Editing MediaWiki and the Digital Classicist Wiki

SunoikisisDC Digital Classics, Autumn 2022

Session 3: Using and Editing the Digital Classicist Wiki

Wednesday November 16, 2022, starting at 16:00 GMT = 17:00 CET (for 90 minutes)

Convenors: Gabriel Bodard (University of London), Rosa Lorito (Liceo Classico "G. Pantaleo", Castelvetrano (TP)), Paolo Monella (La Sapienza University of Rome)

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/BIe1DUburi8

Slides: Combined slides (PDF)

Outline

This session introduces the concept of wiki editing using the MediaWiki software (used by the famous Wikipedia, edited tens of thousands of times per day, and many other projects). When editing a collaborative and participatory project such as Wikipedia, a user needs to consider content, style, technology and the engagement with the user-community that vets new contributions. We focus on a smaller project, the Digital Classicist Wiki, which collects reports and short reviews of digital projects, tool, and other resources relating to the study of the ancient world. We discuss the contents of an ideal article on the Wiki, and demonstrate the interface for editing or creating new pages, inviting students to request a user account and create their own content on the Wiki.

Suggested readings

• Mahony, S., 2011. “Research communities and open collaboration: the example of the Digital Classicist wiki.” Digital Medievalist 6. Available: http://doi.org/10.16995/dm.26

Other resources

• Digital Classicist Wiki
• Editing the Digital Classicist Wiki
• MediaWiki formatting help

Exercise

1. Write to one of the Administrators of the DigiClass Wiki and request an account on the wiki. You will need a real name, and an academic affiliation or endorsement may speed up the process (but is not required).
2. You may either choose one of the projects or tools below (which as of November 2022 had no page in the DigiClass Wiki) or pick another project that you know of. Check that a page does not already exist by searching for the exact title of the project.
   • Corpus Grammaticorum Latinorum
   • Patrimonivm EpiDoc Converter
   • Quantitative Criticism Lab
   • eMousike
   • World of Possibilities
   • Corpus of the Epigraphy of the Italian Peninsula in the 1st Millennium BCE
   • Checklist of editions of Greek, Latin, Demotic, and Coptic papyri, ostraca and tablets
   • Goetz’s Corpus glossariorum Latinorum Online
   • Open University Ancient Greek Resources
   • Beyond Notability
   • SEADDA
   • Oxyrhynchus Papyri
   • ProsoBab
3. If the project does not have a page in the Wiki, use the red link on the search page for the exact title to create a new article.
4. Follow the instructions given in the video, and the Wiki Editing page, to create a stub page for your chosen project (containing at least: i. Available (URL), ii. Director/Principle Investigator, iii. Description, iv. one or more categories.