Courses/Wikis-Publishing Platforms

Wikis as Publishing Platforms

Getting to know wikis: what are wiki. wiki syntax, pages, categories, Extensions.

Context: wikis as (hybrid) publishing platforms

• Publishing
  • what is written on wikis is public;
  • Low threshold for publishing - click the edit button

• (Hybrid)
  • wiki content can easily be published under different formats or context.
  • Examples: Wikipedia Export book function; Toneelstof, Beyond Social, Epicpedia, or this presentation (both wiki content and slide show)

Ward Cunningham Wiki Wiki Web

In 1995 Ward Cunningham creates the first wiki, naming it Wiki Wiki Web (Wiki in Hawaii means quick!).

Interview with Ward Cunningham

• links between pages, as ways to connect information
• links to non-existing, encourage the creation of the new pages
• read-write system - writing is as natural and expected as writing
• the wiki territory expands as a result of contributions
• anonymous editing - collaborative writing.

Wikipedia, Wiki Media Foundation, MediaWiki

2000 - Jimmy Wales attempts to create a free online encyclopedia - Nupedia.

Nupedia fail.

2001 - After hearing about wikis Wales and Larry Sanger decide to build Nupedia on it, calling it Wikipedia.

Wikipedia was first build using a software called UseModWiki (a sibling of Wiki Wiki Web). UseModWiki was slow and didn't support the scale Wikipedia was growing into.

A new wiki software for Wikipedia, starts is developed, based more efficient and scalable web technology: PHP programming language, MySQL database. The software got the name of MediaWiki.

2002 - Wikipedia switches to using MediaWiki.

2003 - Wiki Media Foundation is created.

MediaWiki currently power many wikis, including Wikipedia and subsidiary project, as well as other wiki such as this one.

Wiki software

• MediaWiki - PHP, MySQL, Webserver
• Docuwiki - similar to MediaWiki
• MoinMoin - Python, relies on plain text files & folders
• Zim - Desktop wiki, relies on plain text files & folders.
• TiddlyWiki - another Desktop wiki, based on HTML files and Javascript

Comparison of wiki software

Running a wiki: 2 options

Install and set up a wiki in your PC or server.

OR

Use a wikifarm (wiki host), such as Wikia. List of several wiki farms.

Users

To edit a wiki, you need, in most wikis, to register a user account.

Different user groups have different privileges:

• user: edit
• administrators: can delete pages, put other users into a different group
• bot

Wiki Markup language

Wiki Markup: structured text, simplified version of HTML a with HTML.

Wiki Markup Cheatsheet

Tutorials/wiki_tutorial

File:Cheatsheet-en.pdf File:Cheatsheet-nl.pdf

Pages Creation

Pages can be created by:

• creating an empty page link, clicking, and start editing.

The following [[my empty page]] will translate to my empty page

• adding the page name to URL bar, you'll be directly to the empty page, and start editing

http://publicationstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/index.php/my empty page

Talk Pages

Every Page has its respective Discussion or Talk page.

Talk pages are the site of discussion and conflicts that go on to the making of an article.

An example: Talk page on Invisible Pink Unicorn Wikipedia article

Experiment:Edit User Pages

Create and edit your user page.

Include internal (to pages on this wiki) and external (to pages outside this wiki) links.

Include an internal and external image.

Pages' Revision History

The history of previous version or revisions of a page are stored.

They can be accessed in "View History"

Each revision shows its author, time, action, and at times summary.

And revisions can be compared, edited and undone.

Artworks exploring Wikipedia's Revision History

The Iraq War: A History of Wikipedia Changelogs by James Bridle, collects the history of changes from the Wikipedia's article on The Iraq War between 2004 and 2009.

Epicpedia by Annemieke van der Hoek transforms Wikipedia's articles and their revision/editing history into a theater script.

Cramer, Florian. 2011. “A Brechtian Media Design: Annemieke van Der Hoek’s Epicpedia.” In Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader, 221–26. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. http://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/critical-point-of-view-a-wikipedia-reader/

Experiment:History

Rewind the history of edits from your page to a previous stage, and back to the current.

Structuring a wiki

What situations require an overall structure more elaborate than the systems of pages?

Hierarchies

Subpages

Distinct spaces

Namespaces are container for specific content.

Example: Name space Wrecks: for material dedicate to Wrecks and not a part of the Publication Station Wrecks:Main_Page and FIN:Main_Page

Note: Namespaces need to be created in the configurations of the wiki.

Hierarchies, Spaces, States

Categories are (the only) ways to tag content.

Problems: No limit to the categories that can be given to a page.

Day 2

Converting wiki pages into other formats, using Pandoc: website(HTML pages), EPUB, ICML(inDesign project)

Day 3

Mediawiki API - access content through Mediawiki API, and in conjunction with Pandoc develop scripts which automate publishing tasks; Experiment with retrieving and applying normally hidden information, such as a page's history

What are wikis

• Wiki Wiki Web
  • Ward Cunnigham
  • a web platform that where writing was a easy as reading.
  • expanding the territory - a link is a page

wiki installations

• Mediawiki (used by wikipedia, many extensions, extensive API), Docuwiki, MoinMoin, Zim(local wiki, using file system)
• Mediawiki requirements: webserver(Apache), PHP, MYSQL

Create a (Mediawiki) Wiki

• Install it yourself: following instructions in https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Installation_guide
• Use a wiki hosting service or wiki farm: wikia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_wiki_hosting_services

Categories

what problem would trigger the necessity of categories?

How to have a publication built within a wiki, that is not solely dedicates to the publication, like the Publication Station wiki or Media Design wiki

Categories: a way to structure information on the wiki.

How categories are used in Beyond Social