Wiki hyperglossary and wiki links index

CHED 762

Robert E. Belford, rebelford@ualr.edu and Shane Z. Sullivan, szsullivan@ualr.edu. Department of Chemistry, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University, Little Rock, AR 72204-1099
This paper will describe the progress on a project merging a wiki links index with a wiki hyperglossary. The wiki links index is a form of hierarchical social bookmarking where "approved" web pages can be placed in a two tiered topic hierarchy resulting in a content theme analogous to a classical textbook table of contents. When someone clicks on a link though, that link is sent to a specific wiki hyperglossary devoted to the theme of the index. This embeds two new types of links into the original web page. The first uses AJAX to communicate with a hyperglossary database allowing the content of the database to become connected to the document. The second, JavaScript Automated Search (JAS), links every word in the document to a search engine and runs a modified search of that word. Both the links index and the hyperglossary are a form of social networking in that different communities can contribute to them over the World Wide Web. Implications for both formal and informal chemical education will be discussed.