Internet- Introduction to Wikipedia

                         Introduction to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, online encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit articles.
It is considered as most popular general reference book on the internet. 
The contents of Wikipedia can be created and edited by anybody around
 the world. 

The articles created through Wikipedia can be modified by anyone in collaboration.

To access wikipedia, type the URL www.wikipedia.org in the address bar.  
The contents of this encyclopedia can be viewed in various languages.
 Choose the language English from the home page.

Fig: Home page of Wikipedia

The main page of Wikipedia is displayed.

Uses of WikiPedia :

1. Pool of information: it is a storehouse of information from where you 
   can retrieve any type of information.
2. Easy Accessibility: anyone having an internet connection can access
   Wiki and can modify the contents.
3. Collaboration: multiple users can simultaneously view and edit wiki 
   pages and thus work in collaboration.
4. No need of Programming language : Wiki pages can be modified 
   even if a user is not familiar with any computer programming language..
5. Multiple areas : it gathers information from various areas of various fields
   and thus acts as an online encyclopedia.

Creating an Account in Wikipedia

Step 1: To create an account in Wikipedia, click on Create Account .

Fig : Create Account link on Main page of Wikipedia

2. Enter the required details in the form that appears. If you have not
created your email id, you may leave     it blank as it is an optional field.

Thereafter click on Create your account button.

Fig : Create account form

Creating an article in Wikipedia

Wikipedia consists of numerous articles. Anyone who has created 
an account on Wikipedia can contribute by creating and uploading 
their articles on Wikipedia. 

The tool that helps to create an article is Sandbox. It is a page designed
for testing and experimenting. To create an article using sandbox in 
Wikipedia follow the steps given below:

1.  Visit Wikipedia Main page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
    and Click Login.

Fig: main page of wikipedia

2. Enter Username and Password and Click Login button.

Fig: Login Page

3. Click Sandbox.

 




 Fig: Sandbox option

4. The Source editing page of Sand box is displayed. 
   Start typing in the area highlighted with red colour box.

Fig: Typing area in Sandbox

The formatting of the text can be done using various tools on the formatting toolbar.

 
Fig: Formatting toolbar in Sandbox

5. Write the brief summary of changes done in Edit Summary text box.

Fig: Edit Summary

6. Click Show Preview to view the page or Click Show Changes 
   to compare the versions of the page.
7. Once the page is complete, click Save Page option to save the page.

After saving the page switch from Source editing to Visual Editing.
 For this  click on Edit icon and then choose Switch to Visual Editing option.
 Using this option, various formatting features, hyperlinks, audio and video files
 can also be inserted in your article.

Editing an existing information in Wikipedia

An article that was previously created in Wikipedia can be edited also.
The pages in wikipedia are either semi-protected or unprotected. To edit
semi-protected pages, the edit request has to be sent and only after the 
permission to edit is granted the editing can be done. On the other hand,
the unprotected pages can be edited directly without asking permissions.

Editing Semi protected pages:

To edit semi-protected pages, follow the steps given below.

1. Visit Wikipedia Main page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
   and Click Login.

Fig: Log in option

2. Enter Username and Password and Click Login button.

Fig: Log in process

3. Suppose a previously created article of solar system has to be edited.
   So type Solar System in Search box and click Search icon.

4. Locate the Option View Source in the page that is displayed and click on it.

Fig: View Source button.

5. Since it is a semi-protected article, only registered users can edit it. 
   To edit this page, send an edit request by clicking Submit an edit request button.

Fig: Submit an edit request button

Once the request is submitted, the permission will be given to edit the page after
 4 days and 10 edits.

Editing an unprotected page

To edit a page, which is not protected, follow the steps given below:

1. Open the Wikipedia main page type the keyword for the article that has to
    be edited. For example, if an article on Parliament of India has to be edited,
    type Parliament of India in the search box and click Search icon.

Fig: Search Box

2. Once the page is displayed, click Edit source tab in the page displayed.

Fig: Edit Source tab

3. Click Edit icon and select Switch to visual editing option.

Fig: Edit Icon

    The page will be switched to Visual editing as shown below. Make the 
necessary changes in the article and     click Save changes button. 
Before editing, it is always better to go-through the webpage Rules for Editing
   Wikipedia  before actually making changes in the article.

Fig: Editing an article

Fig: Editing an article

4. While editing, also write a short description on the changes being done.
   Once the editing is complete, click Save Changes button. If editing process
   has to be continued, click Resume Editing. The changes can be reviewed 
   by clicking Review your changes button.

Fig: Save Changes button

The changes will be validated by wikipedia and will be published in next 24 hours.