Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual [Paperback]

John Broughton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2008

You don't have to understand how to edit Wikipedia in order to find the information you need and join the conversation. This booklet gives you just what you need to know in friendly, concise form so you can research any subject without getting lost in Wikipedia's labyrinth. With it, you'll be able to unlock the mysteries of the many links on every Wikipedia page and the sometimes cryptic buzzwords you see on Talk pages.

And, while this booklet focuses on Wikipedia readers, it also includes a tutorial for first-time editors and explains Wikipedia's editing tools. You'll find valuable advice on how to alert editors to flaws in articles and how to contribute to Talk pages without getting caught up in pointless disputes.

The author of Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual has edited more than 15,000 Wikipedia articles, and has written a comprehensive index to Wikipedia for editors to use in their daily work. His knowledge of Wikipedia is limitless and his passion is contagious. With this guide, you'll catch on quickly.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Broughton has been a registered editor at Wikipedia since August 2005, with more than 15,000 edits by the time he wrote this book. His biggest Wikipedia endeavor was to build the Editor's index to Wikipedia (just type that in the "search" box at the left of any Wikipedia page). This index lists every important reference page on Wikipedia, as well as hundreds of off-Wikipedia Web pages with useful information and tools for Wikipedia editors. John's first experience with programming computers was in a 1969 National Science Foundation program. Since then, he's held various computer-related management positions in the headquarters of a U.S. Army Reserve division, worked in internal audit departments as a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and was the Campus Y2K Coordinator at U.C. Berkeley. A Certified Management Accountant, John has B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins University; an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University; an M.S. in Education from the University of Southern California; and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 62 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (May 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059652174X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596521745
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218,933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Education > Research

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book because of its small size., July 17, 2008

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This review is from: Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual (Paperback)

I already had the "big book" on wikipedia.org, "Wikipedia: The Missing Manual", but I've found that some people won't collaborate on wikis when you have such a large book.

This new book "Wikipedia: Reader's Guide" is much smaller than I expected, but I'm very happy with it.

Despite the title of this book that implies that it's for readers, the pamphlet has two main sections: 1) for readers and 2) section II for elementary editing.

This book also covers some of the wikipedia sister projects such as wikiversity.org and wikibooks.org.

So, now our people know about the free, online wiki encyclopedia, wikipedia.org, but we're going to also benefit from the free textbooks at: wikibooks.org and the free lesson plans and lessons from wikiversity.org

About the MediaWiki Foundation: It just keeps getting better and better.