From Psychology 2.0

HowTo: StartNew

1.  Introduction

The basic idea behind Psychology 2.0 is building our knowledge collaboratively where experts and laymans with many different point of views can share their opinion and develop theories of life together. On Psychology 2.0 everybody is free to share her/his concept on different aspects of human life. This can be done by giving your opinion using commentbox, discussion pages or editing directly the articles / writing new articles.

2.  Publishing your idea

• you can start a new page by clicking on the "New Article" button at the top of the page
• after the new page opens you will be asked for the new article's Groupname and Pagename
• the wiki's articles are organized into groups that contain the pages. One page means one article. The chosen pagename should be relatively short and descriptive of your topic
• after the article is created you can edit it. For help in editing, see the Psy2.EditArticles
• once you have created it, the article automatically appears on the list of Latest articles and becomes searchable as well
• try to link it to other related articles

3.  Editing in a wiki

• in a wiki, each page can be edited using a simple word processor. You can access the word processor by clicking on the "Edit" button above the article.
• the text you type in the editor box appears as you type it in. By using special characters, you can format your text and, by using special commands, special features can be accessed. The possibilities are limitless, all you need is a minimum of two basic features to format the text typed in.
  • Different levels of heading to split your text in sections: if you put a "!" at the beginning of a row, that row becomes a heading (larger font). If you put two exclamation marks, it becomes a sub-heading. Three will create a sub-sub-heading
    • Producing lists: if a row starts with "*" (asterisk) it becomes a part of a bulletpoint list. "#" will place it in a numbered list. If you put two or three asterisks (**, *** resp. ##, ###) then sub-lists will appear
• below the edit box (the blue area that appears after you press the “Edit” button on a page) you will find a brief reminder on the use of different special characters.
• further information on basic editing of documentation or on advanced editing is available on PmWiki's homepage

4.  When editing or writing please consider the following principles…

• easy understandability:
  • the language: the scientific use of language often uses complex grammatical structures and lot's of scientific terms. The reason for doing this is that such articles try for maximum exactitude. On the other hand, scientific language greatly decreases the understandability of the texts. Often, it is hard to read a professional article, even for experts. That is why on Psychology 2.0 we try to avoid "too scientific language", and instead use simple sentences and common words wherever possible
  • visual communication: placing illustrations (images, charts) in the article can greatly help understanding. We advise the use of images when you want to illustrate a complex system that has many parts working together, or pictures that show relational information. Visual illustration has an advantage in showing relationships, and helps parallel information processing. The images of this site are also available in scalable vector graphics (svg) format, which means that the pictures are editable with appropriate software (for example, the open-source cross-platform software, Inkscape). If you need a picture in a .svg version send a request to the administrators
  • structure: by dividing the text into chapters, you can help the reader to more easily find the structure of what you want to say
  • multimedia: by inserting links or uploading files you can use multi-media content in your articles
• neutrality-objectivity: the main goal of science is to form an authentic and precise image of the world that enables us to understand its nature and deeper laws. In scientific articles, we try to remain objective: if it is a strong partiality that connects you to a topic, you might see too much or too little of what is needed. In other words, you may see things or features that are not present, and not notice features that are present. This is even more valid in psychology, where it is hard to measure results, and the investigated processes are invisible and complex. To avoid being subjective, we suggest the following circle:
  • form your theory
  • check
    • does it fit ALL of your experiences
    • does it predict anything
    • do not be self-contradictory (a model containing two antagonistic statements on one topic)
  • if you see that it is not yet perfect, try to integrate the new information, or ask Psychology 2.0's community for help. Fodormik; Miklos is happy to help you if he can