BackLinks

One of the key DigitalGarden/Wiki features is that using WikiWords (a) makes it easy to generate new nodes, and (b) automatically links to already-existing nodes by matching the name.

The converse feature is called BackLinks. At the bottom of every page here, you see a list of all the pages in this space referring to this page/name. (In a "classic wiki" you click on the page-name/header at the top of the page to get to the list.) This is useful for finding "related" information.

(This is the Two Way Links feature available in pre-WorldWideWeb HyperText environments, that people like Ted Nelson have been complaining about since the Web came about. Though it's only for links within the space, not from the whole web.)

I'm really happy about having implemented Visible Backlinks (showing them automatically within every page, rather than being a link away).

• first did it in ZWiki
• lost it when moved to MoinMoin
• build separate WikiGraph service to support it
• which could then carry forward to Wikiflux/FluxGarden

It would be interesting to add a Sister Sites spin to this, where you have the nodes/links data from a number of wikis, and, when listing BackLinks, if a Sister Site has a page matching the current Wiki Name, you listed its BackLinks as well.

In a non-wiki context, Robin Hanson has collected a list of proposals to add backlinks (two-way links, bidirectional links) to the web: http://hanson.gmu.edu/backlinks.html

In Apr'02 people are starting to implementing this on their own WebLog servers, where they grab Browser Referer data, either in Real Time from each hit, or from the server log. This may be a good example of something best handled with the excess cycles of a Home Server. The Browser Referer page notes some problems with this source of data.

Off-site backlinks through referrer logs would be a nice feature to Zwiki, even Zope. Current mechanisms are ZODB taxing (transaction for ever referrer). I can only imagine this through some sort of Sub Page implementation !ThisPage/RelatedLinks . If !ThisPage/Sub Page were a file on the local file system... - Zwiki:DeanGoodmanson