AUpedia is one of the many Web 2.0 features of AU’s website. A wiki-style informational tool, AUpedia is meant to cover all aspects of the university and university life and aggregates the experience of all contributors regarding the topics they cover. They represent inside, nonofficial knowledge from contributors who have experience with these topics.
AUpedia is comprised of three components: 1) Articles with multiple contributors called “From the Inside;” 2) “Resource Recommendations,” which are helpful Web pages and/or references that contributors have found useful on a given topic; and 3) an opinion feature by which readers may post first-person opinions about the topic.
AUpedia Guidelines
The AUpedia feature of the new AU Web site is a wiki-style informational tool meant to cover all aspects of the university and university life. These guides are meant to aggregate the experience of all contributors regarding the topics they cover. They represent inside, nonofficial knowledge from contributors who have experience with these topics. Using the following guidelines will ensure your entry provides helpful information for the user.
Students Who Wish To Contribute To AUpedia:
Beginning this week, if you would like to be one of our early contributors, you can establish a student profile. Send an email message to Michael Heasley, Director of Web Communications, heasley@american.edu, with your EagleNetID for my.american.edu. (He does not need your password, only your ID.) In turn, he will authorize creation of your basic profile, usually within one business day. Then you will be able to develop an extended profile, write an AUPedia entry, and otherwise begin to participate in the site.
Instructions For Users Who Have Established A Profile:
Step 1: Log-in
Before you can begin, you’ll need to log into AUpedia submission system. There will be a link under the each existing AUpedia entry: Login to interact with this page. Once logged in, select: Create an Insider Guide.
Step 2: Select a Topic
You must select a topic to write about and/or make a resource recommendation. A topic list is already included in the system for you to choose from. You are not limited to this listing, so if a topic you have is in any way related to life, work or study at AU, feel free to create an entry. Once you have a topic, you are ready to begin.
Step 3: Creating a Title
Keep your title as short and as concise as possible and limit it to the topic. Don’t think of this as a headline. For example, let’s say your topic is the campus store. DON’T write: “Yet Again, Limited Selection and High Prices Force Students to Shop Off Campus.” DO write: “Campus Store.” Do not express opinion within the title. When visitors to the site conduct a search, they will be searching for specific topics and the more precise your title is, the better the search results.
Step 4: Short Description
In this field, write a brief summary of the type of information the reader should expect to find there. For example, if the library is your topic, your description might go something like this: “Summary of services, resources and assistance. Hours of operation, etc.” Again, brevity is extremely important. The reader should know at a glance the type of information he will find in the article.
Step 5: Tagging
In this function of the feature, it will be imperative to “tag” the entry with as much information as possible to make it useful to the greatest number of users. A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification and search of that information. On the AU Web site only contributors (that is, the authors) to an entry may tag the entry. This will also allow the content management system to function more reliably by returning the most relevant search results for the viewer.
Step 6: “The Entry”
This is your entry section. The entry you write or help to edit is not meant to be “official” information and/or published facts, but it should be truthful. Official information and published facts should appear in the Recommended Resources section as links rather than in the body of the entry. So, in the Bender Library example below, the writer might want to leave the hours of operation out of the guide and instead link to the library Web site in the Recommended Resources section.
The reader is looking for context, not the writer's life story. Remember the idea is that others will see the entry and be prompted to add to it in order to make it more robust. However, if you are passionate about a topic, have at it! Before you save and publish your entry, please take a moment to reread your work to make sure it makes sense and do a little self-editing if necessary.
Step 7: Recommend a Resource
In this section, please add “official” resources for the topic you have selected and write a brief description of what the reader will find on that Web page or in the publication. If you select a publication to recommend, tell the reader where to obtain it.
TIPS FOR CREATING HELPFUL AUpedia ENTRIES
Generality. For a entry to be of any use, it has to be true and applicable to the greatest number of people. Think of this as designing a science experiment; replicability by all is a major factor for success.
General language. While you should write about your own experiences with the topics covered, you don’t want the language to be personal. The language should be applicable to all. Do not use “I,” “my” or the like when writing these entry.
Accuracy. You are writing an entry for others to use. Make sure what your writing is accurate in terms of facts and procedures. Look for facts published by (a) reliable source(s) (the more, the better) to verify your information. The procedures you detail should be accurate and ones that anyone can follow. Be sure to get approval if you are using copyrighted information in your entry.
Civility. Your entry should not include attacks or attack-inducing language against a person, group, organization, business, or any other unit. Threatening or suggesting violence in your entry is never acceptable. The goal of this feature is to foster a dialogue. Set a positive tone that will foster civil discourse in the edits and comments that follow.
Know your audience. The audience for these entries is varied and includes many people who are not on campus. If a topic is likely to be of interest to people off campus, write the entry assuming your audience does not know campus or its workings. If you are writing a entry that is only applicable to those on campus or attending the university, you have more leeway in assuming how much background information your audience has.
Stay on topic. The system will give you a limited number of categories to choose from and within each category, a number of subcategories. These subcategories should limit the scope of your entry. There might be some overlap with other subcategories but try and stay within the scope of the topic at hand.
Be timely. Know the time of year or the type of event so you can shape the appropriateness of an entry.
Be proper. Use proper English usage and proper punctuation in these entries. Write them with the same care you would write a research paper for class. You aren’t writing a quick comment on your friend’s Facebook wall, you are writing a entry to be used by others. Respect other’s time by respecting proper English usage. Remember, these entries will go out under your name and can be seen by anyone, so be cognizant of how you want to represent yourself.
(Sample Entry)
Bender Library. The university’s main library, Bender Library, is a great place to study or to do research. Bender is open 24 hours between Sunday, 9:00 a.m., and Friday, 9:00 p.m., if you really need to cram for an exam. The third floor tends to be the quietest and the most conducive to studying. If you need to work on a group project, Bender isn’t always the best place to go because of noise concerns. The library also features the Mud Box café for a quick coffee or bite to eat while studying….
As you can see from this sample entry, we don’t want you to regurgitate the information anyone can find on Bender’s official page. Go beyond that information and give people the hints and tips that only someone who has been there and used it knows. Please feel free to bring in information from the official page, but don’t simply restate it and post it as an AUpedia entry.
As an AU student, faculty or staff member, you are the expert on the university from the student, faculty or staff perspective. Your entries will give fellow and perspective students, faculty or staff the real information that will help them navigate AU. Give the inside perspective, not marketing spiel or the official line. This is not the place to slam the university either. Keep criticism constructive and balanced. Mostly, write what you wish you had known before or those things you think would be most helpful for students, faculty or staff who may just be starting to deal with the topic in question.
