Difference between revisions of "Help:Contents/Purpose"
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The ISFDB Wiki supports the ISFDB, and provides additional information, index pages, and a way to record and view information about the bibliographic work that is done in the ISFDB. | The ISFDB Wiki supports the ISFDB, and provides additional information, index pages, and a way to record and view information about the bibliographic work that is done in the ISFDB. | ||
| + | ==How the ISFDB Wiki supports the ISFDB== | ||
The ISFDB itself is a user-modifiable database of speculative fiction publications, and their associated bibliographic data, such as awards, pseudonyms, and series connections. The ISFDB provides editing tools that permit users to add, delete and modify all the records associated with this information. These modification are reviewed by users with "moderator" privileges, who may choose to approve or reject the modifications. This step is necessary to avoid vandalism to the database. | The ISFDB itself is a user-modifiable database of speculative fiction publications, and their associated bibliographic data, such as awards, pseudonyms, and series connections. The ISFDB provides editing tools that permit users to add, delete and modify all the records associated with this information. These modification are reviewed by users with "moderator" privileges, who may choose to approve or reject the modifications. This step is necessary to avoid vandalism to the database. | ||
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**Series projects. Where a series spans multiple authors, as is the case with some shared world anthologies, such as [[Series:Thieves' World]], the author project organization is not the most natural way to manage the data. | **Series projects. Where a series spans multiple authors, as is the case with some shared world anthologies, such as [[Series:Thieves' World]], the author project organization is not the most natural way to manage the data. | ||
**Magazine projects. The magazine pages, such as [[Magazine:Amazing Stories]], can also be used to keep track of the bibliographic verification work that has been done on those magazines. | **Magazine projects. The magazine pages, such as [[Magazine:Amazing Stories]], can also be used to keep track of the bibliographic verification work that has been done on those magazines. | ||
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| + | ==What the ISFDB Wiki is not== | ||
| + | The ISFDB Wiki is not a place to record author biographies. It's harmless to add biographical information to these pages, but it may be deleted by editors who work the bibliographies of those authors. [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] is an excellent place for biographies of sf authors, and the ISFDB has a facility for adding a link to the Wikipedia article for each author. | ||
Revision as of 22:57, 19 June 2006
The ISFDB Wiki supports the ISFDB, and provides additional information, index pages, and a way to record and view information about the bibliographic work that is done in the ISFDB.
How the ISFDB Wiki supports the ISFDB
The ISFDB itself is a user-modifiable database of speculative fiction publications, and their associated bibliographic data, such as awards, pseudonyms, and series connections. The ISFDB provides editing tools that permit users to add, delete and modify all the records associated with this information. These modification are reviewed by users with "moderator" privileges, who may choose to approve or reject the modifications. This step is necessary to avoid vandalism to the database.
The purpose of the ISFDB Wiki is to support this editing process. Several ways in which the Wiki can support the ISFDB have been identified, but this is not an exhaustive list.
- Help pages, such as this one, live in the ISFDB Wiki and can be freely updated by an editor.
- Index pages such as Magazine:Amazing Stories, which provide a single point of access to all issues of a magazine.
- Communication with other editors
- Project pages, to coordinate the actions of a group of editors interesting in improving related bibliographic data. Three types of project have been identified:
- Author projects. For example Author:Robert A. Heinlein is a page at which editors who are interested in and knowledgeable about Heinlein can keep track of work that has been done on maintaining Heinlein-related data in the ISFDB. The organization of information on a project page is up to the project team members.
- Series projects. Where a series spans multiple authors, as is the case with some shared world anthologies, such as Series:Thieves' World, the author project organization is not the most natural way to manage the data.
- Magazine projects. The magazine pages, such as Magazine:Amazing Stories, can also be used to keep track of the bibliographic verification work that has been done on those magazines.
What the ISFDB Wiki is not
The ISFDB Wiki is not a place to record author biographies. It's harmless to add biographical information to these pages, but it may be deleted by editors who work the bibliographies of those authors. Wikipedia is an excellent place for biographies of sf authors, and the ISFDB has a facility for adding a link to the Wikipedia article for each author.