FamilySearch Wiki:New Contributors Training

==== '**** Join us on Thursday, December 15 for a Question and Answer session and some quick "How To" instructions to get you started editing. Our class series will resume after the holidays ***'  ====

PURPOSE: Support &amp; Collaboration

 * If you have experience with family history but are new to using the Wiki, this meeting is for you! You may receive support in contributing to the Wiki, which helps others with direction in their personal research.
 * The first part of the meeting will include training on the scheduled topic. After the training, the agenda is open for you to ask questions you may have.
 * Current news items are sometimes discussed.
 * The Family history community naturally reaches out to mentor and share our knowledge and sources with each other. As we do this, we experience the support of collaboration and the sweetness of success. Working together, we will find our ancestors!

WHEN: Thursday 2:00 - 3:00 MST (4:00 - 5:00 EST)
Click to Attend (MeetingPlace ID 5252)

See below for instructions on using MeetingPlace.

WHAT: Scheduled Topics
* These dates are subject to change.

Details

 * 1) Ways to get to the Wiki; registering; signing in; setting your preferences; MeetingPlace tips
 * 2) Understanding the Home page and the navigation bar; Community guidelines; Forums
 * 3) Editing pages using the Rich Text/FCK editor; setting up your User page; watching pages and understanding the Watched Pages e-mail
 * 4) Creating and editing links; setting up your Sandbox (a subpage) and linking back to your User page; using Discussion pages; Signing your name
 * 5) Editing pages using the Standard editor; intro to Wikitext; creating and editing links - continued; IE browser tips
 * 6) The Table of Contents (TOC); heading levels; advanced searching; types of pages, including special pages
 * 7) Copying and pasting – from within the Wiki, from other Web sites including Wikipedia
 * 8) Copying and pasting – from Microsoft Office Word, from OpenOffice.org Writer; running OpenOffice from a flash drive
 * 9) Uploading images and files; placing images and files and their thumbnails in an article; roles in the Wiki
 * 10) Creating and adding tables; using templates, infoboxes, and userboxes; adding References/Citations to an article
 * 11) Understanding Wiki namespaces; creating and naming a new page; splitting an article; renaming, moving, and redirecting articles
 * 12) Combining articles; deleting articles; understanding and adding Categories to articles

WHERE: Online with MeetingPlace
Attend Meeting (MeetingPlace ID 5252)

To both view and hear the meeting

 * 1) Click Attend Meeting, above.
 * 2) If necessary, in the Meeting ID field, enter 5252, and then click the Attend Meeting button.
 * 3) On the Attend Meeting screen, enter either a guest user name or your LDS Account information, and then click the Attend Meeting button.
 * 4) Under Connect Me, make sure that the boxes next to both Join the web conference and Have MeetingPlace call my phone have a checkmark in them; type your phone number (including area code, with no dashes or parentheses) in the appropriate field; and then click the Connect button.

To hear the meeting only
Call 801-240-2663 (or toll-free 877-453-7266), and then follow the prompts. The Meeting ID is 5252.

International callers
Sometimes, MeetingPlace will fail to connect an international caller to the toll-free number. If this happens to you, using Skype, you can call the toll-free number at no cost to join the meeting.


 * 1) Join the meeting over your computer, but don't have the system call your phone.
 * 2) In Skype, click Call Phones.
 * 3) Select the United States flag, then enter 877-453-7266.
 * 4) Follow the prompts; the Meeting ID is 5252.
 * 5) The "pound" key is the same as the "hash" key, #.
 * 6) Skype can cause reverberation in the meeting, so please keep your audio muted when you are not speaking.

Previous Recordings and Lesson Plans
To review the recording or access attachments of a previous meeting:


 * 1) Click MeetingPlace.
 * 2) Enter 5252, and then click the Find Meeting button (not Attend Meeting).
 * 3) Type in your name, and then click Find Meeting.
 * 4) Under Meeting Search, select Past.
 * 5) Enter the date (or date range -- such as From: Apr 7, 2011 6:00 AM To: current date), and then click Search.
 * 6) In the Past Meetings list, for the desired date, click the Meeting ID link (5252).
 * 7) On the right, under Options, click Attachments/Recordings.
 * 8) The Web Recording can be played, but not downloaded. It has both audio and video. There are also separate audio recordings (and sometimes document or other attachments) which can be downloaded to your computer by right-clicking the icon or link, and then selecting Save Target As....

Lesson Plans
Listed below are copies of the lesson plans used for the New Wiki Contributors Training meetings. They correspond to the Topics list, above. The information given was accurate at the time of the lesson, but may change slightly as our Wiki grows and matures.

To download a file, right-click the name of the file, and then select either Save target as... (IE) or Save Link As... (Firefox). Select a location on your computer, and then click Save.


 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 1
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 2
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 3
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 4
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 5
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 6
 * New Wiki Contributors Training - Lesson 7
 * New Wiki Contributors Training – Lesson 8
 * New Wiki Contributors Training – Lesson 9