User talk:Jakob.scholbach/Archives/2009/November

parsing problem

I tried pasting the citation

@MISC{Bellantoni92predicativerecursion,
   author = {Stephen J. Bellantoni},
   title = {Predicative Recursion and Computational Complexity},
   year = {1992}
}

from here, but the zeteo parser didn't seem to recognize anything. I will try entering the fields by hand.

69.228.171.150 (talk) 21:46, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. I enhanced the parser so as to include @MISC items. Your example should work now. Jakob.scholbach (talk) 23:10, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! If you're looking for general ideas, it occurs to me that it would be really neat to be able to just paste a citeseer url directly into the zeteo entry field, so that zeteo would automatically retrieve the download links in addition to the citation info, and include them in the generated wiki citation. It looks like the info is accessible with OAI.[1] Yet another idea (more ambitious) would be to integrate zeteo into the server side of mediawiki, so that there could be a template like

{{cite zeteo|bibtex=@MISC{Bellantoni92predicativerecursion, ...}}}

and you could put bibtex (or other) citations directly into articles without all the pasting. 69.228.171.150 (talk) 05:34, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

zeteo index number

Hi, another question/suggestion. Is there a way to get zeteo to expose a permanent numeric identifier for a database entry? For example, if the Bellantoni citation above is item #12345 in the database, zeteo should reveal that, by putting something like "zeteo=12345" into the citation template. The reason I'd want this is because I've been trying to find online copies of various references cited in the encyclpedia. As it is now, if I happen across a citation to the Bellantoni paper in a wiki article and it doesn't contain a url, so I find a url with a web search and add it to the citation, that does nothing for other cites of the same paper that might occur in other articles. But if the citation contained an identifying number, then I could add the url directly to the zeteo entry. Zeteo would have a list of all the articles using that citation (updated periodically by a bot sweeping through all articles with a suitable cite tag) and updating the zeteo entry would signal another bot to go update all articles citing that item.

I guess the above would go over better with the wikipedia developers if zeteo were hosted on the toolserver. Do you think might be willing to allow that? Thanks.

69.228.171.150 (talk) 07:58, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure it's a good idea to update references automatically when zeteo data changes. There is potential for severe abuse. Hans Adler 08:10, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

I think you are basically aiming for a separate Wikimedia project parallel to WP, which would settle the issue you mention. However, I agree with Hans, that given that practically nobody monitors the changes done at zeteo, it is difficult to encounter vandalism (esp. subtle forms of it). However, if you cite a paper hundreds of times, you might want to consider creating a template such as the ones in Category:Mathematics_source_templates. Jakob.scholbach (talk) 11:31, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. The source template approach is interesting, though it has its own abuse potential. I might round up some recurring citations and propose creation of some more of those templates. 69.228.171.150 (talk) 05:31, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

While we're dreaming about the future, why not imagine an 'autocomplete' feature that would propose completion of the string you were typing into a box as the reference name. The strings found by the autocompleter could be the references stored in Zeteo. Autocompletion is already supported by Mediawiki for the Search box in the left margin of each page and for the edit summary box. (e.g. in the Search box, start typing 'Logistic' and watch what happens as you type). EdJohnston (talk) 07:27, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't exactly know how that autocompletion could work. But I have implemented a little search gadget in the zeteo website. Once you are at the website, you can add it to your search tools (usually in the top right of the browser). Then, whilst editing WP, you can search for a reference, paste it and continue editing. It's quick. Jakob.scholbach (talk) 12:01, 8 November 2009 (UTC)