career: How to wikiHow

Monday, July 18, 2011

How to "wikiHow" India to the world???

How to “wikiHow” India to the world?

At the outset itself, It is better that, I clarify that, this not a article for promoting “wikiHow”. On the contrary it is an effort to promote India to the world through the largest online collaborative “How to” manual with 117,783 (118,000 by the time you read this article.) collaborative articles. This is a place where everyone comes and finds what they are looking for. The topics range from Cooking to Gardening, Agriculture, Fashion designing, Exercise, Keeping fit, Cultures, Custom, Romance, Marriage, Human values, Management others. You name it and it is there.

You allow your thinking to go wild, and come out with something weird. The chances are that you will find a “How to” article for that too. It is a weird, weird, insane world out there. Join us and be a part of it all. You will enjoy it. There are of course a whole lot of serious academic articles too.

Unfortunately there is very little Indian content on wikiHow. Unlike Wikipedia, which has a huge Indian content, wikiHow has still to grow in India specific content. India has a lot of exciting things to offer to the world.

The Vedas,Puranas,Upanishads,Culture,Customs,Traditions,Tribes,Languages,Cookery,Habits,Habitats, Costumes, Astrology, Astronomy, Idd, Ibaadat, Tahzeeb, Music, Dance, Drama, Shaayri, Gazal, Folk, Tarana, Fasaana, & of course Science Technology,Software.A whole lot of things special and specific to India. All these can be framed in wikiHow format and published.you can add images audio and video files too to make it more comprehensive.If you have talent,you need to shout it out to the world through wikiHow.Even if you are not good writer don't worry,senior editors will literally walk you through the process. Indian magic is something the world has been eagerly waiting for. They will gobble up everything we can serve and ask for more, and yes they will find it highly palatable too.

wikiHow has specific format. The articles have to be instructional but not societal. For example this article in the present form will not be accepted on wikiHow.The How to has to be in easy understandable steps with tips and warnings. The format appears a bit complicated at beginning, but there is a lot of help always instantly available. Senior editors are available 24/7 and they help & guide the new members. You will also find a young crop of enthusiastic, energetic Indian editors working very hard and earning accolades for their work.

My contribution to wikiHow on account of time constraints is very minimal and negligible. However my desire to carve out an Indian continent on the wikiHow world is very huge. That is the reason I urge my fellow Indian nationals everywhere in the globe to join wikiHow and create a niche for us Indians.

I am reminded of the immortal poet Allama Iqbal Mohd's famous words.

दयारे इश्क में, अपना मुकाम पैदा कर,

नया ज़माना नयी सुबह,नयी शाम पैदा कर

अपना मुकाम पैदा कर.

खुदी को कर बुलन्द इतना की,

हर तकदीर लिखने से पहले ,

खुदा बन्दे से खुद पूछे ,

बता तेरी रजा क्या है

Loosely translated in English it means.

" In this world full of love,create an identity for yourself. Create a new world, new dawn, & a new dusk. Create a abode for yourself. Make your self-identity so strong, that even the god before writing every destiny has to ask the person as to what he should write in his destiny."

You can view the video of the full song in the voice of the great Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at Mousiki

Now How to go about it??
Below are some of the articles written by senior editors which will walk you through the process.Please read all the articles and make yourself thorough before writing an article.Initially you may have some problems of acceptance.Editors may edit,modify,or nominate for deletion (NFD) your article.Any (NFD) has to go through a process of voting before a decision is taken on it.The decision is always neutral and fair. Don't panic seek the help of wikiHow team or write to one of the senior editors leave a message on their talk page.All the editors are helpful and responsive. You need to have a little patience till you learn the nuances of the system and are comfortable.

Or you can just visit wikiHow take a tour read a few articles, and try your best not to get initiated into it.

http://wikihow.com

Best wishes,
Shyam

How to Write a New Article on wikiHow

edits by:Spectru, James Quirk, Jack Herrick, Alan J (see all)

Do you know how to do something that would benefit others? Share your knowledge and talents in a wikiHow article. You may even polish it into a Featured Article! Just follow these simple instructions:

EditSteps

1. 1

Log in or create an account.

2. 2

Review the Writer's Guide.

3. 3

Search for duplicates first, because wikiHow is constantly changing.

o Duplicates will eventually be merged or deleted.

o If your title has already been taken, just add to an existing article.

4. 4

Click on Write an Article at the upper right of any page.

5. 5

Choose a title.

Choose a title.

o Include the "most concise, most commonly searched words" to reflect the "distinct or specific technique" described in your article.

o The words “How to” are automatically added.

o A title should begin with a verb (e.g. "How to Walk a Dog").

6. 6

Categorize your article.

Categorize your article.

o This makes it easier to locate and keeps similar articles together.

o Click on Edit Category.

o Choose a category from the list or use the search box.

o Click on Save to assign your category.

7. 7

Write an Introduction.

o Summarize the content of your article.

o Include the purpose of the article to quickly inform the reader.

o Include a question, within the opening line, to capture a reader's interest.

o Example: "Have you ever wondered how to write an engaging introduction?"

o Example of a closing line: "Here are a few easy steps:"

8. 8

Write your article's steps.

o Make each step action-oriented.

o Limit each step to one main idea. Keep sentences short and simple.

o Be concise yet specific and descriptive. Add further explanation, if needed.

o Number (#) is automatically added.

9. 9

Click on Preview, at the bottom of the page, to review your changes.

o Submit only the final draft of your work.

10. 10

Write a note in the Edit Summary, at the bottom of the article, to clarify your edit.

11. 11

Click on Publish, at the bottom of the article, to save your article.

12. 12

Congratulations! You've just started a new page in the largest how-to manual in the world.

EditTips

· Learn how to:

o Reply to a Requested topic.

o Copyedit (proofread) for errors.

o Add links and Related wikiHows for further reference.

o Research facts and techniques and credit your sources.

o Obtain permission to legally import copyrighted content.

o Embed a video, import free photos or upload your own to clarify instructions.

o Use templates to improve the quality of an article.

· Consider "Modular Programming" principles^[1] for whether your idea should be its own article, part of an article, or several articles.

o A single article should be about a set of steps that are normally performed only as a unit.

o Articles about simple basic tasks, like an article about planting seeds, can be linked into different articles about variations on them, like special tricks for planting pumpkin seeds.

o Articles about large-scale tasks, like growing pumpkins, can consist of links to sub-tasks like planting pumpkin seeds (optionally followed by very simple summaries so knowledgeable people need not follow links) and storing vegetables, and additional steps like fertilizer requirements for pumpkins.

o Modular programming minimizes wikiHow's learning curve^[2] by making articles easier to understand and confidently improve. It increases wikiHow's scalability^[3] by minimizing the amount of new material for new applications. It increases wikiHow's maintainability^[4] by carrying each improvement to a discrete process across all of the projects to which it is relevant^[5]. And it increases wikiHow's usability^[6] by rapidly guiding users to one or a very few articles that would have relevant information. Because wikiHow is Free, unlike many other references, it should be unlikely to waste contributors' and users' efforts by degenerating into the equivalent of a tedious-to-browse bookcase or database of largely-overlapping, inconsistently-organized, sometimes overly-pared-down^[7], and each expensive tomes.^[8]

It's easiest to get the scope about-right to begin, but an article can be split into several new articles, several old articles' content can be merged into a new one. Be Bold on wikiHow, but not too bold^[9]: especially if a page has had a lot of editors or viewers, run a major structural change by its discussion page (which its enthusiasts may be automatically watching) and wait a few days first.

o The special wiki "merge" procedure is for pages with equivalent titles such as "Become a Popular Girl" and "Be a Popular Girl - It Works!" rather than just similar content. The content is combined, and one page is replaced with a redirect to the page with the best, usually the simplest, title. If there are two pages with meaningfully different titles about how to do the same thing, it would be better to combine the text under the more relevant title, and note in the edit summary or discussion page who contributed to the old page.

· Use examples in your article. Be very specific and use lots of details, but don't over-explain it.

o Err a little toward over-explaining. It's much easier for someone to skim over part of your article or for the community to delete something much too long than it is for someone who got confused to figure out how to save a project. If you think a young adult - or, if you're writing an article for children, a young child - who's not particularly sophisticated would know how to perform a step you've described, you've probably written enough. Take extra care to prevent confusion likely to be dangerous or ruin a project.

· Do not be concerned if your writing is not perfect. Nothing is. Other editors will help improve your work (and you can edit it more if they happen to break something). Just do your best and have fun!

o Don't take offense at others' editing.

o Consider it liberating. They're trying, and, hopefully overall succeeding, in making a great community resource. You can put your best thoughts into a pretty-good article, make them available quickly, and go on to something else interesting. You're free to return to the article when you have something else to add or feel like polishing it - and just as free to let others perfect it over time.

· Make a habit of teaching yourself new things. You'll soon intuitively find all kinds of connections you can share and use to make wikiHow's tutorials even easier and better!

How to Create a Personal Sandbox on wikiHow

edits by:Cal, Maluniu, Bo, Milos Karalius (see all)

Article

EditDiscussHistory

Need more practice before writing a real wikiHow article? You may use wikiHow's Sandbox, but it can be edited several times during a single day. You can place a Personal Sandbox on your User page by following these directions:

EditSteps

1. 1

Click on your Username at the upper right of any page.

o If you are an anonymous editor, click here.

2. 2

Type “/sandbox” or “/testbox” at the end of the URL in the Address Bar at the top of your page.

3. 3

Press the Enter button of your keyboard.

o A message will appear to say: "This is your currently empty User page."

o However, your original User page content is still saved.

4. 4

Click on the Edit tab at the top of your User page.