Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Feeling Overwhelmed?

I know that sometimes keeping up with things can be a little overwhelming. I'm no different than most people. When I first started being an intern, keeping up with things (updating my progress chart) was a little difficult, and also finding the time to complete my work as needed. I was able to overcome this. I decide to set aside time from my schedule of being a Father, a Husband, and a Student each week to work on the things I needed to work on and update the documents that needed worked on. I explained to my family and school that I have made a commitment to this and I need to see it through. I planned when to do my homework, and I also scheduled time to be an intern. To my surprise, everyone was very accepting of this. I guess all I needed to do was to exercise my time managment skills. I know somethings in life at times have to become before others, I never forget this. I'm not saying I'm perfect, I still at times struggle to balance these 3 roles I play out, but if people are understanding then things will go well.

I hope you find inspiration in this.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Top 5 tips on managing your wiki

Managing a wiki can be a hard thing to do if you don't stay on it. If you only update your wiki once a week, then you'll have to think back or look at your notes on what you did, upload all the files that need to be uploaded, and after awhile it can be a bit of a headache. But I have 5 tips for you on successful wiki management.

1). "Constantly update" If you constantly update your wiki, you won't fall behind on it. Even if it's the smallest, tiniest bit of content such as a word or a picture or sentence, take a few minutes and just update it. Upload that one picture you have and add it to the page needed. 5 minutes max, even if that.


2). "Organize and Structure" Organization is key. When you upload a swf file to be viewed in the wiki, put it in the right section, possibly with other swf files if needed. Also give it a name or a title if no name or title is appropriate for your file. Pictures can be done this way as well. Give your page or pages some structure. Use categories or sections.

3). "Spelling" If you are unsure of how a word is spelled, use any spell check you can find. If you can't find a spell checker, use http://www.dictionary.com/ . Not only is this good to do anyways, it'll make your wiki look a little better and make people think you know what you're doing. :)

4). "Check out everyone else" If you are using an RSS feed to see changes on wikis, don't hesitate to look to see what changes someone has done. This might inspire you or keep you on your toes. If it's in a class situation, you'll see what you have missed. Seeing what someone else has done may help you out with your own wiki.

5). "Link It!" When you create a new page on a wiki, make sure that the is a link to that page. Don't let it just sit in wiki-limbo. If you worked hard on it and put some great content on that page, make sure that there is a link to it. Also place the link in the correct section (See: "Organize and Structure"), area, or even with an object where it's needed. Maybe near something related.

These are my 5 tips to you as a wiki user and a wiki master. You may have different ideas on managing your wiki, but these topics are key and very helpful. Plus it'll make for good looking pages.