Wiki is to word processing as Wagn is to database - that is, we're engaged in the inquiry of how to enable people to collaboratively, emergently enter and organize information. We deal with "cards" rather than pages because there can be many cards on one page. Information is often broken down into smaller chunks, and as a result is more accessible - for example, you can easily see a list of all users' websites, rather than having to go to each user's card to find it.
http://wagn.org/
Some of the more interesting features:
- Plus cards - Card names by plussing other card names together - so JohnAbbe+website contains http://ourpla.net/. This is the basic innovation that allows for complex structures. Wagn even suggests cards to plus a card to based on existing card names.
- WQL - Wagn Query Language allows for creation of arbitrarily complex searches, e.g. show me all User cards, with a website or e-mail address that ends in .org and with an address in Eugene, OR.
- TransClusion - called inclusion, since it's a word people already know. Relative inclusion allows putting plus cards in templates - i.e., including +website in the user template creates a unique card - <user>+website - where they can enter their website.
- Formatting - you can have "default" (initial content but changeable) or "structure" (content slways shown) formats. Formats themselves are of course cards, and can be applied to sets of cards based on their type, name, etc.
- Cardtypes - Built-in ones include data types such as number and date, and special ones like Users (connected to accounts) and Cardtypes (create one and you've created a new cardtype). Users can add custom cardtypes, which can be formatted.
- Pointers - a cardtype that points to one or more other cards.
Wagn is
FreeSoftware/
OpenSource (
GnuPublicLicense), written in
RubyLanguage using
RubyOnRails. We started with
InstikiWiki, but that code is all gone now. We = Grass Commons and friends, coding and consulting with this thing since...2006?
Hosting is available at http://cldstr.com/
Wa Gn