Life Support Resource Hierarchy

Duke · 07-23-2007, 02:17 AM

The Hierarchy of our upcoming resource will be structured as follows:

TOP LEVEL/Index: Resource Main Index (Life Support Resource) Working Title. This is the main page of the resource that explains what it's about and how it works (briefly). In depth information will be provided and linked to within the FAQ.
Main Categories: These are top level issues that can account for several sub-categories, ex: Abuse (Main Category), Physical, Psychological, Substance, etc.
sub-Categories: More focused issues that can still have sub-issues such as Abuse (Substance): Alcohol, Prescription Drugs, Controlled Substances, etc.
Issues: Issue description linked to forums, news and any help resources we think to add.

Do you all think this hierarchy will work?

Vautrin · 07-23-2007, 06:50 AM

I think issues does not cover it all. For instance, alcoholism is clearly a type of addiction, and should be a subcategory of addictions. But it would be very wise to consider it an issue too - and provide the proper resources too.

Duke · 07-23-2007, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vautrin

I think issues does not cover it all. For instance, alcoholism is clearly a type of addiction, and should be a subcategory of addictions. But it would be very wise to consider it an issue too - and provide the proper resources too.

Many of these issues will cross reference throughout the resource such as alcoholism as it can be construed as a sickness/disease, addiction and affliction I believe.

If we break it down to too many levels we run the risk of overcomplicated the resource and I want to make it as user friendly as possible. I hope to have the wiki configured and working by this upcoming weekend so we can post a few issues and see how we like usability. We can also try a few different configurations just so we're sure we get exactly what we're looking for.

Vautrin · 07-23-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

Many of these issues will cross reference throughout the resource such as alcoholism as it can be construed as a sickness/disease, addiction and affliction I believe.

Yes, but then the references are needed as well. If everything is not well-organized, it may be the case that some information is simply not accessed, even though it would be useful.

All kinds of theories whether alcoholism should be seen as an addiction or an affliction or whatnot, are useful for the academic, but not so much as for the person who is looking for information / help. Given the purposes of the wiki and of Lifesupporters, it seems fair that the latter purpose takes precedence.

Quote:

If we break it down to too many levels we run the risk of overcomplicated the resource and I want to make it as user friendly as possible.

Yes, but for which users?

Quote:

I hope to have the wiki configured and working by this upcoming weekend so we can post a few issues and see how we like usability. We can also try a few different configurations just so we're sure we get exactly what we're looking for.

Sounds like a good plan.

Duke · 07-23-2007, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vautrin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

Many of these issues will cross reference throughout the resource such as alcoholism as it can be construed as a sickness/disease, addiction and affliction I believe.

Yes, but then the references are needed as well. If everything is not well-organized, it may be the case that some information is simply not accessed, even though it would be useful.

All kinds of theories whether alcoholism should be seen as an addiction or an affliction or whatnot, are useful for the academic, but not so much as for the person who is looking for information / help. Given the purposes of the wiki and of Lifesupporters, it seems fair that the latter purpose takes precedence.

Quote:

If we break it down to too many levels we run the risk of overcomplicated the resource and I want to make it as user friendly as possible.

Yes, but for which users?

Quote:

I hope to have the wiki configured and working by this upcoming weekend so we can post a few issues and see how we like usability. We can also try a few different configurations just so we're sure we get exactly what we're looking for.

Sounds like a good plan.

The wiki will be structured mostly like this which is already pretty confusing as it is but since its the standard for wiki structure, we have to go with it.

Everything will be cross linked so even if an issue such as alcoholism touches on depression, abuse, sickness, it will be cross linked within the nomenclature of alcoholism. Every single term that is referenced in the wiki will be cross linked so there will actually be numerous ways to reference a single issue from multiple areas within the wiki.

The other issue we face (a huge one) is duplicate content. I cannot have any duplicate content anywhere within the wiki so everything be it a Category, sub-Category, or issue, must have one area where they are all addressed such as an index page (which we will have), perhaps with an expandable tree menu or something similar.

The other issue is that we not only have to cross link within the wiki but also within the forums as well as the news all while integrating at a forum theme and userlevel (which I still can't get to integrate properly). For now, this is our working wiki: http://www.lifesupporters.com/wiki

Duke · 07-23-2007, 01:30 PM

I may also install a plugin that allows for a few forum topics within each associated issue but that I'm not sure of at this time.

Duke · 08-08-2007, 03:11 AM

From working on the wiki tonight, I realized that my original plan of category/sub-category/issue simply won't work. Unfortunately, there is no directory tree (that I can find) for this wiki so I've had to come up with another way.

Now, all issues will be listed by alphabetical order and any issue that is a sub-category of a parent issue will now be linked to the parent category. This will make for a lot of additional editing however, it will also serve to make the wiki far more robust and user friendly.

I'm currently working on A Issues for now so if you have any feedback I'd be happy to hear it.

Legend:

Red Link: No Wiki Page exists for internal link.
Green Link: Internal link to existing Wiki page.

Please keep in mind, this is extremely early in the structure process but it does serve to give you a vague idea of how the finished product will work.

Go to:

Main Page (Wiki Index)
Click on A under the heading Social Issues beginning with:
You will be re-directed to an internally linked page for all currently cataloged social issues beginning with the letter A.

Cool huh?

TKDLady · 08-08-2007, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duke

From working on the wiki tonight, I realized that my original plan of category/sub-category/issue simply won't work. Unfortunately, there is no directory tree (that I can find) for this wiki so I've had to come up with another way.

Now, all issues will be listed by alphabetical order and any issue that is a sub-category of a parent issue will now be linked to the parent category. This will make for a lot of additional editing however, it will also serve to make the wiki far more robust and user friendly.

I'm currently working on A Issues for now so if you have any feedback I'd be happy to hear it.

Legend:

Red Link: No Wiki Page exists for internal link.
Green Link: Internal link to existing Wiki page.

Please keep in mind, this is extremely early in the structure process but it does serve to give you a vague idea of how the finished product will work.

Go to:

Main Page (Wiki Index)
Click on A under the heading Social Issues beginning with:
You will be re-directed to an internally linked page for all currently cataloged social issues beginning with the letter A.

Cool huh?

Very cool!!!