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David raises an interesting point over on the cafe.
I’m not completely convinced of nLab acting as both reference wiki and as a place to work out ideas.
As I commented there, his main comment is related to our discussion on "original research". Maybe it's time to actually design a few icons for that (and other things).
However, it is an interesting point. According to its home page, the n-lab is for both exposition and doing research. Indeed, I doubt that the two can be properly separated. However, it is possible for one to get swamped by the other - and if that happens it is most likely to be exposition swamping new research. That is, the desire to have "safe exposition" becomes such that new research is almost impossible to put up, or has to be put up in such obscure ways that no-one sees it (who does go round the private labs, by the way?). You never know, we may end up with a section of the n-lab with a "No Original Research" slogan over the door. To indicate it's pedestrian feel, we might call it, err, n-labipedia.
I'm not raising this because I think that we need to actually do anything yet, beyond designing a few markers, but just out of curiosity as to how others see and use the n-lab. So here's a mini-questionnaire. I'll try to think of some virtual prizes for the first ten respondents. I've put some "possible answers" to start you thinking, but this isn't intended as multiple choice.
What is your main reason for going to an n-lab page? Some possible answers:
If looking up something categorical, what's your list of "places to look", and where is the n-lab on your priority list? Some possible answers:
When adding something to the n-lab, how careful are you?
When reading something on the n-lab, how careful are you?
What is your main reason for going to an n-lab page?
To understand what is going on at the n-Cafe.
If looking up something categorical, what's your list of "places to look", and where is the n-lab on your priority list?
Google. Often the n-Lab is in the top few search results.
When adding something to the n-lab, how careful are you?
Not very.
When reading something on the n-lab, how careful are you?
Not very. Even if refereed. I don't believe anything unless I rediscover it myself.
I visit every page every time it is edited to see what happened. (I probably won't be able to keep this up in the fall.) If I can see that something needs cleaning or that I can write a good explanation of some point, then I do so. After that, I visit pages to write them or to add substantially to them (this time by plan rather than because it's there). And in the course of this, I also often visit previously written pages for reference.
Like everything else, I start with Google, unless I remember that what I want is some place more specific. I pretty much know what is in Categories Work or in the Lab, for example, so I'll go there if that's what I want. If I think that it's likely to be in the Elephant or some other book that I have, then I'll go there too. But otherwise, I google, at least enough to learn where else I might go.
I try to be honest about whether what I write is true or not, but I don't check references or recreate proofs for everything, so I sometimes make mistakes. Occasionally I'll be a little more careless if I know that somebody (that is somebody who'll catch any problems) is watching, but that doesn't work as often as it used to, now that Mike Shulman is gone.
If I don't understand it (like much of what Urs writes or something like Frolicher space that's just long), then I believe it tentatively. If I do understand it, then I correct it if it's wrong. If it's on the border, then I try to prove it for myself and ask a question if I can't.
As someone only just starting to become a contributor, I'm hopefully reasonably representative as a reader too...
1. What is your main reason for going to an n-lab page?
Generally, to look up categorical concepts that I can't recall the details of.
2. If looking up something categorical, what's your list of "places to look", and where is the n-lab on your priority list?
If I can remember a specific paper or book that mentions something, I'll look there. Otherwise I'll google, and usually end up looking at whichever of wikipedia and n-Lab has something, so often both.
3. When adding something to the n-lab, how careful are you?
As a new contributor, this is mostly hypothetical, but generally: if I were writing something original or speculative, I'd mark it as such; when writing something expository, I'd try to make sure I'm following established definitions/conventions, checking at least one respectable (i.e. published) source if I'm at all unsure.
4. When reading something on the n-lab, how careful are you?
About as careful as when reading papers. That is: I'll assume that definitions given are correct (i.e. agree with their usage elsewhere) unless I have a particular reason to doubt it, and I'll assume that facts/theorems are probably true, but I won't really believe them until I understand the proof myself. I'm slightly more skeptical of the nLab than of published papers, just as I'm slightly more skeptical of recent papers than of well-established papers or textbooks.
Andrew,
I found the imagery you proposed recently adequately descriptive for the nature of the nLab:
you said the nLab is like a lab book . A big, community lab book that we keep lying around openly for everybody to browse through.
For me internally that captures very well how I am thinking of the nLab and what it does for me.
I was thinking about putting a snetence along these lines at HomePage. What do you all think?
@ Urs:
Sounds good to me.
Okay, I added a line concerning "lab book" to HowTo.
I also added a remark to the software-requirement standout box highlighting that one doesn't need to know MathML syntax to produce math on the Lab. (Recently somebody on the Cafe thought he'd need to "know MathML" in order to contribute).
You mean HomePage. I messed with it a bit too.
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You mean HomePage
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<p>True, I really do need to concentrate more when posting here. I keep posting wrong links. Sorry for that.</p>
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