Re: [kidsgames] word familiarity

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Brian Thompson wrote:
> 
> I have been reading the documentation from the wordnet and instantly thought
> of this email.  My thoughts about the database have only been solidified by
> what I have read.  I have been reading linguistic texts and yes several
> dictionaries and have realized the true power a database such as this would
> wield in society.  I hope to nail down a good basic structure and post it
> soon, keep in mind I am getting new ideas everyday about what to include in
> the function, even XML links to webpages of the related subject or specific
> place, such as the site of the
> ohsolongnamedtowninwalesthathasbeenmentionedherebutisfartolongtoremember
> (perhaps that should be the name of a town). Well many revolutions begin
> with a single thought.  I have thus far only worked on structure and format
> is a thing for days to come, as we can import or export as necessary.

I was thinking some more about the 'cooperative, word-at-a-time' way of
getting this built.  It occurs to me that there are already some ventures
like that out on the web.

One that I recollect well is http://www.h2g2.com - which is
the "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy"...just like in the Douglas Adams
series of books/radio shows/TV of that name.

It's an attempt to build a universal (but silly) guide to absolutely
everything.  The projects been running for a least a year and the
list of stuff they have definitions for is incredible.  Not just
individual words, also movie titles and stuff like that.

People provide funny definitions to words that the website
cross-indexes like crazy.  If you have a better definition for a
word than the previous one, you can submit it and people can vote
on whether yours is better. (Well, something like that)

Perhaps that's the model you should be trying to get to?  Just
a *serious* version of that - to which users can append pictures
and sounds.  Of course if you open it to the general public you
are running the risk of people posting pornography under the
definition of 'Giraffe'...so you'd still need to check the word
list periodically before making a 'released' version to ship with
games.

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1@airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker@hti.com      (work)
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