One specific comment is that Without hierarchical organization, there's no such thing as "you are here". That seems a strange comment, for if we accept the ConceptualMetaphor PagesArePlaces?, together with TraversingLinksIsMovement?, then where you are is right here on this page. Where else would you be?

For the newcomer wondering 'where am I?', try the VisualTour link at the bottom of every page. Also consider the power of BackLinks. They are the second most useful navigation tool on wiki, after the FindPage. Also, get used to using RecentChanges, which is the most common entry point for long-term WikiZens.

At the risk of writing semantic gibberish, YouAreHere is usually an expression of location relative to other stuff. In other words, if Stuff is over there, and over there, and over there, whatever is left is Here. If navigating requires passage through physical spaces or their analog, YouAreHere is meaningful. If everything is "here" with you, and anything can be reached without going "via" anything, YouAreHere ceases to have navigational meaning.

So much for my semantics training.

Well I'm confused, then. I'm here, on this page. I can go from here directly to all the places that this page has links to, where I will find other stuff that isn't here. And via the backlinks page, to all the places that I can get here from (also containing other stuff that isn't here either), and via VisualTour, I can see the surrounding neighborhood. So what's missing (that I'm missing it's missing :) from wiki's notion of "here"?

That Wiki is not hierarchically organized is a RedHerring. Geographic maps aren't hierarchically organized either, but they work just fine. Maps do this by showing not only where you are, but what exists elsewhere. Wiki is poor at the latter, particularly when compared to rigidly structured (usually hierarchically organized) sites. (On the other hand, I always feel lost in database-driven Web sites, particularly MicroSoft's site.)

I have yet to see a 2D or 3D representation of information like this wiki that was any easier to navigate than this wiki. The problem is that this information is n-dimensional. It isn't restricted to physical space. Any 2D, 3D, 4D, etc. projection imposes arbitrary and/or subjective decisions about representation. A 3D model of the Earth (a globe) is useful because the Earth is 3D. A 2D model of this wiki would be less useful than a 1D model of the Earth.

Have you seen the map at TourBusDiscussion?

I once had a National Geographic map of the known universe on my cubicle wall at work. Somebody put a Post-It® sticker over the Milky Way that read, "You are here." Boy, I was glad for that. Wouldn't want to confuse the Milky Way for NG10187. Eh?

You Are Here