IMSLP Forums

Hi all,
I need some help. I'd like to contribute to organizing the "tagging" (categorization) of pieces, specifically in the trumpet area. Let me explain:

I'm a professional artist-teacher of trumpet in the Boston area and a free culture enthusiast. I use IMSLP often in my professional work because it is an amazing resource (especially the orchestral parts project) and I'd like to help make it better.

I've been involved with wiki projects before. I spent a summer cleaning up and contributing to all of the articles on Wikipedia pertaining to the oratorios of Handel. I'm fairly familiar with the wiki software and wiki editing procedures in general.

Right now the tagging of works looks to be a mess -- there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the categories sometimes. I don't propose tackling the whole system, but would like to contribute in my field -- specifically reliably tagging solo works for Cornet / Trumpet into one large category.

I don't seem to be able to edit the categories through the "edit" tab on pages (the categories section doesn't come up for editing) and there's nothing obvious about how to do this in the help pages. The sandbox page lets you edit its category, but the regular pages don't.

Do you need special permissions for this? Is there something I'm missing? What's the best way for me to help?

Thanks!
Fred

Hello Fred,

Thanks for your offer of help. The categorization system is in the process of a fundamental change, with around 25% of works having been recategorized, and the rest still coming under the old system. That's why it appears something of a jumble, but the situation will continue to improve until all the works have been reclassified.

The new categories don't use the normal Wiki category system, and instead rely on a custom-made system of "tags". The documentation is here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Categorization

It's vital that the tags are used correctly (with the correct format and syntax), and for this reason only members of the project team are permitted to add the tags. If after reading the documentation you're still interested in joining the team, then you're welcome to contact me privately and we'll discuss the options.