In an interesting Web-publishing innovation, The Missing Manuals
series, published by O'Reilly Media, this week announced that its book
about Wikipedia is now on
Wikipedia, with the entire contents of John Broughton's Wikipedia:
The Missing Manual available for free online for editing and
updating just like any other Wikipedia entry.
"What makes this project different than any of the other
zillion books online today is the format we've chosen - a wiki,"
explains Peter Meyers, Missing Manuals' managing editor. "Book viewers
will be able to do all the same things they do on any other wiki: view
the document, edit it, add to it - in short, whatever they want. The
book is going to reside in the site's Help
area, naturally, since the book is all about helping people edit
and navigate their way around Wikipedia."
"Once it's live," continued Meyers, our hope is that the Wikipedia
community will flock to the book and 'curate' it by adding tips,
tricks, and by updating the material to reflect changes to Wikipedia
since we've published the original edition. Down the road, when it
comes time for us to consider publishing a second edition of the print
book, we'll think about whether to incorporate some of the community's
changes into the new edition."
Missing Manuals says the drive to post Wikipedia: The Missing
Manual to Wikipedia was spearheaded by author John Broughton
himself. Broughton, who has been a registered editor at Wikipedia since
2005 and has more than 20,000 edits under his belt, says he's looking
forward to seeing what changes and improvements his fellow Wikipedians
will make to his book.
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual online.
I'm a fan of Wikipedia, the collaborative, free-content online
encyclopedia project that has become one of the most popular
information resources on the Internet, claiming more than 100 million
article views per day. While some of my professional scholar friends
turn up their noses at Wikipedia as a reliable and authoritative
resource, I think, respectfully, that they are perhaps missing the
point.
I would not, for example, cite Wikipedia (at least without a
qualifying disclaimer) as a footnote resource in a nonfiction book or
academic paper, but that not what it's for. Rather, I refer to
Wikipedia as an extremely convenient source of quick background
information that has the massive advantage of being continuously
updated, in some instances in near real time, and I find that more
often than not I can find out what I need to know there, for instance
for second-source fact checking of other resources, and in that
capacity it's also a wonderful time-saver.
And, of course, one of the cool things about Wikipedia is that most
anyone acting in good faith can become a participant and contributor to
the massive project. Wikipedia has thousands of articles in English and
the mind-boggling 250-plus other language versions, does more than a
quarter-million edits and more than 7,000 user accounts signing on
every day. More than 1,000 articles are deleted daily. Wikipedia is a
perpetual work in progress - and will remain so.
If this all appeals to you and you think you might like to pitch in
with the Wikipedia project, you might still be feeling at a bit of a
loss as to how to proceed, which is where Broughton's Wikipedia: The
Missing Manual comes in. Broughton provides his readers with
straightforward, fun-to-read, and clear to follow instructions and tips
about how to join the mosaic of authors, citizen journalists, and
scholars from around the planet who have helped make Wikipedia the
success that it is.
The author notes that "Wikipedia his immensely popular as a source
of information, but it needs many more active editors than it has now,
because it is so incomplete. Wikipedia also needs many more editors who
are experts in a particular subject matter." Perhaps that sounds like
you. If so, you will find this book very helpful.
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual contains a great deal of
practical advice for creating articles and collaborating with fellow
editors, improving existing articles, and working with the Wikipedia
community to review new articles, mediate disputes, and maintain the
site. It offers structured guidance for people who want to learn the
"core curriculum" of what you need to know to avoid running afoul of
the rules.
The author notes that "tens of thousands of Wikipedians have gotten
off to rough starts, yet persevered, going on to become solid
contributors. This book helps you learn from those mistakes without
having to personally go through them." The book is designed to
accommodate editors at every level of experience.
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual's hard copy version is divided
into six parts consisting of several chapters or appendixes each (a
format that's retained with the online version).
- Part I, "Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles,"
covers the basics - editing for the first time, practicing in the
Sandbox, markups, dealing with other editors, editing modes, guidelines
for creating your articles, copyright issues, adding external links,
footnotes, user names, registering, creating new articles, what doesn't
belong on Wikipedia, page histories, making changes, watchlists, and
and dealing with vandalism and spam.
- Part II is on Collaborating with Other Editors, and
discusses the rules of engagement, how normal corrections occur,
provisions for dealing with disagreement on content, and dealing with
incivility and personal attacks. The section also covers what Wikipedia
calls "Wiki Projects" - groups of editors working on articles of common
interest, collaborations, and resolving and avoiding content disputes,
general etiquette, giving other editors a hand, and coaching other
editors.
- Part III is on the Formatting and Illustrating Articles,
with a chapter on article sections and tables of contents, creating
lists and tables, and adding images.
- Part IV is Building a Stronger Encyclopedia, covering topics
like getting readers to be right article, "disambiguation,"categorizing
articles, creating better articles, and deleting existing
articles.
- Part V, is on Customizing Wikipedia, and discusses every
option you can employ to tailor Wikipedia your needs and tastes using
choices you will find when you click "My Preferences." There is also a
section on how to implement a JavaScript user scripts.
- Part VI, Appendixes, contains more resources that can help
you get more out of Wikipedia, including a tutorial on links and tabs
found on Wikipedia pages, a Reader's Guide To Wikipedia and a guide for
editors to help them find exactly the referral pages sought and where
to get help. There is also a 20 - page Index.
Stylistically, Wikipedia: The Missing Manual (the hard copy
book) uses the Missing Manuals green, black, and white cover theme, as
well as the series' familiar page design with a comfortable amount of
white space and lots of screen shot illustrations in grayscale, as well
as sidebars under headings like "Word To The Wise," and "Power Users
Clinic," all of which will make you feel right at home if you're
familiar with other Missing Manuals titles.
"Wikipedia already has thousands of pages of documentation on how to
be a good editor," says Broughton, but "This 'Missing Manual' book is
different - it offers systematic guidance for people who want to learn
the 'core curriculum,' the critical information needed to avoid running
afoul of the rules. The book is organized as a structured process for
learning to edit, with numerous tips and tools for easier editing. With
this book, Wikipedia now has something that charts the path from novice
toward expert, with step-by-step illustrations for every topic along
the way."
"The Wikimedia Foundation is thrilled that John Broughton and
O'Reilly have decided to release John's book under a free license,"
says Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "For
years, John has done great work creating instructional materials that
offer guidance for new Wikipedia editors. Now that the Missing Manual
is being released under a free license, people will be able to reuse,
update, translate and customize the material in it for different
purposes and different audiences, which will make it even more useful
for everyone."
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual traditional book version is
priced at $29.99 for both the US and Canada, and includes 45 days free
access to the Safari
Books Online edition of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual. There
is also a $20.99 PDF version. If you're even casually interested in
becoming a Wikipedia contributor, and definitely if you're serious
about it, this book is a must-have that should provide plenty of value
for the money.
- Wikipedia:
The Missing Manual
- By John Broughton
- First Edition January 2008
- Pages: 502
- ISBN 10: 0-596-51516-2 | ISBN 13:9780596515164
- Price $29.99
- PDF $20.99
- UK price £18.50
