Wiki-Editing Tutorial

Download PDF of "Introduction to Wiki Principles & Editing

What is ICANNWiki? edit

ICANNWiki is a grassroots, community effort to create and curate articles describing the people and organizations, terms and topics within the ICANN community. We actively seek worldwide collaboration to increase understanding of how policy is created for the continued development of the Internet, a tool which we all use everyday. In particular, we focus on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and related international policy and management bodies.

Inside This Guide edit

This guide will help you learn the ins and outs of ICANNWiki. Specifically, it will teach you how to add and edit ICANNWiki articles, as well as how to:

Navigate the wiki. - ICW and its MediaWiki software platform are user-friendly, but require an understanding of the mark-up language and mechanics behind article creation.
Prepare before you edit. - ICW is driven by its thoroughly researched content that relies on wiki-based ethos to guide its tone, clarity and validity.
Understand the foundations of wiki culture and markup.

Cheatsheet edit

Editing Articles edit

	Wiki Code You Type	Output on ICANNWiki
Italic	''italic''	italic text
Bold	'''bold'''	bold text
Internal link to another ICANNWiki page	[[ICANN]]	ICANN
Internal link using alternate text	[[ICANN\|Learn more about ICANN]]	Learn more about ICANN
External link to another website	[[http://www.icann.org ICANN Website]]	ICANN Website
Bulleted list	* ccTLDs * new gTLDs	ccTLDs new gTLDs
Numbered list	#A - ccTLDs #B - new gTLDs	A - ccTLDs B - new gTLDs
Image with a caption	[[File:ICANNWiki Edit-A-Thon.jpg\|thumb\|Thanks for the successful Edit-A-Thon!]]	Thanks for the successful Edit-A-Thon!

Citing Sources edit

	Wiki Code You Type	Output on ICANNWiki
Insert a citation	Page text. <ref>[http://example.org Example.org], More text.</ref>	Page text. ^[1]
Display citation footnotes	<references />	↑ Example.org, More text.

Navigating ICANNWiki edit

ICANNWiki has over 5,000 articles about companies, organizations, people, and more. This table shows the basic structure of our wiki and teaches you how to navigate it effectively.

Section	Description	Visual
Discussion	Every article on ICANNWiki has a corresponding Discussion page, where you are encouraged to leave comments, discuss changes, and speak to other users.
Edit	Once you are logged in, clicking the Edit button allows you to contribute to any article on ICANNWiki. Please refer to our Editing Cheatsheet on the previous page for tips!
View History	Viewing a page’s history allows you to see who previously made edits to a topic and when they did it.
Request Account	To keep ICANNWiki safe from spam, all user accounts must first be approved by ICANNWiki staff. Simply click on "Request Account" and provide your username and e-mail address, and you will receive an e-mail when your account can be used. We encourage users to use their real names.
Search Bar	Locate content about companies, organizations, individuals, and more by typing in your search terms.
Link Colors	Blue links represent useful content that has already been created on ICANNWiki – but as with all wiki articles, they will still benefit from your contributions and edits. Red links represent content that other ICANNWiki users have deemed important but have not yet created. By clicking on a red link, you will be given the rare opportunity to be the first contributor on that topic.	Blue Link Red Link
Community Portal	A list of the important organizations and companies that support ICANNWiki. (For more information, please visit our Sponsorship page.)
ICANNWiki Partners & Members	A list of the important organizations and companies that support ICANNWiki. For more information, please visit our Sponsorship page
Toolbox	This section allows more advanced users to dive deeper into ICANNWiki.

Preparing to Edit edit

Neutral Point of View (NPOV) Neutral Point of View (NPOV) is the way in which articles on this site and on all wiki sites should be written. That is, wiki articles should not contain any bias or unverifiable facts and opinions. This line can often be hard to define; for example, on our site we often list the services of a given company, but we try to remove any marketing spin or unverifiable language that implies these services accomplish something that their competitors do not. Generally speaking, when opinions are stated as facts, or when unappealing facts are intentionally omitted, then the article is not written from a NPOV. At ICANNWiki, we insist on including references, and generally omit articles and article sections that can not be backed up by at least one verifiable reference. We are constantly editing our articles to better adhere to our Wiki Values and improve their status as neutral articles.
Sources When adding or editing content on ICANNWiki, it is important that you use verifiable information with corresponding references. Third-party sources such as multi-stakeholder monitored governance bodies (ISOC, ICANN, IANA) or any other source known for its careful contributions to the subject of Internet governance (CircleID, DN Journal) are helpful, resourceful complements to your work.
Original Research ICW’s dynamic and rigorous nature can be attributed to the site’s emphasis on original research. Copying and pasting from another encyclopedia or resources does a disservice to your and your reader’s education. While it is okay to reformulate an idea’s concept for your own understanding, it is not okay to closely paraphrase or plagiarize. In the end, go for simplicity and don’t worry about over-explaining a concept.

Wiki Values to Know edit

Learn about additional wiki values on ICANNWiki.

Be a Builder	Strive for quality content, but don’t sweat the small stuff. Corrections can always be made. Wikis are changeable and adaptive. Take a breath and get started.
Be Real	Professionalism, trust, and community emerge when real people are involved, standing behind their work. Using your real name substantiates your commitment to "transparency" and allows others to better collaborate with you. Using your real name also generates a greater investment in your work.
Go With What You Know	Writers with passion and knowledge have made ICANNWiki the resource it is today. Believing in your work and approaching an article with a certain studiousness or interest will ensure that at a baseline, your work will be inspired and readworthy. There are no barriers to your participation at ICANNWiki, if you want to build it, go ahead! Hit that edit button!

[1] Example.org, More text.

[1]