Getting Started With Wiki's on Tulip

This post is primary aimed at NUR258 Tunton based students however I shall aim to make this as generic as possible...

I've heard the term 'wiki' before but what is one? 
Well you've most probably already used one Wikipedia being the most prominent use of wiki technology...

The definition of a wiki taken directly from Wikipedia:

"A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and edition of a ny number interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used to create collaborative wiki websites, to power community websites, for personal note taking, in corporate intranets, and in knowledge management systems."
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

The bit were using from this definition is "collaborative wiki websites", a real world example would be you all sat around a white board firing ideas about, except with wiki technology you all can do this rather than designating a scribe. This results in contribution from all members of the group as opposed to standard group dynamics of only the loud confident views being projected.

Or this can be explained better here (however the creation of new pages isn't necessary needed for this module):



Well hope that clears up what a wiki is... possibly further information can be viewed on Wikipedia's site however for this example we'll be using Tulip's wiki function as opposed to Wikipedia's.

How do I get to my Wiki?
Simply go to your Module site and on the left hand menu you should see a Wiki named after your group number. You should hopefully know what group your in by now, however if in doubt the group lists should be listed somewhere on your module site (group names/lists are unknown to me).

How do I get this magical edit panel up?! 
Well using Group 1's wiki as an example simply click on the little edit icon at the top of the page (just to the left of where it say's "Browse"):

Or for the long winded approach click on the option the right of that titled "Page" then from the resulting ribbon menu select "Edit"... doing so should bring up an edit page similar to as follows:

I won't go into explaining what each individual bit does here as it should be pritty much self explanatory, I advice you to stay awy from clicking the "check out" option and encourage you to save and close when your done... otherwise your work will be lost obviously!

How do I link?
Linking can be done via two methods, simply paste the address from the address bar directly into the wiki and Tulip will recognise its a link and create it accordingly. Or if you want to be clever and give contextual links you can make individual words links (like this one). Simply highlight the text in question, and select the "insert" option along the top of the ribbon (next to "Format Text"):

Within the Insert options menu, select "Link" button globe with a chain link underneath...

From this pop up menu its quite self explanatory what to do simply paste in the address url into the address:

Well hope that makes sense... just have a play about with this you can't really break anything and is the best way to learn!

Stuff Links I want some Pictures!
Pictures for wiki's are easy as pie... again go to the "insert" option:

And select "picture" from the resulting ribbon menu. This will bring up a pop up menu where you browse for the image on your computer click ok and it'll upload and give you a option to change the name of it although its not needed but if you've uploaded an image which is just a number might be worth changing its name to something relivant. Click "Save" and the image is uploaded and will automatically be embedded in your wiki.

AAH The image I've just uploaded is HUGE!
This can be solved via two methods, the best being to re-size the image using a separate program on your computer such as Adobe Fireworks, Photoshop, Windows Live Photo Gallery or iPhoto and re-uploading said image although completely understand that this might be above your technical skills... (trying not to sound to patronizing).

The Second method is to use the wiki tools to re-size the said image. If you select the image in your edit panel, so it gets highlighted much like when you highlight text. This'll bring up a new contextual option "Picture Tool" select "Design":

(click above image to make it bigger)

Hopefully that all makes sense.. I've kinda forgotten where I was heading with this picture section but think I've covered everything, please email me or leave a comment if you feel I've missed anything out!

I made an epic post but someone accidentally deleted all my hard work and replaced it with pictures of cats... entertaining cat's none the less but not very helpful... how do I get back to my original work?!
Well the beauty with Wiki's is that every update is documented and prior versions are kept (this is the same for all wiki's). To get to the history posts on your wiki go to your wiki page, and instead of selecting the edit icon, select the page option along the top of the ribbon...

You'll then be shown a list of all the prior edits, on the new left hand menu you can cycle through them and restore to a prior copy should you desire:

Best practice?
Please be aware your editing/contributing to fellow students work, so much like in the real world you wouldn't rip up someone's notebook, don't just delete someone's work on the wiki. Sure edit it if inaccurate or if you do make any major changes leave a note as to why. Please bear in mind your working a team with this. Please remember such things as copyright if your using someone elses photo get permisson first and make sure you never claim its your own. Link any quotes or extracts back to the original sites you obtained them from etc.


CHICKA CHICKA CHECK OUT!
Don't you just hate it when you go to the toilet and find the seat up? This is the same with your Wiki's if you check your item out, check it back in again. You don't need to check the wiki out to edit it, although I don't discourage the use of checking the item in and out I wouldn't say its something vital to do.

If you do come to your Wiki and find that it's giving you an error similar to this:

Then don't panic or curse the person who left it checked out simply sort it our yourself! Click on page icon, then over-right checkout:

Then you can continue with it checkout to yourself ooor check it back in to get rid of that annoying bar:

It'll ask you to comment on the check-in but you can leave the field blank and it'll proceed to be checked in.


And that's a wrap!
Hope this was of some use, please email/comment if you'd like me to make any alterations or if something just doesn't make sense!


EDIT: I've eventually got around to creating the video I promised ages ago!

Microsoft Communicator + Live Meeting

Well with the rest of the university shutting up shop for summer (I hasten to add this is most certainly not the case for the faculty of Health), it's time for ILS's annual roll out of up to date software.

What the dickens is Microsoft Communicator? 
Microsoft Communicator is a corporate communication tool which pretty much ties in every form of electronic communication into a nice little package, in its simplest form this it can be instant messaging, right up to web chat and collaboration via desktop sharing.

So like MSN or Skype? 
Yes and no, initially I wasn't convinced there was a need for communicator when almost everyone and his nan uses MSN messenger, however the key point there was almost, with Communicator everyone who has a UOP login has an account, and every lease based computer will have the Communicator client installed on their computer (more on this later).  Unlike Skype with Communicator being Microsoft it allows a greater degree of integration with your Microsoft operating system and programs. For example allowing you to connect to a fellow persons computer and view what they're working on (with their permission obviously),  this could be used for you both work on that computer as though your side by side working on a piece of work.

So what else does Communicator do?
With Communicator being Microsoft based its best mates with all your common programs and websites, these most notably being Outlook and Tulip... have you ever noticed the little coloured icons next to people's names whilst using these packages?

These indicate if that person is online and signed into Communicator, so say for example seeing that person's name prompts you to ask them something, by seeing if their online you can decide upon your best method of attack, such as if their offline there more than likely not going to be at their desk so a quick web/text chat would be out the window and similarly so would a phone call (if their not at their desk), thus leaving an email to be your best option. And likewise if their online you get the full range of options, something informal why not start up a quick text chat (these can be saved for reading later unlike a phone call), or wanting something a little bit more personal (if what you have to say is of potential conflict to their views etc) then why not start a web chat.

Other things communicator does:

• Web Chat (video, audio and text)
• Text Chat 
• Voice Chat (if you don't have a webcam but do have a mic you can use this)
• Desktop Sharing
• Meeting Requests
• Saves chats to your hard drive

Why should I use Communicator?

There's no reason why you should be forced to used Communicator, however the aim of technology is to make our lives easier, by using Communicator you can achieve tasks which would normally require you to meet face to face. Such as a standard meeting with another member of staff/student can be conducted via web chat at your own computer, which will mean your 20min meeting will only take 20mins of your time as opposed to 10min travel 5min to find a room/cafe/get your coffee (mines a black no sugar) 20min to have your meeting then another 10min to get back to your office. Obviously this can all be done previously via the telephone but with web chat your able to judge body language and the wellbeing of the person your talking to, imagine a student on placement who claims they're ok but from the video you can tell they've not been sleeping and you will be able focus in on the students wellbeing. 

As discussed earlier Communicator isn't all about web chat your also able to share your desktop with the person your talking to... not only can this be useful from a support perspective (i.e. 'Steve can you quickly show me how to do this?'), it could also be used to collaborate on any documents your working together on. 

Great how do I start using it?

Like MSN or Skype Communicator consists of a small programme on your computer. All University of Plymouth computers have this installed by default (if not then its under "run advertised programs") so if your using one then you just need to sign in.

Mac users just need to download and install Messenger for Mac this package handles both personal messaging via MSN, and Corporate via Communicator.

Once Signed in you'll be greated with a list simular to the following:

Windows

Mac

As you can see this lists your contacts if you've not used Communicator before the list will be blank to get started simply type a name in at the top where it lists "Type a Name", find the said person (much like writing an email).

To use Communicator on a Mac you need to download MSN for Mac and sign into the corporate account (using your University Credentials).

If your using a none leased PC you can request access for Communicator client via support desk, or if your a Student you can access communicator via the web access which can be found here (ensure your using Internet Explorer for full functionality): https://cwa.plymouth.ac.uk/ this however doesn't allow use of webcam's.

Live Meeting?
Live meeting is essentially all of the above but for groups (but not exclusively). It identical to DimDim except its Microsoft based, you can upload and view presentations, collaborate on a white board view the presenters webcam or any elected participants (at their will) and most importantly you don't have to create a login.

The most obvious thing with LiveMeeting is that its very similar to the Web Studio's this is a tough one on which tool is best for the job, Ray Jones set up the Web Studio's as a place which is easy for those of more technophobic tendencies to feel less intimidated. They were also set up as there was no other alternative at the time. The their set up allows for students to go into break out groups (something which communicator doesn't directly allow). However they do require you to leave your house where's Live Meeting can all be done from the comfort of your house, and they're also created by Microsoft which is a good thing as there's going to be LOADS of support out there if your confused!

I feel I've not dived deep enough into Live Meeting to do it justice however and worried this post is going on a bit. If you would like to have a go at Live Meeting feel free to just dive on in there or if you would like to demo it I'll be happy to oblige and give you a quick walk through etc!  Its worth noting that Live Meeting, Meetings can indeed be recorded!

MySite Updates

So a quick follow up to my post about the updates to Tulip, felt it would be suitable to mention the knock on effect to MySites... Also you might notice an abundance of updates today on this blog and none on any other day! no I haven't suddenly become amazingly fast at typing, in fact I've had a couple of these posts saved up on my to-do list and have only just got around to posting them! As part of my post holiday get rid of as many things from my "to do list" as possible!

Facebook MySite's... 
When MySites first graced the uni's system it was like giving someone a tin of beans but without a can opener! The idea of MySites was for staff to have a personal site which they could claim was their own could upload and store data and access their emails, basically a desktop away from home. However like I say they did lack the small but significant tool i.e. the can opener or in MySites case some good underlying social media tools.

With Microsoft buying into Facebook (only a little bit but still significantly enough) it is obvious that they know a thing or two about social networking, and with Microsoft's main consumer base being corporate its only a matter of time before the two were to meet... (obviously they've never been mutually exclusive).

MySites overhaul reeks of influences from Facebook lets have a look at my home page:

Notice both a status update, and a wall to post on! Although you can't see it in the image but people can also post on this wall, obviously when to write on someone's wall and when to email is going to be up to the users discretion but I'd imagine things which could benefit other people aside from the recipient, such as "hey Steve I saw this interesting blog you should totally check it out www.stephenhodge.blogspot.com ".  However please remember that although this is an informal means of communication it is still technically the work place, if you wouldn't mention it in the office don't mention it on the users wall, save that for facebook or down the pub!

You might also notice the means use of "status update" what better way for your line manager to keep track of your actions (again in an informal way), than to give updates... I know this sounds lame but it could come in useful.. possibly!

You have the standard optional information to fill out such as your roles within the university and your skills, I suggest you take some time out to fill this out as best as you can, as filling this out correctly could be quite benificial for future internal jobs and or research purposes etc and fits perfectly into this whole "enterprise" thing....

You get to do the whole friends thing:

Except its called "Collegues"... don't get to carried away with this, remember its not a popularity contest, however selecting and grouping your friends in correct groups, i.e. I've made a group of people with similar roles to myself etc, think how powerful this could be for when you have to either quickly find some colleagues of a set knowledge group, or likewise someone's browsing your profile and thinks ahh researchers, I'll contact one of them about this etc...

MySites most POWERFUL tool! 
You get to comment and like things... ok yeah doesn't sound like much but this is AMAZING! ok you have 30 students all with their own profiles, they go through a list of documents on your module site, and your thinking was it really worth uploading those documents I think some of them might be useful but one or two might be a bit lame... you have your flock of students going through the documents if a student likes a file they can give it a like button and or leave a comment... after a term of students rating all your documents etc, you'll get a pritty accurate picture of which files are useful or not and hopefully some reasons as to why! And what with the same site being used year in year out think how accurate this can get with more and more students rating your files/work... please don't think of this as a negative thing if your getting bad comments from your students about your work then prehaps they have a point... however as owner of the said module/programme site you can remove any comments if needs be!

So basically it is Facebook why should I use anything else?
Good point... however do I have you as a friend on Facebook? To give a typical Ladish/British example if you were down the pub and a member of staff walked in would you ask them to sit next to you here have a drink etc... Well you might but you get the point, that this enables you to separate your personal lives and work lives. It also means you can add your fellow students without fear of being swamped, and or keep personal things personal etc. And one final thing every member of staff has a mysite (they might not use it but it still exists).

SharePoint 2010... what the?!

Hello all, well what an interesting month, I've had you might have noticed tulip has had a little bit of a refresh this is due to it being updated to SharePoint 2010 (for those techy's interested). Groan more change I hear you say, well yes this is progress (otherwise we'd still be driving about in Roman Chariots). Well this update has brought with it a number of frustrated emails/calls directed to myself and support desk, which is completely understandable, the aim of this post is to hopefully clear up some of the common issues...

What's changed?
Well where do we start... the most obvious thing which hits you with this update is the different layout and design of the SharePoint pages, most notably this ribbon along the top of the page.

This is consistent regardless of the page your on within Tulip and gives contextual information depending upon which page your on. Such as a document library displays this:

Each site has greater flexibility for customising your site design (which is out of the scope of this overview however please email me if you would like further information).

The update also has technology/ideas "borrowed" from social networks such as "I like it" and "Tags and Notes", the idea behind this being students (or staff), can add these to documents of importance etc which will  hopefully help other students in their studies.

One major change the university has done with this update is scrap the constant renewing of sites. i.e. your Stage 1 site for 2010 students will be the same site for Stage 1 students in 2011... This will hopefully mean less work migrating your sites come September. I encourage you to really think about the content you upload or add to your sites as a little extra effort and planning to start with will hopefully mean you won't have to update much extra information every year.

Right that's all fine and well but I'm still teaching 09 students how do I get back to my old sites?!

https://oldtulip.plymouth.ac.uk/sites/ltsitedirectory/Pages/MyModules.aspx

All I want to do is upload my course material but I can't see the upload button:
Well as mentioned this top band is contextual depending upon which page your on, if your within a document library such as "Shared Documents":

From the Shared Documents page click on the Documents option at the top. This will bring up some options for your Documents library, very similar to the drop down menu under the "new" button on the old system:

If your using Internet explorer you have the option to upload single files or multiple files (if your using anything else you can only upload single files).

One thing I like about the multiple documents upload option is you can simply drag and drop multiple files (and folders) into that blue box.

Anything else I should know?! 
Well yes, however I shall leave it at that for now, please email me if there's anything extra you'd like to know. I've heard a couple of reports about My Sites being blank, if this has happened to you please simply email support desk.


How to I get permissions on these new sites? 
All you need to know is in the following image:

Well hope this was of some use, prior to writing this post I had loads of ideas of what to write about but during the process of the said writing these ideas evaporated! Please comment/email me if you have any further queries! Training sessions can also be arranged!

KTP - Short Programme - Helping Children at Risk

Work for this project finished a month or so ago, however I've only just got around to sorting out the video. This project (excuse my ignorance I'm a Technologist not a Social Worker) was essentially aimed to use technology to break down the personality barriers social workers have when discussing in groups about cases. 

The project consisted of 4 groups of pairs in a room, however no-one knew who they were paired with, simple text chat protocol was used to hopefully level out the playing field of group dynamics, i.e. a quiet and a loud social worker discussing points will result in the louder social worker's opinion being projected to a greater extent than the opinion of the quieter social worker so by using a computer to shield these aspects and hopefully not be a barrier in itself the test social workers discussed a number of scenarios and how they'd rank them in importance etc... and the other crazy things social workers get up to! 

They were then instructed to write their own reports using the discussed information, this was achieved by using some on-line forms I created which mirrored the forms they would use in real life (yeah simulation to the max!) a screen grab of these said forms:

Then the next bit which I think is quite special is each submitted report, is then passed onto the next group, so a group was able to view another groups report and then re-assess the report. Again due to the fact no-one knew who they were speaking to within the room meant the information could be peer assessed/criticised without the usual worry about standing on people's toes or feeling like they're being a suck up etc... then these re-assesset reports can be edited and resubmitted. 

All data form the reports to the chats was logged via a MySQL database which allowed for flexible analysis pre experiment. All coding was done from scratch with a fair amount of inspiration from this:

http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/tutorialdetails.php?itemid=9