Transparency-Accountability/Wiki-Style-Guide

Wiki Style Guide, Editing Standards and Tips

Wiki Ownership

Keep in mind that the wiki belongs to the Digital Library Federation proper. The left-hand menus direct users to resources of the broader organization rather than the Government Records Transparency and Accountability Interest Group portion of the wiki.

For instance, the DLF logo to the upper left of every wiki page is linked to the DLF wiki homepage: Main_Page

Government Records Transparency and Accountability Interest Group Homepage

The effective wiki homepage for the Government Records Transparency and Accountability Interest Group is Transparency-Accountability. The 'external' url of this page, https://wiki.diglib.org/Transparency-Accountability is inextricably linked to the decision to name the page Transparency-Accountability. The choice of page names and resulting urls are directly linked, and therefore page naming conventions are useful in creating attractive and logical urls.

Page Creation, Naming Conventions and Indexing

Page Creation

To create a page in the Transparency-Accountability portion of the wiki, you must search for a non-existant page. All pages should include Transparency-Accountability/ in their names as is explained below in the section on Page Naming Conventions. The wiki, upon a search that fails to locate a page with a searched for name, will allow the user to create a page with that name by providing a link.

Naming Conventions

There are three important conventions when naming pages

1. Begin the page name with Transparency-Accountability/
   • The slash in the page name appears in the url like a directory, and Transparency-Accountability indicates our groups' "ownership" of the page
2. Use dashes rather than spaces to separate words in page names
   • Spaces appear as underscores in links and urls such as with Main_Page, the aforementioned DLF wiki homepage. The dashes create more attractive and intuitive urls and internal links
3. Try to minimize the number of words in the page name.
   • The longer the page name, the longer the url. A good example is Transparency-Accountability/Minutes, where Minutes was chosen over Meeting-Minutes.

Additionally, the Transparency-Accountability/Page-Index is a great resource for reviewing previous page name choices, and may inform decisions as to whether a new page is even necessary

Page Indexing

Each newly created page should be indexed alphabetically at Transparency-Accountability/Page-Index. This page index is useful for determining where information ought to be located, in determining whether a new page ought to be created, and as a resource for page naming.

Example Page Creation

As an example, let us say we want to create a page called My New Page. The approach would be as follows:

1. Check the Transparency-Accountability/Page-Index page to see whether a page already exists that fills the role of my desired page
   • We want to avoid creating 'duplicate' pages that could result information being inconsistently dispersed.
2. Confirming the need for My New Page, we search for it in the upper right wiki search box as follows: Transparency-Accountability/My-New-Page
   • Note the dashes between words and the clear group ownership indicated by Transparency-Accountability/
3. Having searched for a page that does not yet exist, we can expect to see the following option:
   • Create the page "Transparency-Accountability/My-New-Page" on this wiki!
4. Clicking on the Transparency-Accountability/My-New-Page link will jump you into the editor to add text
   • The page is not actually created until you add text and save the changes. Prior to making the first save, double check the page name to ensure it follows the Naming Conventions above
5. Finally, edit the Transparency-Accountability/Page-Index page to place a link to your newly created page in the list, alphabetically

Homepage Maintenance

The Transparency-Accountability homepage is a resource to current members, a recruitment tool for potential members, and a resource to the citizenry. It therefore needs to be Current, Comprehensive and Concise. Let it not be lost that the last two of these characteristics are in conflict, and therefore a balance must be struck.

Currency

Keeping the Transparency-Accountability homepage Current helps to indicate the group is healthy and active

Meetings and Events

1. Announcements for past meetings and events should be removed
2. Announcements for upcoming meetings should be emphasized and appear "above the fold"
   • A schedule of upcoming meetings stretching months into the future not only allows members to plan but indicates to potential members a high level of organization

Shunting Dated Materials

Emphasizing activities from previous years on the homepage risks minimizing our activity level, those portions ought to be shunted off to new pages. (see Transparency-Accountability/Wiki-Style-Guide#Shunting below)

Comprehensiveness

In order to clearly indicate the breadth of our activities, the homepage ought to be Comprehensive

Activities

1. All major aspects of our activities ought to be touched upon
   • In order to cover the breadth of activities, homepage descriptions ought to be Concise
2. Lengthy descriptions and details ought to be shunted when possible
   • (see Transparency-Accountability/Wiki-Style-Guide#Shunting below)

Conciseness

The Transparency-Accountability homepage ought not be Concise and not overwhelm visually or require copious scrolling

1. The fewer the words, the more likely they are to be read
2. Lengthy descriptions and details ought to be shunted when possible
   • (see Transparency-Accountability/Wiki-Style-Guide#Shunting below)

Shunting

Shunting is a railroad term describing activity where trains are broken into segments of related railcars and these segments are appropriately relocated to other tracks.

In our context, we look to shunt content from the Transparency-Accountability homepage to other page(s) to keep the homepage Concise while leaving behind a short description of and link to the shunted content thereby keeping the Transparency-Accountability homepage Comprehensive

General Concept

As the group's activities increase and time passes, content from the Transparency-Accountability homepage may need to be shunted off to existing or new pages

1. Dated material ought to be shunted off to help keep the Transparency-Accountability homepage Current
2. Lengthy descriptions and details can be shunted off to help keep the Transparency-Accountability homepage Concise
3. Links to and short descriptions of shunted content can be retained on the Transparency-Accountability homepage to help keep it Comprehensive