Wiki
A wiki is traditionally a web page that allows anyone to modify the content. We have found, however, that since wiki software makes it so easy to edit pages, it's the perfect collaborative tool. It can be restricted to just a few people, and it becomes a builtin board to post useful information and notes. It can be used as a place to write down project ideas, and keep track of things. It also comes with a handy plugin to include TeX formatted equations.
I have setup a wiki farm, which means I can setup as many separate wiki sites as I want, hosted at http://wiki.physics.ncsu.edu. If you would like me to set a new wiki up for you, email in to pyhelp at pams dot ncsu dot edu the wiki name that I should use. It will be setup at http://wiki.physics.ncsu.edu/wikiname. Also let me know what you'd like the permissions to be.
Permissions can be setup anyway you like, but usually it falls into one of two setups: The first is the wiki is publicly viewable, but only select individuals can make edits. Individual pages can still be restricted from public viewing, but for the most part anyone can read it.
The second setup is where nobody can read or write anything except for a select group of individuals.
Check out
grwiki for a real example of how this wiki software is being utilized. This wiki is used by David Brown and Lisa Lowe.
Using the Wiki
The wiki is meant to be easy to use. The first thing you must do is create an account, by clicking the login button. Fill out the form, using FirstnameLastname as the username format, and hit Create Profile. If permissions have already been setup, you should be all set to start editing pages. After you've created an account, to login again you only need to fill out the username and first password box in that form, and hit login (I know, sort of confusing, but that's the
only thing I don't like about this wiki software).
At the top of each page is an edit link. That link will take you to an editable text box of the current page. Simple formatting rules are listed at the bottom. Links are formed automatically out of two or more capitalized words together with no space in between, such as
ThisLink. Links that don't follow that convention can still be used with
["this syntax"].
New pages are created by simply creating a link to the target page, and then clicking on the link. It will ask you if you want to create that nonexistent page. That's all there is to it!
Attachments are created by making a link in the form of
attachment:filename. Then click on the attachment link to upload the file. Images are done the same way, except with
inline:imagefilename.jpg. More help can be found under the HelpContents link at the top of every wiki page.
