Communication for the CCMDB

With a geographically distributed team that works diverse hours communication is a challenge. Every data collector is required to engage in specified a minimal amount of communication.

Emails, Voice mails and the Recent Changes need to be checked at the beginning of every data collection session / shift.

The CCMDB Wiki

• If any information is different from your paper coding guide, check who last edited the article.
  • If the section in question was added/changed before the last edit of that article by Trish it should be considered reviewed and taken to supersede the paper guide
  • If the change was made after Trish last reviewed the article, confirm with Trish and remind her to check/edit the article to vet it.
• End your discussion points with a ~~~~ to "sign and date" it to show who contributed it, and when. You can also use the second button from the right above the editor to enter this signature.

Entries in the main body of the wiki do not need to be signed.

Usersnoop

As of 12 August 2008 we have Usersnoop installed on the wiki to be able to track that everyone receives all updates and changes. You need to be logged on in order for usersnoop to mark an article as read, so you need to log on to the wiki even for viewing now.

"Recent Changes" Link

There is a link called "recent changes" in the "navigation panel" in the top left corner. This link will tell you the wiki articles that have been changed recently. Every entry either has a diff link or a # changes link (where "#" can be any number); following this link will show you what has actually changed in the article so you would not have to review the entire article.

Keeping track of the recent changes will tell you when a question or discussion item you have posted is addressed.

Fixing the times displayed in Recent Changes

Since wikis are often used in global teams, they default to standard time for their time zone. To set the wiki to local time:

1. Click on "my preferences" at the top right corner
2. Click on the "Date and Time" tab
3. Click the "Fill in from browser" button
4. Click on "Save"

With these changes, the edit time on the wiki should now look normal.

Making the Recent Changes "enhanced"

To make the recent changes listing more easy to read, set it to enhanced mode.

1. Click on "my preferences" at the top right corner
2. Click on the "Recent Changes" tab
3. Check the checkbox for "Enhanced recent changes (JavaScript)"
4. Click on "Save"

The new setting will combine recent changes to the same article in the same listing and give the number of changes instead of listing a separate line for each change, thus making the list shorter.

• • I found doing these changes VERY useful, the recent changes are indeed easier to navigate, and I also changed the time so I can tell when it was written--JHutton 10:21, 29 October 2008 (CDT)

Discussions and Questions

If you have details to add, disagree with an idea, have concerns, or something is unclear, please write it right under discussions.

If an article does not have a discussion section yet, add one to the end of the article by adding the following before any [[Category:...]] entries (you can cut-and-paste these 3 lines from here):

{{Discussion}}

==Discussion==

* your point...

If an article for the topic you are concerned about does not exist yet (i.e. you have typed any keywords you can think of into the "search" box and clicked on the "search" button), create an article on the topic. Add the tag {{Discussion}} to the article to categorize it as a question.

"Discussion" Tab

We are not using the discussion tab at the top of the page to prevent people from missing that there is a discussion going on.

Template:Discussion

Discussion

• Trish needs to confirm timeframes.