Grounding In Some Simple Concepts

WardsWiki is more exploratorium or compendium than dictionary or encyclopedia. So it needs grounding in some simple concepts related to PatternsAndSoftwareDevelopment?, to appeal to more people - even if it's a pain to more advanced participants. So let's not be 'hyper' about WikiIsNotADictionary links.

It's important to refrain from deluging WardsWiki with links to irrelevant topics, but when discusing advanced or BleedingEdge? topics, we need links to the more simple stuff. People who don't have much SoftwareExpertise? or aren't as BuzzwordCompliant as the general WikiCommunity also visit.

Not every Wiki page should be a complete dissertation, aimed at a specific PeerGroup? with advanced understanding of the jargon many of us take for granted. So why not create TutorialWords?, semi-authoritative Wiki pages for less advanced readers striving for MoreData??

The next time you create a page with information needed for grasping the whole picture and someone throws on a WikiIsNotADictionary, refer them here with something like: Some of the links on this page and this page itself may be required by those requiring GroundingInSomeSimpleConcepts

-- DonaldNoyes

This Wiki is a community; communities, by definition, have their own jargon. It is not intended to appeal to a wide audience, and there is a certain expectation that community members will have the same tacit knowledge. A thoughtful new WikiZen will try to join the community by learning the community norms. A community *can* shift in response to change, but will always have "insiders" and "outsiders". After a while, the former outsiders may become insiders, at which point the jargon will be second nature - until the next newbie comes along. -- StevenNewton

Precisely. The means for that learning can be provided easily - otherwise, WardsWiki becomes a WalledGarden, accessible only to those with OlympicLevelExpertise?. And I'm not suggesting that people create TutorialWords? as a glossary, but that in the normal process of Wiki page creation some page components should be on their own pages, so that explanations occur OnceAndOnlyOnce.

This will speed up the process by which the "newbie" will become a "veteran" and contribute valuable pages for all of us to enjoy. I'd like to see participation at all levels, rather than a Community of Technical Exclusiveness. The entry bar should not be lowered all the way to the ground, but it shouldn't be set at Olympic levels either.

-- DonaldNoyes

See also:

TheDumbingDownOfProgramming -- From the page: "Dumbing down anything lets more people participate, and that's only bad if compromises have been made to limit what experts can do."

CategoryWiki