Wiki Training

This is an outline for a brief one-hour staff wiki training. There is plenty of room for flexibility in this plan, so make sure to adjust what you are teaching to make it appropriate for the new staff member's job description. --Scrump

Overview

• What the Wiki is for: collaborative work, documenting processes, systems, policies, etc.
• How you should use it as a resource for your job
• What/when you should document on the wiki

Navigation

• Searching: There are two main ways to search:
  • The main search bar (on the left side bar) is best when you know the exact wording of the page you are looking for (and capitalization after the first letter of the first word counts)
  • The link to Google Search--> Search our Wiki (on left side bar) is a great option when you don't know exactly what you are looking for--it is much more forgiving and will look for key words throughout the page.
• Categories: Related pages are grouped together in Categories. For example, the "HR Category" includes links to pages that are relevant to Human Resources. Look through categories (there is a link on the main page, upper right) when you are trying to gather lots of information about a particular subject.
• Recent Changes (link on left side bar) shows you all the pages that were recently updated and by whom.
• Random page (link on left side bar) is a fun way to see a random assortment of our >2,000 pages.

Gleaning Information from Wiki Pages

While the wiki is full of useful resources, it can also be fraught with peril because of outdated, incorrect information. It is important to read wiki pages critically and take information with a grain of salt. Much of what is preserved on the wiki is there because it documents our history and should be read with that in mind. Some helpful tips:

• Click on the "history" link at the top of a page. This will show a log of who has edited that page and when. If it hasn't been updated in years, chances are it is a bit of history and not a current procedure/policy.
• Sometimes you can learn more by clicking on the "discussion" link at the top of a page. This will show you discussions by contributors about that page.
• Remember to check out pages linked to within a page; one of the key characteristics of wikis is that there are lots of internal links to promote more comprehensive information-gathering. Also check out similar pages within a page's category (links to a page's category are at the bottom of that page).

Basic Editing

To teach basic editing, I usually have trainees go to their user page (e.g. User:Scrump) and practice different editing tricks on that page. You can also have people practice in the Sandbox. Whichever you choose, it's best to have trainees practicing each skill as you teach it.

Creating a page

Sometimes, you need to create an entirely new page to document some new process, procedure, policy, event, etc. The easiest way to do that is to make a link from some relevant page (in this case, practice from your User page) and then click on it. To make an internal link (i.e., a link to another page within the wiki), type the name of the page with two brackets on either side.

For example, to write, "This is my example link." type,

This is my [[example link]].

If you are creating a new, unique page, the link will appear red until you have added some content. Click on the link and add some content! Now the link will be blue/purple.

When naming a new page, make sure you choose a name that is specific and descriptive so that it is easily searched.

Headers

Next, we will learn some basic formatting on our User page. We use equals signs (=) to denote that something is a header. A first-order header looks like this:

Big

To create a first-order header, type:

=Big=

A second-order header looks like this:

Less Big

To create a second-order header, type

==Less Big==

A third-order header looks like this:

Kind of Small

To create a third-order header, type

===Kind of Small===

See the pattern? Try making some sections on your User page. As soon as you have more than three sections, a Table of Contents is automatically generated--pretty nifty.

Lists

Lists are a nice way to organize things. Create a bulleted list like this:

• Popcorn
• Ice cream
• Cupcakes

by typing:

*Popcorn
*Ice cream
*Cupcakes

Add a sub-list like this:

• Ice cream
  • Chocolate
  • Strawberry
  • Rocky Road

by typing:

*Ice cream
**Chocolate
**Strawberry
**Rocky Road

You can create a numbered list:

1. Hop
2. Skip
3. Jump

by typing:

#Hop
#Skip
#Jump

You get the idea. Make some lists of some things on your User page!