Guide to NITARP participants for use of the wiki

The origin of the wiki was twofold --

• (a) provide a place to share information and collaborate on the science project at hand (share plots, work on poster drafts etc) because files quickly got too big to email;
• and (b) provide a place to save and share the materials we developed to teach each other and teach the students. This sort of bifurcated goal is reflected in sort of a bifurcated design of the site, with admittedly lots of interwoven links. This may make the wiki somewhat confusing -- there are two purposes, and some pages are meant to be more conversations, and some are not.

There are portions of the site (see under "Current Research" linked on the left of every page) that are specifically designed to share information, have conversations, etc. For one that is currently active, see CG4 Current Research Activities but for one that has more content because it's older, though not currently active, see IC 2118 Current Research Activities. Another reason why some people may find the wiki confusing is that some of the information (especially in this 'sharing information' half of the site) is under the "article", and some is under "discussion" -- each page in the wiki is called an 'article', and at the top of each page is a tab that says 'discussion' where you are supposed to be able to have discussions. You can see in the IC 2118 pages though that that was hardly strictly enforced. People sort of worked where they wanted to work, which is why some stuff ended up on the 'article' page and some under 'discussion.'

The rest of the site is designed to share the resources we developed. All of that stuff is listed under "Research Tools" linked on the left of every page. There are tons and tons and tons of pages here, representing hours/days/weeks of work since 2004. Seriously! Some pages are short and straightforward, some are more complex, some are skeletal or demonstrably incomplete, and some are missing entirely. Work in the wiki tends to come in fits and starts. To see what is going on at any one time, look under 'Recent changes' (linked from the left side menu) to see what has, well, recently changed.) These pages are meant to be exercises, worksheets, lab exercises, inspiration for your own lesson plans, whatever.

Anyone can view, but you need an account to edit. All the NITARP teachers have an account. For all the students connected with these teachers, send names and emails to Luisa.

There is a search box on the left. There are, seriously, tons of pages on here. If you can't find what you need with a few clicks, try searching on a keyword. You've heard of "there's an app for that?" Well, there's probably a wiki page on here for most parts of NITARP research. However, most of the pages may be customized in one way or another for the team that originally developed it. since i am not (have not been) part of steve's team(s), i don't know exactly how they work nor specifically what they do or need. i will be talking to steve on the phone on monday, when i will ask him whether/how much he plans to have you use the wiki, what resources i can provide to help, etc. i will also ask him what his schedule is for your visit, and when we can work in that jpl tour. y'all had asked about it before, it was on my list, i just got caught in the travel morass. but i will ask steve on monday.

sound good? the wiki is designed to SAVE stress because it can help you share files and leverage off of stuff that was designed/tested before. BUT if it causes more stress than it is worth and you are able to get more/better work done in some other way (google wave?), by all means, use that; don't feel obligated to use the wiki, especially if it causes undue stress.

Editing seems to cause a TREMENDOUS amount of anxiety. It is really not that hard! First you have to log in. Then click on the 'edit' tab at the top of the page you want to edit. You're dropped into an editor which should mostly be self-explanatory. It is absolutely crucial that you click 'save' when you are done, and possibly many times during your edits. Uploading files becomes a multi-step process because you have to create a place to put the file, then upload it, then check it to be sure it's there. (See Uploading a file to the wiki for more information and screen shots.) There are wiki pages (hosted elsewhere, linked from the bottom of the our front main wiki page) with guides for editors that have a complete inventory of syntax, etc.

After you have learned how to edit, you may want to actually share information. The next thing to consider is organization of the stuff you have placed on the wiki.