This TechTalk was targeted at people already somewhat familiar with the division’s wiki which can be accessed at http://humanities.uchicago.edu/wiki/. During the presentation and Q&A we discussed various matters including how to plan and structure complex documents, employ simple wiki macros to generate pages (such as a table of contents) automatically, how to share or restrict access to your pages and gain more control over their look and feel.
Probably the best place to start to learn more about the capabilities of the software (Confluence) we use to power our wiki is the Feature Tour on its website. This is a great place to get a succinct overview of its main features. The Confluence website also hosts several excellent introductory videos explaining the product.
Following this, to dig deeper, you’ll want to look at the official documentation pages. These are actually fairly well written and organized from the perspective of a user looking to accomplish a specific task, for example, working with images. Please keep in mind too that if you are a staff or faculty member in the division you can always contact Humanities Desktop Support to help you solve a problem with the wiki.
Advanced features in Confluence are generally accessed via a system of simple macros and (optional) plugins. If you’ve browsed through the lists of plugins and macros and found something that may look useful for your project, please contact Humanities Desktop Support for assistance.
Finally, to make the most of your wiki, it’s going to be very helpful to keep abreast of ongoing new features and updates. These so called “major releases” generally get rolled out three or four times a year. To read a brief summary of the highlights of recent major releases, please consult the following links:
v2.10 (December, 2008)
v2.9 (August, 2008)
v2.8 (April, 2008)
