VassarWiki:About: Difference between revisions

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'''VassarWiki''' is a common space for the Vassar community to share and organize knowledge about Vassar life. Any community member can contribute, so keeping up to date is a shared effort instead of an individual burden. And as a persistent resource, VassarWiki is building an institutional memory that survives the four-year student turnover cycle.

Our existing communication tools weren't built for college life. Emails are overwhelming and easy to miss, official sites only push information from the top down, and social media is manipulated by corporate algorithms. These tools fail because they don't reflect the fluidity and collaboration of ~~communities~~. This is why we are building Vassar a [[Wikipedia:Wiki|wiki]]: a website that is collaboratively edited and governed by its users.<ref group="note">While many wikis are encyclopedias, they don't have to be. VassarWiki was created to be [[VassarWiki:An encyclopedia and more|an encyclopedia and more]].</ref>

Our existing communication tools weren't built for college life. Emails are overwhelming and easy to miss, official sites only push information from the top down, and social media is manipulated by corporate algorithms. These tools fail because they don't reflect the fluidity and collaboration of our community. This is why we are building Vassar a [[Wikipedia:Wiki|wiki]]: a website that is collaboratively edited and governed by its users.<ref group="note">While many wikis are encyclopedias, they don't have to be. VassarWiki was created to be [[VassarWiki:An encyclopedia and more|an encyclopedia and more]].</ref>

If you want to help us, you should contribute! All you need is ~~five minutes and~~ something worth sharing.

If you want to help us, you should contribute! All you need is something worth sharing.

== Getting started ==

Anyone connected to Vassar<ref group="note">~~Being a (current or~~ former~~) student~~, faculty ~~member~~, staff ~~member~~, ~~administrator~~, ~~trustee~~, or local community ~~member~~</ref> can contribute! All you have to do is [[Special:CreateAccount|sign up]] with your Vassar email. If you lack a vassar.edu email, [https://tally.so/r/aQEMRW you need to apply to have your account approved].

Anyone connected to Vassar<ref group="note">Current and former students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and local community members</ref> can contribute! All you have to do is [[Special:CreateAccount|sign up]] with your Vassar email. If you lack a vassar.edu email, [https://tally.so/r/aQEMRW you need to apply to have your account approved].

You can edit a page by clicking the "Edit" button by a section or at the top of the page. You can either use the visual editor (recommended if you're new to editing, but more resource-intensive ~~and slightly less capable~~) or switch to the source editor ~~on the upper-right~~. Make whatever changes to the page you want, write a short edit summary, and save your changes. If your changes are non-controversial and superficial (e.g. fixing typos or minor formatting), click the minor edit button before saving your changes.

You can edit a page by clicking the "Edit" button by a section or at the top of the page. You can either use the visual editor (recommended if you're new to editing, but more resource-intensive) or switch to the source editor. Make whatever changes to the page you want, write a short edit summary, and save your changes. If your changes are non-controversial and superficial (e.g. fixing typos or minor formatting), click the minor edit button before saving your changes.

You can [[VassarWiki:Creating a page|create a page]] by going to [[Special:EditPage]] and entering your desired title, or clicking a red link with the desired title (on desktop, you can find one by searching it).

== What can I contribute? ==

{{See also|VassarWiki:What should I contribute?}}VassarWiki is deliberately open-ended to adapt to community needs. There are two main types of pages:

* '''Articles''' are about things like [[:Category:Student ~~orgs~~|student ~~orgs~~]], events, classes, departments, and college lore. Content should be written from a neutral third-person point of view<ref group="note">But by no means soulless!</ref> and [[VassarWiki:Policies|be sourced when possible]].

* '''Articles''' are about things like [[:Category:Student groups|student groups]], events, classes, [[:Category:Departments|departments]], and college lore. Content should be written from a neutral third-person point of view<ref group="note">But by no means soulless!</ref> and [[VassarWiki:Policies|be sourced when possible]].

* Every contributor has [[VassarWiki:User pages|'''user pages''']] that only they can edit. You can put pretty much anything you want on user pages.~~<ref>e.g. interests, projects, org memberships, essays or freeform content, contact information</ref>~~

* Every contributor has [[VassarWiki:User pages|'''user pages''']] that only they can edit. You can put pretty much anything you want on user pages.

There are a few other types of pages as well:

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 '''VassarWiki''' is a common space for the Vassar community to share and organize knowledge about Vassar life. Any community member can contribute, so keeping up to date is a shared effort instead of an individual burden. And as a persistent resource, VassarWiki is building an institutional memory that survives the four-year student turnover cycle.
-Our existing communication tools weren't built for college life. Emails are overwhelming and easy to miss, official sites only push information from the top down, and social media is manipulated by corporate algorithms. These tools fail because they don't reflect the fluidity and collaboration of communities. This is why we are building Vassar a [[Wikipedia:Wiki|wiki]]: a website that is collaboratively edited and governed by its users.<ref group="note">While many wikis are encyclopedias, they don't have to be. VassarWiki was created to be [[VassarWiki:An encyclopedia and more|an encyclopedia and more]].</ref>
+Our existing communication tools weren't built for college life. Emails are overwhelming and easy to miss, official sites only push information from the top down, and social media is manipulated by corporate algorithms. These tools fail because they don't reflect the fluidity and collaboration of our community. This is why we are building Vassar a [[Wikipedia:Wiki|wiki]]: a website that is collaboratively edited and governed by its users.<ref group="note">While many wikis are encyclopedias, they don't have to be. VassarWiki was created to be [[VassarWiki:An encyclopedia and more|an encyclopedia and more]].</ref>
-If you want to help us, you should contribute! All you need is five minutes and something worth sharing.
+If you want to help us, you should contribute! All you need is something worth sharing.
 == Getting started ==
 {{See also|VassarWiki:Help}}
-Anyone connected to Vassar<ref group="note">Being a (current or former) student, faculty member, staff member, administrator, trustee, or local community member</ref> can contribute! All you have to do is [[Special:CreateAccount|sign up]] with your Vassar email. If you lack a vassar.edu email, [https://tally.so/r/aQEMRW you need to apply to have your account approved].
+Anyone connected to Vassar<ref group="note">Current and former students, faculty, staff, administrators, trustees, and local community members</ref> can contribute! All you have to do is [[Special:CreateAccount|sign up]] with your Vassar email. If you lack a vassar.edu email, [https://tally.so/r/aQEMRW you need to apply to have your account approved].
-You can edit a page by clicking the "Edit" button by a section or at the top of the page. You can either use the visual editor (recommended if you're new to editing, but more resource-intensive and slightly less capable) or switch to the source editor on the upper-right. Make whatever changes to the page you want, write a short edit summary, and save your changes. If your changes are non-controversial and superficial (e.g. fixing typos or minor formatting), click the minor edit button before saving your changes.
+You can edit a page by clicking the "Edit" button by a section or at the top of the page. You can either use the visual editor (recommended if you're new to editing, but more resource-intensive) or switch to the source editor. Make whatever changes to the page you want, write a short edit summary, and save your changes. If your changes are non-controversial and superficial (e.g. fixing typos or minor formatting), click the minor edit button before saving your changes.
-You can [[VassarWiki:Creating a page|create a page]] by going to [[Special:EditPage]] and entering your desired title, or clicking a red link with the desired title (on desktop, you can find one by searching it).
+You can [[VassarWiki:Creating a page|create a page]] by going to [[Special:EditPage]] and entering your desired title, or clicking a red link with the desired title (on desktop, you can find one by searching it).
 == What can I contribute? ==
 {{See also|VassarWiki:What should I contribute?}}VassarWiki is deliberately open-ended to adapt to community needs. There are two main types of pages:
-* '''Articles''' are about things like [[:Category:Student orgs|student orgs]], events, classes, departments, and college lore. Content should be written from a neutral third-person point of view<ref group="note">But by no means soulless!</ref> and [[VassarWiki:Policies|be sourced when possible]].
+* '''Articles''' are about things like [[:Category:Student groups|student groups]], events, classes, [[:Category:Departments|departments]], and college lore. Content should be written from a neutral third-person point of view<ref group="note">But by no means soulless!</ref> and [[VassarWiki:Policies|be sourced when possible]].
-* Every contributor has [[VassarWiki:User pages|'''user pages''']] that only they can edit. You can put pretty much anything you want on user pages.<ref>e.g. interests, projects, org memberships, essays or freeform content, contact information</ref>
+* Every contributor has [[VassarWiki:User pages|'''user pages''']] that only they can edit. You can put pretty much anything you want on user pages.
 There are a few other types of pages as well: