Difference between revisions of "MediaWiki/Presentation"

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Cue mediawiki slideshow 5 minutes prior to presentation
 
Cue mediawiki slideshow 5 minutes prior to presentation
  
MediaWiki is the free software (GPL) that runs Wikipedia under the auspices of the [http://www.wikimedia.org/ Wikimedia Foundation].
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What's a Wiki?  Wiki is the Hawaiian word for quick, and Ward Cunningham - the inventor of the wiki - named his project after the wiki wiki shuttle. A backcronym that is probably equally apropos is WIKI stands for "What I Know Is..." MediaWiki is the free software (GPL) that runs Wikipedia under the auspices of the [http://www.wikimedia.org/ Wikimedia Foundation].
  
I'm Greg Rundlett [http://iic.harvard.edu/people] [http://freephile.com] [http://rundlett.com], a free software advocate who lives in Newburyport, MA with my wife and two sons.  I'm here to show you a lot of things about the wiki system called MediaWiki and hope that you'll take away a lot from this presentation.  The great thing about sharing knowledge; like sharing free software; is that you can take away as much as you possibly can and I may take away an even greater knowledge than I started with just from our sharing. Nobody has less, everybody has more.
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I'm Greg Rundlett [http://iic.harvard.edu/people] [http://freephile.com] [http://rundlett.com], a free software advocate who lives in Newburyport, MA with my wife and two sons.
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[[Image:Thomas Jefferson rev.jpg|thumb|right|He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.]]What do I know about wikis in production?  Well, back in 1999 when I was a web developer at RagingBull, we used a wiki system as a content creation and management backend to our website front-end.  Starting in 2005, I used MediaWiki as the platform to organize operations, development and technology services at OASIS.  Most recently, I've been deploying MediaWiki in my new role at the IIC at Harvard.  I'm here to share some of that experience with you.  The great thing about sharing knowledge; like sharing free software; is... [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson quoting Thomas Jefferson] ''He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.''<ref>[http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson], 13 Aug. 1813. ME 13:333</ref>
  
 
Plus our organizer Mark Withington has arranged through the BostonPHP association with O'Reilly Media for some free books to be given away as well.
 
Plus our organizer Mark Withington has arranged through the BostonPHP association with O'Reilly Media for some free books to be given away as well.
  
== Using it ==
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== Using it - Why? ==
I'm not going into a detailed comparison of various wikis, trying to argue which is bestBut I'll point out a few reasons why you should care about MediaWiki in case you don't know.
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Wikis are immensely popular and come in many flavors.  It was late 2006 to early 2007 when 'wiki' reached it's zenith as a buzzword in the news.<ref>[http://www.google.com/trends?q=wiki Google Trends for keyword wiki]</ref>  But wikis have not faded into the sunset like last years fashion.  I'll point out a few reasons why you should choose MediaWiki as your wiki platform.
  
It's the most popular wiki in the world; both in terms of hosting the largest single wiki Wikipedia as well as deployments by all sort of individuals, groups and corporations.  In practical terms that means people you hire will know mediawiki.
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It's the most popular wiki software in the world; both in terms of hosting the largest single wiki [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page WikiPedia] as well as deployments by all sort of individuals, groups and corporations.  In practical terms that means people you hire will know MediaWiki.
 
The growth curve of MediaWiki is exponential.  The quality of the software is excellent.
 
The growth curve of MediaWiki is exponential.  The quality of the software is excellent.
 
Does your wiki have [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page conferences]?
 
Does your wiki have [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page conferences]?
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Does your wiki have a [http://commons.wikimedia.org/ multimedia repository] which hosts over 3,400,000 multimedia files? Wikimedia Commons does.
 
Does your wiki have a [http://commons.wikimedia.org/ multimedia repository] which hosts over 3,400,000 multimedia files? Wikimedia Commons does.
  
I do want to point out that MediaWiki does not use <ref>CamelCase</ref> words in order to make a link.  This means a lot to all the Irish people of the world, and also the marketers who seem pretty convinced of the coolness of McWords like ThinkPad, etc.
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=== Syntax ===
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I do want to point out that MediaWiki does not use CamelCase words in order to make a link.  This means a lot to all the Irish people of the world, and also the marketers who seem pretty convinced of the coolness of McWords like ThinkPad, etc.
  
 
MediaWiki syntax is easy to learn, and easy to use.  In fact, you might already be using it without even knowing it.
 
MediaWiki syntax is easy to learn, and easy to use.  In fact, you might already be using it without even knowing it.
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[http://www.vimeo.com/2142196 See the kids in their Halloween costumes]
 
[http://www.vimeo.com/2142196 See the kids in their Halloween costumes]
  
== Editor Options ==
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=== Editor Options ===
; WYSIWYG editor :Wysiwyg Yucky Stupid Interface Wrecks Your Goodness
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; WYSIWYG editor :Weird Yucky Sucky Interference With Your Goodness
  
 
# [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Cacycle/wikEd WikEd] is a full wysiwyg editor with special features for MediaWiki.  You can install it for yourself in a single browser as a user script http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12529 or you can install it into your mediawiki installation.
 
# [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Cacycle/wikEd WikEd] is a full wysiwyg editor with special features for MediaWiki.  You can install it for yourself in a single browser as a user script http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/12529 or you can install it into your mediawiki installation.
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# Kaltura does a collaborative video editing solution http://corp.kaltura.com/wiki/index.php/MediaWiki_Extension
 
# Kaltura does a collaborative video editing solution http://corp.kaltura.com/wiki/index.php/MediaWiki_Extension
  
=== WikEd ===
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==== WikEd ====
 
* Wikicode syntax highlighting
 
* Wikicode syntax highlighting
 
* Pasting, import, and conversion of formatted text, e.g. from Microsoft-Word and web pages
 
* Pasting, import, and conversion of formatted text, e.g. from Microsoft-Word and web pages
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* Improved diff display
 
* Improved diff display
 
* Follow links and wiki-links (ctrl-click)
 
* Follow links and wiki-links (ctrl-click)
* Runs automatically on every MediaWiki installation when installed as a local Greasemonkey user script
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* Runs automatically on every MediaWiki installation when installed as a local [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748 Greasemonkey] user script
 
For more details, see the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Cacycle/wikEd WikEd] homepage
 
For more details, see the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Cacycle/wikEd WikEd] homepage
  
=== FCK Editor ===
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==== FCK Editor ====
 
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FCKeditor_(by_FCKeditor_and_Wikia)
 
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FCKeditor_(by_FCKeditor_and_Wikia)
note that I had to patch a minor bug to get it to work and even then, it did funny things with my article (wanted to collapse a line-break between template tag and next line resulting in a space being inserted prior to the next line, resulting in preformatted text rendering for that line.
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In 2007 it was announced that a WYSIWYG editor would be built for MediaWiki.  Wikia (Jimmy Wales' for-profit venture) started work on it.  It still isn't ready for prime time.  Note that I had to patch a minor bug to get it to work and even then, it did funny things with my article (wanted to collapse a line-break between template tag and next line resulting in a space being inserted prior to the next line, resulting in preformatted text rendering for that line.
  
=== OpenOffice ===
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==== OpenOffice ====
OpenOffice (since v. 2.3) has had a built-in "Export to MediaWiki" menu option.  So, you can write an article in OpenOffice Writer (or StarOffice Writer) and export the file to wiki markup.  This could be useful particularly if you want to convert large collections of Word documents.  One drawback to "export" is that you would still have to copy and paste that output into the wiki.
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OpenOffice (since v. 2.3) has had a built-in "Export to MediaWiki" menu option.  So, you can write an article in OpenOffice Writer (or StarOffice Writer) and export the file to wiki markup.  This could be useful particularly if you want to convert large collections of Word documents.  One drawback to "export" is that you would still have to copy and paste that output into the wiki. http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/wikipublisher is the extra hook that allows you to save your page in the wiki (essentially registering your user data in the instance of OpenOffice
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/wikipublisher allows you to save your page in the wiki
 
  
 
Other points about using MediaWiki
 
Other points about using MediaWiki
 
* Style sheets and
 
* Style sheets and
* Use this http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6372 greasemonkey script to show any mediawiki page as a presentation
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* Use this http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6372 Greasemonkey script to show any mediawiki page as a presentation
  
  
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# Search - OpenSearch
 
# Search - OpenSearch
 
# Interwiki links
 
# Interwiki links
# Import/Export
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# Import/Export (TODO talk about exporting to text)
 
# Special pages
 
# Special pages
##<pre>[[Special:ListGroupRights]]</pre> Image searching
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##<pre>[[Special:ListGroupRights]]</pre>  
# Protection
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# Image Galleries like [[Special:NewImages]]
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# Protection (lock a page) Not to be confused with 'versions' that helps with things like versioned documentation for software products.
 
# Microformats  Wikipedia implements microformats easily because through the power of templates, an author can fill out a template and not even know that he is using microformats in the final product.  Firefox, through the tails extension, can [http://vimeo.com/192962/ export microformats via bluetooth], so that an employee directory on your intranet can talk to your mobile phone.  @TODO: write up a contact template, a contact page and test the export
 
# Microformats  Wikipedia implements microformats easily because through the power of templates, an author can fill out a template and not even know that he is using microformats in the final product.  Firefox, through the tails extension, can [http://vimeo.com/192962/ export microformats via bluetooth], so that an employee directory on your intranet can talk to your mobile phone.  @TODO: write up a contact template, a contact page and test the export
  
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== Resources ==
 
== Resources ==
* Daniel J. Barrett wrote the [http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596519797/toc.html MediaWiki Book] published by O'Reilly  ISBN 978-0596519797
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* Daniel J. Barrett wrote the [http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596519797/toc.html MediaWiki Book] published by O'Reilly  ISBN 978-0596519797 (no need for any special markup, ISBN numbers are automatically recognized by the parser.  You can also visit [[Special:BookSources]])
 
* IRC
 
* IRC
* Manual
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* Documentation (remember user at Help: and admin at Manual:)
 
* Source
 
* Source
 
* [http://userscripts.org/tags/wikipedia More user scripts]
 
* [http://userscripts.org/tags/wikipedia More user scripts]
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* WikiMania videos, audio and transcripts
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== Notes ==
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<references />
  
 
[[Category:Book references]]
 
[[Category:Book references]]

Revision as of 00:59, 14 January 2009