Contents in Detail. Part I: Content

Transcription

1 Contents in Detail Introduction... xvii Inside This Book... xviii What You Should Know Going In...xix Using This Book... xix Our Approach to Understanding Wikipedia...xx It s Everyone s Encyclopedia: Be Bold!...xxi Wikisyntax Cheatsheet...xxiii Part I: Content Chapter 1: What s in Wikipedia?...3 Types of Articles...7 Article and Content Inclusion Policies Core Policies: V, NOR, and NPOV Understanding the Policies Other Guidelines...18 What Wikipedia Is Not...22 Non-article Content...25 Types of Non-article Pages...25 Namespaces...26 Summary and What to Read Next...30 Chapter 2: The World Gets a Free Encyclopedia...31 Wikipedia s Mission...32 Wikipedia s Roots...33 Ancient Greece to Today: Encyclopedias...33 Late 17th Century: The Modern Encyclopedia...35 Wikipedia as an Encyclopedia...36 The 1960s and 1970s: Unix, Networks, and Personal Computers...37 The 1980s: The Free Software Movement : Ward s Wiki : Open Source Communities : Online Community Dynamics : Wikipedia Goes Live...46 Wikipedia Today...47 Unfinished Business...49 The Wikipedia Model Debated Misinformation: The Seigenthaler Scandal Amateur Contributors, Authority, and Academia...53 Summary...58 Chapter 3: Finding Wikipedia s Content...59 Searching Wikipedia...60 Basic Searching...60 External Search Engines...65

2 Ways into Wikipedia...68 Welcome to the Main Page...68 The Omnipresent Sidebar...73 Joys of Hypertext...80 A Hypertext Primer...81 Three Types of Links...82 Browsing by Topic...83 Browsing by Categories...88 Browsing by Page Type...93 Summary...97 Chapter 4: Understanding and Evaluating an Article...99 Anatomy of an Article The Article Text Backlinks Article History Talk Pages Evaluating Articles Misinformation, Missing Information, and Mistakes D-R-E-W-S Summary Final Thoughts for Part I Part II: Editing Chapter 5: Basic Editing Editing a Page Understanding the Edit Window Major vs. Minor Edits Handling Major Editing Tasks Fixing Mistakes and Other Reasons to Revert Who Can Edit What? Syntax Fundamentals of Text Markup Internal and External Links Sections and Headings Removing Formatting and Hiding Comments Summary Chapter 6: Good Writing and Research Starting New Articles Deciding What to Write About Before Starting a New Article Avoiding Treacherous Topics Starting the Article Drafting the Article Don t Forget x Contents in Detail

3 Writing Well Consulting the Manual of Style Introduction and Topic Sentence Comprehensiveness and Appropriate Length Structure Readability Audience Use of Language Graphics Applying Basic Content Policies Reviews Quality and the Good Stub Researching Articles Good Wikipedia Research Doing Research Reliable Sources Referencing Styles Editing Alongside Others Changing What Others Write Will Your Own Edits Be Kept? Edit Summaries No Ownership Summary Chapter 7: Cleanup, Projects, and Processes Cleanup Flagging Articles Cleanup Categories Cleanup Tasks Rewriting Expanding Stubs Wikification Fact-Checking and Referencing Vandalism Patrolling Cleanup Editing Tools Projects: Working to Improve Content WikiProjects Wikiportals Writing Collaborations Processes What Processes Cover Deleting Articles Featured Articles Summary Contents in Detail xi

4 Chapter 8: Make and Mend Wikipedia s Web Redirect and Disambiguate Redirects Disambiguation Pages Merge, Split, and Move Merging Articles Splitting Articles Moving Pages Categorize Categorizing Basics Categories and Content Policy Creating New Categories Subcategories Categorization Projects Housekeeping When a Page Move Is Blocked Default Meanings Avoiding Disambiguation Pages Controlling Category Sorting Categories and Templates for Redirects Process-Style Resolutions Summary Chapter 9: Images, Templates, and Special Characters Images and Media Files Finding and Adding Images Using Images Using Multimedia Files Templates Using Templates Using Parameters How Templates Work Varieties of Templates How to Build Templates Laying Out Articles Tables Formatting Columns Special Syntax HTML and CSS Mathematical Formulas Variables and Magic Words Summary Chapter 10: The Life Cycle of an Article Birth of an Article Deletion xii Contents in Detail

5 Maintenance Tagging Editing Improvements Potential Merge Discussion and Content Tags Categories Bots Arrive Incoming Wikilinks Artie Is Moved In Good Times In Bad Times Bad Times, and a True Story Search Engines Find the Article New Relatives Getting the Picture Good Article Summary Conclusion to Part II Part III: Community Chapter 11: Becoming a Wikipedian On Arrival Registering an Account Setting Your Preferences User Pages, Watchlists, and Edit Count User Page Content Watchlists RSS Notification Contribution History and Counting Edits Users and Administrators User Levels Administrators Requesting Help from an Administrator Becoming an Administrator Summary Chapter 12: Community and Communication Wikipedia s Culture Assumptions on Arrival Random Acts of Kindness The Open Door Soft Security Communicating with Other Editors Wikiphilosophies Funny Business Contents in Detail xiii

6 Who Writes This Thing Anyway? Demographics Systemic Bias Wikipedians on Wikipedia Operational Analysis: Raul s Laws Practical Values, Process, and Policy More Research Required Summary Chapter 13: Policy and Your Input The Spirit of Wikipedia The Five Pillars Ignore All Rules and Be Bold Assume Good Faith What Is Policy? Official Policy Policies and Guidelines How Policies Are Created and Developed How Policies Evolve How to Interpret Policies and Guidelines Letter of the Law List of Policies List of Guidelines Seven Policies to Study Summary Chapter 14: Disputes, Blocks, and Bans Content Disputes and Edit Wars Coming to Consensus Resolving a Dispute: Discussion More Steps for Resolving a Content Dispute Ineffective Solutions Causes of Content Disputes Case Study: Gdań sk Resolving Disputes Between Editors Dispute Resolution Processes The Nature of Formal Evidence Arbitration Committee Blocks and Bans Short Blocks Longer Blocks Bans Summary Conclusion to Part III xiv Contents in Detail

7 Part IV: Other Projects Chapter 15: 200 Languages and Counting Languages and Scripts The Long Tail of Languages Getting Involved in Other Languages Script Support Links Between Languages English in Global Focus Summary Chapter 16: Wikimedia Commons and Other Sister Projects Wikimedia Commons Searching and Browsing Commons Using Commons Material in Wikipedia Participating in Commons Other Sister Projects Wiktionary Wikinews Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikisource Wikispecies Wikiversity Linking Between Projects and Copying Content How to Link Moving Content Between Projects Other Wikis Starting Your Own Wiki Wiki Software Summary Chapter 17: The Foundation and Project Coordination The Foundation: Mission and Structure Infrastructure and the Board Foundation-Level Policy Fundraisers and Donations Wikimedia Chapters and Outreach MediaWiki The Meta-Wiki Project Coordination Translation New Projects Communication Contents in Detail xv

8 Looking Back and Going Forward Early Days Continued Values Summary Conclusion to Part IV Appendix A: Reusing Wikimedia Content Guidelines for Reuse Examples of Reuse Appendix B: Wikipedia for Teachers Wikipedia as a Classroom Reference Resource Guiding Student Use of Wikipedia Assigning Wikipedia Editing Appendix C: Edit Summaries Jargon Common Edit Summaries Deletion and Maintenance Summaries Automatically Added Edit Summaries Appendix D: Glossary Appendix E: History (List of Wikipedia Pages Referenced in This Work) GNU Free Documentation License Index xvi Contents in Detail