Difference between revisions of "Demonstration"

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This page is a demonstration of MediaWiki markup code on techniques that SI 410 students can use to format articles more completely.  The parts of this article include information on renaming a page by "moving" it to a new page; uploading files that can be used to illustrate articles; linking internally and externally; creating footnotes for references; and assigning categories to individual articles.  Each of these techniques is highly valuable and adds significant content to the MediaWiki site.
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This page is a '''demonstration''' (deh·muhn·strei·shn) of MediaWiki markup code on techniques that SI 410 students can use to format articles more completely.  The parts of this article include information on renaming a page by "moving" it to a new page; uploading files that can be used to illustrate articles; linking internally and externally; creating footnotes for references; and assigning categories to individual articles.  Each of these techniques is highly valuable and adds significant content to the MediaWiki site.
  
 
== Magic Words ==   
 
== Magic Words ==   

Revision as of 17:06, 11 February 2021

This page is a demonstration (deh·muhn·strei·shn) of MediaWiki markup code on techniques that SI 410 students can use to format articles more completely. The parts of this article include information on renaming a page by "moving" it to a new page; uploading files that can be used to illustrate articles; linking internally and externally; creating footnotes for references; and assigning categories to individual articles. Each of these techniques is highly valuable and adds significant content to the MediaWiki site.

Magic Words

Some tags serve special purposes in a MediaWiki. Magic words are strings of text that MediaWiki associates with a return value or function, such as time, site details, or page names. For example, this tag is a "magic word" that, when embedded in an article returns the total number of pages at the wiki site. To date, the total number of pages is 13,384.

This tag returns the total number of edits made at the MediaWiki site. To date, the total number of edits is 148,981. This tag can be modified to show how many edits have been made on a particular page.

To find information about how to use magic words, click here.

Uploading Images

All images embedded in MediaWiki articles must be uploaded. Then the specific name of the uploaded file, along with particular formatting instructions and an appropriate caption, are placed in the text of an article where you wish the image to appear. Recall that captions in MediaWiki should add information, context, and overall value to the article.

The instructor feigning anonymity at Greenwich Mean

Here are the instructions for uploading a file:

  1. Prepare the file for upload. Make sure the file is exactly as you want it.
  2. In the sidebar, under “toolbox”, click “Upload file.”
  3. Click “Browse” next to the “Source filename:” to locate the file on your computer (the name of the “browse” button depends on your web browser).
  4. Change the “Destination filename:” to something descriptive, if necessary.
  5. Fill in the “Summary,” if necessary.
  6. Click the “Upload file” button.

Here is help on uploading images.


References

Creating references is an extremely important part of writing a MediaWiki article. The reference system will not function in an article unless a special tag is added near the end of the article, after the point at which the last reference will appear in the text.

This is the special tag:
 <references/>

What follows is a paragraph of text copied from Luciano Floridi's website, which is used to illustrate how to place a footnote in the text. You can view the actual markup in "edit" mode.

For excellent help on footnote formatting, see the following help page: Footnote Help.

Luciano Floridi was born in Rome in 1964. He was educated at Rome University La Sapienza, where he graduated in philosophy (laurea) in 1988, first class with distinction. He obtained his MPhil in 1989 and PhD degree in 1990, both from the University of Warwick. Floridi’s research concerns primarily the Philosophy of Information and Information Ethics. Other research interests include Epistemology, Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of Technology, and the History and Philosophy of Scepticism. [1] Since 2008, he is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire – where he holds the Research Chair in Philosophy of Information and the UNESCO Chair of Information and Computer Ethics – and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford, where he is the founder and director of the IEG, Oxford University Information Ethics research Group.[2]

Linking Techniques

Another important technique is adding links to articles that direct the reader either to another page on the MediaWiki site or to an external website.

This link takes the reader to the SI 410 MediaWiki page on Information Ethics.

This link takes the reader to the Wikipedia article on baseball. This easy link (check out the edit page) is possible because MediaWiki and Wikipedia share the same underlying technology platform.

A caption here seems redundant.

Just to beat a dead horse, here is a link to the Wikipedia article on Luciano Floridi.

This is a link to Luciano Floridi’s website.

It is possible to insert a URL inline without any text associated with it, but the style is messy. It is also possible to insert a URL in such a way that it is numbered like a footnote. But this approach does not add much value to the article. The best way to create a link is to add text to the link and place the link in the proper place of the article.

Categories

Given how many students and aliases are logged to the site and how many articles are created in one semester, long lists are not helpful. A better approach is to assign one or more categories to a page, allowing the system to generate an index page that can then be placed anywhere.

A category is created by creating a page in the Category: namespace. A category page can be created the same way as other wiki pages (see Help:Starting a new page); just add "Category:" before the page title.

To avoid extra work, try searching within the wiki before creating a new category. The list of all categories can be found in "Special pages" in the "toolbox" box of the sidebar.

Unlike other wiki pages, it is not possible to rename (move) a category. It is necessary to create a new category and change the Category tag on every page. The new category will not have the older category's page history, which is undesirable if there are many revisions.

In the SI MediaWiki site, the three major topic categories are concept, person, and object. Students are welcome to experiment with categories, to create new category schemes and set up category pages. It might also be possible to assign categories to students and aliases.

Warning! There is no way to globally change a set of categories to a new name by moving them, such as you do with pages. Once you start assigning categories, if you change your mind about the name of the category or its spelling, you have to go to every page with the category name and modify it. The list of established categories is available through the special pages.

Templates

Templates are standard wiki pages whose content is designed to be embedded inside other pages. Templates follow a convention that the name is prefixed with "Template:", assigning it to that namespace; besides this, you can create them like any other wiki page.

For the SI MediaWiki site, we can use {{citation needed}} and {{Who}} templates to question uncited claims made in an article.

Example: 65% of people believe in ghosts.[citation needed]

See the MediaWiki Help:Templates page for additional information.

References

  1. Floridi, L. & Turilli, M., The Ethics of Information Transparency, Ethics and Information Technology, 2009, 11.2, 105-112.
  2. Insert an appropriate reference here!