User talk:Leighblackall

Never too late for a welcome message!
Welcome, Leighblackall!

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Webaware talk 08:44, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Permaculture design/How to/Planting plans/A planting plan for Dunedin New Zealand
Do you need help with this page? I'm not quite sure what you're trying to accomplish here, but I'm available to help if you need it. – Mike.lifeguard  &#124; talk 23:12, 26 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Hello Mike, yes! any help would be greatly appreciated. I just tried to explain the objective of the text in the intro. But under it all is me simply using the book to add notes and handouts I get while studying permaculture. Did you have something in mind? I just noticed that I can't move a page. I tried, but it returned an error saying I can't move a page over itself.. even though I DID give it a new name. I was trying to move a subpage to the same level but with a new subpage name. No worries now, I simply orphaned the page and cut the content onto the new page. --Leighblackall (talk) 23:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
 * OK, if you orphan a page, and it's no longer needed (is that the one below?) mark it with and an admin will take care of it.
 * At Permaculture design/How to/Planting schedules/A planting schedule for Dunedin New Zealand you stated that it was "Originally compiled by Jenny Hayden from Waitati" - do you have permission to include the text here? If so, please forward permission to permissions-en@wikimedia.org so our OTRS team can verify it. Also, this page is a duplicate of Permaculture design/How to/Planting schedules/A planting schedule for Dunedin New Zealand; which one do you want to keep?
 * You can't move a page over an existing page; only admins can (we can delete pages). So if you run into that problem, grab an admin.
 * – Mike.lifeguard  &#124; talk 19:47, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks Mike, I have added the delete template to the Permaculture design/How to/Planting schedules/A planting schedule for Dunedin New Zealand. I will get the permission emailed. Is good to know that part of the process. --Leighblackall (talk) 06:58, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Finding help
Hey Leighblackall,

I stumbled across "Sustainable Business/Executive summary", where you had replaced the content with "please delete". I deleted the page, but next time you should draw attention to the page by putting the appropriate tag on it. See Help:Deleting pages for more.

There are actually a number of help pages here on the wiki. The "Help" link in the navigation bar below the logo (in the old skin at least) will list a few of the most useful ones. Please let us know if these are unclear or hard to find. Thanks and happy editing. --Swift (talk) 23:48, 22 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks Swift. Will do in future. leighblackall (talk)

Naming
I do not know why you're moving pages in defiance of Naming policy. Please be considerate of Wikibooks' policies. -- Adrignola talk contribs 00:13, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I can help you with Collections/Sustainable Business. But we've got to get the pages back in place. -- Adrignola talk contribs 00:17, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
 * No worries, will help you leighblackall (talk) 00:18, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Take a look. Deciding what the link text will be will determine the section name of the PDF.  I believe this is what you desired. -- Adrignola talk contribs 00:23, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Excellent! Thanks for the help Adrignola. Almost finished the book now! leighblackall (talk) 00:27, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
 * You're doing it again. I know you're used to Wikiversity which uses names like Wikipedia, but we do it differently here.  I will have to rename your recently-created pages. – Adrignola talk 12:14, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm confused Adrignola.. what is it you've done? leighblackall (talk) 08:46, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Your open education pages have been made title case instead of sentence case. Also, I've currently put the book in Subject:Education, but depending on the book's scope, I wonder if it would be a better fit in Subject:Learning theory. – Adrignola talk 12:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Ok thanks Adrignola. I think it will become clearly aligned in education, teacher training, and educational development. Thanks for you help with the titles. leighblackall (talk) 10:24, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Adrignola, can I structure a book flat? In other words, bring the chapters out from being subpages and share the same primary level of the book title? leighblackall (talk) 09:58, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 *  Per WB:Naming policy, no. Kayau ( talk &#124; email &#124; contribs ) 11:42, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * The term flat and deep in the context of Wikibooks only refer to how many levels under the root pages are. Flat would be everything just under the root.  They cannot share the same level or they are entirely different books.  This is the single biggest structural difference between Wikibooks and any other Wikimedia project and is also the key factor that allows it to have unlimited growth.  Unlike Wikipedia, with a single definitive entry on each subject, as long as you ensure a unique title for a book, you can have as many subpages as you like for it.   – Adrignola talk 12:10, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * AFAIK, Wikiversity also uses subpages. Kayau ( talk &#124; email &#124; contribs ) 12:13, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * They can use them, but they don't require them, and in normal practice, I notice that the majority of their pages do not use them. – Adrignola talk 12:52, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Is there the template extension where I can control the title of a page so it doesn't as a directory? In wikieducator they use. Leigh


 * Here that template is displaytitle. – Adrignola talk 22:03, 27 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Many thanks :) leighblackall (talk) 01:53, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Venue
Greetings. I'm just curious as to why Wikibooks was your chosen venue for adding recent content, as opposed to wikieducator.org, which I see is sponsored by Otago Polytechnic. If there's something we're doing right, I'd be interested to know, so we can continue to foster that in the project's development and not end up like Wikiversity. – Adrignola talk 12:43, 28 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the delayed response..
 * Wikibooks has always been the preferred venue for textbook projects, for me and others at Otago Polytechnic. See Anatomy and Physiology of Animals, Permaculture Design, Sustainable Business, and now Open Education Practices: A User Guide for Organisations. Otago Polytechnic technically sponsors the Open Education Resource Foundation, which unfortunately (in my view) focuses solely on the use of Wikieducator.. though I see that the OER Foundation confuses this in its branding, implying a direct sponsorship of Wikieducator... OPs management would probably agree that they distribute their educational efforts across as many projects as practicable and appropriate. Wikibooks being entirely appropriate for text books and the like, but I haven't worked there for a year, it could be they have fallen back into the common mistake of parochial centralisation.


 * It has always been my view that Wikieducator be a transitional project, delivering educators into the larger Wikimedia Foundation projects, as well as using other social media platforms. I think Wikieducator however, diverts many educators away from contributing to WMF projects sadly. I don't work for Otago Polytechnic any more, nor do I contribute much to WE.. I guess that's one person who has transitioned. I am finishing off a few projects for Otago Poly under contract, such as Open Education Practices: A User Guide for Organisations, and deliberately using Wikibooks, because this project is exactly that.


 * Besides all that, Wikibooks - like all the WMF projects, has the benefit of a much larger expert community of practice with a greater range of cultural diversity. It has robust technical features and support, exciting partnerships in development (PediaPress, Usability Project, WikiMobile), and direct links to Wikipedia and Commons. Of course I'd have to acknowledge the sadder side of WMF, specifically the culture of deletionism, hierarchy and unwelcoming custodians, that has caused great hostility towards and from otherwise righteous contributors. Some of this has spilled over into Wikiversity, such as the measures taken by Jimbo in support of deletionism, severely disrupting the Wikiversity community base twice. I'm confident that Wikiversity will recover from this, but they need the love and support from the other WMF projects, a return to intellectual freedom, as well as a sense of shared responsibility from all the WMF projects for what has developed in the community over-all.


 * My work in educational development is now with the University of Canberra. Again I am encouraging staff to work out ways of using the "popular Internet" such as WMF projects, Blogger and Wordpress, Youtube and Internet Archive, Twitter and Facebook.. for educational benefit. My struggle is always with smaller, often in-house projects which ultimately divert students and educators away from contributing in these spaces however, as well as the obvious challenges of getting formal education and academic people, AND WMF people, to accept and support each other...


 * Hope that answers your question, and thanks for your support Adrignola. From an educator/academic continuously learning leighblackall (talk) 00:35, 31 July 2010 (UTC)


 * That is a longer response than I would have wanted to ask of you. I appreciate your in-depth response.  I find people's opinions of and analysis of Wikimedia informative and look for ways to use that feedback effectively.  Thank you. – Adrignola talk 02:15, 31 July 2010 (UTC)