Wikiventory

• It is NOT suggested as a replacement for existing categories.
• It would use a hierarchy of 'inventory' lists to organise information.

An inventory is a defined list of items, having a name, and one or more members. For instance, an inventory for bread might look something like:

Bread { Flour, Water, Salt }

This defines a list named Bread, with member objects Flour, Water and Salt.

At present, we've defined only one inventory. But we can split flour down further:

Flour { Grain }

And we can keep splitting this down:

Grain { Endosperm, Germ, Bran }
Germ { Protein }
Protein { Amino-Acid }
Amino-Acid { Amine, Alkyl, Carboxylic Acid }
Carboxylic Acid { Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen }

One could split the elements down into atoms. Suppose, however, we defined another inventory; one for Vinegar, for instance:

Vinegar { Ethanoic Acid, Water }
Ethanoic Acid { Ethane, Carboxylic Acid }

Instead of redefining Water and Carboxylic Acid, we can use the information from the previously defined branches, in effect, componentising and sharing the information, and reducing data redundancy.

A system relying on a hierarchy of inventories provides us with a different means of exploring the Universe, which can be applied to navigating information in, for example, the Wikipedia. Suppose a user wishes to learn about the composition of Bread; they can start with Bread, and split it into the constituent parts. Perhaps they reach the Protein level, and don't understand what an Amino-Acid is. With this model, and integration with something like Wikipedia, they can cross-reference our encyclopedia entry on Amino-Acids.

Suppose our user continues to read the article on Amino-Acids, and in doing so, follows links down to the Carboxylic Acid level; then to the Carbon level. By this time, they could be somewhat lost with respect to their original aim. Our system could, eventually, be coded to allow them to see where the new level (Carbon) fits in with what they've been researching.

Media-wiki software supports redirects. This means that differences in terminology can be easily accommodated. A user browsing the Wikiventory would learn about these 'equivlances', and be able to add new owns where appropriate.

• navigational structure
• infobox generation