Friday, February 15, 2008

wikiHUD evangelism

This is a major improvement in wikiHUD, the new version has several query modes on of these is "full." In full query mode the wikiHUD queries every section of the article. This means that if the article is broken up into sections of less than 2048 characters, the whole article will be displayed.

For example, this is me:


*[http://secondlife.com/app/image/7e609910-885b-6d8c-543d-079f5c27debd/2 In world image]

[15:25] wikiHUD 1.02: == Summary ==
''Lillie Yifu'' ([[March 11]] [[2007]]) [http://sexsecond.blogspot.com Second Sex] [[2nd Sex (Blog)|Second Sex]]
[[Image:Lillie_Yifu_02.jpg|right| 200px]]

Lillie Yifu has been described as an [[slebrity]] for her unapologetic and unabashed "blog on sex by a top [[escort]]," named, [[2nd Sex]]. But in addition to being one of Second Life's better known [[blogger | bloggers]] and writers, she's also a [[builder]] and avatar designer. Her column for SL Looking Glass, the Second Sex, offers clear and honest advice on how to get the most out of sex, that just happens to be happening in Second Life.
[15:25] wikiHUD 1.02: == Activities in Second Life ==

She is a contributing editor for [[Second Life News Network | SLNN]], and has a column for [[SL Looking Glass]]. Author of poems and short stories, she's also known for her one liners, such as "The only difference between content and crack is... I'd never whore myself for crack." As a writer and speaker she has been at numerous panels, including [[Blogher '07]]. She often blogs on identity and meaning in Second Life, as we discover it through sexuality. Her blog brought her to the attention of [[Hamlet Au]] who ran a short profile in [[New World Notes]]. But her diverse topics have been given links from [[Virtually Blind]] and [[Second Life Insider]].

Her sculpture garden at [[Yedo Basilica]] features two sculptures based on mathematical series: [[Flight (Sculpture) | Flight]] and [[phi (sculpture) | "phi"]], one based on circles entitled [[Longitude (Sculpture) | Longitude]] and the [[Kinetic Pagoda]].

She is the creator of [[wikiHUD]], a utility for reading wiki entries [
[15:25] wikiHUD 1.02: == External Links ==

*[http://sexsecond.blogspot.com Second Sex] [[2nd Sex (Blog)|Second Sex]]
*[http://primical.blogspot.com Huge Prims Blog]


[[Category:People]]
[[Category:Class of 2007]]
[[Category:Bloggers]]
[[Category:Scripters]]
[[Category:Builders]]


No notecards, just information.


So why I am evangelizing for wikiHUD and the second life wiki? I'm not making any money on this, since the code is free, the wiki is free, and I do not own the wikia.com site.

The first reason is simple history. Second Life history is disappearing along with the people who made it. There is no good historical source. There is no repository of who did what when. There are scraps, clippings, blog posts, conflicting accounts. It's impossible to get the straight story on anything, and there is no history of Second Life.

Related to this, but not quite the same, is that there is no guide to second life that isn't in the hands of someone who seeks to profit from. This belongs to whoever decides to edit it.

The next related pair of reasons have to do with meta data. As anyone who has tried to work with actual data in second life knows, there is no such thing as meta data in second life. Notecards are so primitive that they will drive you crazy if you try and use them.

WikiHUD is an in world tool. It is one that isn't dependont on some one else to write or fix, or dependent on renting your own web server. It works with any MediaWiki that supports action=raw, yours or anyone elses. There are other wikia sites for other fan groups. this means you could give out a wikiHUD that reads those as well, and even allows second life images. Fan of World of Warcraft in Second Life, then have an in world tool.

Most importantly this is a no screen scraping involved data tool. Even if it just does that, it's of importance.

So that's why I am evangelizing, because we need the history, we need the information, we need meta data, and we need them in world, before the mythical day of HTML on a prim.

You can get a free, full perms open source wikiHUD here at Yedo, and I know at least one tool maker Arthur Fermi, who is going to offer a wikiHUD on his all purpose tool.

No comments:

Post a Comment