one for matt

Posted in General, Wikis - 24 September 2005 - No comment

I finished the proposal for Matt’s proposed wiki book, “The Wild Wild Wiki,” and sent it off.

Working title: Above and below the double-line: Refactoring and that old time revision

Theory and politics section. 12 – 15 pages

Wiki pioneers on Portland Pattern Repository, UseModWiki, and MeatballWiki, use the programming concept of refactoring to define how they collaboratively develop versions of pages into something organized and useful. Over time, a wiki page, if well started, will attract comments, observations, and alternatives. The page can soon become disorderly and difficult to follow, its original structure obscured or inappropriate for the new content. At this point, contributers are are advised to refactor the page. As the term is used in programing, refactoring is cleaning up working code without changing its functionality, making the code more readable and extensible by others. By analogy, refactoring a wiki page involves rewriting and restructuring it to incorporate contributions. (See Wikipedia, “Refactoring“, and NotesTowardsARhetoricOfWiki)

That is, wiki contributers do not revise pages. They refactor them.

In this proposed chapter, I will argue that the concept and techniques of refactoring are rhetorically valuable in developing wikis. I’ll present the conception of process as it developed on the early wikis – a movement from ThreadMode to DocumentMode by way of refactoring – and focus on the practices, difficulties, and implications of refactoring wiki pages.

Behind the chapter stands the idea that wikis prompt a rethinking of process and the development of alternative rhetorical and process strategies. Wikis are collaborative and hyperlinked, and the state of knowledge on wikis is in constant flux and development. Paper-based rhetoric and and paper-based conceptions of process do not help contributers make the most of writing a wiki. Instead, wiki contributers need a rhetoric of wiki and a alternative conception of process to provide guidance in creating and maintaining wiki pages and entire wikis.

Portland Pattern Repository: http://c2.com/ppr/
UseModWiki: http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl
MeatballWiki: http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl
NotesTowardsARhetoricOfWiki, a CCCC presentation, March 2004

The continuing draft will be in my notebook.

Meanwhile, it’s one of those comfortable, cool rainy Saturday mornings with no end in sight, so we’re going to shut off the telephone and read all afternoon.

Listening toThe 6 Music Chart, BBC Radio.

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