TBwiki:Getting started

Revision as of 13:47, 24 July 2009

The TelcoWiki site is based on MediaWiki, the software used to power Wikipedia. Consequently, it uses the same techniques for creating, editing and linking to pages.

In order to insure the proper operation of this site, we have designed some policies and procedures which should ensure timely and relevant content.

Wikipedia provides an overview of how to edit a page in a Wiki based on the MediaWiki authoring platform. You may find it worthwhile to follow this tutorial as well.

To supplement the basic page editing tools provided with MediaWiki, you should consider enabling a 3rd-party solution called wikED. This requires using the Firefox web browser and having the Greasemonkey extension installed.

Please note that in order to make (lasting) changes to this site, you must be a registered user.

Page content

For all topics, each article should begin with a broad description. Sub-sections should be clearly identified as such (wrapping the header with two 'equal signs' before and after the header to apply the formatting. please focus on being as concise as possible.

For industry topics such as RFCs, signaling stacks or protocols, and other technical standards, please take the following approach:

• General discussion/description
• Discussion about how TelcoBridges supports the topic in question; the section header title should be 'TelcoBridges and 'topic name
• Links to related actions that can be done with the topic under discussion; the section header title should be 'Related actions'
• Links to related articles from sites such as Wikipedia or organizations such as the ITU and the IETF, among many others; the section header title should be 'References'

Note: See the article on SS7 signaling for a good example of the desired approach.

Duplicate content

If you are bringing in new content to the wiki and there is topic-specific content that exists already, please refer to that topic whenever possible. If applicable, and it can be done so while leaving the topic concise in nature, update the topic itself with the new information, instead of leaving it at the new article level. Then refer to the updated topic from your new level.

Policies and procedures

The MediaWiki software that powers TBwiki was not designed to provide centralized administration of all functions. (In theory, all visitors, whether registered or not, have the ability to view and modify content-- this is how Wikipedia works as well.)

While we are able to configure permissions in order to restrict certain types of behaviours by non-registered (anonymous) users, it is not possible to complete lock down all functionality to avoid the risk of content being temporarily altered or deleted in a malicious manner. (WikiMedia provides the ability to restore previous versions of a page in case of vandalism.)

As a result, it is the responsibility of all users to ensure the quality of the content that they view on--and contribute to--this site. We therefore propose some steps that should ensure that this is what happens.

Monitoring a page

After creating a page, you should monitor it for changes. To monitor a given page, click on the ‘Watch’ tab at the top of that page or at the bottom of the page editing window (if you are in Edit mode). This will then alert you by e-mail to any future changes made by a different user to that page.

Please note that every page in TBwiki features a 'Watch' tab. You may choose to watch pages for which you were not the initial contributor. You may also consult a list of pages that you are currently watching.

Validating changes

If a modification has been made to a page you are 'watching', you should visit the page in question in order to ensure the validity of changes. This includes the actual content, its presentation/formatting and the spelling and style of the writing.

Via the History tab, you can compare between the current and any previous versions of the page. From there, you can reject (or 'roll-back') those changes.

Ensuring content remains current

You should ensure that at all times that the content for your pages is current. There are various ways and moments when this should be done.

1. When you have received notification that a page that you are 'watching' has been modified, you should visit it to validate the content.
2. From time to time, you should click on the link titled "Recent changes" found in the 'Navigation' navigation bar on the left-hand side of each page. From there you can see a list of pages that have recently been modified. You should visit some of those modified pages and insure that content is correct.
3. From time to time, you should click on the link titled "Special pages" found in the 'Toolbox' navigation bar on the left-hand side of each page. From there, you will find a link titled 'Oldest pages'. Clicking that link will provide you with a list of those pages that have not been revised for the longest period of time.
4. From time to time, you should click on the link titled "Special pages" found in the 'Toolbox' navigation bar on the left-hand side of each page. From there, you will find a link titled 'Orphaned pages'. Clicking that link will provide you with a list of those pages that have not been revised for the longest period of time.
5. From time to time, you should click on the link titled "Special pages" found in the 'Toolbox' navigation bar on the left-hand side of each page. From there, you will find a link titled 'Wanted pages'. Clicking that link will provide you with a list of proposed pages-- created by links -- for which no content has been provided. By adding content to those pages, you are helping to improve this site.

MORE CONTENT TO INTEGRATE

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The following guidelines are designed to facilitate finding and consulting content on TBwiki.

Page layout

• To facilitate legibility, add a double space between each section

Images

• Images that are not core to the article at hand (i.e., they are facultative) should be represented with a thumbnail and a short description

Required sections

• At the end of each page, you should provide a link to reference documents, whether they are found on this wiki, the public TelcoBridges web site or other externally available TelcoBridges servers, when applicable. You should also provide a link to technical resources such as Wikipedia, IETF, ITU or other such sites when the information is available.

Optional Sections

• Where possible, include a section called Related Actions. This provides a link to instructions on how to make use of the feature in question and can help to resolve information requirements since there is some context to what the user is looking for.

References

Wikipedia article on Editing