CIT 2007 - WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2007

Using A Wiki: I Never Thought It Would Be So Easy To Do So Much!

Instructor: Martin Walker
Assisant Professor
SUNY Potsdam

Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Yokum 100A
Rating: Intermediate
Platform: PC
Cost: $40

Description:

Wikis are making the web interactive, adding a new level of sophistication and changing the way information is made available - yet wiki markup language is much easier to learn than traditional HTML. This workshop will teach all the basic skills needed for using a wiki, for example contributing to Wikipedia. The session will cover the following topics:
• Etiquette and style
• What works and what doesn't
• Setting up a user page and a sandbox
• Writing simple text with links and citations.
• Uploading pictures, and inserting these into pages
• Interlanguage wikilinks
• Tables
• Templates and transclusion
• Talk pages
• Using page histories, user contributions, watchlists
• WikiProjects, edit wars how online communities function
• Automation bots, scripts and AutoWikiBrowser
• Metadata and metasites
• Setting up your own wiki both technical and philosophical aspects

Most topics will be done hands-on, so that participants can learn by doing. I have prepared some pages that are deliberately done badly, so that participants can learn to clean up poor English or crazy formatting. There will be a longer assignment, about halfway through writing and formatting a complete page to give people the chance for a short break from the computer. Everything will be done with some level of collaboration interrupted by an occasional vandal or troublemaker (myself!) so that participants have a chance to feel what it is like to work together online. The session will wind up with some guidelines on setting up your own wiki, along with final questions.