Wikipedia:Instructional material
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This page provides links to instructional material useful for Wikipedia users, especially new users. The intent is to provide a central directory of all such materials Wikipedians have found useful, including tutorials and manuals on Wikipedia itself, and books, videos, and documents available outside Wikipedia.
Because Wikipedia runs on the MediaWiki software, much of the training material for new Wikipedia users is also useful for users of other MediaWiki wikis, and vice versa.
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[edit] Tutorials and guides
- Some very basic tutorials can be found at Wikipedia:Tutorial.
- Tutorials and quickstart guides for the WikiEducator wiki - relevant to Wikipedia because that wiki also uses the MediaWiki software.
- A series of tutorials is planned for inclusion in the weekly internal newsletter, theSignpost. The first tutorial appeared in the January 14, 2008 issue.
[edit] Lectures
As of late January 2008, a series of "lectures" was being planned, initially using a logged irc channel, so that editors who aren't present can still get transcripts. There also might be some live lectures at Wikimania 2008.
[edit] Individual screencasts
- A basic editing screencast, approximately 3 minutes in length, non-interactive, no audio, with pop-up balloon explanations of edits being done on the screen, is available here.
- A screencast (tutorial) on "How to add links" is available here.
[edit] MediaWiki training videos
An administrator of a public wiki recorded some MediaWiki training videos, to help people learn how to edit on his wiki. Most of the material in the videos applies to any MediaWiki site, including Wikipedia; many of the examples actually feature Wikipedia. You can view the videos from the wiki page, or download the videos in high resolution (.avi files), or download lower resolution files in Quicktime format.
[edit] Books
- Wikipedia: The Missing Manual - published January 2008. ISBN 978-0596515164
- How Wikipedia Works - due out May 2008. ISBN 978-1593271763
- MediaWiki Administrators' Tutorial Guide: Install, manage, and customize your MediaWiki installation - published March 2007. ISBN 978-1904811596
