Start a New Dossier

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Step 1: Create the Dossier

Using the URL

You can use the wiki's URL for creating a new page. The URL to an article of the wiki is usually something like this:

http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Article_Name

If you replace Article_Name with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page which indicates that no article of that name exists yet. Clicking the "Edit" page tab at the top of the page will take you to the edit page for that article, where you can create the new page by typing your text, and clicking submit.

From the search page

If you search for a page that doesn't exist (using the search box and “Go” button on the left of the page) then you will be provided with a link to create the new page. (Note that this technique doesn't work if you use the “Search” button).

Styling

The dossiers are all composed in the MediaWiki markup for styling the text -- if you've ever edited a page on Wikipedia you already know how this works. Please feel free to copy the text out of the Dead Media template page, or see the much more detailed MediaWiki formatting guide or the basic Wikipedia markup cheatsheet, which is pretty close to ours.

Step 2: Add Category Tags

In order for your dossier to show up correctly in the table of contents you must tag it under the "Dossier" category and give it a date for the current semester. Do this by adding the following two lines to the bottom of your dossier:

[[Category:Dossier]]
[[Category:Fall 2010]]

You should also tag your dossier using approximately 2-5 thematic category tags. So if the dossier concerns the visual writing of sound, you would add the following three lines:

[[Category:Writing]]
[[Category:Visuality]]
[[Category:Sound]]

Be conservative in how you select your thematic categories. Try to use categories that already exist. If you need to invent a new category, pick a term that is generic and will likely be encountered by others in the future.