Comments on: 20+ things to include in your newspaper’s wiki

By: albert

albert — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:26:45 +0000

I like PBWiki despite the fact that it can’t be hosted on ones own server. It’s just so simple to use.

By: Sean Blanda

Sean Blanda — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:20:23 +0000

In other words, MediaWiki is basically for programmers built exclusively by programmers. Still, with a few nights of effort, you can get it under control.

My thoughts exactly. The learning is just past picking up and editing, it takes a few minutes of tinkering.

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:36:22 +0000

I should mention that MediaWiki does have an index page of all articles linked from its “Special Pages” section. That will typically be in your left column navigation, with a URL of http://www. … .com/wiki/Special:Specialpages.

So it’s there, but I feel like the wiki’s front page should be more encompassing or that categories should have the ability to be found easier. In other words, MediaWiki is basically for programmers built exclusively by programmers. Still, with a few nights of effort, you can get it under control.

By: Sean Blanda

Sean Blanda — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:43:52 +0000

Sean, this is a great list and is roughly what we do in the online department, but obviously ours is geared to be more technical. However, it’s become very difficult to find the pages after they have been created, and then we repeat information. I don’t believe MediaWiki indexes articles in a central location and thus I’ve updated the homepage by hand. It’s a tough job to keep everything orderly, so if you have greater insight into that, I’d love to hear it.

Yeah I have been having issues with MediaWiki. It was meant to handle a wiki of ungodly proportions and may not be the best for a college paper. Although MediaWiki doesn’t have an “index” page that lists every article alphabetically. Maybe doing something with that would help?

@Megan Google Apps is looking more appealing, so I may jump ship. Besides learning how to edit a MediaWiki is one thing I don’t want to force on anybody.

By: Megan Taylor

Megan Taylor — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:09:47 +0000

Funny, I set up a Google site for my paper just a few days before I read this. My paper’s CMS is ridiculous, so I’m trying to document how everything works and where all the important files are. Thanks for the list.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:27:49 +0000

Sean, this is a great list and is roughly what we do in the online department, but obviously ours is geared to be more technical. However, it’s become very difficult to find the pages after they have been created, and then we repeat information. I don’t believe MediaWiki indexes articles in a central location and thus I’ve updated the homepage by hand. It’s a tough job to keep everything orderly, so if you have greater insight into that, I’d love to hear it.

By: Blanda

Blanda — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:20:22 +0000

@paul Wiki Journalism? That sounds like a cool experament. Some people even use Wikipedia as a source for breaking news. And others are writing books (like you are) via Wiki. So why not extend it to the actual journalism?

By: Paul Bradshaw

Paul Bradshaw — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 09:45:38 +0000

Some great ideas – thanks. I wrote a post about wiki journalism last year – at http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2007/09/10/wiki-journalism-are-wikis-the-new-blogs/ with a link to a longer (8000 word) wiki-hosted version. I’m in the process of editing this down for a book chapter too – so this will definitely come in useful. Feel free to add to or amend the wiki.

By: Notes from a Teacher: Mark on Media » Thursday squibs

Notes from a Teacher: Mark on Media » Thursday squibs — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:28:28 +0000

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