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While the wiki is full of useful resources, it can also be fraught with peril because of outdated, incorrect information.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).