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  • From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Design critiques
  • Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:45:04 -0700

Linda, here are some answers written in 'wikiese'
Go to http://www.permaculture.info/index.php/Author_guidance so see what it looks like on a wiki page.
I short, just start messing around...

===What is a wiki and why is it so useful to us as a web tool?===

A wiki is a endless blank webpage waiting for text or pictures. Anyone can create or edit any page. There is a social contract that guides how this is done and all changes and who made them are remembered by the wiki - so there are safeguards. Then there are individuals who are sysops who can manipulate the wiki to enforce the social contract. It's kind of like an infinitely large but very well organized hobo camp.

Each page has a name and it is easy to jump from place to place if you know the name of where you are going. If you don't know the exact name, you can look in a category... a category includes all the pages that have been tagged with the category tag. A category tag looks like <nowiki>[[category:categoryname]]</nowiki> in edit view, and shows up at the bottom of each page. It’s like a club membership. Each page can be a member of many clubs.

If you create a user identity, you automatically get a 'home page'. That place has the name <nowiki>[[User:username]] or whatever your user name is. You can edit the text in your homepage and add category tags. My home page has the following tags: [[category:MEMBER]] [[category:Puget Lowland Forest]]</nowiki>.

If someone knows me they can go to my page. If they don't know me but are looking for someone, they can look at the MEMBER category which is a core category to this wiki, and find all self-identified members. They could also look in <nowiki>[[category:Puget Lowland Forest]] to find all things related to that ecoregion, and if they didn't know that existed, they could use the core categories [[category:ECOREGION]] or [[category:LOCATION]] for I have tagged the more specific [[category:Puget Lowland Forest]]</nowiki> with both those core categories.

While editing a page you can insert these category tags by clicking on the appropriate tag on the bottom of the edit screen.

===How do I contribute this wiki?===

When writing text you can insert a link, something like [[newpage]]. If that page doesn't exist it shows up in red font. Following the red links lets you author new pages. You create the door, then go in and create the next world.

You can also just enter a text string in the search box on the left, and it will look through the whole wiki for pages with that name. If none are found, that will be explained and you will be offered a red font link to author that page.

When you are writing a wiki page you use a kind of wiki shorthand described at [[Help:Contents]]. Each page is stored as text only, but the wiki software converts it to a formatted web page. With this short hand you can create a number of effects. Including text in double brackets asks the wiki to create a link to a page within the wiki by that name. <nowiki>[[User:Username]] would create a link to your 'home page'. If you are curious how something was done, just go into edit view, and look for the shorthand, and copy it on your next page.

If you are creating a family of pages that you want associated with yourself (like all your designs) then create a category that is you... <nowiki>[[category:Username]]</nowiki>. You can link to that category from your 'home page' or from the bottom of any page that is tagged with that category. You can also tag your pages with that category.

In short, the better tagged your pages are to the [[PIW:pagetype|core wiki categories]] and linked to other pages the more likely it will be found.

To upload images (a .jpg file for example) click on the upload image. Give your image a name. And give it a tag. You can tag your pictures with your username category to keep track of them.

When editing a page you can insert a picture
http://www.permaculture.info/index.php/Help:Images

===Would a designer build a 'space' including their design and then people would edit it and those edits are their comments etc?===

Correct. We just created a new master category called <nowiki>[[category:DESIGN]]</nowiki> this category will include pages where people have uploaded designs for which they want critique. There are two ways to receive comments. Every page has a front end 'the article' and a backend 'the talk page'. The purpose of the 'talk page' is to keep the front-end of the shop clean. With a wiki you are not just rambling on a list. You are creating a product. Base on the laws of merchandizing, that product must be clean and legible or it will be ignored (not unlike your design products).

===Does the 'discussion' section work like a list thread?===

The talk page, which is the backend, is the place for the back and forth that we have on the list. The advantage of the wiki is that you can see the whole dialog in one place and insert your words at any point in the dialog.

using the text string <nowiki>"--~~~~"</nowiki> marks your entry with your username (linking back to your homepage) and a time stamp.

using colons at the beginning of a paragraph indents that paragraph as is commonly used to associate comments with previous comments, not the outline structure you learned back in middle school.





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