this page" and "Discuss this
>page". It would read "Resolve links", and invoke a page titled
>"Resolving links from (real title)". This new page would look
>identical to the original except that the destination of each
>link is changed to a "context selection" page as detailed below.
>Note that it is entirely possible (and probable) that many links
>will point to UNambiguous pages. "Context selection" pages will
>still be generated for these links as the user may have found
>the first instance of ambiguity and will need to deal with it.
>
>The "context resolution" process would also be invoked when an
>article is saved, and the article contains new or modified
>links. In this case the "context resolution" page would not be
>a mimic of the real page. Rather, a short list of new or modified
>links would be generated in the form of an alphabetized list.
>
>The "context selection" pages are generated from the articles
>currently known as "disambiguation pages".  The bulleted list
>found in these articles is transformed into a set of radio
>buttons. In addition, a radio button is generated that basically
>means "unresolved". At the bottom of this list is a small form
>to allow new links and associated context descriptions to be
>added. Whichever option is selected from this page, the link in
>the calling page is adjusted to point to the selected destination
>article, with the original text preserved by using the pipe trick.
>
>A by-product of these changes will be that the "context selection"
>pages will, in the main, be updated by the wiki software (as
>opposed to hand editted). This should make it possible to more
>tightly control the layout of these pages, perhaps with the
>addition of subheadings like "People", "Places", "Things".
>Further, when the "Edit this page" link is clicked on a "context
>selection" page, the normal edit page is replaced by a purpose-
>built form for editing such pages.
>
>I understand that there are probably a millions reasons why some
>aspect(s) of the above will be difficult or impracticable. I hope
>that the general concept is possible and feasible.
>
>Gary Curtis
>[[User:Gaz]] on Wiki
><wikiman.at.freemail.dot.com.dot.au> for all Wiki email

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