Welcome to the Sault

             Naturalists Wiki!

 

        

                        Painted Lady Butterfly—Dieter Ropke

 

About the SooNats Web Site

A wiki is an interactive web site that is much easier to set up and use than a traditional web site. For example, Wikipedia is an interactive encyclopedia to which any user of the World Wide Web can make contributions. So a wiki provides a way to serve a community of people with common interests through the internet. This wiki has been created using an online developer called PBWiki, which claims that setting up a wiki is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich (it's not!).

 

The SooNats web site will be used not only to provide information to the membership but also to receive information from members and disseminate it to the rest of the membership. This way birders can communicate with other birders, mushroom hunters with other mycophiles, and botanizers with other plant enthusiasts by means of the web site. Ultimately the web site should become a repository for the collective knowledge of the club; a place where anyone can share their success stories, advice, and useful information.

 

For example, you can make suggestions for future Programs and Outings, or go to the Suggestion Box to suggest additions to and improvements of this web site. You can also report Bird Sightings and Other Sightings of interest. You can file or add to a report on a club Project, and you can make almost any kind of contribution to Your Page. Current or past members who have moved out of the area and members who seldom get to meetings or outings can leave a message for their friends in the club using the Letterbox. If you're not comfortable with the idea of editing the wiki, just e-mail your text or photos to jlehman@lssu.edu in an attachment and indicate where on the wiki you want it to be posted.

 

Anyone with access to a computer and internet connection can access this web site by entering its URL, http://soonats.pbwiki.com, on a web browser. (If you forget the URL, just enter "soonats" on Google.) You can then view any part of the web site as described under “Navigating the Wiki.” Only members of the Sault Naturalists should be able to edit the web site or add new information to it. This requires a password, which you can obtain at any monthly meeting or by contacting one of the wiki administrators, whose contact information follows. Instructions for adding to or modifying text on the web site are given under “Entering and Editing Text” below, and on most pages where such entries are appropriate. Instructions for submitting photos are provided on the Photo Gallery page.

 

The SooNats wiki is a work in progress, so additional material and pages will be added as time permits. Click on What's New to get information about recent changes and additions to the wiki. To learn more about wikis in general click on About Wikis or look up “Wiki” in the Wikipedia. For further information about this web site contact the wiki administrator, John Lehman, at 906-635-5095 or jlehman@lssu.edu. Although the administrator will not edit material submitted to the web site by members of the Sault Naturalists without permission, we reserve the right to remove inappropriate material from the web site. We welcome comments and suggestions regarding the wiki; you can enter them by clicking on the "Comments" button on any page (after you log in) or by going to the Suggestion Box. Note that Comments are posted at the bottom of each page.

 

Navigating the Wiki

Getting around on the wiki is mostly a matter of clicking on any links that interest you, where a link is a word or phrase highlighted in blue and often underlined. Clicking on a link such as Meetings takes you to another page that has additional links, such as Next Meeting. Clicking on that link takes you to a page with information about the upcoming meeting.

 

The main links appear in the SideBar box at the top right-hand corner of this and most other pages of the wiki. (If the word “SideBar” at the top of the box is not highlighted, click on it first.) Simply click on a link in the box to access the desired topic. That may take you directly to the information you're looking for, or to a page containing a list of links, from which you can select the one you want. To locate a page on the web site that's accessible from the SideBar box, click on Table of Contents. To get back to this page, just click on "SooNats" at the top of the page or on the "Home" button.

 

Alternatively, you can enter a word or phrase in the “Search Here” box at the top right of this page. For example, entering "osprey" should take you to any page on the web site containing that word; you can then use your browser's "Find" function to locate the word on the page. Some pages have links that provide additional information when clicked on. For example, About Wikis is a link that gives you some general information about wikis. This wiki also contains a few links to other web sites, such as PBWiki.

 

Go to the What's New page to find out what's been added to the wiki recently and where it's located.

 

Entering and Editing Text

A wiki can be edited by its authorized users, not just the wiki administrators. All current members of the Sault Naturalists are authorized to edit the web site. All you need is a password, which will be provided at meetings and is available through the wiki administrators. Because it is always possible for a malicious person to “trash” a wiki by deleting or adding material irresponsibly, members should keep the identity of the password to themselves. (The wiki server does make backup copies of pages so that a damaged page can be replaced by it’s previous version, but doing so takes time that we don’t want to spend.)

 

To edit a wiki page you need to log in by clicking the "Log in" link at the top of this Page. You will be prompted to enter your name and e-mail address and the password. To save time and avoid errors it's a good idea to write out the text you want to add to the web site with a word processing program and then copy it onto the appropriate wiki page; otherwise just enter the text directly onto the wiki page when it is in "Edit" mode. A general procedure for adding or editing text is to click on the "Edit page" button, make the changes or additions, and click on "Save." More specific instructions are given on various pages that allow you to report sightings, make suggestions for future programs or outings, submit outing reports, and the like. (Note that clicking on the "New Page" button will create an "orphan" page that isn't linked to anything and won't be accessible except by clicking "Show all pages" in the box below.) When you’re done, click on “Log out” above the SideBar box.

 

Please do not edit this page or any of the links on the wiki!

 

Join the Sault Naturalists

The Sault Naturalists welcomes as members all who share our interest in and respect for the natural world. Click to learn more About the Sault Naturalists, and take a look at our Brochure if you wish. To join the club, print off and fill in a Membership form and mail it with the membership fee to the address on the form.

 

 

 

 

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