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Learning4Content - The "WikiEducator Gives Back" Online Workshop
(July 21, - August 4, 2010)

Another free WikiEducator Online Workshop under the Learning4Content project

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Discussion

If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas add them here. In "edit" mode, use a heading (click on the fifth icon from the left located on the toolbar above) for your subject line and join the discussion. At the end of your post, insert your signature by clicking on the tenth icon from the left located on the toolbar above to sign your post.

 

 

Missing introduction post -- help!

• I'm stuck!  Why can't I read the greeting I wrote?  I don't seem to be doing the right thing to enter into the community? --Alison.kirkness 08:57, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

(: Hi Alison -- You were doing the right thing and we have proof! -- I restored your introductory greeting. I wont go into all the technical detail of how to do this - -we cover the history tab and other special features later in the workshop. At this point rest assured, if you click the save button, you're logged in and there is no problem with the internet connection -- we can trace and restore every edit in the wiki. Good news -- you're making great progress and thanks for asking --now your post is back on the introduction list. I suspect someone practising there skills inadvertently misplaced your contribution on the page - but in wiki, we can fix things :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 10:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)) 

Another missing introduction post

 I wrote my introduction post within the first days of this course, and it appeared the first 2 days but I can no longer find it, so kindly help on this --Joyce W. G-G 04:04, 28 September 2011 (UTC) 

Replying to Posts

What is the best way to reply to posts? Currently, I am editing under the person's name.--Ria 16:35, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

(: Hi Ria. There are a number of ways to reply posts. It will depend on where you want it to appear :) For questions posted on this page...simply reply by adding your response below the original post (like this). If someone has left a message on your page hopefully they have addeed their signature so when you click on their name it will take you to their userpage. I have added a Comments & Feedback section to your userpage (as per the template we are currently using for this workshop) so you can easily see where to post replies on userpages :) I hope this information answers your question. Cheers ) --jennip 04:23, 23 July 2010 (UTC)}}

Hi Jenni,

I added a comment to your userpage but am also replying here. I want to try both methods. Thanks again. --Maria 14:50, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

• I also wanted to write a reply to a comment on my introduction.:Shijna
  

(: Hi Shijna, I hope the above information helps you too. To add your username click on the signature icon in the editing window. Your user name will be added to your message as a link so people can easily access your userpage and post messages to you. eg: ) --Shijna . Regards --jennip 05:27, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Robyn Terrey

HELP. I typed in my responses to today's questions then when I tried to save the page I received a message saying someone else had made changes to the page while I was editing and I needed to merge my entry. How do I do that?--RobTer 01:59, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

• Hi Robyn -- you did nothing wrong (I promise) a rare occasion when two folk were editing the same sentence at the same time. Usually this doesn't happen on a high frequency page like the introduction page because each user is typically working on their own sub-section. Just try again -- you should be OK :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 07:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
  

(: Here is a suggestion that is good to try (when you think of it--I usually do, just after I have faced an editing conflict and lost my text): Before you click the button to save your work to a page, copy your work to your clipboard on your computer as a backup in case the save fails due to an edit conflict. So for example, I am now selecting all the text in this window and copying it to my clipboard (smile) before clicking the save button at the bottom of the window.--Jrradney 19:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC))

Who is your facilitator?

• Does everyone know who their facilitator is, or is everyone just waiting for the promised email (so 'last millenium', now that Google Wave is here!)?
  
  • Hello Randolph. Did you get the information you were looking for? Groups have been divided up and facilitators have been assigned. --Benjamin Stewart 17:42, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
  • Hi Radney -- apology for the delay in sending our the facilitation allocations -- we had issues with our Moodle server not sending mail properly. I hear what you say about email being so last century -- as least the mainstream wikis are from this century ;-) --Wayne Mackintosh 23:12, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
  • Too true, Wayne! And server issues are so frustrating (of course, they never fail when we aren't using them!) I see that the list of participants has been partitioned into groups and that facilitators and co-facilitators know what group they are working with. Do groups know what facilitators they are working with? Perhaps a column with that information (hyperlinked to the username, so group members would have ready contact information for their facilitator), in the participants list could be added in future (I know I ask so much and do so little!) (smile)--Jrradney 23:23, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
    • Yeah -- ditto to technology failures -- we need some things to keep the spice in life :-). The group divisions were purely arbitrary and a very rough way to help us divide tasks which relate to specific user pages -- for example, a friendly WikiNeighbour comment or message of support from a facilitator. As a serious wiki advocate and supporter of open models -- personally I prefer not to over regulate things. Facilitators and participants should be free to move across group boundaries -- if you know what I mean. What is special about these Learning4Content workshops is that they are a live simulation -- mimicking a real wiki environment. In the WikiEducator community -- we self organise, and similarly we try to do the same in our workshops. Fortunately -- working transparently we can see what everyone is doing. By signing your signature with each comment -- you will create that personal link and as the workshop progresses, participants become more familiar with the technology and start using the wiki features to track and see what is happening -- eg the recent changes page, watchlists and the history tab. From past experience - -it will all come together, or at least I hope so :-) --- good question, thanks. BTW in our next message to the participants, I'll add a link to the facilitators planning page which will address your suggestion -- but also model open transparent processes -so learners who are interested in how we organise these workshops can watch this live, but allso add comments and suggestions. Hey -- you gotta love the open wiki model! --Wayne Mackintosh 04:38, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi Mackintosh I want to know my facilitator, so that I can take advice, suggestion from. urs Mamun

Hi Mamum. On the Learning4Content - The "WikiEducator Gives Back" Online Workshop Home page use the Participants tab to find which group you belong to, the use the Facilitators tab to get a list of the people who are looking after us... scroll to the bottom and you will see the link Facilitator's planning page where there is a table showing the Group coordinators. (I have kept this general so that others can find out theirs)-- Mverhaart 12:33, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

• Good feedback -- thanks! Also if you post your questions here on this general forum, others will benefit from the answers as well. The choice is yours. --Wayne Mackintosh 07:35, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

What are discussion pages for?

I noticed that much of the discussion here takes place on pages in the main namespace, rather than on their talk pages. What is the purpose of having talk pages then? Your current practice means to throw away the nice customizations you have made for talk pages (e.g. with permalinks like this one for which I am waiting for a reply) by way of LiquidThreads. --Daniel Mietchen 10:33, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi Daniel -- I've just responded to your Liquid Threads question -- Apology for the tardy response. Has been a busy day. Good question regarding why we don't use Liquid Threads at this point. The reason for this is that the majority of participants are Newbies, and early in the workshop we have found that most folk are getting the heads around the basic editing functions. We have found that users get confused if we introduce the threaded talk-page feature to soon in the course ( the notion of a separate tab and associated talk page with each content page is a lot to take in if you are new to wikis as WikiEducator is typically the first wiki account created by 67% of users) - However, we cover these features a little later in the course. --Wayne Mackintosh 07:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

How to Bookmark

Hi online friends: I should not feelshy to tell my friends that I am getting some problems to Bookmark the course page. Pl. help me. Warm regards,Mamun

Greetings -- Never be shy to ask a question -- Different browsers use different approaches. Here are a few online instructions on how to book mark a page (you should first go to the page you want to book mark)  -- Check which browser software you are using and choose the right instructions below.

• Firefox -- Go here
• Internet Explorer - Go here
• Safari - Go here
• Google Chrome - Go here

Cheers --Wayne Mackintosh 09:51, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi Wayne Very useful information. I used it and it put to rest my concern on accessing my bookmark when am away from my computer or if there is a damage. You cannot tell when there will be a problem Cheers --Ojolubodun 04:54, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

"HTTP - 500 Internal Server Error" when accessing talk pages

Seems to be a transient phenomenon, but quite stable over the recent minutes. Please check. --Daniel Mietchen 13:19, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

mmmm - -were you accessing the talk pages through the recent changes list -- or directly from the talk page itself? -- there is a bug with some threaded replies if you try and access this through recent changes. --Wayne Mackintosh 21:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Don't remember exactly, probably both. But now the problem affects some Special pages — Special:Version works fine, while Special:Watchlist brings up the error. --Daniel Mietchen 16:09, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Just for the record: the problem disappeared around July 25. Watchlist works fine now, and talk pages are accessible. --Daniel Mietchen 12:19, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Questions

• I am not sure where I am or what I am doing. The video clips make perfect sense when I listen to them but when I get into trying to do something I end up going back and forward and round in circles. Day 2 was total confusion to me. I saw an thing about being a good wiki neigbour but it didn't seem have any relevance to what I was supposed to be doing that day. I tried to do the assignment by contributing to the discussion but the scale of this project is so big I get swamped - there are so many posts it takes me ages to read them. Will I be able to save these pages somewhere and come back over them over and over again as my small brain tries to accommodate all this? 

Hello Fiona. Let's break down your questions.

1. The only activity for day 2 is to introduce yourself in the Introductions page, which it does not appear that you have done so (unless I missed it). Click edit on this page and scroll to the bottom of the text editing box. Create a heading, add your name, type your comment, and add your signature (see the link below as to which icon automatically inserts your personal signature). (: Just a note here, Fiona: If you have not logged into the WikiEducator system, the page will still display, but edit links will not appear. You must be logged into a wikipage in order to edit in WikiEducator--Jrradney 23:54, 26 July 2010 (UTC))
   
2. Do not worry about reading through all the text. Just read through what you can. You might even search the page using key words to find conversations that are of most interest to you. Or just pick a few people and say, "Hello"! The main objective is for others to get to know you and that you learn how to post messages in Wikieducator (WE). These pages will be available after the workshop as well so you will have the opportunity to revert back to them if necessary.
3. You are encouraged to always use the signature when posting a comment to WE. Using this icon in the toolbar automatically inserts your signature which you can use each time you post a message in WE.

You are doing the right thing in asking questions Fiona. Don't get frustrated. We have periodic live sessions (one in a few hours) and you are more than welcome to join and ask questions in a live, online format. --Benjamin Stewart 20:38, 25 July 2010 (UTC)(: You can also continue to ask questions in this space, and we will respond as we are able.Jrradney 23:57, 26 July 2010 (UTC))

Thanks Benjamin - I am slowly getting the hang of things but here are some more questions:

1. What is the etiquette to asking questions - I find I work/think with questions a lot and seem to be putting questions everywhere so for now there are questions:
   • In my profile page - which you and Alison have kindly responded to
   • In my sand box
   • And now in this discussion thread

Where should they be? (: Any and all of the three places are good places to ask questions. This forum is for questions concerning the workshop, so you may want to ask questions that need immediate answers here during the workshop. But your sandbox is a place where your more neighbourly neighbours will have a tendency to see them, so that's not a bad place to pose questions either. Also, in the comments from/to neighbours at the bottom of your user page is a good place, as well. These last two places are probably the best places to ask questions when you are not in a workshop. Jrradney 04:47, 27 July 2010 (UTC))

Question on copyright

1. I actually need to get straight in my head the issue of copyright an<span id="fck_dom_range_temp_1280205312140_882" />d commons licences (hmmm - interesting I note that the rich editor doesn't allow you to break numbering it reverts to 1!) Anyway back to my question - If a client has copyright that states material may not be used without their permission - then could they then allocate a commons licence to it? Or does something being copyright automatically cancel out any option of sharing the material openly at some stage?--Fiona Bulman 04:40, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

(: First -- the numbering sequence is determined by the flow of the text -- if, for example the flow is broken by a note - the numbering sequence won't work. No different from the average word processor ;-) To answer your question, the copyright holder can give permission to release works under different copyright licenses - so yes a client can give permission to release works under different creative commons alternatives. Note that WikiEducator only accepts CC-BY and CC-BY-SA licensed material. Copyright is a complex field -- you can read more about the values underpinning our interpretation of free content here, --Wayne Mackintosh 06:11, 27 July 2010 (UTC) )

Wayne, where is the policy of accepting only CC-BY and CC-BY-SA outlined? I assume you wold not reject CC0/PD either. --Daniel Mietchen 05:04, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely - -both CC0 and PD are accepted as well :-). With apology for not being clearer about this in my reply above. I was referring to licenses (so did not reference the PD or CC0 -- which technically is a declaration and not a license.) WikiEducator subscribes to the Free Cultural Works Definition as contained in our Open Community Governance Policy and both CC0 and the PD qualify. --Wayne Mackintosh 05:16, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Wayne! --Daniel Mietchen 12:18, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

How to change the color of the text?

Is it possible to select different colors for the text? Can we change the size of the text as we do in wordprocessing by changing the font size? Is this possible with rich editor?

--Madhav 18:06, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

(: When using the rich editor, we currently do not support changing of the font size or colour. To do this you need to work with wiki text. So now you have a good reason to progress your learning to the next level -- using wiki text :-) -- Wayne Mackintosh 04:54, 28 July 2010 (UTC))

Re: Hello Madhav & WikiFriends. I am one of the facilitators of this workshop. I love COLOURS. I have a section on my userpage for adding colours Click on this link here & have a colourful WikiTime ;-) --Dr. Gita Mathur 13:47, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

<FONT COLOR = "Yellow"> I got it now i will experiment with it<FONT COLOR= "Black"> If I try to add the tags in Rich Editor it will not work. It needs to be added in wikitext. The first line in my reply here, I typed in Rich editor. As you can see it took entire line as text.
Thanks Dr Geeta--Madhav 04:09, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

What have I done?

Has something happened on the wiki, or have I done something? Suddenly my user page looks wonky. My personal infobox is spread right across the page, and the information I typed in is missing. Other people's pages now look odd as well. My browser, possibly? Tallong 23:04, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

(: I've just checked your page and it looks fine in my browser. So you haven't down anything wrong - -I suspect is local - -something with your browser. Shut down the browser and restart again. That should fix it :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 23:38, 28 July 2010 (UTC))

(: Another user edited the infobox template. Luckily these things are easy to undo :) --Hesperidesnz 23:48, 28 July 2010 (UTC))

Oh, how I empathise! Glad it wasn't my doing--this time! Tallong 01:26, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, me again

I can't help being a nuisance, sorry. I find myself free and would like to take Benjamin's online class. Can I do that without a video camera and microphone? What do I do if my system 'failed' the test because I don't have (I think) an up-to-date enough browser--try anyway (I registered) or wait till I'm updated? Is it possible to get an answer within the next half hour or so? *Can* two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? Tallong 01:33, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

(: Oops -- just read your post now after the fact. Ben has posted a recording -- not quite the same as being live. For future session -- you can participate without a video camera, and without a mike, you can still post questions using text chat. Regarding Browser -- why not download and install the latest version of Firefox -- its free and open source software, so you don't need to wait for an upgrade :-) --Wayne Mackintosh 04:06, 29 July 2010 (UTC))

I figured all that out myself, and was a happy participant a few hours ago. (The new Firefox browser said it was disabling a couple of things - I can only hope they're not vital. But I digress.) The live tutorial was great fun and I recommend the live sessions highly. I may be developing a wikieducator addiction. Tallong 13:10, 29 July 2010 (UTC) (: A wiki-addiction, especially as it feeds a learning-addiction, might not be such a bad thing... (smile))--Jrradney 16:36, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Rollback

In the video for Day 7, the "rollback" option is both shown and mentioned, which may be confusing for newbies, since they do not have this feature. --Daniel Mietchen 11:21, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Coffee break: How can we spread the word concerning WikiEducator outside the wiki pages?

I am pretty sure that most of us wouldnt like to go away from wikied once we are in.I was wondering if we could ever have some kind of a discussion elsewhere about WIKIED.May be we could think of coming to TAPPEDIN or NING.Would it do any good if we are going to meet and talk about WIKIED elsewhere?--Abdul 17:13, 29 July 2010 (UTC) (: This is a very good question, Abdul! I think one of the things we might try doing would be to blog about our work in WikiEducator. We could write blog items and then post our blog entry URLs here in the discussion in order to alert other WikiEducators where to carry the discussion outside of the parameters of our own community. Another possibility would be to comment about WikiEducators when we are online in Webinars and other virtual meeting places (Second Life, etc.) to spread the word. For one thing: Has anyone tried posting a WikiEducator page on a wall in Second Life?Jrradney 03:55, 30 July 2010 (UTC))

Thank you so much Jrradney for airing your take on this tag.I am going to tweet it right now.I will also create a group on TAPPEDIN some one might do it on SL as well.Good luck.--Abdul 10:11, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

references

1. how can i refer the different windows while working on a particular page?
   • I am unclear what you are asking. Could you elaborate. Kindly sign your comments here with your e-signature on the Wiki. Warm wishes--Patricia Schlicht 15:57, 30 July 2010 (UTC) (: As Patricia has written, more information would help at this point, Gita. For example, if you are just talking about looking over another online item while you are editing, your browser is probably capable of opening new windows or new tabs (I prefer tabs) when you right-click on any link. If you need to search for the item you want to see, you can double click in the area where your tabs would usually be displayed to open a new, blank tab. This would allow you to do a search or type in a known URL or whatever you wish.
     However, perhaps you were intending to ask about some other 'referring'. If so, please respond with greater detail.Jrradney 18:49, 30 July 2010 (UTC))

Can we scroll text keeping diagram all the time on the screen?

Can we keep photo/picture on the screen and scroll only the explanation of the photo/picture? It will be easy to study the photo/diagram. While going through the Tutorial 7  (Sub section: Understanding recent changes) I strike this.--Madhav 10:39, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Infobox is not showing the details

Instead of Information only photo and the following line is displayed. Why?

Template loop detected: Template:Infobox personal

--Madhav 15:36, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

Functionality

1. Daniel was asking me about functionality. One of the things I'm finding it counter-intuitive to do, is to add a new post/reply to posts.
2. This page is a good example. In order to ask a question, I have to edit, headline, type new topic in the right place, return and start typing. That's way different to the wiki I'm most familiar with, where adding a new topic requires only one click.
3. Could there be contributor's categories/lists, so if you want to find someone, you can easily, rather than having to remember their name spelling, or click on different pages trying to remember where they might have left a comment and signed?Tallong 22:12, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
   
4. Your comments on discussions highlights the value of using the talkpages associated with each wiki page for discussion. In order to post new topics or reply to ongoing discussion there is a much cleaner and faster procedure in the discussion pages. Admittedly, the regular wiki pages are not set up particularly well for on-going discussions, and in this beginning workshop, we need to start somewhere--we can't teach everything on the first day--our workshop is structured to make new users comfortable with the main wiki pages first, before discussion pages are introduced. As in many workshops, the tools tend to be organized more for the convenience and understanding of our newbies than to people more experienced with wiki use in other environments. In some of the sessions at the end of this workshop, we begin to discuss carrying on discussions on the talk pages, rather than on the regular wiki pages.
5. Your idea about categories of contributors and lists is also quite valuable; hopefully, it will be passed on as a suggestion for improvement of the environment.--Jrradney 01:32, 2 August 2010 (UTC)
   

Messages?

I need to ask one of you wikieducator legends about the messages message I keep getting. I am familiar with this 'you've got a new message' link (shows up in a yellow info box) but, when I click on it, it goes to a 'special' page with no messages on it! Confused, moi. Tallong 22:12, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

I had finished the page using OpenOffice. I upload the page and all is OK, but a can't see the page in my User page.

• Please check out Sigi's user page, where I attempt to provide a proper working link. Hope it helps...--Jrradney 19:17, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Watchlist Display

My "Watchlist" has not been displaying for the last hour. Has anyone else encountered this problem? When I click on the link at the top of the page, I just get a blank screen and the page does not load properly. I have accessed the page numerous times during the workshop.--Jrradney 04:37, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

• I am able to see my watchlist. --Madhav 07:45, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
• Thanks for the response. I still cannot see my watchlist this morning. For those who are expecting feedback on their work, I apologize, but I have no way to track changes you are making. Please send me a message if you need feedback, since my watchlist appears not to be available for me.--Jrradney 16:33, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
• I don't know what, if anything, was changed on the system, but about 3 hours ago my watchlist started working again. I can now track the participants' work that I am supposed to be overseeing.--Jrradney 04:02, 4 August 2010 (UTC)