Tags and category pages

Quickly finding entries on a particular topic is a powerful feature of the Open Foresight Hub. This is done by grouping links to related pages in a hierarchy of categories and sub-categories. Tags and category pages are the central tools to accomplish this.

A tag embedded into a page indicates that a particular topic is by its content. By placing tags into a page, readers can 1) more easily find the page when searching, and 2) click on the tag to go to the associated category page, which then provides links to other pages addressing that topic. Tags are typically inserted into the Categories Box of a page, which is found near the bottom of the page and just before Discussion section. This is an example of a Categories Box:

A category page contains an introduction to the topic and links to pages that address that topic in more detail. A category page can be edited like an article and can the links to related pages can be automatically generated. Categories do not form a strict hierarchy since any page can be tagged for more than one category, and each category can appear in more than one higher level category. This allows multiple categorization schemes to co-exist within the Open Foresight Hub.

The central page containing the highest level categories across Encyclopedia, Library, Futures and Hub begins on the Category start page. You can then follow links from that page to sub-category pages, which will then link to pages related to that category or additional sub-categories.

The Open Foresight Hub's category system does not automatically separate out pages found in the Encyclopedia, Library, and Futures sections. However, some category pages will organize the links to related pages and sub-categories by section.

The start pages for the Open Foresight Hub, Encyclopedia, Library, Futures and Hub sections also contain links to high-level categories.

Any number of tags can be inserted into a page. While tags can be placed anywhere in a page, the best practice is to also include them in the Categories Box found towards the end of the page and before the Discussion section if one exists. This is an example of a Categories Box:

A tag is inserted into a page using the following Dokuwiki markup syntax:
{{tag>category}}

If a category name uses multiple words then the underscore symbol '_' is used to separate the words:
{{tag>category_name_with_multiple_words}}

It is possible to include multiple tags in a single entry by separating the tags using spaces:
{{tag>category_1 category_2 category_3}}

To learn more about the Open Foresight Hub tagging system read the Dokuwiki tags article.

Tags are most powerful when they concisely describe a topic while being broad enough that it will (eventually) describe more than one page in the Open Foresight Hub. A tag that will only ever describe one page is not useful.

Before creating a new tag, editors should confirm that a similar tag does not already exist by reviewing the index of tags. If none of the existing tags suffice then a new tag should be created using the following tag naming conventions.

The following general conventions should be followed when naming any type of category tag:

• Standard page naming conventions apply; in particular, do not capitalize regular nouns except when they come at the beginning of the title.
• Names of topic categories should be singular, normally corresponding to the name of a Open Foresight Hub page. Examples: “Scenario Planning”, “France”, “Pierre Wack”.
• Names of category sets should be plural. Examples: “Practitioners”, “Facilitation tools”.
• Avoid abbreviations. Example: “Causal Layered Analysis”, not “CLA”. However, abbreviations that have become the official or generally used name should be used where there are no other conflicts.
• Do not write the category structure in names. Example: “Urbanization”, not “Drivers-Urbanization”. This includes creating categories that are subpages of other categories.
• Choose category names that can stand alone, independent of the way a category is connected to other categories. Example: “Geography terminology stubs”, not “Terminology” (a subcategory of “Geography stubs”).
• Avoid descriptive adjectives such as 'famous', 'important', or 'notable' in category titles.
• Use words and phrases which exist in reliable sources so that those sources may be used to support the inclusion of articles. This is especially important for technical topics.

When categorizing based on date, it is important to distinguish whether an article is discussing past and present events, or speculating about possible futures. Example: “2020 time horizon” “2020 publication year” “2020 events”

When you create a new tag, the DokuWiki software will look for a page with the same name in the category: namespace. If that page does not exist, clicking on the tag will lead to a list of pages using that tag. From there, you can create a category page.

After you have determined an appropriate category name, you are ready to create the new category. To create a category, create a new page in the category namespace[[category:Your_Category_Name]]. For help creating new pages, see here: How to edit wiki pages

On the category page, it is helpful to future editors to provide a category description. The category description should include the desired contents of the category page, any selection criteria, and how the category should be sub-categorized. You may also link to related pages, parent categories, and sub-categories here. To add a parent category, navigate to the desired parent category and add your new category as a sub-category. Interlinking categories helps future readers navigate the site and find articles more easily.

To generate an alphabetized list of articles tagged with your category, use {{topic>Your_Category_Name}}under the description. When articles are tagged with your category, they'll appear here.