Here is where we lay out and negotiate the stylistic rules for the site (as in the Wikipedia style manual). The basic source for style that we will be using will be the style guide for the American Anthropological Association, which is based on the Chicago Manual of Style.
General Guidelines
In working on the wiki follow these general guidelines:
- Use “edit summary” when you make changes to the wiki
- Use the “discuss” function to write, think, and discuss collaboratively
- Do not plagiarize
- Cite appropriately
- Respect copyright of materials (including pictures)
- Always give the sources of the materials (author, http address)
- Link to materials, rather than host materials on our wiki
- Follow AAA guidelines (the Chicago style manual)
- Be courteous and respectful
- Be as objective and neutral as possible
- Be bold and creative
Page Organization
Topic headers should develop organically, but should eventually reflect a consistent set of topics to facilitate comparison of groups. All categories that develop do not need to be addressed in every article unless research on the society offers sufficient data to comment on the category.
Wikipedia's model of headings and subheadings should provide the model for the site. For instance, each article should include an opening paragraph that introduces a group and its environment. Following this there should be a table of contents box with subcategories linking to different sections of the article.
At the end of an article, resources should be cited with in text citations according to AAA/Chicago style. Cited resources should be listed right after the article, and general resources for further reading should be sited at the end of the article (see sources below).
Kinds of Articles
The most detailed articles should be the articles on each foraging society. General topics can be created to assist in careful comparison among different societies, but articles on more general topics and categories should be brief. They should also take care not to make generalizations, and should emphasize variation among societies including links to relevant pages on those societies in the wiki.
Sources
Each article should include a Reference Cited subheading after the article as well as a Further Reading subheading. Since this wiki is intended to be a public science resource, there should be as many publicly available links as possible. Furthermore, while links to more popular resources are encouraged, scholarly links should be privileged.
Links to articles in the Wikipedia should only be listed in the top bar menu only (which can be edited as top) but not in the text.
Sources listed in the further reading subheading should include about two sentences abstracting the resources the source provides, and, if needed, a link to access the source. Non-public resources need not be identified; a full citation is sufficient.
Citation
Notes and resources should be cited according to AAA/Chicago style. All included quotations should be referenced and cited as in a research term paper. Do not use footnotes; only in text citations, for example (Kelly 1995:4).
Media
Links to media should be included on the separate media page.
Tentative To-Do List (as discussed in class 10/28/08):
1: Possibly change colors/style of lay-out
- need to call more attention to links; different colors?
- change the CSS style of the wiki? (Rachel has volunteered to look into this?)
2: Each forager group will have a separate page
- The pages for specific forager groups will link off a main index (see first point)
- We need to choose standard layout all pages will follow (see Ache page for tentative model?)
- Each page should begin with a table of contents, each page should have same or similar table of contents
- Some ethnographic information will never be filled in We could add a disclaimer somewhere on the "work-in-progress" nature of site? Perhaps at the start page.
