Difference between revisions of "Anabaptistwiki:Stories"

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In addition to providing a place for different Anabaptist-related groups to share encyclopedic information about themselves, the Global Anabaptist Wiki allows Anabaptist communities around the world to share personal stories.

Click on the following link to read Stories.

Why Stories?

Personalized stories are a unique and important aspect of the Global Anabaptist Wiki. Resources like Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) already provide basic encyclopedic information about many Anabaptist-related groups around the world and are accessible to anyone with internet access. The Global Anabaptist Wiki differs from these resources in that its encyclopedic articles are editable by any Anabaptist group around the world in a way that they are unable to do on GAMEO. The Global Anabaptist Wiki also constitutes a forum for sharing personal stories so that online encyclopedic resources like GAMEO are not merely duplicated.

Additionally, personal stories about a congregation or conference highlight what it means for individuals to be Anabaptists in a specific country that encyclopedic articles do not. While there are many places to deposit personal stories online (blogs, web-pages, etc.) the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to provide a centralized location where individuals can contribute stories about the life of their group, access other groups' stories, and link to specific groups' web pages. By providing a place to share these stories the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to help Anabaptists around the world process what it means to be part of the global Anabaptist church.

If you would like to see some examples of stories, follow these links:

The Anabaptist Ideal and a Funk Band, Luke D Miller, April 1999 (United States)

Reflección de Edder Mecón- joven menonita habla de su experiencia anabautista

Story Titles

The author's name should be placed first (last name, comma, first name) followed by the name of the story. For example: Smith, John. My Faith Journey. If all of the stories are labeled consistently, it allows users to easily browse the site's content.

Story Content

Any story that relates to your life in a specific Anabaptist-related group or congregation but does not fit in the basic encyclopedic article about your group or congregation should be included in the Global Anabaptist Wiki as a story. These stories might be interviews with church members, descriptions of church events, commentary about issues relevant to the life of the conference or congregation, or a statement about what your Anabaptist faith means to you. These are just a few suggestions, however, and you should feel free to contribute any information that adds insight into the life of your community.

Credit

Since the stories you contribute will often have a distinct personal bias or perspective (this is GOOD), include your name as the author. Since stories are attributed to specific authors they should be protected so that the authors' words will not be distorted by future editing

Protection

Since stories are the unique and personal voice of one individual, Anabaptistwiki seeks to protect all stories once they are created so only administrators can edit them. Stories cannot be edited by other regular users so they will retain the content that was originally posted. Once a story is written, Anabaptistwiki administrators will come through and protect the page from editing. If this hasn't happened in awhile, possibly because the administrators are busy, feel free to send an email to one of them politely suggesting to protect your story. Remember these people are volunteers.

How Do I Contribute Stories?

To create a story, follow these steps:

Create your new story page. There are two techniques of accomplishing this.
- First, go to a page that you would like your story to be linked to. Go into edit mode and add a link to your (as of yet nonexistent) story in an appropriate area on the page. Notice that whatever text you type in the link will be the exact title of your story so watch out for spelling mistakes and capitalization. Follow the story naming specifications as outlined above in the "Story Titles" section. Save the page. The link to your nonexistent story should be red. Clicking on this red link will bring you to an edit page for your new story.
- The second way of creating an article is to type the name of your story in the search bar and click "Go." Notice that whatever you type in the search bar will be the exact title of your story so watch out for spelling mistakes and capitalization. Follow the story naming specifications as outlined above in the "Story Titles" section. Hitting "Go" should bring you to the search results page. Near the top of the page you should see the following "There is no page titled "Your Story Name". You can create this page." Clicking on "create this page" will bring you to a screen where you can write your story.
Load the appropriate boilerplate. A boilerplate is a pre-formatted template for you to use which takes some of the work out of formatting and allows the site to be more consistent. Simply choose the language your story will be written in under the "Select Boilerplate" option and click load.
Edit your page. To edit the story, simply add text to the editor window. If you are a bit more competent with Wikicode, you can experiment with tables, images etc. For help on editing, visit the Mediawiki how to edit page and formatting page.
Add your new story to the appropriate category. All stories must be linked to the country stories category in which the story is set. For instance, if a story was written about a faith journey in India, it should be linked to the "India Stories" category. If your story could be linked to multiple countries, link them all. Here is the list of available country story categories. Simply click on the region of your choice to bring up the available country categories. If your country is not included on the list you can always add it yourself. We have added a feature on Anabaptistwiki that allows you to easily select categories for your article. Underneath the editor pane is a "Category Selection" pane. You can either choose appropriate categories from the list of popular categories below or type existing categories in the input box.
Save your page. When you are done editing, formatting and selecting categories, click the "Save Page" button at the bottom of the page. Your story has now been created and people can start reading it!
Link your story to other articles. Think about what other articles would be related to your story. If these articles have been created already, add a link to your article somewhere appropriate on that page. These would most likely include conference or congregational pages. Each conference and congregational page has a section specifically for stories. The more links there are to your story, the easier it will be for people who are looking for your story to find it.

Where Can I Find Stories?

You can find personal stories in a variety of different places. To start, you should check out the stories category page to see a list of all the stories on the Global Anabaptist Wiki. From here you can browse through stories from each individual country. If you'd rather you can browse through stories under the "Stories" heading on Anabaptist-related groups' pages.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Click on the following link to read [[Stories]].
 ==Why Stories?==
-One reason that personalized stories are an important part of the Global Anabaptist Wiki is that resources like the [http://www.gameo.org/ Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO)] provide basic encyclopedic information about many Anabaptist-related groups around the world and are accessible for anyone with internet access.  The Global Anabaptist Wiki does include encyclopedic [[Anabaptistwiki:Articles|articles]] so that Anabaptist-related groups around the world can edit and update basic information about themselves in a way that they are unable to on GAMEO, but the Global Anabaptist Wiki also is a forum for sharing personal stories so that it does not merely duplicate online encyclopedic resources like GAMEO.
+Personalized stories are a unique and important aspect of the Global Anabaptist Wiki.  Resources like [http://www.gameo.org/ Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO)] already provide basic encyclopedic information about many Anabaptist-related groups around the world and are accessible to anyone with internet access.  The Global Anabaptist Wiki differs from these resources in that its encyclopedic [[Anabaptistwiki:Articles|articles]] are editable by any Anabaptist group around the world in a way that they are unable to do on GAMEO.  The Global Anabaptist Wiki also constitutes a forum for sharing personal stories so that online encyclopedic resources like GAMEO are not merely duplicated.
-Additionally, personal stories about a congregation or conference highlight what it means for individuals to be Anabaptists in those particular areas in a way that encyclopedic articles do not.  While there are many places to deposit personal stories online (blogs, web-pages, etc.) the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to provide a centralized location where individuals can contribute stories about the life of their group, access other groups' stories, and link to specific groups' web pages.  By providing a place to share these stories the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to help Anabaptists around the world process what it means to be part of the global Anabaptist church.
+Additionally, personal stories about a congregation or conference highlight what it means for individuals to be Anabaptists in a specific country that encyclopedic articles do not.  While there are many places to deposit personal stories online (blogs, web-pages, etc.) the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to provide a centralized location where individuals can contribute stories about the life of their group, access other groups' stories, and link to specific groups' web pages.  By providing a place to share these stories the Global Anabaptist Wiki hopes to help Anabaptists around the world process what it means to be part of the global Anabaptist church.
-==What Counts as a Story?==
+If you would like to see some examples of stories, follow these links:
-Any story that relates to your life in a specific Anabaptist-related group or congregation but does not fit in the basic encyclopedic article about your group or congregation should be included in the Global Anabaptist Wiki as a story.  These stories might be interviews with church members, descriptions of church events, or commentary about issues are relevant to the life of the conference or congregation, or a statement about what your Anabaptist faith means to you.  These are just a few suggestions, however, and you should feel free to contribute any information that adds insight into the life of your community.
-==How Do I Contribute Stories?==
+[[The Anabaptist Ideal and a Funk Band, Luke D Miller, April 1999 (United States)]]
-You can contribute stories in a variety of ways.  The '''primary''' way to create stories is to create a page for your story by creating a link to your story on the [[Stories]] page.  To create a story, go to the [[Stories]] page and insert a link to your story under the section for your region using the following code: <code><nowiki>[[Your Story Title]]</nowiki></code> (Story titles should adequately convey the story's content, and you should include your country of origin in parenthesis at the end of your title).  This will create a red link (meaning the article does not exist yet).  Follow this link to a new page and begin writing your story.
-Insert the link to your story under the correct regional and country section heading.  If section heading does not exist for your country, create one using the following code <code><nowiki>===Your Country===</nowiki></code>.  For example, if you're from [[Guatemala]] you would insert <code><nowiki>===Guatemala===</nowiki></code> under the [[#Caribbean, Central and South America|Caribbean, Central and South America]] section and then create a link to your story under the new Guatemala section.
+[[Reflección de Edder Mecón- joven menonita habla de su experiencia anabautista]]
-If you have a collection of stories to contribute (for example, a collection of student essays or a group of interviews), you may want to create a link to a page explaining the collection.  On that page you can then add links that take readers to the individual stories.
+==Story Titles==
+The author's name should be placed first (last name, comma, first name) followed by the name of the story. For example: Smith, John. My Faith Journey. If all of the stories are labeled consistently, it allows users to easily browse the site's content.
-You may also want to link your story to your regional conference's or congregation's page.  Each conference or congregational page will include a section called "Stories."  After writing your story you can insert a link to your story under the "Stories" section on your conference's or congregation's page by using the same code that you used to create your article.  If you have already written your article, this code will now appear in blue or purple text.
+==Story Content==
+Any story that relates to your life in a specific Anabaptist-related group or congregation but does not fit in the basic encyclopedic article about your group or congregation should be included in the Global Anabaptist Wiki as a story.  These stories might be interviews with church members, descriptions of church events, commentary about issues relevant to the life of the conference or congregation, or a statement about what your Anabaptist faith means to you.  These are just a few suggestions, however, and you should feel free to contribute any information that adds insight into the life of your community.
-After writing a story '''be sure''' to insert the following code at the bottom of the page <code><nowiki>[[Category:Stories]]</nowiki></code>.  This will create a link to your story on the [[:Category:Stories|stories category page]].
+==Credit==
+Since the stories you contribute will often have a distinct personal bias or perspective (this is '''GOOD'''), include your name as the author.
+''Since stories are attributed to specific authors they should be protected so that the authors' words will not be distorted by future editing''
-If you are writing the story in a language other than English you will have to add a language code to the end of the category code to create a link to your story in the appropriate stories category language page.  For example, if you write a story in Spanish, you should insert the following code at the bottom of the page <code><nowiki>[[Category:Stories/es]]</nowiki></code>.  This will create a link to your story on the category page for all stories written in Spanish.  Click on the following link for more information about the Global Anabaptist Wiki's [[Anabaptistwiki:Language policy|language policy]].
+==Protection==
+Since stories are the unique and personal voice of one individual, Anabaptistwiki seeks to protect all stories once they are created so only administrators can edit them.  Stories cannot be edited by other regular users so they will retain the content that was originally posted.  Once a story is written, Anabaptistwiki administrators will come through and protect the page from editing.  If this hasn't happened in awhile, possibly because the administrators are busy, feel free to send an email to one of them politely suggesting to protect your story.  Remember these people are volunteers.
-Also, please read the Global Anabaptist Wiki's [[Anabaptistwiki:Language policy|language policy]] to learn more about creating a story in a language other than English.  Regardless of what language stories are initially written they should be translated into as many languages as possible.
+==How Do I Contribute Stories?==
+To create a story, follow these steps:
-==Credit==
-Since the stories you contribute will often have a distinct personal bias or perspective (this is '''GOOD'''), include your name as the author.
-<nowiki>*</nowiki>''Since stories are attributed to specific authors they should be protected so that the authors' words will not be distorted by future editing''*
+# '''Create your new story page.'''  There are two techniques of accomplishing this.
+#* First, go to a page that you would like your story to be linked to.  Go into edit mode and add a link to your (as of yet nonexistent) story in an appropriate area on the page.  Notice that whatever text you type in the link will be the exact title of your story so watch out for spelling mistakes and capitalization.  Follow the story naming specifications as outlined above in the [[#Story Titles|"Story Titles" section.]]  Save the page.  The link to your nonexistent story should be red.  Clicking on this red link will bring you to an edit page for your new story.
+#* The second way of creating an article is to type the name of your story in the search bar and click "Go."  Notice that whatever you type in the search bar will be the exact title of your story so watch out for spelling mistakes and capitalization. Follow the story naming specifications as outlined above in the [[#Story Titles|"Story Titles" section.]]  Hitting "Go" should bring you to the search results page.  Near the top of the page you should see the following "There is no page titled "Your Story Name". You can create this page."  Clicking on "create this page" will bring you to a screen where you can write your story.
+# '''Load the appropriate boilerplate.'''  A boilerplate is a pre-formatted template for you to use which takes some of the work out of formatting and allows the site to be more consistent.  Simply choose the language your story will be written in under the "Select Boilerplate" option and click load.
+# '''Edit your page.'''  To edit the story, simply add text to the editor window.  If you are a bit more competent with Wikicode, you can experiment with tables, images etc.  For help on editing, visit the Mediawiki [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing how to edit page] and [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting formatting page].
+# '''Add your new story to the appropriate category.'''  All stories must be linked to the country stories category in which the story is set.  For instance, if a story was written about a faith journey in India, it should be linked to the "India Stories" category.  If your story could be linked to multiple countries, link them all.  Here is the list of [[Stories|available country story categories]].  Simply click on the region of your choice to bring up the available country categories.  If your country is not included on the list you can always add it yourself.  We have added a feature on Anabaptistwiki that allows you to easily select categories for your article.  Underneath the editor pane is a "Category Selection" pane.  You can either choose appropriate categories from the list of popular categories below or type existing categories in the input box.
+# '''Save your page.''' When you are done editing, formatting and selecting categories, click the "Save Page" button at the bottom of the page.  Your story has now been created and people can start reading it!
+# '''Link your story to other articles.''' Think about what other articles would be related to your story.  If these articles have been created already, add a link to your article somewhere appropriate on that page.  These would most likely include conference or congregational pages.  Each conference and congregational page has a section specifically for stories.  The more links there are to your story, the easier it will be for people who are looking for your story to find it.
 ==Where Can I Find Stories?==
-You can find personal stories in a variety of different places.  To start you should browse through the [[Stories]] page.  If you'd rather you can browse through stories under the "Stories" heading on Anabaptist-related groups' pages.  Also, you can check out the [[:Category:Stories|stories category page]] to see a list of all the stories on the Global Anabaptist Wiki.  At the top of this category page there will be links to category pages for stories in [[:Category:Stories|English]], [[:Category:Stories/fr|French]], [[:Category:Stories/de|German]], and [[:Category:Stories/es|Spanish]].
+You can find personal stories in a variety of different places.  To start, you should check out the [[:Category:Stories|stories category page]] to see a list of all the stories on the Global Anabaptist Wiki.  From here you can browse through stories from each individual country.  If you'd rather you can browse through stories under the "Stories" heading on Anabaptist-related groups' pages.
 [[Category:Policy]]