Wiki getting started

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What is this wiki?

(Adapted from Wikipedia:) This OLPC website is a wiki. A wiki is software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily - in this case, information and projects surrounding the One Laptop Per Child initiative. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites like the one you see here.

The OLPC wiki is completely open; generally speaking, anyone can edit any page if they think they can improve it in some way. Wikis are generally designed with the philosophy of making it easy to correct mistakes rather than making it difficult to make them. A handful of active, experienced wiki editors act as wiki administrators reverting and blocking vandalism while also helping new users get started.

Watch this video to get a clear understanding of how a wiki works and how it differs from a webite, blog or email.

at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY (Youtube)

Learning to use the wiki

Jumping in

Edit

  • Structure and formatting of wiki pages are specified with a simplified markup language, known as "wikitext".
  • Click on edit tab at the top to see the wikitext of a page.
  • Type your changes straight into the page and then click the save button at the bottom. (First-time editors should probably try editing in Sandbox first.)

Discussion

  • Wiki pages are usually reserved for more public-facing, settled-down information.
  • There are discussions on attached wikipages called talk pages (also known as "discussion pages") for meta-discussions about the content of the pages themselves.
  • Click the discussion tab at the top of a page (next to the "edit" tab) to get to the discussion pages. (You can try it now on the talkpage of this page.)
  • Some wikipages don't have a discussion page yet, but if you have something to say about a page, feel free to be the first to comment in a discussion page and start the conversation.

In notes, chats, and emails, OLPC community members often use a shorthand when referring to wiki pagenames and titles. (For instance, the name/title of this page is "Wiki getting started.") [[Page name]] translates to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Page_name.

Watch

  • Members will often watch pages they're interested on, which means they want to be notified whenever that page is updated without having to go back and manually check it every day themselves.
  • The tutorial linked below covers this and other topics in more detail.
    • First, you'll have to create an account, which we'd love for you to do in any case - it helps us figure out who's writing what on the wiki so we can give the proper attribution to you for all your help.

Pages with the green banner at the top, like the following line,

  This page is monitored by the OLPC team.

are monitored by the OLPC team and are representative of the current state of the project; other pages may be slightly less up-to-date. You are welcome to edit and add information to OLPC-monitored pages. Use the associated Talk pages for discussions topical to the monitored page.

A more structured path

Some people like learning how to use wikis in a more structured manner. If you're looking for resources, we recommend you start by:

  1. Creating an account
  2. Reading through the Wikieducator tutorial and working through as many of the exercises as you like. Wikieducator uses the same software we do, and they maintain an excellent tutorial on how to get started editing.

It usually takes people about 30 minutes to get comfortable using the wiki. Of course, you can do things in any order - you can even practice editing without creating an account first, if you'd like.

Once you do create an account, check your preferences and be sure you verify your email address and turn on email notification if you'd like it -- you can find out when your talk page, or any page on your watchlist, is modified. You may want to upload a photo or information about yourself to your userpage (see Lauren's, Mel's, and Xavi's pages for some examples).

Getting help

Wiki mentors

There are a number of active volunteers who are always willing to help new users get started. No question is too small; we're here to help point people in the right direction. Contact information should be on their userpages; just click on a name to get started.

  • Mel Chua
  • Nikki Lee
  • Cjl
  • Add yourself here if you're willing to mentor. Make sure contact information is on your userpage.

Live chat

The #olpc-content channel on irc.freenode.net is usually a good place to find people and ask questions about using the wiki. Instructions on using IRC can be found here, or just visit the web chat on http://olpc.osuosl.org/chat and type the words "/join #olpc-content" (no quotes) once you sign in.

Next steps

Once you're comfortable with using the wiki in general, you might...

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