Roger,

It's a curious question. Why do you ask it?

My first reaction is to define in this given context evolution as
extensibility in a specific direction (in your examples - adding or rating
content - improving quality of knowledge).

Best regards,
Kremena

> Hi Folks,
>
> I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the differences between an
> information system that is extensible versus an information system that is
> evolvable.
>
> For example, suppose that Amazon.com gives users the ability to do a
> keyword
> search.  Further, suppose that Amazon empowers its users to create new
> keywords (and map the new keywords to information at the Web site).  Is
> this
> support for new keywords an example of extensibility or evolution?  By
> adding new keywords has Amazon merely been extended, or has it evolved?
>
> Let's take another example.  Suppose that Amazon gives users the ability
> to
> search by book category (e.g., Fiction, Non-Fiction, etc.)  Further,
> suppose
> that Amazon empowers its users to create new categories (and map the
> categories to information at the Web site).  Is this support for new
> categories an example of extensibility or evolution?  By adding new
> categories has Amazon merely been extended, or has it evolved?
>
> If adding new keywords and adding new categories are merely examples of
> extension, then can you give an example of evolution?   /Roger
>