Using Wikindx

Resource: A resource is the basic unit in Wikindx and is a body of work which can be referenced. It may be a complete book, an article in a book or a journal article etc. and is therefore analagous to a single entry in a bibliography. A resource can have multiple file attachments, one abstract, one general note and multiple metadata. It belongs to one or more categories and can be referenced by zero keywords or by multiple keywords. All resources belong to the Wikindx master bibliography and can be added or, once added, edited by anyone with write access to the Wikindx. Only WIKINDX administrators can delete a resource and doing so will remove all metadata that is part of that resource.

Category: A category is intended to be the top level categorization of the Wikindx. The 'General' category always exists and the Wikindx administrators can add more allowing the building up of a Wikindx that covers several subject areas or disciplines. A resource must belong to at least one category. The Wikindx user can display resources by category or search for a term only from resources belonging to a category. All categories can be browsed displaying the results as a tag cloud with an indication of the number of resources referenced by each category.

Keyword: A keyword is intended to be the second level of finer categorization. A resource can have zero or more keywords referring to it and any user with write access to the Wikindx can create or edit keywords. Additionally, a resource's metadata can be referenced by keywords which are drawn from the same keyword list as used by resources. All keywords can be browsed displaying the results as a tag cloud with an indication of the number of resources referenced by each keyword.

Metadata: Metadata is the collective term used for quotes, paraphrases, musings and comments referring to a resource and there is no limit to the number of metadata any resource may have. All Wikindx users with write access can add metadata to any resource but only the original submitter and Wikindx administrators can edit and delete metadata (with one exception). Quotes and paraphrases added to the resource may each have comments (which cannot be edited by anyone other than the comment submitter) from each Wikindx user but only one comment per user per quote or paraphrase. Additionally, each resource may likewise have musings, one from each Wikindx user and musings, with comments, can be set to be publicly viewable by all Wikindx users or to be private and viewable only by that user. All quotes, paraphrases and musings can be referenced by keywords and all metadata is selectable and searchable by a variety of parameters. Users can insert metadata directly into the SUWP so it is a good idea to enter metadata in a readily usable (by the SUWP) form.

Bibliography: A Wikindx consists of one master bibliography consisting of all the resources and metadata in the Wikindx. This bibliography can be added to by anyone with write access to the Wikindx. Additionally, each such user may have unlimited user bibliographies which are references to resources in the master bibliography. Removing a resource from a user bibliography will not delete it from the master bibliography; deleting a resource from the master bibliography will remove it from all user bibliographies. Wikindx users can choose to browse a user bibliography rather than the master bibliography in which case all search and select operations are performed solely on the resources in that user bibliography. Any metadata added to a resource in a user bibliography is actually added to the resource in the master bibliography as a user bibliography is simply a list of references to resources in the master bibliography.

Creator A creator is a synonym for a contributor to a resource whether that be an author, editor, translator, performer, artist, producer etc. Resources and metadata can be selected and searched through by creator surnames. Additionally, all creator surnames can be browsed displaying the results as a tag cloud with an indication of the number of resources attributed to each creator.

Collection A collection is the generic name given to any publication of which a resource may be a part of. For example, a resource of the type journal article is a part of a journal and a music track is a part of a music album. In these cases, the journal and music album are referred to as collections and resources can be selected and searched through by collection. All collections can be browsed displaying the results as a tag cloud with an indication of the number of resources belonging to each collection.

Top

The Single User Word Processor [SUWP] is a WYSIWYG word processor available to all Wikindx users with write access. With it, a user can write a complete article entirely within Wikindx before exporting it to Rich Text Format [RTF] for any final polishing in an external word processor.

A variety of formatting options are provided including but not limited to fonts, font colours and sizes, bold, italics, underline, paragraph alignment and indentation and superscripting and subscripting of text. URLs, images, timestamps and special characters may be inserted and there is unlimited undo and redo.

The most powerful feature of the SUWP though, is the ability to insert metadata from the Wikindx directly into the article (automatically appended with the correct citation code and page numbers if required). Upon exporting to RTF, the user can choose which bibliographic style to use (APA or Harvard for example) and all citation codes will be converted to the correct bibliographic/citation style with a list of references used in the article appended. The SUWP is able to handle bibliographic/citation styles requiring in-text citations, footnote citations or endnote citations.

Additionally, Wikindx can format in-text citations for those bibliographic/citation styles (such as APA) that require the citation year to follow the creator(s) surname and the page number to follow the quote if the creator(s) surname is in the same sentence as the quote. This, and other such conditional citation formatting, is defined within each bibliographic/citation style file which can be created and edited by Wikindx administrators.

To allow for greater accuracy when reformatting an article for different bibliographic/citation styles, ensure that the citation codes are as inserted automatically following the quote or paraphrase. WIKINDX expects there to be a single space before the initial [cite] tag -- if this is not here, you may get unexpected results.

You can insert footnotes into the body of the text. If the bibliographic/citation style is in-text (for example APA style), these will be displayed as footnotes at the bottom of each page of the RTF export. For bibliographic/citation styles that use footnotes or endnotes for their citations, these footnotes will be either footnotes or endnotes depending on the style. You may get unexpected results if you nest footnotes or insert citation tags into footnotes.

When exporting a paper and choosing to indent quotes larger than a certain number of words you should be careful about the use of quotation markers (such as double quotes for instance). WIKINDX detects a quote by looking for the start quotation marker and an end quotation marker before the first occurrence of a [cite] tag. The following will be treated as one quotation to be indented:

"It is an idiom suited to an atmosphere of "pomp and display". In style, the "music of the cinema", by and large, represents a fixation at a stage of development which the art itself left behind about thirty years ago. Tschaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Sibelius, are the spiritual fathers of most cinema music" [cite]250[/cite].

If a quotation is not an actual citation, it is better to indicate this some other way than by using the quotation markers used for citations otherwise you may get unexpected indentations.

Top

When viewing a single resource, the creators of the resource and collection, publisher, categories and keywords the resource belongs to are displayed underneath. These will be hyperlinked if other resources have the same creators or belong to the same collection, publisher, categories and keywords allowing the user to quickly browse other related resources. Additionally, if other resources cite that resource from their abstract, notes or metadata, a hyperlink to browse those other resources is also provided. The option to cite a resource from within another is available when editing the abstract, notes or metadata.

When a resource is deleted, all collection, publisher, creator and keyword details are deleted too if they are no longer in use by other resources.

Top