Wiki guide

What is a wiki?

Wikis are for people to easily collaborate on the creation of content. Wikipedia, one of the most successful projects on the web, is a wiki.

How to use this wiki

1) Sign in to the RMC interactive website. If you haven't already got a login, sign up here. You will receive an email with login details (which you should personalise).

2) Click get organised and select one of the four options: meetups / projects / media / outcomes.

Imagine you want to have a meetup with any people interested to work on a new radical magazine you are starting. First of all click projects and scroll down to the wiki section, that's the section below the grey bar titled "projects".

Project Pages

3) You are going to create a wiki page for people to collaborate on your project, a new radical mag called "Red All Over". Click on edit in the top right (below the grey bar titled projects). In the (yellow) text box write [[redallover]]. This is the link to the page you are creating. Use the [[  ]] syntax shown in syntax help (to the right of the yellow text box). Use simple text with no punctuation, preferably a single word. Add a short description outside the square brackets, eg: "A new arts review magazine from a mercilessly radical perspective."

4) Click publish at the bottom, then click the (red) link you have now created.

5) Write or paste a more detailed description of your idea into the next text box. Do some formatting syntax - see the righthand panel, or check the syntax help. On this page you can create further wiki pages for different sub-topics. Use the [[  ]] syntax shown in syntax help. Again, click publish at the bottom of the page. Copy the url for this page - from your browser's address bar.

Discuss Pages

6) Now click the discuss button on the left. Click projects, from the (blue) links in the middle, and then click Post New Thread to create a new discussion thread - on the forum - for your project. Paste in the copied url for your project's wiki page. In the text, ask if anyone is interested in working on your magazine. Copy and save the url of this forum post, and add it to your wiki page (go back to the wiki page and again click on edit in the top right.

7) Now promote your pages manically through social media: facebook, twitter, write a blog post. All the time remember to add the urls of your wiki page and your forum thread. Connect with other people with an interest in magazine publishing and writing via the RMC members page (coming soon).

8) If some people show an interest on the forum or the wiki, go back to get organised and click meetups. There are instructions on that page. Choose a time and place suitable for you, and publicise as above. Or else go back to the redallover wiki page, and organise the best time for the interested people, by suggesting a time and place which others can then amend by editing the wiki page.

9) Have a successful meetup and get your project going.

10) Please try to build the structure of the wiki as you go along.

Taking the above example: if someone has already created a page called [[radicalmagazines]], you should put the [[redallover]] page inside that one, by editing that page an adding your link text in square brackets. But, if someone else reads your page and wants to add their own magazine project, they shouldn't add it to the [[redallover]] page, but to the original [[radicalmagazines]] one.

So when you add content, think if you are adding it in the right place, and enjoy adding to the fund of knowledge which the wiki pages will become, by making it really useful, like wikipedia.