Informal learning activities/Secondary

The resources described below, and linked to from here, are the four groups of link lists provided in the Informal learning activities resources for keen user/readers to build up. They very closely follow the techniques of the primary forest as described here.

The Secondary Forest

The explanation following the links just below is not about wandering around the secondary forest. Rather it explains how to go about adding items to the secondary name trees linked to just below.

The secondary forest works in very much the same way as the primary forest. People wishing to add items to the secondary forest should be quite familiar with its counterpart before starting work here.

Links to Lists

Extra Bits & Things: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Extra Living Things: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Extra Women and Men: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Extra Buildings & Places: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Placing Items

The four groups of lists that are linked to just above correspond very closely, as their names above suggest, to the four groups of the primary forest.

Adding items to the two groups with specific names, that is, to Extra Women and Men, or to Extra Buildings & Places, is fairly straightforward. The distinction between the two groups with generic names, that is, to Extra Bits & Things, or to Extra Living Things, is not so clear as the distinction between animate and inanimate objects can be difficult to make.

Contributors are asked to check that the item they wish to add to the secondary forest has not already found a place in the primary forest. Also they can use the primary forest to decide which group the item for a generic name should be added to in the secondary forest.

One way to do the checking is to go to the secondary list where the new item is intended to go, and then explore the corresponding primary list and/or the alternative secondary list. For example, when the page for DTxMo is brought up, the link («»Mo⇑⇑) is shown in the heading. Clicking on the ⇑⇑) will bring up the corresponding primary list, STwMo. Clicking on the («» will bring up the alternative secondary list, LTxMo.

The sequence of items in any list is by the text of the link.

Coding Items

The coding of items involves the use of templates. While there is a Mediawiki help page for templates (here), it's very very complex. What is needed for contributing name tree items is quite simple.

Generic Items

This is an example of an existing item:

There are three components to the item code, separated by the two |s. The enclosing doubled braces specify that a template is to be used, by name STa, and fed with the other two components, ogee for the link and curve for the hint.

Templates with names like STa are used for generic name items in both the primary and secondary forests. Such templates are described here. (Note that, in that description, the place for ogee is shown as {{{1}}} and that for curve as {{{2}}}. )

Specific Items

The specific items are more complex than the generic ones. Also, they are of two kinds, put simply, of people and places. The two examples following show this.

The 19 and En are intended to act as supplementary hints. The Nancy of the first example is a given name, and is intended as another supplementary hint. Otherwise the links of the examples are Mitford and Orpington.

Templates with names like MWa and PBa are used for specific name items in both the primary and secondary forests. Such templates are described here. (Note that, in that description, the places for Nancy and Orpington are shown as {{{1}}}, those for Mitford and En as {{{2}}}, those for 19 and town as {{{3}}}, and that for writer as {{{4}}}. )