Talk:Actionable themes
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CLASSIFICATION BY SUBJECT
Several members of this list have supported (in their postings to this list, or in private mails to me) the "21 actionable themes" as a classification by subject to be used in our digital WSF Library (www.wsflibrary.org). Some of you have also proposed amendments to the 21 themes, which we need to return to, and to discuss one by one in separate threads of messages.
Once we have reaches sufficient consensus about the details of the classification by subject, I think we should proceed to classifying the materials, and to having the 21 themes as a navigation panel on top of the front page of the site. Do you agree?
I would like to add a couple of points about this particular classification by subject. As librarians, you may want to give these points a thought, and to express your own thoughts, please:
1. The list with the 21 "actionable themes" of the WSF shows a rough resemblance with the list of Ministries of a modern state. It is not a classification of knowledge. Rather, it is the taxonomy of things that a contemporary Government should be concerned with. Note that no Government can ever be perfect. Neither can this kind of classification by subject be perfect.
2. I am prepared to accept any order of the 21 actionable themes. Thus it would be OK with me if Water came last, and Children first. Or, Labour could be number 2. and Education number 1. A mathematically educated friend pointed out to me, that 20 themes can be ordered in great many ways. There are, to be exact:
20! = 2 432 902 008 176 640 000 different possibilities...
That is far more than all people on earth. Another order is always possible!
3. The two main advantages of the 21 actionable themes: a) This classification -- or at least the version that we are working on -- is sanctioned by the International Council of the World Social Forum; b) the list is short enough to permit a rapid overview of the whole, yet it is fairly comprehensive.
CLASSIFICATION BY OTHER CRITERIA
We will also need, of course, to introduce classification by other criteria than the subject: type, and format, for instance. The fact that we are dealing with events, events within events, and with *ongoing activities* necessitates the use of criteria, which may not belong to the traditional ones in libraries (?). - There are indeed many open questions left to discuss.
Pomoja tunawesa,
