Housekeeping,+Formats,+&+Wiki+Etiquette

Housekeeping, Formats, and Wiki Etiquette


 * Housekeeping**
 * You are welcome to contact me anytime by email. You can use the wiki email function to contact me (my username is **helmsing**), or you can use any email account to contact me (my email is helmsing@msu.edu).
 * Make frequent use of the [|Recent Changes] tool (upper left, above the Navigation Bar) to find out what's new on the wiki.
 * Do not post any personal information on the wiki (no PID; Social Security Number; phone numbers, etc.). The wiki is private, but it is on a shared server.

Writing in digital environments entails particular skills and details that are not always the same as writing on paper or meeting face to face. Here are some formatting conventions and recommendations.
 * Formatting**
 * Formatting text and graphics in digital environments is a pedagogical skill because well designed pages make knowledge more accessible. You have the opportunity in this wiki environment to train your eye to detect messed-up formatting and to fix it. Feel free to edit pages to make them more readable, to make information more accessible, and to add aesthetic elements--beauty, humor, poignancy, surprise, delight, provocation--for educational effects.
 * Your username may have no relation to your name or email. Please identify yourself in your posts so people know how to address you.
 * Single space all writing.
 * Use font sizes between 10 point and 14 point.
 * Do not use Comic Sans font in academic contexts.
 * Use exclamation points and colors parsimoniously.
 * Use the linking function liberally rather than putting too much text on one wiki page.
 * Use thoughtful aesthetic judgment when decorating pages with graphics. If you have an eye for that sort of thing, feel free to decorate any wiki pages to make them more aesthetically pleasing and user friendly.
 * Do not upload files onto this wiki unless it is absolutely necessary. Instead, paste text onto wiki pages and use links.
 * Name wiki pages with phrases that are as short as possible. Short, one-word page names make navigation faster and more efficient.


 * Wiki Etiquette**
 * Just like in email or texting, writing conveys tone in digital environments, and it may not be the tone you intended. Try to be gentle with your words so that no inadvertent offense is likely to be taken by readers. That does not mean you have to be formal, and it does not mean you cannot be funny. Just remember that tone is a tricky and subtle thing. By the same token, try to be slow to take offense. It is always a good idea to communicate with others to clarify meaning before you interpret something on the wiki. These kinds of check-in communications are excellent teaching moments and opportunities to enhance civil society.
 * Wikis are Web 2.0 environments; they are interactive and collectively authored spaces. Writing on a wiki is unlike writing in other kinds of spaces. Wiki participation can help us develop a sense of judgment about editing other people's work. Collective authorship can be synergistic, intense, and exciting. Some editing (such as typos) is usually welcomed. For other kinds of editing, it may be respectful to check with the author first. If another person deletes something you wrote that you want to preserve, you can always restore your writing using the wiki History tab function. Similarly, if you inadvertently delete something, please take the time to restore it using the History tab function at the top of each page.
 * The open and interactive features of wiki environments work beautifully to help establish camaraderie among members; everybody can see and share everybody else's contributions. This open sharing environment is very effective as a venue for supporting ethical communication, and for developing our professionalism. It is also a venue for practicing distributed leadership and shared power.
 * An important implication of this open environment is that we trust each other to be respectful, and we develop accountability for what we contribute. This wiki is not public, but there are more than 80 members of this wiki. Broad participation helps us acquire communication skills for expressing ourselves as exemplary educators, not just isolated students in a class.
 * Occasionally you will encounter an editing traffic jam. If two people are trying to edit the same place on the same page at the same time, the wiki will get confused about how to save changes. In those cases, you will see a little notification at the upper right side of the page showing that someone else is trying to edit at the same place. When that happens (just as in traffic jams), be courteous, communicate, and take turns.