User guide
From EpochWiki
Contents |
MediaWiki & Semantic Extension
This site uses the WikiMedia wiki platform alongside with the Semantic MediaWiki extension. As several good help pages already exist regarding how to use WikiMedia and Semantic MediaWiki this user guide will start off by listing several useful links.
Wiki Concept
- Wikipedia article - An introductory article about wikis
WikiMedia
- Wikimedia's Help Contents Page - An index of short articles regarding many aspects of reading and editing a Wikimedia wiki.
- Cheatsheet - A cheatsheet aimed at Wikimedia newbies to help them learn the basic formatting rules.
- Wikimedia Editing Basics - Brief overview of the editing and contributing process.
- Learn by Examples - A collection of wiki markup snippets.
- HTML in wikitext - An article about using HTML in wiki texts.
Semantic WikiMedia
- The Semantic Web Community's Wiki - A wiki run by the creators of the Semantic WikiMedia extension. The design and features of her-IT-age.net has been heavily influenced by this site.
- Semantic MediaWiki Annotation Article - Learn more about how to include semantic annotations to your articles.
- Semantic MediaWiki Full Documentation
EPOCH Wiki
Note: Throughout this document, the words "page" and "article" refer to the same thing - namely wiki pages such as this one.
Site Structure
Any new article on this wiki should be cataloged under at least one category. Several categories are already defined on the site, and editor's should try to stick to these when creating new articles. In some cases (when it becomes a stretch to include a new article to any existing categories), it may become necessary to create a new category. Read the "Adding a Category"" section for more on how to create a new category. The categories of this site define a loose structure upon the content of this site. For a list of the main categories go here or follow the link in the left sidebar in the navigation section.
Adding Content
To allow users to quickly and validly add content, this site features forms that assist in creating articles for all of the main categories. It is highly recommended that you always use one of these forms when creating content. Not only is it faster, it allows users to create articles with minimal knowledge of wiki markup and to prepopulate semantic templates that automatically generate useful content depending on the type of article. In the text box at the bottom of each form it presents the user with a list of known categories relevant to the kind of article you are creating. This is also the text box in which you place your content. Edit your content here exactly as you would using the built-in page editor.
Before creating a new article, it may be wise to search the site for similar/identical content. Page (article) names are case sensitive which has the unfortunate side effect of making it easier to create duplicate content.
Tip for wikiphobes: If learning wiki syntax is the last thing you want to have to deal with and all you want is to add textual content with the occasional file attachment you should be able to get by with the following help:
- http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Contents - Read the articles under 'Reading' and 'Editing' and article 'Images' under 'Advanced editing'.
Adding a Category
TODO
The Semantic Extension
Once you have become fairly acquainted with this wiki we urge you to follow some of the links provided for the Semantic MediaWiki extension and convince yourself of its usefulness. With a minimal addition of wiki markup elements (called annotations) it is possible to tag information in your articles with semantics. This allows for "better" searches through content and will become increasingly useful as the site grows. Please note that by adding content using the forms you are already implicitly using semantic annotations. As an illustration of how useful the semantic extension can be check out the automatically generated lists of events present on the main page of this wiki.
