WNMUWikiFaq

WIKI FAQ

What is a Wiki?
Where did “wiki” come from?
Why would I want to participate in a wiki?
How do I navigate the wiki?
What are the limitations of wikis? Can a wiki become anything a user wants? Is it a full service resource?
How many wikis does WNMU have?
What is wiki etiquette?
Who can see the wiki?
Who can change things?
If everybody can edit everything, what keeps the wiki from turning into a real mess?
What happens if two people try to edit and save concurrently? Last one to save wins?
OK, wikis change constantly, everyone can edit, and no programming is required.
Doesn’t someone have to be in charge for this to work?
How do I edit a page?
What is a “mark-up language”?
How do I add a page?
Someone messed up my page! What can I do about it?
Do I have to learn how to format wiki pages?
How can I learn to format things in the wiki?
Where can I find information on the wiki mark-up language?
Can I experiment with the Wiki?
Can I make a link to a page that is outside the wiki?
How can I include an image or picture?
Can I attach other documents to wiki pages?
How can I tell people I’ve made a change in the wiki?
What’s all this “NOSPAM” stuff in the email addresses?
How can I edit the email group and see who is listed?
What does the search do?
Will you help me?

Q: What is a Wiki?

A: Essentially, a wiki is an editable website. A wiki allows a group of people to collaboratively develop the website with no knowledge of HTML or other markup languages. These people may know each other or they may be complete strangers who are all working together to create and edit the website content. Wiki, meaning quick in Hawaiian, was developed to allow easy and fast collaborative development and editing of a website. Wikis usually start as a blank slate and are developed by the community of users who choose to participate. Anyone in the community can add to or edit anyone else’s writing. In theory, the final content should represent some sort of consensus within the community.

Some wikis are open to everyone. This can become problematic when spammers or malicious people vandalize entries, but concerned members of the wiki community usually quickly fix the entries. The community enforces behavioral norms, so that it doesn’t become a free-for-all. It is self-organizing group behavior in action. Other wikis are open only to specific groups like librarians, software developers, or participants in a class. These are wikis that are used to fill a specific need, and that need is how to find a way to easily collaborate and share information. Wikis are often used for intranets, research spaces, collaborative projects, creating documentation, and editing texts. Most of WNMU’s wikis require that a user sign in to edit them and a few require that users sign in to view them.

Q: Where did “wiki” come from?

A: Wiki is short for “wikiwikiWeb”, first developed by Ward Cunningham in 1995. “Wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian.

Q: Why would I want to participate in a wiki?

A: There are many reasons to participate in a wiki. Here are just a few.

• You don’t have to be some specific place at some specific time to input to a wiki.
• The wiki allows you to keep all your information available in one place.
• The wiki may allow you to minimize the effort you put into reports and status.
• The wiki allows you to create an archive of activities and results.
• The wiki simplifies collaboration.
• You can refer people with questions to the wiki.
• You can allow other people to provide input and collaborate with you easily.
• The wiki can provide a one-stop shop for all the information about your project.

Wikis are a tool and their value is related to how they are used. But, to make it valuable, the wiki has to contribute to some goal or fulfill some need. Wikis are a great place for people to “put stuff”. They’re also a great place to review things, do some editing, keep things up to date, and collaborate in an asynchronous way. As discussions occur, meetings are held, or assignments are completed, wikis can be a great place to store the information generated by these and other activities. If you are diligent in maintaining information on your project’s wiki, you will find that when it comes time to provide reports and presentations, you are already about 80% done.

Q: How do I navigate the wiki?

A: This one is super easy. Simply browse the wiki like you would any web site. You can click links, go backwards with your browser's back button, and so on. You can also use the Search box to find all pages containing a reference to what you are searching for

Q: What are the limitations of wikis? Can a wiki become anything a user wants? Is it a full service resource?

A: A wiki is not really a full service resource, nor is it meant to be. Below are listed some things that wikis are not appropriate for:

• Threaded Discussions: Without attribution or chronology, discussions don’t fly. They’re possible, but not easy.
• Weblogging: Again, no attribution or chronology
• Instant Messaging/Presence: There is often no way to know when someone else is “on” the wiki or to contact them directly via the wiki.

Q: How many wikis does WNMU have?

A: The number of wikis at WNMU keeps changing as projects come and go. The IT wiki lists more than ten WNMU wikis on its “Other Wikis” page. In addition to the IT wiki these include a wiki for the Web PMT, one for the Staff Senate, one for the AQIP Marketing group, and one for the Student Government among others.

Q: What is wiki etiquette?

A: Wiki etiquette is the group of rules of behavior that allow the wiki to operate productively. Most of them are very simple and not that much different from normal etiquette. Basically they are things like not being rude. All the WNMU wikis have on their main page a link to Wiki Etiquette that will take you to a page where you can learn more about, surprise, wiki etiquette.

Q: Who can see the wiki?

A: Some of WNMU’s wikis require that a user sign in to edit them and a few require that users sign in to view them. Other wikis, such as Wikipedia allow anyone to view or edit them.

Q: Who can change things?

A: Everyone who has edit access to the wiki can change anything in it. Most WNMU wikis have limited the number of users that can edit the wiki, but some don't have the restriction. Many of the wikis on the web allow anyone to edit their content.

Q: If everybody can edit everything, what keeps the wiki from turning into a real mess?

A: Yes, everyone (that is, everyone with access) can edit every page. And, yes, most wikis are vulnerable to attacks from spammers, flamers and disrupters. However, you would be surprised at how little this happens - and how little it affects the operation of the wiki. Often, wikis have dedicated users that keep up with each change that is made and they can clean up graffiti very quickly. Some say that the “cost” of defiling a wiki is greater than the cost of cleaning it, so it is not worth a spammer’s time to do it.

Q: What happens if two people try to edit and save concurrently? Last one to save wins?

A: First one to save wins, the next guy gets a warning and a note telling them that you should check what changed and try a re-edit.

Q: OK, wikis change constantly, everyone can edit, and no programming is required. Doesn’t someone have to be in charge for this to work?

A: Yes and no. Wikis work best when they are “gardened”. Usually, the people dedicated to the wiki (the community) will work to organize it over time. Not every user will consistently make changes effectively, so someone (or small group) often needs to be the gardener. The role of the gardener is to keep up the changes and make changes that ensure the wiki is organized and structured intuitively.

Q: How do I edit a page?

A: If you want to edit a page in the wiki, click on "edit this page" in the left menu or simply scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the button “edit this page”. If this wiki is password protected and you have not already signed in, you will be asked for the user name and password. This will take you to an editing page with an edit window and a summary of the more frequently used markup commands. Once there, simply type what you want to add to the page in the edit window and click “save”. That’s all there is to it. It’s actually simpler than creating and sending email.

Q: What is a “mark-up language”?

A: Wikis use a simple mark-up language to format and structure the wiki. A mark-up language uses embedded commands, usually symbols, placed appropriately in the text to tell an interpreting program how to display the information. The extra information, for example about the text's structure or presentation, is expressed using markup, which is intermingled with the primary text. The best-known markup language in modern use is HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), one of the foundations of the World Wide Web. Originally markup was used in the publishing industry in the communication of printed work between authors, editors, and printers.

Q: How do I add a page?

A: Create a link that points to a new (not existing) page using its WikiName. Click the question mark (?) after the new link and you will get an editor for the new page. The reason for this is that linking between WikiPages is the way that people find their way to these pages. If a page is not linked, nobody can find it and it is thus useless. By forcing people to create a link first, you encourage people to link more and more. In fact, whenever you write something that you think someone could write an explanation for, just make it a hyperlink. Someone will pick it up, someday and create the page.

Q: Someone messed up my page! What can I do about it?

A: First, relax. You can easily restore your page AND find out who did it (whether intentionally or unintentionally). If you click on the “More Info” button at the bottom of your page, you will be taken to a page that provides you with at least the last six versions of your page along with the user name of the person that edited them. If you click on one of the links under date, you will go to a page that shows you the difference between the page as it was on that date and the page after it was edited. If you click on the version number in the first column, you will be taken to that version of the page. If you want to restore that version, click on the restore button.

Q: Do I have to learn how to format wiki pages?

A: No, you don’t have to be able to format pages to be able to contribute. You can simply click on “edit this page” and type whatever you want to add. It’s likely that someone else will come by later and add some formatting. Long term, it would be nice to be able to format, but it isn’t required.

Q: How can I learn to format things in the wiki?

A: The best way to learn how to use the Wiki is by playing around with it. For example, if you are logged in, you can visit the sandbox page and practice some editing. The sandbox also provides examples of many of the formatting options available. You can also go to any of the wiki pages, click on “edit this page” and see what other folks have done to get the page to look like they want.

Q: Where can I find information on the wiki mark-up language?

A: All of the WNMU wikis have a “How to use Wiki” link in the footer of the left hand menu. A click on this link will take you to a page with several links to wiki information. The link labeled “Go Here to view editing rules” will take you to a page with editing rules.

Q: Can I experiment with the Wiki?

Yes, you can. The best way to learn how to use a wiki is by playing around with it. For example, all WNMU wikis have a sandbox page. If you are logged in, you can visit this page and practice some editing or see what people have done to get some of the effects you see on the page to work.

Q: Can I make a link to a page that is outside the wiki?

A: Yes you can if you have the full URL of the outside page. All you do is set up a link in the same way you would for a new page, but insert the URL of your outside page in the place where the WikiName of the new page would go.

Q: How can I include an image or picture?

A: The easiest way is to have your images on a Web accessible server and then treat the URL of the image just like a link to a page outside the wiki (see above). This is where STEEL might be convenient. Just store your images in an accessible folder and then put the link into the wiki. It might look something like this… [your picture|http://steel.wnmu.edu/general/myimages/image004.jpg]

Q: Can I attach other documents to wiki pages?

A: Yes, you can, although it’s probably better to link to them rather than attaching. At the bottom of the page on the same line as the Edit button is an Attach button. Clicking on the Attach button will open a new window that will allow you to select a file. You can upload the file you select and it will be attached to the bottom of the wiki page. Click on the attachment link and the file will open.

Q: How can I tell people I’ve made a change in the wiki?

A: Most of the WNMU wikis have a mailing list link in the left margin under the “Support” heading. Click on the “WIKI Mailing List” link and it will operate in exactly the same way an email link on a normal web page acts when you are browsing. Since I use Eudora as an email client, clicking on the mailing link brings Eudora up on my screen with a blank email already addressed and waiting for text input. All I have to do is type in my message, e.g. “I have updated the Main page today”, and send the email.

Q: What’s all this “NOSPAM” stuff in the email addresses?

A: One of the ways spammers collect their mailing list addresses is to send robots around the web looking for email addresses on web pages. Some of the normal techniques we use to hide email addresses on the WNMU web pages don’t work in the wikis. Including the string “NOSPAM” in the plaintext email address means that anyone who wants to use that email address must edit the “NOSPAM” out. The premise is that people are smart enough to recognize that and machines aren’t. It also presumes that the harvester doesn’t want to go through and check every email address the robot brings them. While it may not make much difference any more, it is an attempt to prevent spammers from using email addresses from the wikis. We also keep the wikis behind our firewall and try to keep robots out.

Q: How can I check the email group and see who is listed?

A: In some wikis, the mailing list can be edited when you are editing the left hand menu. In other cases, the mailing list resides in WNMU's MajorDomo server. In this case, you really can't edit the group directly, but there are things you can do using the standard majordomo commands (shown below). The list server is a standard majordomo server and should respond to typical majordomo commands.

You use these commands by sending an email to majordomo@liblx.wnmu.edu with the command in the body of the email. The mailing list is on WNMU's majordomo server "liblx" which is managed by Steve Liebhart (liebhaNOSPAMrts@wnmu.edu). He can get you any information you need that you can't get with the above commands.

Q: What does the search do?

A: The search feature provides you with a list of all the pages in the wiki that contain your search term. If you’ve forgotten where you put some data, just search on a relatively unique data term and you will be presented with a list of pages containing the page you want.

Q. Will you help me?

A. Yes and no. If you need to have a wiki and mailing list set up for your group, we’ll be more than happy to accommodate you. Just speak with Steve Liebhart. We can usually get a wiki up for you in a day.

If you want us to train you on using wikis, manage your wiki, cultivate your wiki or anything that you could do yourself, then no. We haven’t the manpower or the time to do that. Besides, wikis are so simple that beyond creating the wiki our help shouldn’t be necessary. Use this FAQ and the tools provided on other WNMU wikis and the Web and you should do fine. Remember that wikis are simple and quick. If you want to do something really complicated, the wiki software probably doesn’t support that anyway.