Wikiversity:Colloquium/archives/December 2008

<preload
Hi,

I am trying to make a page generator based on this one on WikiEducator but the preloads in the generated pages do not seem to work.

For example, I created this page using the generator (preload worked fine) and then when clicking on the Resources or Activities links on that page, the results do not include the required preloads (respectively from Template:ORA Resources and Template:ORA Activities). The sub-pages /Resources and /Activities are blank.

Will be grateful for any help.

Thanks - Kim 15:27, 2 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Kim, fixed. Small difference I think between the way WE and WV handle the urls. Countrymike 09:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Excellent. Many thanks. Ktucker 02:17, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Invitation to blog
Hi people. Let me invite you to interact on my blog, which is located here: User:Juan/Blog.--Juan 16:00, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Policy review
I've been tossing this idea around for a while, and after some of the comments on the 2 recent FC discussions I think we really should get moving on it. The review main page is mostly just lists at the moment, since I'm not sure how to go about selecting which policies to start on, etc. I do think the sitenotice should be used for any vote to enact, since this has worked well for the full custodian votes. I scribbled some ideas at Wikiversity_talk:Policy_review about where to start. --SB_Johnny talk 14:09, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Fear for a collapse in activity on Wikiversity
The Colloquium is a lot smaller now than it has ever been before. I fear that the conflicts of the last months were too exhaustive for Wikiversity. I propose to prevent a downfall by setting an agenda with activities to organize. That can be anything, like a conference, a chat meeting, leisure activities, setting up a reading group on whatever topic, organizing courses. Main goal for this is to establish and maintain a community of people who like to dedicate their (leisure) time to learning. An extra goal can be to try to attract new participants. Is anyone interested?--Daanschr 14:52, 9 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Okay? But isn't that sort of what Wikiverity:Vision is about?  The Jade Knight (d'viser) 20:57, 9 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, could be. But for me it is important to create activities, which will last for a while and which are enjoyable to be a part of for participants. Many of the topics in Wikiversity:Vision are not about this specifically.--Daanschr 18:32, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Ironically, conflict over at Wikipedia is what originally brought me here, as I sought a place to contribute where I wouldn't be constantly attacked. I've thus intentionally not participated in any of the recent conflict here.  It seems that there's a lesson to be had in this, that the place which has the least conflict may end up with the most participants. StuRat 00:27, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I hope so, StuRat.--Daanschr 18:28, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, I suspect some of the slowness is just due to where we are in the academic year (finals for most colleges universities), the Thanksgiving-through-Christmas busy season, and at least some folks are having some economic woes (looking for jobs, etc.). Hopefully we'll see some new and returning faces during and after the winter break.
 * On the other hand, some of the root causes of the conflicts are still around, which is why I'm hoping to get some stuff done with policies, the think tank, and so on. I think settling some of the policy issues would help end the feeling of always waiting for another shoe to drop, and figuring out how to give effective assistance to people who start new projects can only help us in the future. --SB_Johnny talk 19:29, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I believe in circumventing policy, or to only discuss policy when it is in the interest of the continuation of a project. At the moment i am not a part of any successful project on Wikiversity, so i don't think that i have an issue with the policies. I did have a reading group on Thucydides, but it wasn't important for this reading group to have any issues with the policies of Wikiversity.
 * I like the idea of the think tank. Especially the topic of the economic crises has my interest.Daanschr 07:36, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I'll be back around this weekend. Prepare. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 23:19, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Great Ottava!Daanschr 07:36, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Situation
Hi,


 * A few months ago when I use to be active on this site a lot, some users had started to have a lot of problems - some of which caused editor's including me to leave this project I had originally left the project permanently but since the situation had seemed to have quiet down I was wondering if I could join in to a number of projects: I was known by a different username, but when I originally left I removed all references to the password and also the e-mail address so I had to create a new account, I've decided to take the risk and created a new account in the hopes that I can help out: in the past I had made some mistakes and I'm deeply apologetic to what happened but hope I could properly join in to the community if you'll allow it. My activity however on this site will be slow and will mainly be active on Central Wikia, but if I'll be permitted to join the community then maybe I'll return to the site fully depending on the situation. Dark Obsidian 09:57, 10 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Sounds good to me. I like to focus on activities which will not lead to conflict. Perhaps we can cooperate. What would you like to do?Daanschr 18:36, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Welcome back, and I hope you find the environment is amenable to your participation. The Jade Knight (d'viser) 06:56, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Request for a feature can limit the depth of a TOC
Hi, I'm quite new to wikiversity. I would be in a need of a feature that would allow me to have a TOC that only shows top level headings. I tried using TOClimit from wikipedia, but was unable to do this. Any help on this issue is appreciated! :) --Nicodemuz 14:10, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi, Nicodemuz


 * I've just transfered the TOClimit template from Meta and also a separate coding which was required, Wikipedia's MediaWiki interface System maybe different to ours - please try it now as it should work. DarkObsidian  21:36, 17 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Dark Obsidian! I was unable to get the template to work. I tried with values 3, 2, 1 and 0, but none of them worked. I always got a TOC that had 2 levels == and ===. If you can get it to work, please let me know! Nicodemuz 17:24, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikiversity outreach

 * I like the name Wikiversity outreach and want to change the meaning of this project a little. It could become a project with the aim to find new users for Wikiversity and to organize activities that can attract people. We could make films (for YouTube for instance), cartoons, games and material of an academic level. We could organize fairs and discussions on several topics with the aim to get people interested in a wide range of topics.
 * Secondly, i like to put this project prominently at the front page of Wikiversity, so there is a bigger chance that people will join it.
 * The main aim of these two measures is to get a more active institution, which is able to reach out and won't stay passive.--Daanschr 08:20, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

EML4500
I was going through Special:ShortPages this morning and came across a lot of blanked pages related to the school project which is being led by User:Eml4500.f08 (see also this list. As anyone who watches the RC feeds is no doubt aware, this has been a very active group, but has been instructed to work exclusively in the userspace. I looked around, and was unable to find any contributions in the main namespace other than the blanked pages, which got me to thinking about whether we should have some sort of policy about classes like this.

My concerns are this:
 * 1) the userspage pages do actually have nice content, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of "hub" page which explains what they are about, or would serve as a learning resource for future wikiversity users. IOW, there haven't been any learning resources created in the sens of "open and free content available for learning". If the instructional material is not here, all we're left with is homework pages, rather than an open resource... does that really fall within our scope?
 * 2) The blanked pages in the main namespace are legion, and this creates quite a maintenance problem... especially given the first concern. I looked on the students' userpages for any interaction with the Wikiversity staff and contributors, and while I saw plenty of messages left for them, I saw no replies by the students. I think at the very least that if an instructor is going to run an isolated project of this nature, he or she should probably be given custodian tools so that he/she can do the cleanup.

I think a policy that insists that at least some main namespace content is created might be a good thing. The userspace pages could of course be used for assignments (and perhaps linked to the lesson or resource they're related to), but I don't think it's too much to expect that there should be at least a minimal amount of main namespace content, even if nothing more than a simple page about the topic with a brief introduction and links to online resources that could be used as learning materials for future students. Class lecture notes or even a wikibook would be even better, of course. --SB_Johnny talk 15:03, 19 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm unable to support EML4500.f08 being given Custodian tools, we don't even know whether or not it is the same person using that account since other EML accounts are possibly being shared - it's too risky, if those EML accounts are creating empty pages I would recommend that the pages get removed or moved to their own user subpage, don't forget that being given Custodian tools will also enable the "Blocking" tool which will mean that they'll be able to block anyone inappropriately, if the EML's are shared. DarkObsidian  18:05, 22 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Perhaps we should make a requirement that work done in user space must be linked to a sub user page that lists all the different sub pages with assignment names. Then, this master sub user page list should be linked on a class role list in the namespace, so that people can easily identify who is part of the class, and easily find out what they worked on. That would more directly connect namespace with user space. Ottava Rima (talk) 00:35, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hello; I think some of my activities here at WV may be relevant to this discussion. I've architected my namespace into subpages for online components of classes I'm teaching on the ground. My hope is that the resultant resources will be useful to not only my students, but also anyone else who encounters them. I began this work several months ago, and am planning to implement usage in my own courses next quarter. Incidentally, I've appreciated the open and forgiving atmosphere around here as I've stumbled around and made some mistakes. That said, I am too ignorant to know whether custodial tools would be useful to me; it has occurred to me that it would be valuable to be able to delete some pages, or protect others, though. Best, Stevenarntson 21:14, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I think the best way to go would to be to have all of the instrutional materials go in the main namespace, and use userspace for completing assignments. I had played a bit with cross-namespace stuff on the Wikimedian Demographics project, part of that was to figure out how to develop feedback pages, but it could work for assignments as well. There have also been some class projects on wikibooks where students are assigned chapters and the strongest materials are selected at the end of the semester for integration into a textbook: see Foundations of Education and Instructional Assessment for a good example of this (I'll drop a note for the professor there as well). The problem comes about when the material is exclusively assignments in the userspace, since this isn't really the "creation of educational materials". --SB_Johnny talk 10:16, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Guided Tour Problem?
When I first got here as an unregistered user there was an article about instructional design linked on the main page. After registering and taking the guided tour the article was replaced with an introduction to film making which i recall reading months ago..

Any thoughts? --Errickw 00:20, 28 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, Errickw.


 * I've had a look on the earlier version of the Main Page and have a link which leads to the previous revision before the update - if you need any further assistance please respond here. DarkObsidian  15:46, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF MEDICAL SCHOOLS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW (THAT'S IF I'M ON THE RIGHT PAGE)WHAT COULD BE CONSIDERED AS THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL IN SIERRA LEONE. THE ANSWER (OR GUIDE TO ANSWERING)THIS QUESTION WOULD BE HELPFUL IN MY MASTERS THESIS, AS WELL AS PROVIDING ASSISTANCE TO TERTIARY EDUCATION AND MEDICAL EDUCATION POLICYMAKERS IN MY COUNTRY. MY FULL THESIS TOPIC IS: "A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF SIERRA LEONE". ANY AND ALL ASSISTANCE WOULD BE WELCOME. SYLP69 AT SBM1979@GMAIL.COM THANKS --Sylp69 19:21, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Can't help, but may I suggest that you cease from using all caps? It hurts the eyes to read.  The Jade Knight (d'viser) 23:56, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

HotCat
How can I install the HotCat gadget here? (There seems to be more than one version) --mikeu talk 20:37, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Try the following:

// User:TheDJ/Gadget-HotCat.js document.write(' ');

It may work after you refresh your browser, if the first line is preventing the script from working replace the top line with // w:User:TheDJ/Gadget-HotCat.js. DarkObsidian 20:55, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually, I was asking how to install site-wide so it shows up in everyone's My Preferences. I did find the Mediawiki: pages to add gadgets, but now need to figure out which version to install.  Thanks for the note, though!  --mikeu talk 21:02, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Won't you just need to copy the script and add it like on MediaWiki:Gadget-popups.css ?. DarkObsidian  21:06, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I see that there is also MediaWiki:Gadgets-definition. But the main point is that for this gadget wikipedia and commons seem to have customized versions of the code.  So the question is which of the versions to import to here.  I do not know javascript so I can't evaluate what those differences are.  --mikeu talk 13:44, 1 January 2009 (UTC)


 * That depends on whether or not the script is an updated version or a stable version, most projects tend to modify Wikipedia's java scripts due to the type of MediaWiki software which the project is using, since most scripts are designed to work on a specific software version - have a look at Special:Version both on here and on Meta you'll see a difference in the PHP section. DarkObsidian  20:32, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to Darklama we now have the HotCat gadget installed. To enable it go to Special:Preferences and click on Gadgets. Then check the box labeled HotCat and Save. You may need to follow the directions at the bottom of the page to "bypass your browser's cache" before it will start working. There are a lot of page on wv that are not in a category. (see Special:UncategorizedPages and Category:Uncategorized pages for example) This tool can help quickly add a page to a category and also allows you to do a quick search for the category name. This could help us organize our content better. --mikeu talk 16:44, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

wiki science
A very interesting story at RNA journal submits articles to Wikipedia. We might want to try to contact someone involved about creating a learning projects. --mikeu talk 18:31, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Re: creating a learning project: would this help? - Start a Wikiversity Project - Ktucker 00:23, 21 January 2009 (UTC)