Wikiversity:Help desk

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Wikiversity - Help Desk post This page is for general knowledge questions, such as "What country has the world's largest fishing fleet ?" Wikiversity was created so that people who are trying to learn, "have a place to come and interact and help each other figure out how to learn things" (source). When responding to help desk questions, it may be useful to provide links to useful sources of information. When asking questions, please keep in mind the nature of Wikiversity: Wikiversity participants do not provide professional answers to medical, legal or any other type of question. Before you make use of help desk answers, click here and read the disclaimers. Also see: English Language Reference Desk - Mathematics Help Desk - Computer Programming Help Desk - Java Help Desk - Engineering Help Desk - Physics Help Desk - Astronomy Help Desk - List of debates and discussions To ask a question about Wikiversity, and its technical and policy issues see: Colloquium. If you are new to wiki, see the introductory tutorial. If you have a question related to Wikiversity custodians, see: Custodian feedback. Answers are not provided by e-mail. If you want to view past discussions from the Help desk you can view it in the Archive Index Please sign and date your post (by typing ~~~~) Please add new topics to the bottom of this page.

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Contents 1 Learning in the future 2 Computer problems 3 84522-37-2 molecular structure 4 What's that word...? 5 history question 6 History Queston 7 Polish Lessons 8 FreeBASIC recompile 9 Format for allowing "students" to ask questions 10 Automatic picture rotation 11 Numbered lists 12 Geography project 13 Delete request 14 Uploading of OpenDocument files and other editable file formats 15 WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE SIERRA LEONE? 16 Why is there no signbot active? 17 Naming style 18 Culture insights from project GLOBE 19 Poster Presentation - affiliation with Wikiversity? 20 Geometry/Trig for survey work... 21 Interactive learning 22 Erm... 23 "I couldn't care less" 24 Research 25 1 Billion Hungry people 26 The World Today

[edit] Learning in the future

What kind of techniques might be possible when trying to improve the rate of learning in the future? Example, In the film, The Matrix, they "plug" people into the computer and can learn things almost instantly. Is there a name for this? What other "Sci-fi" theories have been offered for this topic e.g. dream manipulation? hypnosis? bio-synthetic chips? Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 18:19, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Plugging a computer into your brain isn't really all that far-fetched. A W:cochlear implant essentially does that for sound already, and they are now doing something similar with vision. However, even if info enters your brain that way, that doesn't necessarily mean you will then "learn" that info. The same problem exists as happens when you are given info in class or in a book but forget it anyway. They could give you injections of certain substances which seem to increase learning, but those might have the side effect of causing you to forget what you learned previously and you may need more and more of this substance to learn as you develop a chemical dependency.

Alternatively, we could leave the info in the computer and simply access it as needed. So, I'd think "What was the population of Madagascar in 1978 ?" and a query would go to the computer and the answer would appear immediately in my brain. This would require 24-hour access to the computer interface, however. There are some scary issues this all brings up, though, like what happens if somebody evil gets control of the computer and uses it to plant their thoughts in your mind.

Now, as for the short term, I think today's computers could teach kids far better with adaptive teaching software. In math, for example, they could try several different teaching methods with each kid, then find out "student A learns well from repetition of similar problems, while student B learns best from story problems, student C learns best from math video games, and student D doesn't seem to be learning at all, so manual teaching is needed for him". StuRat 22:39, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I like the idea of being able to access a computer with the information we need to acquire. Should the memories we acquire be stored on this computer also? I think it would be good to have the computer placed behind the ear just like a cochlear implant. Could memory become small enough for that in the future? Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 23:29, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

The size isn't an issue. A W:pen drive, if bent, could fit nicely behind an ear, and those hold 32 GB now, more than enough for encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. If you want constantly updated info, like today's news, you would want a link to a network, however. This could allow a virus or other malware in, though, so security would need to be tight. I'd use the external computer for facts, and use the human brain to creatively combine info to invent new things, etc. However, if all of human knowledge could be downloaded into a computer, this would allow for immortality, in that a robot could be created with your mind in a computer. This, however, is very far off. StuRat 20:36, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I think the brain stores and needs massive amounts of data even if it uses tricks eg fooling you into thinking the eye instantly sees the full field of vision in full hi res colour. So consider not just how much memory is needed for a few minutes video clips, but the computing power and memory to process that and compare with maybe (semi-realistic) jurasic park type CGI or (mainly experimental) visual recognition systems, both need pretty hefty computing power and time to do what we do in a blink of the eye. If Moores Law holds for a few more decades we may get close to achieving what we now consider unthinkable. A problem is we do not know too much about how the human brain and mind work. Current theories of mind and artificial intelligence haven't helped much and our understanding of brain neurons and synapses relate only to networks of a few tens or hundreds. We have admittedly managed to control live insects with electronics; and we have managed to make smart autonomous weapons probably nearly as brainy as say a termite. We need and will inevitably get a computer brainier than us enabling us to make progress. One wonders if like HAL in 2001 any logical computer is going to recognise Humans as illogical &/or evil and/or destructive.

Regarding what may help with learning, if we can live longer and prevent brain deterioration in both young adults and elderly; or even enhance brain function; then that could improve both the rate of learning and the amount of time available for learning. I would guess medical related science will have a greater impact on human intelligence and than electronics. Then again global warming/warfare may result in a future world with few electronics or humans. Gandee

Well, the major problem in my country is, that people dont want to learn, thats why we dont need any special techniques.--Juan de Vojníkov 20:47, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but "not wanting to learn" can mean two quite different things:

1) Not wanting to go through the effort it takes to learn something. Here better techniques of teaching (right up to a plug in the back of your head), can reduce the effort, possibly to nothing at all.

2) People who really don't want to know anything more than they currently know. This is quite rare, I think. There are people who prefer not to be known as being smart. However, actually being smart doesn't mean people have to know about it, as you can always intentionally give wrong answers. StuRat 01:01, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I agree. Some fields of learning have teachers who are stereotyped as the kind of people who force their students to suffer under mountains of difficulty. Perhaps I will put off learning those things until there is some better way of teaching that is not unnecessarily difficult.

The Mentat wiki http://www.ludism.org/mentat/ discusses a variety of memory systems designed to help people memorize large quantities of information. Are those techniques the first steps towards the "techniques ... to improve the rate of learning in the future" that the original poster wants? --DavidCary 23:03, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Computer problems

I am having many problems with my computer and I want to scrap everything i have and start again as if I had just bought it. Is this possible? If so, I have made a list of programs I want to reinstall after this process and there is nothing stored on my computer that I am afraid to lose. Can anyone a the help desk help? I have windows vista on a laptop. Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 22:06, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

What kind of problems appear ? If the problems are too severe/annoying and you don't find someone to help you fast enough: a fast way to use many applications is to use e.g. a Live CD (Comparison of Linux Live Distros).

Are there any system restore points saved for your actual operating system ? Do you have some original windows install cds or was the OS already installed when you bought the laptop ? ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 22:18, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick response. There are system restore points but they only go back as far as 26/06/08 and I bought the computer a year and a half ago. I want to start again literally and wipe the memory completely. I don't remember if it was already installed but I have two CD's. Works and "Driver and Utility". Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 22:31, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

• The cds seem not to be windows installer cds. If you know your windows serial you could try to reinstall windows fresh.
• In case you don't find a windows installer wher you can use your windows serial I once saw that Microsoft offered virtual images (ready to use) of their vista (limited for a certain time). Don't ask me what version this was and if it is possible to (down-)register them with your legal windows serial. But you could experiment if they run at all.
• If you manage somehow to get to a good state where everything works on your laptop, use system restore or Backup software to prevent such a thing to happen again.
• Since it is not clear what kind of problems you have, it is not so good to recommend anything (like: deinstall programs from the control panel > add/remove software, w:Registry cleaner, w:Windows Installer CleanUp Utility ...), but you can try to use an internet search engine if you find something (e.g. another user telling a similar problem - with a solution).
• How about asking the place where you bought your laptop ? If they are customer friendly they surely will help you.
• Is it no option to use such a linux cd or linux installation ? You just input the cd and a ready-to-use Linux starts, internet connection is recognized very good and Linux gui is pretty much good usable even for non-users as windows. And comes with pretty many many applications. Perhaps this might then help also: Wine (you can execute windows programs under linux - as it says "can", must not work)
• try to use the Wikiversity:Chat (saves some time in identifying your problem) ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 23:00, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

• As stated before, the most important thing is finding the serial number for your copy of Windows Vista. If you have that, you should be able to get a fresh copy of Vista online from Microsoft. However, having the install CDs is definitely better (alhough you still need the serial number), as you can re-install Vista much quicker from CD.

• You may think you want to just scrap the current version, but you may find out later there was some critical app on the computer you forgot about. Therefore, I suggest you do a system restore point on the computer before the re-install, just in case you need to go back and get something important.

• Regarding the suggestion to use a Linux Live CD: Linux is quite different from Windows Vista, so I wouldn't recommend that, if you're used to Vista. However, if you do use it with a (read-only) CD-ROM drive, this has the advantage of making it impossible for your system to be corrupted, since your computer can't write to the CD where the operating system is stored. However, this will also prevent you from doing many things, from downloading programs to saving user preferences. StuRat 12:54, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

• If you use Vista you may see a folder called windows.old which is a backup of your deleted files. But it is best to ask someone who is an expert in this field for more advice, as data recovery issues is a complex field. Thanks, AC. --Sunstar NW XP 21:59, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 84522-37-2 molecular structure

84522-37-2 molecular structure

Hi,I am chelsea,working in a chemical trade platform([link see history]).I have a problem at present.Could you please supply me with molecular structure of 84522-37-2,please? (The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chelsea8611 (talk • contribs) 00:07, 18 July 2008.)

I am not familiar with the topic. An internet search showed the number seems to be for:

• Sebacic acid morpholine complex
• Sebacic acid, compound with morpholine

On Wikipedia I found this: "Sebacic acid is a dicarboxylic acid with structure (HOOC)(CH2)8(COOH), and is naturally occurring." Sebacic acid. (2008, July 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:34, July 18, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sebacic_acid&oldid=224198762

Does this help somehow ? Perhaps someone can continue from here ? ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 06:37, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

I've not had much luck finding the structure, but here are some of the serial numbers associated with this chemical that may help in the search: [1], [2]. StuRat 13:03, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

According to this site: [3], the molecular formula is C₁₄H₂₇N₁O₅ (or C₁₄H₂₇NO₅). However, beware that there are other chemicals with that same molecular formula, such as CAS:146432-41-9 and CAS:130333-58-3. StuRat 13:20, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What's that word...?

That word for when classes in a school intermingle: For instance, books set in the historical period you're studying in Social Studies pop up in English class. Help? 68.57.110.183 18:46, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

The best I can come up with is corequisite. StuRat 23:18, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Synergy might be a way to describe it. Fizyxnrd 22:06, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

[edit] history question

who was abetter president? linoln or washingon?

That would be a matter of opinion, so we can't really answer here. However, you can look at the articles on each of them and decide for yourself:W:George Washington, W:Abraham Lincoln. StuRat 00:28, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

It would very much depend on what your definition of "better" is here. Or could you be more specific in your question? Cormaggio ^talk 10:43, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Is the American presidents meant ? I mean there is besides the typo also the possibility that he means presidents of companies, sports teams, ... ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 15:21, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

Personally, I prefer Teddy Roosevelt. The Jade Knight ^(d'viser) 11:02, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History Queston

How many people died at teh Battle of Saratoga?208.138.53.55 13:42, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Just looked only at the Wikipedia articles w:Battles of Saratoga + w:de:Schlacht von Saratoga. Both have listed in the summary box some numbers (also sources where you can find more info). But I am not sure if back then was counted accurate, truthfully, private/civil casualties were counted also ? (Well, we could also count the generations who could not be born because someone died back then ...) ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 17:27, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Polish Lessons

Please see Template:Introduction to Swedish. I am trying to create one for the Polish language but I want a red box instead (obviously). Theme = 6 should be changed to....? Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 18:11, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

4, see here for further colors, ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 18:20, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible to get more colours for future reference? Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 18:52, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I mean, colours other to those in the link you provided. Donek (talk) - Go raibh mile maith agaibh 02:11, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

No, that appears to be all the colors supported. However, theme = 15 gives both a mauve header and body (unlike theme = 5, which is a mauve header and a lighter body). Any other theme than 1-15 appears to give a white header and body: Template_talk:Robelbox#Additional_themes. StuRat 11:25, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] FreeBASIC recompile

How can I have a FreeBASIC program recompile itself and restart with new instructions? Emesee 07:28, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

The type of thing you want to do works better under Linux than Windows, as Linux has more advanced system commands to do what you want, such as line editors like "vi". I'm not familiar with FreeBASIC per se, but if it has the ability to run system commands, you should be able to do it. It's probably something like "call system (CMD)", where CMD is a string or a literal containing the system command. It would work something like this:

1) Call a system command to edit whatever source file you want it to change.

2) Call a system command to compile and link the changed files.

3) Call a system command to run the new executable. You'll want to spawn this off as a new process, not a subprocess, so it won't quit when the calling program ends. Under Linux, this is done by placing an ampersand ("&") at the end of the command line. I'm not sure how you do this under Windows.

4) Have the original program end.

Some problems you might have:

a) If the system commands don't wait until the process is completed, you may need to put a wait command in the program so it waits long enough for the last step to complete.

b) You may need to do some file renaming to avoid trying to write to an executable which is currently running.

c) If there are any editing, compilation, or linking errors, your program will likely continue on anyway, as trapping those errors is fairly difficult to do.

Now that I've talked about how to do it, let me add that it would be a rare case where you would actually want to do such a thing. You could usually accomplish the same goal by having a data file which contains all the instructions, and have the program edit that as needed. Can you tell me a bit about the application and changes you're talking about so I can figure out if there's an easier way ? StuRat 01:07, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Neat; thank you. I was playing around with code the other night, and I guess I was just curious. Emesee 03:29, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I see. I once considered such a progam myself, in Fortran, but decided on the "data file approach" instead. StuRat 11:08, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Format for allowing "students" to ask questions

I see that some pages have lists of "students" who are participating in the lessons. Is there a standard format for a section of users who are not students, but willing to answer questions one-on-one for the lessons? Kainaw 12:36, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

You can always add a page section for mentors. Also, see Wikiversity:Mentors. --JWSchmidt 13:36, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Automatic picture rotation

Does somebody know of a learning resource for this (besides e.g. creating animated gifs) ? ----Erkan Yilmaz uses the Wikiversity:Chat (try) 20:23, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Numbered lists

Is there a way to achieve numbered lists like in the Content boxes of pages?

For example,

1. Foo

1.1 Bar

1.2 Barbar

1.2.1 Blarg

2. Blah

# Foo
## Bar
## Barbar
### Blarg
# Blah

The above doesn't seem to do this. --Devourer09 20:28, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

I think you may be out of luck. I always manually number my lists for another reason, the inability of numbered lists to handle extra lines. Here's an example:

1. The emoticon for a regular smiley:

(:

1. The emoticon for a smiley with a nose:

(-:

StuRat 13:26, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Maybe a solution should be created. I may look into it. --Devourer09 19:55, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you could impliment a format of:

#
:#.#
:#.#
#
:#.#
:#.#
::#.#.#

Which would function according to the desired method? The Jade Knight ^(d'viser) 07:54, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I have the same problem, and I would support such as suggestion! Mange01 14:42, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Geography project

Is it permitted here to write a geography project, aimed at GCSE and A-Level students?? Thanks, AC --Sunstar NW XP 21:53, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

We'd need to know a bit more about this project to know for sure. If you want to write some general material for teaching geography, and it follows the format used at Wikversity, it sounds like a welcome addition to me. If it's very specific, like the geography of your town, then it won't be very useful to anyone outside your town, so I'm not so sure if that would be allowed. However, you could create it here in either case. Even if it's deleted from here, you'd still be able to take a copy of it and move it elsewhere. StuRat 01:43, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

If it's designed to help students with GCSE and A-level coursework, then it's going to be more broad than that, StuRat. The Jade Knight ^(d'viser) 05:59, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Such a project would indeed be welcom here, Sunstar NW XP! We already have Topic:A level History. The Jade Knight ^(d'viser) 05:59, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Delete request

How do I delete a picture I uploaded at contributions???? (The preceding unsigned comment was added by Melaniechoi (talk • contribs) .)

Put the {{delete}} template within indiacte the reason.Crochet.david 07:49, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Uploading of OpenDocument files and other editable file formats

Wikiversity should have more presentation slides, lecture notes and handouts. These should be printable, and it should also be possible to present them using a video projector. Sometimes a slide show is pedagogical also for students that are reading the material on the screen, since small portions of text that is presented on each screen makes the student focus on each step in the presentation, while large wiki articles often distracts the reader.

The obvious solution is to show them as .pdf files, since almost every computer can show that format, but if they are supposed to be open source, course material authors also need access to editable document source code. Powerpoint files (.ppt) are very common at the Internet, but the OpenDocument Presentation (odf) file format would be more suitable in an open source project such as Wikiversity. The OpenOffice software can be used to convert between .odf and .ppt formats.

Questions:

• Can I upload .pdf files?
• Would uploading of proprietary file formats, for example .ppt files, be prevented by some wikiversity or Wikimedia foundation policy?
• Can I upload .odf files to Wikiversity, as supplement to the .pdf files?
• It is always difficult to improve an illustration at Wikimedia Commons, since we don't have access to the original file. What editable file format would be recommended for illustrations such as organization charts, flow charts, statistical charts, plots illustrating mathematical formulas, etc, that can be edited using open source software?
• Can I upload these formats to Wikiversity as supplement to the .svg image files?
• If not, where can I sugggest that it should be possible to upload these file format to Wikiversity or Wikimedia Commons? Or don't you agree with the suggestion?
• Has there been any discussion on uploading slide shows with voice annotations, or other webinars and video recordings, to Wikiversity?

Mange01 14:40, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

• Content at Wikiversity (or the wiki world in general) should not only be editable by everyone, but quickly (that's what "wiki" means, after all) and easily editable. I don't think PDF/PPT files qualify. You would likely need to download the source, edit it on your computer, then upload the revised file. I can't imagine a casual reader going through all that, say, to fix a typo. So, I don't recommend that for text. What you have in mind, pages of "slides" with a small number of bullets on each, can also be done with a standard text page with wiki markups, and that seems the better option, to me.

• Now, for photos we do have a problem. There doesn't seem to be any way with the current technology to make them easily editable by the average reader. Thus, we are stuck with the download, revise, upload cycle. It seems PNG files are preferred for diagrams. However, mathematical formulae can be produced by wiki markup, and should be, wherever possible.

• Audio and video files are even more difficult to modify, so I would only use them where no other method exists. In the case of video, the film of the bridge collapse from wind-driven resonance seems a good use, since there isn't much call to modify it. Film showing someone talking about Newton's Laws of Motion would seem to be a rather poor use of video, as that can be done in writing, and thus be easily modifiable. In the case of audio, some famous radio addresses, like FDR's fireside chats, might make sense as audio, while a lecture about WW2 would not. Another problem with audio and video is that it can be more difficult to start and stop. With video, you may have difficulty stopping at the desired point, say to see a given formula. With audio, stopping it doesn't help you hear something you missed, you actually need to rewind and play it again for that. That's more difficult than paging up or down on a document.

• Proprietary formats, like PowerPoint and PDF, should be avoided in particular. Even if a free viewer is currently available, the company which owns the patents may decide to stop that practice in the future.

• I don't understand the statement "It is always difficult to improve an illustration at Wikimedia Commons, since we don't have access to the original file". Picking on the illustration should take you to Wikimedia Commons, where you can download the original pic and make any desired changes to it. You would need to create a Wikimedia account to upload the revised version, but that's easy enough to get. Perhaps you mean that the version of the pic in Wikimedia may be low resolution. In that case then you're right, you would have to find it from another source to get a higher-res version. One option is to contact the original poster, who may have a higher-res version available.

• The files types currently supported are: png, gif, jpg, jpeg, xcf, pdf, mid, ogg, ogv, svg, djvu. However, just because they are supported doesn't mean they are recommended, as in the case of a PDF file, especially when used for plain text which doesn't require a file upload at all. StuRat 15:49, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Thnx for interesting reply. A few comments:

• Is this the best place to discuss this issue?

• Probably not, if you want to hear from many voices. Perhaps the Colloquium would be a good place to start, and they may recommend a page to discuss file format support, etc. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

• Your idea of using wiki pages for slide shows or "page sequences" is interesting. Each page in a course should have a "previous page" and "next page" button, and a page list. A template should also add some nice "slide" layout, for example something like the template:portal but with larger fonts, similar to wikibooks.org:Wikijunior. I copied these template from Wikibooks to wikiversity, as a first approach: Template:Lesson Turner and Template:Chapter navigation. There already was a template called Template:Page Turner and Template:EasyNavBar (which seems to be problematic).

• That sounds like a good start. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

• PDF is not proprietary, it is an open standard. But it is not suitable for editing. Wikibooks.org can generate PDF files, in view to simplify the printout of a sequence of articles. This feature might be interesting in Wikiversity as well.

• This Feature is planned for all projects. Now its being tested. What is annoying as I heard that each collection you pring includes four pages of GFDL licence. So I would call all participants to double release their edits GFDL and CC-BY-SA 3.0.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:18, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

• Really ? I thought it was owned by Adobe, and they currently allow full access to the standard, although they reserve the right to change this in the future. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

• Yes, there are too few photos and other illustrations at wikipedia and even worse at wikiversity. The number of illustrations might increase if we established a culture to credit the creator of the illustration in every article where it is used. Just like open source programmers or companies are credited. GNU and GFDL does not mean that you have to be anonymous, although you have given up the ownership of the code. The credit is the only salary you get.

• Well, but there is a credit system. If you click on the picture you see the author license and all data. Also distribute articles with pictures you must credit authors.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:18, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

• Also, there needs to be a way to create and modify illustrations within Wikiversity, without the painful download, fix, and upload process. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

• We would like to fund a couple of extensions on cs.wv which allow to edit pictures, photographs, sounds and even videos easilly in the Wikiversity window.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:18, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

• I have found several incorrect mathematical plots and diagrams at Wikipedia. I believe most of them are made by means of MATLAB, or the open source alternative Octave. If I had access to the MATLAB/Octave .m-file or .fig-file that generated the plot, I would definitely improve the incorrect plots, but without the source code, I am not prepared to devote the time to reconstruct them or carry out some back-engineering.

• Can you provide me with a list ? Maybe I can fix some. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

• None of the file types that you mentioned can easily be edited. Supplementing these files with editable source file formats would be closer to the idea of wiki. Especially at Wikiversity, I think we need to be able to experiment with more file formats.

• In the future, I think we will use more Wiki server based applications that generate graphics, such as the math equation/TeX utility. TeX can in theory be used for generating all kinds of plots. A sheet music utility is currently evaluated. A wiki server based Octave or TeX compatible application for generating math plots would also be interesting. The problem is that these applications may consume a lot of wiki server processor capacity, and may be security risks - a cracker can perhaps attack the wiki server. But I think wikiversity should be more brave than Wikipedia in installing these tools. Client side applications, based on for example java, would be interesting for interactive illustrations and simulations. Mange01 22:48, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

• Fully agree. On cs.wv we fight for new extensions, broder uplaod format and other usefull tools. The same must come here - much bigger and much used project.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:18, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

• Some of the mathematical mark-up is rather non-intuitive, and I found it time consuming to create anything more than the most basic formula. We need an easy and intuitive system with a drop-and-drag menus. StuRat 01:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Mange01 22:48, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

• StuRat, A problem is that, e.g., latex is not easily compatible with MS-word. It would be interesting if the two can co-exist, though. Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 19:17, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

"It seems PNG files are preferred for diagrams." Well, at least it's better than JPEG. However, the current w: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (diagrams and maps) says: "It is preferable that diagrams and maps be saved in the SVG file format. This is an open standard for vector image files. If saving the image as a raster graphic, the PNG file format is generally preferred, though JPEG is acceptable. Very simple animations can be saved in the GIF file format. Other formats are strongly deprecated."

Q: "What editable file format would be recommended for illustrations such as organization charts, flow charts, statistical charts, plots illustrating mathematical formulas, etc, that can be edited using open source software?" The SVG format is recommended for all those illustrations. Inkscape is one popular open source SVG editor. --DavidCary 02:09, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE SIERRA LEONE?

I AM NEW AND SEEM TO BE A BIT LOST (WIKIVERSITY NEEDS TO BE A LITTLE MORE IDIOT-PROOF!)

MY QUESTION IS: WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE THE MANDATE AND FUNCTIONS OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY LIKE SIERRA LEONE? THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION WILL NOT ONLY ASSIST ME WITH MY MASTERS IN EDUCATION RESEARCH, BUT WILL ALSO BE USEFUL FOR POLICYMAKERS IN TERIARY EDUCATION, SPECIFICALLY MEDICAL EDUCATION IN MY COUNTRY.

THANKS,

SYLP69

One basic thing should be the caps lock key and how to unset it. The answer to your actual question depends on what is needed in your country. Is there a statistic of diseases? Gyro 16:31, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Dont know nothing about the mandate, but the function is to heal people. And as it is a developing country after a war or during a war and it is hardly imaginable they will pay health insurance, it should have other resources. Healing for all, funding from some non-governmental organisation or the donations.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:01, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Why is there no signbot active?

Why is there no signbot active? Gyro 16:21, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, the owner of the bot probably havent ask for a flag here. Should we invite him?--Juandev 18:11, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

YES Gyro 18:13, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

And one more question. What do you need from this bot?--Juandev 18:15, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

When there are more visitors here there will be more unsigned questions/contributions like the one above this one. It's very convenient not having to look at the history page to see if the comment was recent or if it is terribly outdated. Gyro 19:35, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

We did have a bot doing that, but it has not been active in long time. (see Special:Contributions/HagermanBot) If you know someone who operates a bot, and would be willing to run it here, have them ask for a bot flag at WV:BOT. --mikeu ^talk 22:20, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Just as a further comment, we do have a bot that automatically archives after 21 days, if it is still active. Historybuff 13:33, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but this Q was about a bot to add missing signatures, not an archive bot. StuRat 15:13, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

So now I understand. Will we call for this robot?--Juan de Vojníkov 21:02, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Naming style

What's the correct naming style for the title: Learning_the_basics_of_French or Learning_the_Basics_of_French? I'm asking because I'm noticing in-wiki duplication because of inconsistant capitalization within an resource. (that is, Learning_the_Basics_of_French/Lesson:Au_restaurant! and Learning_the_basics_of_French/Au_restaurant!. Either path will require significant cleanup, and I might as well do work on them before it worsens. --Sigma 7 00:50, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

I think the former naming convention is the one generally used by wikipedia (e.g. Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth's_crust or Motion_of_no_confidence). This naming convention only capitalizes proper nouns and has fewer capitalization ambiguities, such as whether or not to capitalize prepositions longer than four letters. My personal suggestion is that the former style be used. Fizyxnrd 22:15, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

People may have different preferences... I would prefer natural sounding titles like yours use lower cases because inline links can easily be created. However, for a slightly more "proper" course title such as Basic French or French Basics, then I am not very sure. Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 15:20, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

If you accept the proposed policy Wikiversity:Naming_conventions#Word_casing, then "Learning_the_basics_of_French" -- sentence casing -- is the correct naming style.

I also prefer lowercase letters, because they are easier to read than uppercase letters.

You may be interested in the brief description of "sentence casing" vs. "title casing" at b: Wikibooks:Manual of Style#Wikibook titles, which seems to recommend the other style you mentioned. --68.0.124.33 01:45, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Naming Conventions was largely rejected by the community. It should not be considered a guide to Wikiversity conventions. I personally prefer title caps be used, thus "Learning the Basics of French". This is standard for course titles virtually everywhere. The Jade Knight ^(d'viser) 17:27, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Culture insights from project GLOBE

--Puttykatlee009 21:20, 2 April 2009 (UTC) I am taking a class in Management and I need information on Asia and Europe. I need to do a comparison and contrast on culture and business climate from the perspective of a Multinational Corporation (MNC)seeking to expand into a new market. From Kathy Shorty

It seems problematic to throw all of Europe into one category and all of Asia in another. In the case of Europe, there's going to be considerable variation between places like the UK and Romania. The variation is even larger in Asia, say between Israel and Myanmar/Burma. However, I will attempt to make some general comparisons:

Europe tends to be capitalist, democratic, and transparent. Bribes are more likely to be required in Eastern Europe. Most of Europe is free from a level of ethnic and religious tensions which are likely to impact business. Environmental, health, and employment regulations tend to be strictly enforced in Western Europe.

Asia tends to be totalitarian and opaque. While nominally capitalist, other factors are likely to be more important when starting a business there, like developing a "relationship" with government regulators, which often involves bribery. Ethnic and religious tensions can periodically erupt into attacks on Western businesses (particularly in Muslim nations), or warfare which can make operating a business impossible. Environmental, health, and employment regulations are typically minimal and/or unenforced. StuRat 13:55, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

If you need. I am in Prague, Czech Republic. Create a page here on Wikiversity and leave me there some questions and/or points and I will leave ther something too.--Juan de Vojníkov 21:05, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Poster Presentation - affiliation with Wikiversity?

I have edited Wikipedia for a while but am new to Wikiversity. I recently had an abstract of original research accepted to be presented at a poster session at a local university. I am doing this research unfunded and with free licencsed software and plan to create a Wikiversity page and publish the research here.

First, is it possible, appropriate and/or sane to have my affiliation for the poster be with Wikiversity?

Second, has anyone done that before?

The session is very informal, though the poster has the option (up to the authors) of having the poster published on their website. If I chose to allow them to publish the poster on the site, is it still fair to publish the project in Wikiversity (I am assuming yes as it is developing research) but is it possible/appropriate to use the Wikiversity logo/affiliation if I say yes to publishing the poster on their website? This question was added on 02:30, 9 April 2009 by User:Enviropearson.

This Q would be better placed on the Colloquium, as this Help Desk is for general knowledge questions, like "Which country has the largest fishing fleet". I will move this Q to that page for you. StuRat 13:31, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Here it is: Wikiversity:Colloquium#Poster_Presentation_-_affiliation_with_Wikiversity.3F. StuRat 13:39, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Geometry/Trig for survey work...

Does anyone know if there's a guide to laying out railroad/highway curves based on survey lines available online or as a Wikibook?

The techniques needed could also on a smaller scale be used for paths, driveways and model railroads..

What do you mean by "survey lines" ? Do you mean lines of constant elevation ? StuRat 23:46, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Interactive learning

Is it possible that wikiversity supports some additional media such animated flash pages, and scripting features as in JScript. The reason I suggest this is to facilitate the learner with all possible ways to browse and interact with some self pre-programmed study. An example of this is identifying locations and related points on an image or a map.--Email4mobile 16:50, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Not as far as I know, no. The problem with such complex teaching tools is that they run counter to the wiki philosophy of allowing anyone to edit. The type of thing you describe wouldn't be easy for the average user to edit, would it ? As an alternative, you could have a map with numbers on it, and the user could be asked to pick from a list of all the numbers below the map. Each number could then have an HTML link that would take you to a page which lists the name of the city, state, province, nation, etc., and of course, a link back to the map page. If your links to Chicago and Detroit were mixed up, then, anyone could easily fix them. Changing the map itself (with the numbers on it) would be a bit more work, but still relatively simple compared with changing a Flash program. StuRat 16:16, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for sharing opinion but I don't think it will be necessary to edit a flash portion again because it will be like an animated GIF photo with more enhanced features. This means the page will remain the same standard except that you can embed or insert such ActiveX as a flash movie just like embedding in an HTML page. The reason I raised this idea is when I saw Microsoft Encarta using such flash animations in their articles, I thought it will be an interesting way of teaching, especially when lessons require more explanations (sometimes 3D maneuverable animations). Anyhow, animated GIFs can still fulfill our needs.--Email4mobile 17:49, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Right, but Encarta doesn't follow the wiki model of allowing anyone to edit. There are many problems with just having one person responsible for the creation and maintenance of the material. Here are a few:

1) Mistakes aren't corrected as quickly, since they must wait for that one person to discover and fix the mistake. Leaving a note for them may help, but only if they check back here frequently.

2) Eventually that single person will leave Wikiversity. Either they will go on to do something else or no longer be able to participate, etc. At that time, we want others to be able to take over, not just leave the project abandoned.

3) There could be disagreements over the content, in which case we want to consensus to win, not always the opinion of the person who happens to know how to make Flash animations. StuRat 20:23, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Erm...

The Wikiversity School of Interviewing doesn't really seem to be functional, and personally, I think it should be deleted. Renaissancee 22:28, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

The best place to request a deletion is at Wikiversity:Requests for Deletion. StuRat 00:43, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] "I couldn't care less"

Which is proper: I could care less or I couldn't care less? There is a dinner at stake.

"I couldn't care less" is proper. Just think through the logic of it: If you do care, then you could care less, right ? However, if you don't care at all, then you couldn't possibly care less. StuRat 15:16, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Research

Hi. It seams the research part of wikiversity is still very beta. Where can i find victims to peer review me?--Deweirdifier 15:07, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

What do you want us to peer review ? StuRat 15:25, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Abstracts and links at my user page. The Deweirdifier is mixed with multiple subjects. I would say its 5 subjects in total, in various disciplines. I'll sex it up, if some people show interest, for now i just copy pasted the html code as is.--Deweirdifier 16:05, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] 1 Billion Hungry people

Today begins the Hunger Summit at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. 1billionhungry.org. --Gbaor 08:53, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The way I understand it, there are two main reasons for hunger.

1. Hungry people are poor, and so someone else has to pay for the food
2. Hungry people are not centralized in one place, so the food has to be distributed and transport becomes a major expense especially in countries that have governments that refuse transport for various reasons.

The best planned food programs come up against these two problems time and again, there isn't enough money to buy enough food to feed everyone, and even if there was, it is often impossible to get the food to the people who really need it. Recently, Government attempts at distribution have played into the hands of the less interested governments, with the result that in many cases, the food has got to the country, that needs it but not to the actual starving people.

To add insult to injury, countries with more poverty, tend also to have more population, which means that the number of people who are starving is increasing faster than the worlds food supply. In the cases of natural disasters and disease, often the number of starving children outpaces the adults that could deal with food even if it arrived. Consider the signs that have started showing up that ask people not to feed street children in AIDS affected areas of Africa. It indicates that the extended family that formerly supported many children has broken down, and the street kid population is growing despite the best attempts of NGO's. If people in their own country and government are refusing to feed them, the street kids will find other ways to feed themselves which will increase the spread of disease. It is partially because of Survival Sex, sex used to buy food, that AIDS keeps spreading. There are places in Africa where it is still believed that if you have sex with a virgin you can cure AIDS. This is dangerous in a disease that has a high re-infection rate, and which can be carried for 10 years before it becomes symptomatic. Just about the time that the child becomes a productive member of society they begin to die of Aids. So AIDS means that we will have to feed more than one generation of children before the country involved can get back on its feet and begin to support itself. Food might be the cheapest way to limit the spread of AIDS, but then, that assumes that the world wants to limit the spread of AIDS.--Graeme E. Smith 01:32, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

You mentioned overpopulation almost as an afterthought, but it's really the core issue causing hunger. That is, there's too large of a population in a given region to survive on the food that grows there (at least in bad years, like say during a drought). Thus such populations will continually be in need of aid. Reducing the population to a sustainable level that can always be supported by the land is the only realistic solution. Birth control is unlikely to work, as, in those cultures, they feel a need to have a dozen kids. Thus, I propose exchanging aid for sterilization. That is, either they agree to be surgically sterilized (or chemically, if we can find a permanent pharmaceutical solution), or they starve. Either way, this will prevent them from having a dozen starving kids, who in turn will have 144, etc. You might argue that this is cruel, but which is more cruel, allowing one person to starve today or 12 in the next generation ? StuRat 14:32, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

I prefer the Chinese one child policy. But, probably there won't be any policy thanks to religious superstition from christianity and the islam.Daanschr 09:03, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

[edit] The World Today

Most people think that the world today is bad. Because of problems they are facing and suffering. Corrupt leaders, smuggling, economic crisis, water shortage, overpopulation, climate change, crimes and wars. It's all about politics, work, personal lives, entertainment, social. Everything and everyone is affected by these problems. Today, most people are now careful in traveling because of crimes that are roaming around. Hold-ups, pickpockets, robbery and many others. The world is buried by these problems made by mankind. Environmentally, there is a proportion; Man destroys Nature and Nature destroys Man. If you want to change the world, think for a minute and do it. --[[Special:Contributions/Christian Louie M. Pajaron 12:56, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't think the world is actually any worse than it was, it's just that we now have mass media which shows us all the bad things 24/7, which makes it seem worse than it really is. For one example, the global warming problem doesn't seem as bad, at least in the US, as an earlier environmental disaster, the Dust Bowl. For another example, the deaths from recent wars in no war can compare with those of WW2 (some 73 million). StuRat 14:47, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

You just say that because you didn't see what's going on in the world. Watch news instead. Christian Louie M. Pajaron

Well, than the question is, how to prevent another Hitler or Stalin coming to power and making life miserable for all humans. Especially when the oil will run up, the west would be vulnerable for these kind of leaders. Look at Fox News in the USA or the rise of neo-nazism in Europe. I am a bit pessimistic about. Just hoping everything will remain relatively easy-going in my country during my lifetime. The Bush-regime was pretty bad. And Putin's nuclear threats. The best option would be the Chinese one child policy, implemented worldwide. Than nobody has to resort to violence in order to survive, thereby making life miserable for all people.Daanschr 09:08, 23 November 2009 (UTC)