Re: [gentoo-kbase] A Gentoo Knowledge Base

[Mike Myers]

On 5/19/06, Sven Vermeulen <swift@g.o> wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 18, 2006 at 07:11:49PM -0500, Mike Myers wrote:
> > I really like your idea so far.  I'm glad you plan on making this part
> > of the official gentoo project as well, as I'm almost positive something
> > like this would have popped up eventually that was unofficial.  Anyways,
> > something you may want to consider in searching is the ability to search
> > for specific error messages.  Speaking from experience, often times when
> > I am searching for a problem, it's how to fix an error message and I'll
> > use the error message itself as the search criteria.  The natural
> > language thing seems like it would be decent, but it almost seems like
> > it would require a bit of artificial intelligence, which might be more
> > work than what it is worth.  It would be great though if it did turn up
> > useful results.
>
> I believe that some interesting natural language engines exist already
> which
> might make a good candidate. One of the projects that I have investigated
> thus far is the MindMeld project, which has a nice engine, giving good
> results for both "how do I" questions as plain copy/paste of error
> messages.
> It actually builds the result based on both its database and prior queries
> (with feedback from the user ala "was this answer helpful").
>
> > Another function you should be sure to put in is the ability to browse
> > by category or something.  Some people tend to end up with problems that
> > they never get fixed and just forget about them.  (I know I have)  Or if
> > they're just curious about how a particular program might be set up.  I
> > hope you get the idea of what I'm saying.
>
> Categories are quite difficult to use in a knowledge base. A more active
> approach here is the use of keywords. If a topic has something to do with
> the installation, the keyword "installation" is active.
>
> Of course, viewing all topics with a certain keyword can be seen as that
> specific keyword categorie. All in the point of viewing.


Actually, when you put it that way, it sounds like a much better idea than
just simply having categories.  It sounds like you've got this whole thing
pretty much figured out from what you say.  My guess is that you spent a bit
of time thinking about how you're going to do this.  I'm pretty anxious to
see this.


> Overall though, I think your ideas are great.  Like the PHP.net style
> > comments and whatnot.  Gentoo has been known for it's documentation for
> > a while, but that reputation seems to have diminished a bit since there
> > hasn't been any huge changes in how things are done.  I really think a
> > KB like this would remedy that.
>
> The Gentoo Documentation Project should focus one other things, like
> general
> guides, internationalisation of the available documentation, search
> ability,
> published articles, project documentation and the lot.
>
> Wkr,
>       Sven Vermeulen
>
> --
>   Gentoo Foundation Trustee          |  http://foundation.gentoo.org
>   Gentoo Council Member
>
>   The Gentoo Project   <<< http://www.gentoo.org >>>
>
>
>


-- 
Mike Myers
mike@××××.us
http://www.yaay.us