Wiki Reorg Update: Site Specs

Some of you have been asking for some of the technical details of the wiki we’re using at work, so here’s a quick post about it.

1. We’re using MediaWiki, version 1.11 (I think that’s the right version number), with no extensions installed. Just the plain vanilla version, although I think I may install the RenameUser extension just to allow the admins the permissions to rename wiki users, as that seems like a logical thing to do.
2. I’m using MediaWiki’s import/export functionality to move the pages over. It’s a bit laborious, as it doesn’t actually tell you that a group of pages you just exported is to big to import, so I end up having to do it a couple of times for certain groups, but in the grand scheme of things that’s not bad.
3. I’m exploring the option of having one of our system administrators help me with moving the pages into the various namespaces on the wiki. Importing pages into namespaces involves three steps: a) Importing the page to the wiki, b)Moving it to the namespace, and c)Deleting the redirect page (that’s just because I hate redirect pages.) So because I’m moving hundreds of pages over, I’m seeing if it’s possible to insert the namespace prefix directly through the database, which would save me a ton of time. I would only have to create a list of page names, which is much easier to do.
4. I was initially going to be using MediaWiki’s Category functionality to further sub-divide pages on the wiki, however as I write this right now, I’m just thinking I may not have to do that step since I’ll already be dumping the pages into the various namespaces, which, since they correspond to the various departments in our division, may be the only grouping I need to do. Hmm, definitely food for thought, as it would save me having to go into each page and adding the tag to them. What do you think about this?
5. I’ve divided the current wiki into 4 different ones: one for the Division, and one each for the products we’re working on. Makes life easier to sort through.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for a progress report as I export/import more pages. Cheers!

Researching the Freelancing Life

Since I was awake very early today, I decided to do some research on freelance writing. One of my goals for the year is to start freelancing on the side, with the idea of moving toward doing it full time. So this morning I surfed around a number of sites like The Golden Pencil, and Writing the Cyberhighway. I got some great tips and inspiration from these and the other sites I went around to, and will definitely keep going back to get more inspiration. I think I may start coming up with some interim goals, like making a list of places to submit, in order to make sure I meet my goal of freelancing something this year. Let’s see, let’s see if I can get myself in gear for a March 1st deadline, how does that sound? I will make a concerted effort to find 5 places to submit some writing, and possibly even make the submissions, although that won’t be part of the goal just yet.