(1/8) A little design thread on how we "solved" the problem of replicating the sheer expanse of Wikipedia's content for Omnipedia (its 2049 counterpart) and how that solution went on to provide other opportunities
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(2/8) So the average Wikipedia article contains over 600 hyperlinks to other articles. We're planning between 40 and 50 articles for Omnipedia, which would leave them largely devoid of links and diminish an integral part of the Wikipedia experience
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(3/8) We briefly toyed with the idea of linking out to Wikipedia, but that didn't work for two reasons:
- it made Omnipedia dependent on an ever-changing collection of external links
- it took people away from Omnipedia and ripped them out of the year 2049
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(4/8) We ultimately decided to implement a system similar to Wikipedia's page previews, which appear when you hover your cursor over a hyperlink. Omnipedia's previews are distinguished by their dashed underlines (working links get solid underlines)
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(5/8) The preview system allow us to briefly illustrate present-day concepts that people might need explained or wish to learn more about. We can also adapt them to the future of 2049 where needed
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(6/8) We can also freely add fictional characters, concepts, and ideas without having to write full articles for each. That being said, each fictional preview has every chance of being expanded into a full article in a later episode of #Neurocracy
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(7/8) On October 1st 2049, you may be able to access a full article on Omnipedia that only existed as a preview on September 29th. This has the added benefit of turning every fictional preview into a potential teaser
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(8/8) Another benefit of using previews as teasers is that the distinction between previews and hyperlinks no longer signposts what does and doesn't matter to the story of #Neurocracy!
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