About the MODwiki
From MODwiki
ABOUT THE MEDIA-ON-DEMAND WIKI AND WIKI COLLABORATIVE WRITING
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[edit] What is a Wiki?
(excerpted from the complete entry for Wiki as found in the Wikipedia.)
"A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing... The word wiki is a shorter form of wiki wiki (weekie, weekie) which is from the native language of Hawaii (Hawaiian), where it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something "quick" or "fast" (Hawaiian dictionary). In English, it is an adverb meaning "quickly" or "fast". In essence, a wiki is a simplification of the process of creating HTML pages combined with a system that records each individual change that occurs over time, so that at any time, a page can be reverted to any of its previous states. A wiki system may also include various tools, designed to provide users with an easy way to monitor the constantly changing state of the wiki as well as a place to discuss and resolve the many inevitable issues, namely, the inherent disagreement over wiki content."
[edit] Why a MODwiki?
As a result of the Project Plans outlined in the University of Utah’s Integrated Information Technology Strategic Planning Report, a campus-wide committee was formed to explore issues and develop guidelines for Media On Demand (MOD, often referred to as VOD: Video-on-Demand) for the University of Utah. As of Autumn 2004, several working groups were formed within that committee to examine networking demands, digital asset management systems, content acquisition, and best practice guidelines and standards for the digitization and distribution of video, audio and multimedia.
Initially, the MODwiki was intended to facilitate collaborative writing amongst committee members as they contributed their expertise to the collective knowledge about Media On Demand. Content would be edited to create a common "voice" and parsed into discrete pages and sections to create a comprehensive set of HTML pages within the University of Utah's OIT website. After that, the MODwiki's purpose was considered to be fulfilled and terminated.
However, we have modified our original thinking. One of the truisms of working in IT and media creation & delivery is the constantly changing state of the tools, the art, the industry, and technological capabilities. Such a dynamic environment leads to a long-term commitment to aggressively monitor and update any content posted to a static website. Rather than commit resources to constantly modify such a website, the MOD Committee agreed to marry the MOD website with a MODwiki. The MODwiki would facilitate the creation and modification of basic technological information about Media On Demand that is in continuous flux and requires frequent revision and revamp. The complementary OIT website would document the University of Utah's Media On Demand strategies, policies and guidelines, with generous hyperlinks to the MODwiki for its up-to-the-minute information.
[edit] How do I Add Content to the MODwiki?
Rather than starting from scratch, the MODwiki is seeded with topics already approved by the Media On Demand Committee. A master Table of Contents is available on the MODwiki Main Page. From the Main Page's TOC, you can access the major topics of concern for Media On Demand.
Within each MODwiki article itself is a Table of Contents for that individual page of content; it allows you to jump quickly to sections within a page.
To assist you in editing MODwiki pages, a brief set of instructions has been culled from the more lengthy Wiki documentation and included in the section below, entitled "A Quickie Wiki Guide to Editing Content."
No anonymous additions to the MODwiki are permitted. You must have an authorized ID and Password to log into the system and edit pages. Contact the administrator for the MODwiki to gain access.
[edit] Are MODwiki Contributions Moderated and Edited?
The nature of a Wiki is that, as part of a collaborative writing environment, many sets of eyeballs are able to read and write to the Wiki. In that sense, any MODwiki contribution is subject to revision and editing (and roll backs to previous page versions). The MODwiki is "moderated" to the extent that language and technical terms will be sychronized throughout the entire wiki to make sure references are being used in a shared and common manner. As well, grammar and a style using a "common voice" will be imposed on the MODwiki contributions.
At the present time, modifications can only be made to the MODwiki by individuals registered and approved by the Media On Demand Working Group.
[edit] A Quickie Wiki Guide to Editing Content (highly recommended!!)
A separate set of wiki pages has been created to help you learn how to edit a wiki page, add new content, add style and emphasis to words and phrases, as well as create new content pages and Tables of Content.
Navigate to this Help page for instructions on A Quickie Wiki Guide to Editing Content. Note also that this same Help page can be accessed from the standard Help item listed in the upper left of each wiki page, under the section identified as navigation (just below the University of Utah/OIT/MODwiki logo).
[edit] Go to the Table of Contents
To access the MODwiki's main Table of Contents and to begin reading about the University of Utah's Guidelines for Media On Demand and the more technical aspects associated with those guidelines, navigate to the MODwiki Table of Contents.
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