2  Body of knowledge

A body of knowledge needs structure to maintain its coherency.

The content is well structured, using categories to group related articles. It is the structure that facilitates ensuring that the subject has full coverage, a critical characteristic of a body of knowledge, becoming mature when 100% is reached. If part of the content needs to be treated differently or expands other content to a greater depth, so targeting a different audience, it may be in a separate subsite with its own home page and navigation.

Content is only added if it adds value to the whole site, and only deleted if it is obsolete and has no historical significance. Lots of articles may be added early on, but as the site matures, adding new articles may occur less often. At that stage, only periodic maintenance to keep it relevant will be required. Of course, how stable a site is will depend upon the site subject. Even history can become dynamic if dealing with past events that are being reevaluated in light of recent discoveries or forensic analysis of existing relics that challenges previous beliefs.

The primary access method for a body of knowledge is by navigating its structure, in the same way a reference book is accessed using its table of contents. Of course, contents can still be searched, in the same way an index is used in a reference book. It is the structure that makes a body of knowledge more suitable for use in the study of a subject.

Articles for a body of knowledge need to fit in with the overarching theme of the site by using consistent narratives.

If writing a blog, each article usually has an independent theme of its own, and thus its own narrative. If part of a set on the one topic, each might further the same narrative theme. A body of knowledge needs a narrative theme that is consistent across all the articles so that readers know that the articles they are reading fit into a greater narrative. A category of articles should have a sub-theme that fits in with the greater narrative, just like a section in an article will have its own theme, but should fit in with the narrative theme of its article.

This all requires thinking of the site as one big narrative with categories dealing with sub-narratives and articles providing the fleshing out of those narrative in its various expressions. It is a top-down view of the site, even if which articles are written when is rather organic. As the site narrative evolves, categories will evolve and the narratives in articles may need changing to fit in better with the newer narrative themes. This is what makes a body of knowledge dynamic and keeps it relevant.

So, rather than a collection of vignettes that is a blog, a body of knowledge can be seen as the encapsulation of the sum of our understanding and wisdom. It is the whole that is much more than its parts.