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Recreation ArtsWhile July and August are traditionally vacation months, it seems that most Arts editors stayed right near the keyboard all summer. Many categories have been cleaned up while others continue to expand. The big story this month is the significant reduction of unreviewed sites in Music. Special thanks goes out to Cdenton for getting this started and to Russ145 for taking on so many big projects. The Jazz category went from 300+ unreviewed down to 30 and Rock from almost 800 to less than 200. Kudos also go to Foetusized, Modgirl, Minty, Imla, Fagilesi, and all of the other editors who worked so hard on clearing out the unreviewed backlog. In other news, Arts/Music/Webcasts and Arts/Radio/Internet/Diverse Music Channels have been merged into a new category called Arts/Radio/Internet/Music. Arts/Comics is still considering a reorganization that includes the creation of a new "Titles" category. New categories were created for Children's and Young Adult author Phillip Pullman and artist William Morris. Finally sure to be popular categories now exist for everyone's favorite movie series -- Child's Play and Highlander. - Jschwart BusinessTeam Biz is continuing to work together on several ontology issues both inside and outside the Business forum. The following are some hot ontology topics currently under discussion:
Also, please remember to check out the following threads for ongoing ontology discussions: Category Create and Delete Billboard - Pt. 4http://dmoz.org/forum/threaddisplay.cgi?t=Forum5/HTML/000702.html Where Should this Listing be Sent - Pt. 3 http://dmoz.org/forum/threaddisplay.cgi?t=Forum5/HTML/000732.html Help Wanted - Pt. 5 http://dmoz.org/forum/threaddisplay.cgi?t=Forum5/HTML/000731.html - Rdkeating25 ComputersThe Computers forum has been hopping for the past month with suggestions and reorganizations big and small. Computers/Software is being looked at closely for additional areas of improvement. Industry-Specific software is being carefully evaluated for placement within relevant categories under Business. These moves would place software categories in the context of the industries served. The Freeware and Shareware subcategories are also being targeted for improvements. After clarification from the Netscape legal counsel, the category formerly known as "Warez" has been reviewed and renamed to "Software Piracy." The term "warez" typically refers to "bootleg" or pirated copies of software. Listing sites distributing illegal copies of software violates the ODP Submission Policies. Warez sites have been reviewed and illegal sites removed from the Directory. The category has been renamed and slightly refocused on the broader issue of software piracy. Editors across the Directory should make every reasonable effort to avoid listing links to sites focusing on the distribution of illegal materials, including copyright-infringed materials. Check out this month's article on illegal sites by rdkeating25 for additional information. - Shara GamesOne of the more significant events in Games has been the reorganization of the Miscellaneous Games category. Sites and categories have been redistributed to more appropriate "subject specific" categories. Hand-Eye Coordination has been created for games such as Tiddly Winks and Jacks. A category for Pen and Pencil games was created out of a need to house sites about Dots and Boxes. It has since been populated with other pen and pencil game sites and @ links to related games. A new category for Hand Games was created to accommodate Rock-Paper-Scissors, Thumb Wresting, and Hand Clapping. Come check us out and join the fun! - GracelHealthGot a sting, bite or burn? Quickly surf to the new Health categories for Wounds and Injuries and First Aid. Here you'll find sites covering poisoning, drowning, CPR, shock, sunburn and heat stroke. Pchere has been leading a reorganization of Health/Medicine. All medical specialties have been grouped together in the Medical Specialties category. Congratulations to pchere on becoming a top-level Health editor! Editor liloth has created new categories for Heart diseases such as Endocarditis and Heart Attacks. Hopefully no ODP editors will ever have to deal with these topics, though I've heard that Mitch occasionally streaks naked through the forums causing quite a stir. Bldarter has ventured outside of the country, I mean state, of Texas and coordinated an overhaul of Infectious Diseases. These categories are now grouped by the organism causing the disease. - Shara HomeThings are really cookin' in Home. Home/Recipes has been changed to Home/Cooking to more accurately reflect the nature of this large category, which includes recipes as well as cooking techniques. World Cuisines has also been revised to make ethnic and regional aspects more intuitive. A Special Diets category has also been added, along with subcategories for low carbohydrate and heart healthy recipes. Home/Gardens editors have done an excellent job at pruning and replanting this category. Under sready's guidance (and the help of keithj and reddirt), the editors have spruced up many of the categories, making the taxonomy and content blossom. Some post-reorganization mulching is continuing. Home/Kids/Games editors are grappling with new category descriptions and finding better ways to categorize games for children. - Dmozmarch NewsActivity in News has been slow but steady, with most of the energies directed towards maintaining the persistent quality of this content-rich category. The forum has been quiet with the exception of a brief exchange about Online_Archives, providing some food for thought when addressing the issue of developing and maintaining collections of time-sensitive material. Three editors joined us this past month in the areas of Media/Broadcast, Media/Journalism/Photojournalism/Music_Photography/Photographers, and Current_Events/Health. Welcome and happy editing! As an end note, if any News editors would like to see mention of a particular area of interest that I may have missed, please feel free to let me know! - AgskeefeRecreationThe troops are marching along in Travel>Reservations>Lodging, moving sites to their respective areas in Regional. Recent communications from the front lines report that Hotels are 98% complete with Motels and B and B's close behind. The infantry divisions have changed tactics and are attacking by state instead of by lodging type. Although this has been a long and torturous journey, the morale of the troops is high thanks to the quick wit of Generals Pepe and Jayarraich and the undying dedication of Lt. Colonels Randyescalada, Trident, and Coloma as well as the rest of the foot soldiers. All ODP editors should be wearing their yellow ribbons and praying for the safe return of these noble men and women to their normal ODP lives. - Krauss ReferenceThe big news in Reference is the reorganization of the Education taxonomy. Education has been revised to a more logical structure that will reduce duplication and difficulty in classifying sites. Some highlights from this reorganization include
In college now?, or a supportive alumna/alumnus of your college? Show your school spirit and sign up to edit your college's category! - Gracel RegionalRegional hit a significant milestone recently in surpassing the half million mark. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Regional community, this branch continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Great job, everyone!! The big news in Regional over the last month was the update of the ODP Regional Guidelines. Highlighted changes include:
Editors are continuing to work very hard at making categories comply with the guidelines. Several countries, states, provinces, etc. have ongoing threads to share suggestions, issues, questions, and comments. Over the next month, staff will be working on the next update to the guidelines, which will include minor typographical changes and enhancements to the topical template. Is your community well represented in the Open Directory? If not, come join Regional … the largest and one of the fastest growing and active areas in the ODP. - Rdkeating25 ScienceGeography is a Social Science? Yes, the editors proclaimed. Geography can now be found at Science/Social_Science/Geography. Some of the new and interesting categories in Science include:
ShoppingThe Shopping category continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We have more than doubled in size since January, 2000 and now have more than 73,000 sites in the category. Currently, general maintenance issues are being discussed and implemented. Wholesale craft sites and categories were moved to Business, and Vehicles editors are discussing how best to organize the Trucks, Vans, and Sport Utility category. A move of Tobacco shopping sites and categories from the Recreation branch is also being discussed and should be implemented soon. As Shopping has continued to grow we have numerous categories up for grabs. If you like to shop, come join us! - Gracel SocietyAlthough many editors have been on holiday through the lazy, late summer days (north of the equator anyway) Fall is at hand and discussions have resumed on how best to improve various categories and topics. Personal homepages editors are working hard to improve these ever-expanding categories, coming up with standard ways of inputting sites and constructing categories by surname. Fathering and Mothering categories in Society have been merged into duplicative categories in Home/Family. Weddings editors have taken on a complicated overhaul that would better define what belongs in Society, Shopping, Business, or Regional. There have been excellent proposals with a lot of thoughtful discussion about how to improve access to the advice, directory, shopping, and service sites that make this area of the ODP so useful. An interesting discussion about the difference between "labor" and "work" is ongoing. Class distinctions and regional language differences are being discussed. There are many categories related to this topic, and editors are trying to determine the best taxonomy for them. Religion and Spirituality editors are working hard to determine the best way to organize the huge Christian denominations and churches categories. Issues involved are how best to organize and provide access for local churches in both Society and Regional. The growth of the Holidays category continues. Many regional or ethnic holidays are beginning to be explored and observed by populations who then absorb them into their celebrations. Midsummer is one such celebration, which now has it's own category. Thanks to a collective rolling-up-of-the-sleeves, several substantial categories were moved to Regional without a hitch, namely United States courts, political parties, election information, and labor unions. In addition, workable solutions were found for those regionalized categories that did not move, allowing for intricately constructed categories such as Attorneys and Law Firms to remain together. On the Regional side, Society metas, editalls, and category editors pitched in by moving content under appropriate states, creating @links, and signing up to edit in these new areas. - Dmozmarch SportsOne of the biggest stories in Sports this summer took place in Australia, but it's not the Olympics. Congratulations to top-level Sports editor Verylisa who gave birth to Eris Joan Barnes on August 20, 2000. We are all happy for Verylisa and eagerly await her return to the Sports community. Other developments in Sports include the reorganization of Wrestling/Professional. Editor Minty lead a dedicated group of editors to the creation of a better organized and more browseable taxonomy. The fastest growing categories have been the Olympics, Running, and Motorcycle Racing … great job to all who have been helping build these areas. - Jschwart WorldWorld/Français/Régional continues to take shape, with the discussion of the top level geographic structure well underway. In addition, World/Français/Régional/France editors are hard at work plowing though a backlog of unreviewed sites and taking part in a consolidated group effort to look after previously editor-less regions and departments. Bon Courage! - Agskeefe |
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