Ontology Beats April

Adult

Editors in Adult continue to discuss ways to better title sites, as this area of the directory tends to receive a fair number of improper submissions. Site owners/submitters, vying for the top of the alpha lists, often manipulate their site titles. Adult also tends to attract a fair number of self-indulgent editors, which fosters additional abuse problems.

Luckily, these problems can be solved with some solid teamwork. The Adult branch is looking for, and needs, more fair-minded editors to help in sorting out some of the challenging but interesting issues going on there right now.

Finally, as mentioned in last month's column, we have a new set of Adult Guidelines. These guidelines were tweaked just a bit this past month so as to clarify the difference between Adult and Society/Sexuality. Check out the latest update. Bruns

Arts

Arts continues to be one of the largest and most popular categories in the directory. On October 21, 1999, Arts added its 100,000th site. Today, Arts has more than 160,000 sites, and 200,000 doesn't seem far away.

Recently, some major categories have been reorganized, and some exciting new categories have been created. Both Graphic Design and Music/Instruments have been changed and improved. Writing was renamed Online Writing and restructured to provide a central location for all types of Internet Published Fiction and Non-Fiction. The Music/Business category has been replaced with the new and improved Business/Industries/Arts and Entertainment/Music. Five different Shakespeare categories were combined, getting rid of overlap between categories and resulting in a truly comprehensive Arts/Literature/World Literature/British Literature/Shakespeare category.

Many new and interesting categories have also been created in the past month. Entertainment/Online Media provides a central location for increasingly popular Online Reading and Listening categories. New categories such as Crafts/String Fingers and Crafts/Glass/History/Stained feature specialized information new to the directory.

In the next month, categories will continue to change and grow. Both Music/Bands and Artists and Celebrities - already very comprehensive categories - will continue to grow quickly. Animation/Anime, particularly the Sailor Moon category, is constantly discussed in the forums as these popular categories continue to expand. Music/Styles is currently undergoing a reorganization that should benefit both editors and users, and many more ideas for improvement will soon surface in the active Arts forum. Jschwart

Business

If a rolling stone gathers no moss, then the Business category is certainly free of foliage. Business is going through a number of changes that have a common theme: moving industry-specific sites under their corresponding "industry" category. Here are some of the changes:

Business/Associations moved industry-specific sites under their industry categories. @links were created to industry-specific Associations categories.
Business/Directories is moving industry-specific sites under their industry categories. @links are being created to industry-specific Directories categories.
Business/Employment is moving industry-specific employment and job search sites under their industry categories. @links are being created to industry-specific Employment categories.
Business/Resources is moving industry-specific sites under their industry categories and merging general business content left in this category with Directories and other resource-type categories to create something similar to a ready-reference section in a business library.
Business/Industries/Design - A discussion is going on that attempts to organize and provide access to all design industry information in one area.

The consolidation of industry-specific sites under industry categories is helping us clearly define the ontology of the Business branch. We seem to be moving in the direction of standardizing industry categories, that will in effect become DMOZ industry guides - comprehensive subdirectories to industry information.

This type of organization benefits the user by having "one-stop-shopping" for industry information. It also benefits the industry expert editors, as they are in better position to maintain all industry-specific categories in one area. We have a ways to go before realizing such an organization for industries, but that appears to be the path we heading down. Rdkeating

Computers

Last month, tech stocks took a beating, and the US government announced they wanted to split Microsoft. The Computers category on the other hand, is still going strong. Unlike other categories they are no major reorganizations happening in Computers at the moment. A few notable happenings include:

A Computers/Internent/Chat reorganization discussion involves the placement of chat software sites vs. chat rooms, channels, hosting services.
The Computers/Education reorganization was completed. Thanks to claudiadot, imajes99 and all others who helped with this effort.
Phase II of the Regional Reorganization has started in Computers. The regional breakdowns in Computers are being evaluated to see how they fit into the guidelines. Categories and sites are moving accordingly.

Up coming events in Computers include examining the organization of the Computers/Internet/Commercial_Services/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers,_G
lobal_Service and Computers/Internet/Commercial_Services/Web_Design_and_Development/Designers,_B
y_Region categories, as well as the Computers category policy for multi-listing web sites.

Help is still wanted in the Computers category. Anyone with skills or an interest in computers is welcome to apply Rdkeating

Games

Discussion is underway in Games about a better structure for the Diablo_Series category. Editors are determining whether there should be a main Guilds and Clans subcat or whether the sites should be under the individual game. The consensus so far is that with the new release coming out, many guilds and clans will change to the new release, so it might be better to keep the main category for the time being.

We will soon being looking at the structure of Games/Gambling/Lottery and Games/Video_Games to determine if there are better ways of organizing those categories. Gracel

Health

Conditions and Diseases is undergoing a slow reorganization. All conditions, diseases and disorders are being moved out of the alpha-bar to topical subcategories of Conditions and Diseases. The alpha-bar will soon be a virtual quick index of all the conditions in Health. Technical, common and alternative names for all diseases and conditions are being included in the alpha-bar to help users find their way.

Health editors are working with the Regional Guidelines trying to move appropriate locally focused sites to Regional. Many Health/Beauty/Salons and Spas and all Health/Dentistry/Regional sites have been moved all over to Regional. Locally focused clinics, doctors and gyms will also be moving soon.

Calling all male editors! Health/Men's Health needs help battling the unreviewed (351 sites, 254 new as of 2 May 00). Some of the subcategories attract spam like a magnet (Viagra), so this is not for the faint of heart. Calling all fitness folks and exercise buffs! Health/Fitness (817 sites, 534 new as of 2 May 00) needs some TLC as well. It is another high target for spammers. Shara

Home

Home editors are busy with a virtual spring cleaning, as they finish clearing out Shopping sites and tidying up after the big Regional reorganization.

Home gardeners are out in the gazebo surveying the landscape and discussing the best way to consolidate Landscaping categories that are now free of sales sites.

Home/Houses is also being reworked from a collection of merchant sites into a category that will focus on repairing, remodeling, and other practical aspects of home ownership.

A huge influx of over 16,000 sites into Consumer Information resulted in a complete restructuring of Home/Consumers into Home/Consumer Information. Taxonomy in Reviews/Products is being tweaked to comply with the ODP Guidelines. In the near future, links will be added between Reviews and Shopping so that savvy consumers can get help evaluating products and comparing prices. DmozMarch

News

In the spirit of spring, several categories have been given a fresh look, keeping pace with the changing terminology of Internet news resources. After agreement in the forum, News/Software_and_Agents and News/Filters were combined to form News/Personalized_News, and News/Breaking_News/Audio_and_Video_News_Feeds was brought up one level to become News/Internet_Broadcasts. Last but not least, the long-standing News/Online was disbanded, ceding its top level spot to News/Online_Archives.

News also played an important role in the overall understanding of the Regional guidelines in relation to media materials. Thanks to quick implementation of these new guidelines, we were presented with a visual example of one of the most difficult aspects of applying them - how to provide consistency without burying information. After forum discussion involving both Regional and News editors, a creative solution was reached that will both preserve state-wide listings of papers and also allow easy access to local content. The end result promises to be a cohesive, easy-to-use body of information.

All in all, it has proven to be a harmonious month for News, setting an even tone as we move into the long days of summer. Agskeefe

Recreation

All of Recreation has Regional Spring Fever! Categories have been cleaned up and prepared to move over to their new home in Regional. Recreation/Travel has the largest number of sites to move and while we are currently taking this huge task on, it will take a while to get all the sites which are slated to move over actually in place. This task has been made slightly easier due to the completion of the Travel reorg last month.

Recreation/Autos continues to be cleaned up for easier browsing. Manufacturers and Auto Clubs are currently being looked at. Autos is an important category for many ODP licensees and the improvement of this category only improves the user's experience on DMOZ as well as on licensees' search engines.

The Recreation/Pets/Dogs editors continue to tweak and improve the subcats under the breeds categories. This group of editors works well as a united group to refine the categories and make them a good template for other pet categories.

Currently, editors in Recreation/Aviation have been working with both the Society/Military and Business editors to get rid duplicate categories within those branches. A test area complete with category descriptions can be found at http://dmoz.org/Test/Recreation/Aviation/.Krauss

Reference

Reference/Maps was cleaned up during the last month. Several of the subcategories overlapped each other as well as categories in Regional. The regional categories and sites were moved to Regional and general map sites were moved up to the top level to provide easier access for the user.

Regionalized categories are moving to Regional as part of Phase II of the Regional reorganization. Regional categories in Reference/Education have been moved, and a Regional category has been set up with and @ link structure to access categories in Regional.

We are discussing renaming the subcats of Reference/Libraries to make it more intuitive for the user. The word "libraries" will be dropped from subcat names and some subcats will be moved under a subject/special subcat. This is in keeping with traditional definitions of libraries. Public and school library categories were moved to Regional as part of this initiative and a Regional category in Libraries was set up to access regional categories. Gracel

Regional

The biggest Ontology news item this month is the reorganization of Regional information in DMOZ. Because this phase of the Regional Reorganization touches so many lives in the editorial community, I thought it would be useful if I re-published the announcement of the new Regional Guidelines in
this month's Regional Ontology Beat.

The ODP Guidelines and Regional Guidelines have been updated to include information about organizing Regional information ODP-wide. These new guidelines are meant to standardize the organization of Regional information throughout the ODP, and to allow us to move forward with Phase II of the Regional Reorganization.

Here are links to the specific updates:

Update to the ODP Guidelines - This is an overview for how to organize Regional information in the ODP. In the last sentence there is a link to an FAQ which provides specifics.

Update to the Regional Guidelines - the section on creating subject subcategories is new. This complements in the regional section in the main ODP guidelines.

Release of new Real Estate Guidelines - these are the official guidelines for listing and organizing Real Estate agents and agency sites.

The organization of regional information in the ODP has been discussed frequently in many forums over the past several months. The updated guidelines are based on these discussions, individual editor feedback, and discussions with the meta editors. The meta editors contributed a great deal to the final versions.

Now that these guidelines are in place, we can begin phase II of the Regional Reorganization, which is primarily concerned with moving regional subcategories outside the Regional branch under Regional. It also involves creating appropriate @links and related category links from the subject branches to Regional and vice versa.

Staff have started threads in the subject forums (except World and Adult) so questions, clarifications, etc. specific to those branches can be addressed. Staff will be reviewing Regional categories in the subject branches against these guidelines. Staff editors, and any meta or editall who wants to get
involved, will contact editors of categories that are candidates for reorganization.

Staff will be coordinating the reorganization of Regional information with metas and editalls. We'll be looking over these guidelines, and revising them as needed. They are rather complex, and one thing we would like to do is to make them simpler to understand without sacrificing the consistency
they are trying to create. Rdkeating

Science

Science/Social Sciences/Psychology, as mentioned in last month's beat, has undergone some changes. Take a look at the new and improved category.

Science/Math/Logic has been reorganized and cleaned up. If you've ever heard the term "fuzzy logic" and didn't quite understood what it was, take a look at Science/Math/Logic/Encyclopedia_Articles/.

In April, the Shopping reorganization finally found its way to Science. Some consumer shopping oriented sites have moved to Shopping, however most technical instruments and supplies will remain in Science. These sites can be found at Shopping/Recreation_and_Hobbies/Science_and_Nature/.

Otherwise Science editors are busily working, you might say busy as a bee. Shara

Society

The genealogists communed with the ancestors, and good naturedly with each other, and in about two months did a massive reorganization of Society/Genealogy. Many new useful subcategories were added, and a whole new way of getting around Genealogy was devised that everyone is enthusiastic
about.

In the aftermath of the recent, successful Religion and Spirituality reorganization, editors have been writing R&S FAQs to explain more about this large, diverse, and "spirited" category. The FAQs are interesting reading and explain what kinds of categories are in Society/Religion and Spirituality, how splinter religions are handled, and how to handle categorizing sites devoted to religious dissension - Opposing Views.

In Society/Military, discussions about a proposal to establish clear guidelines for further development has been ongoing since late March. The main challenge thus far has been finding a way to integrate the social and organizational aspects of this collection in a way that best benefits the user while recognizing the difference between official and unofficial content. Several minor changes have been made to date, including the creation of an @link structure of 32 individual countries, increasing access to military categories in Regional. DmozMarch

Sports

As the seasons change both above and below the equator, different Sports are coming into focus. But the biggest upcoming event is the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The Olympics has new subcategories for the Summer and Winter Games, as well as subcategories for each of the individual Sports. Sports/Olympics/Shooting is already full of useful information, and other Olympics sports will undoubtedly soon follow.

Both Golf and Baseball have recently been restructured and new important subcategories added, such as Golf/College and University and Baseball/Major League/Awards. In many Sports, categories dedicated to shopping for sports equipment and memorabilia have moved to the new and improved Shopping category. Major changes are also taking place in Players categories throughout the directory. After a careful discussion, Sports editors have decided to model Players categories after the Baseball/Players category, which features an alphabetical list under Players and @ links under the various teams. Hockey/Ice Hockey/Leagues/NHL/Players has already made the switch, and Basketball/Players is on deck.

In the next few months, Sports will continue to grow and improve as more enthusiastic editors join the Sports team. The NASCAR category is currently making some small changes to improve the already comprehensive category, and a number of Tennis subcategories are being carefully refined. New categories such as Jorkyball, related to Soccer, and Netball, related to Basketball, are bringing up an important question about the placement of derivative Sports. Sports editors will work together to solve this and other questions as Sports continues to grow and improve. Jschwart

Shopping

The big news in Shopping is - the reorganization is complete! This was announced in the Shopping forum at http://dmoz.org/forum/threaddisplay.cgi?t=Forum15/HTML/000310.html. During the reorganization:

We grew from little more than 31,000 sites to 57,000+ sites.
We reduced the number of top level categories from 46 to 37- giving the category a streamlined appearance.
We eliminated redundant categories such as Miscellaneous, Variety, and Link Pages.
Directories and Online Malls were merged to eliminate overlap.
We have several new top level categories.
We have a clear category description and FAQ.

The reorganization created a stable taxonomy for the category. It also brought formerly hidden categories to the top level. Toys and Games resulted from the merger of Shopping/Children/Toys and Shopping/Games, and several categories were moved from outside of Shopping, so that this category now contains 1,000+ sites. Entertainment was created for sites selling entertainment industry related merchandise, as well as a comprehensive Recordings category for music, videos, and DVD. There is a current discussion to move Recreation/Tickets to Shopping/Entertainment. Weddings moved up from under Gifts and sites moved in from Society/Relationship/Weddings. We now have a comprehensive wedding shopping category.

Team spirit played a major role in the success of the reorganization. Every editor contributed something, from the editor of the smallest category, to top level category editors, editall/catmvs, and metas. Because of the reorganization, a number of editors were promoted to higher level categories, editall/catmv, and to meta.

Although we are done with our official reorganization, we still have a lot of cleanup. If you like to shop, consider applying for a category and join the Shopping/ team. A number of categories in need of help are listed in Help Wanted. Gracel

World

Sixty-one languages currently grace the front of the DMOZ's World directory, and the number continues to increase. The Germans are leading the other languages in terms of site numbers, with a total listing of over 44k sites. The Spanish are chasing the Germans with a little over 33k sites, and the French are holding steady in third place with just over 19k sites. However, beware, the Swedes appear to be sneaking up behind the French...tip toe tip toe...

As mentioned last month, several languages, eight to be exact, now have localized tools to make it easier for people to edit in their native languages. The Directory Guidelines are also being translated in a few languages to make editing easier.

Editors with language skills are strongly encouraged to apply for World categories. The ODP World categories can and should be the most valuable information resources utilized across the globe. So...contact your friends and relatives in far away lands and spread the word on the Open Directory. Bruns