ASIST Chapters-SIGs Wiki FAQ

From Chapters-sigs

In order to improve communication and collaboration within chapters and SIGs, and between chapters and SIGs that want to collaborate with each other, we’ve created a Chapters and SIGs wiki (website). If you have never used a wiki before, the following questions should help explain the value of it and how to start using it.

Contents 1 What is a wiki? 2 What would I use it for? 3 How do I navigate around the site? Is there a site map? 4 How do I edit a page? 5 How do I log in (and/or create an account)? 6 How do I create a new page? 7 How do I link to a page I created when I was somewhere else? 8 Can I add images? 9 How can I keep track of when changes are made to a page I care about?

What is a wiki?

A wiki is a website that can be edited and changed by lots of people. You don’t have to know HTML. You don’t have to know Dreamweaver. You don’t have to have a special connection to “upload” files to a server. You can just edit each page of the website just by clicking “edit” and changing or adding text.

The other unique feature of a wiki is that it saves a copy of EVERY VERSION of a page, so that if someone makes a mistake, you can go back to a previous version of the page. To see previous versions, click the “history” link at the top of the page. You can even check two different pages and compare versions to see what has been changed.

Anyone in the world can view the wiki, but you can only edit the wiki if you create an account and log in. Right now anyone can create an account, and we will be monitoring the wiki for spam and deleting any accounts created by spammers.

What would I use it for?

Wikis are great when you want lots of different people to be able to change the content of a page. For example, if a committee is working on a particular project there may be text that needs to be edited by everyone or ideas or decisions that lots of people need to weigh in on. With a wiki, each person can add their perspective to ONE PAGE and you don’t have to worry about lots of emails flying around and wondering where the latest version of the call for papers is or who is going to extract and aggregate all the opinions from all the different emails.

Some of the reasons we are using it for ASIST Chapters and SIGs include:

• It will give each chapter and SIG a space to have their own wiki pages without having to create and maintain their own wiki.
• It will allow chapters and SIGs to easily collaborate on projects, including planning panels for Annual Meeting or regional events.
• It might be a good place to hold the Annual Reports (all members of a chapter can work on the report in one place and then chapters and SIGs can learn from each other and get new ideas or ask for help).
• It will allow us to update general reference documents quickly as we develop new procedures or ideas to make things run more smoothly.

How do I navigate around the site? Is there a site map?

• Most of the navigation happens from inside the pages through the links.
• You can always get to the home page by clicking on "Main Page" from the left navigation.
• You can see a list of ALL the pages by clicking on "Special pages" under the toolbox on the left. Then click on the first item: "All pages" to see an alphabetical list. There is no hierarchical list, because any page can be linked from any other page.
• You can also use the Search box on the left to find things

How do I edit a page?

You can edit each page of the wiki (website) by clicking “edit” at the top of the page and adding or changing the text that appears in the box.

1. First log in by clicking the login link on the top right of the page (you might have to create an account for yourself).
2. Go to the page I made (under REFERENCE...)
3. Click "edit" at the top and the text of the page will appear in an editing box
4. Click the cursor at the place you want to put your text and then add text or change text
5. You may want to add a little wiki code to create bullets, bolding, sections, etc. There might be some icons right at the top left of the editing box (things like “B” for bold). You can also look at what others have done and just copy those codes, or you can review the Sample Code Page linked from the top paragraph on the main page, or you can look at the wiki editing tips linked from the bottom of the main page.
6. DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "SAVE PAGE" AT THE BOTTOM when you are done editing. You can also click “Preview” to look at your work before you save it, but DON’T FORGET TO SAVE!

How do I log in (and/or create an account)?

1. Click the login link on the top right of the page
2. If you have already created an account, just enter your username and password and click “Login”
3. If you are logging in for the first time, click on the words “Create an account”
4. Fill in the five boxes with the username, password, email and real name of your choice and click “Create Account” (a confirmation will be sent to the email address). ** NOTE: You may want to create one username and password for your Chapter or SIG, but you can also create a personal account if you want and set your own preferences (click “preferences” on the top right of the window)
5. Once you have logged in, you can click on the link provided or on “Main Page” on the left hand side of the window (the top link in the navigation box).

How do I create a new page?

1. click “edit” at the top of the page
2. type two open square brackets
3. type the name you want for your new page (NOTE WARNINGS BELOW!)
4. type two closing square brackets
5. Click “Save Page” at the bottom

Your page name will now appear as linked text (red until you click on it and add text – then it will be blue/purple).

WARNINGS: These are serious!

USE SIG/CHAPTER SPECIFIC PAGE NAMES

Be sure that all your page names have the name of your Chapter or SIG in them. If you create a page called “Annual Meeting 2008” – chances are that some other Chapter or SIG will already have that page and your link will always only ever go to their page because you can’t have more than one page with the same name. So name your page “(Chapter or SIG name) Annual Meeting 2008” so it will be unique to you.

PAGE NAMES CAN’T BE CHANGED

The name between the brackets will forever be the name of the page. If you want to link to that page you must ALWAYS use the EXACT same name. You CANNOT CHANGE THE NAME. If you want to change the name of the page, you must create a new page with the new name and then go to the old page and copy the code and paste it into the new page.

How do I link to a page I created when I was somewhere else?

1. click “edit” at the top of the page
2. type two open square brackets
3. type the name of the page you want to link to (NOTE WARNINGS ABOVE!)
4. type two closing square brackets
5. Click “Save Page” at the bottom

Can I add images?

We cannot add any files (images or documents) at this time, but we will send a message to Chapters-L and SIG-L (officers are subscribed to these lists) if/when this changes.

How can I keep track of when changes are made to a page I care about?

When you edit a page, down at the bottom next to the "Save Page" and "Preview" buttons is a check box next to the words "Watch this page." If you check the box before you click Save, you will get an email every time the page is edited.

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