Make sure ed. is at the beginning of the URL (before observatory.wiki). This means you are on the Editorial version of the site (https://ed.observatory.wiki/) and not the Public version of the site (https://observatory.wiki/). You will know you’re on the Editorial version of the site when the header is green instead of blue.
Log in with the credentials we have set up for you.
“User” and “Author” terms:
Your User profile (accessible on your User dashboard) is attributed to any actions you take on the site, including edits to your bio page/articles, etc.
Your public Author page and bylines to your articles on the Observatory will be controlled by your Author profile.
Your public Author profile will contain information about yourself you want to share with your network and Observatory readers.
If you have any trouble logging in, please email your editor.
Top Toolbar Buttons for Quick Actions
When you have logged in, you will see at the top of any page on the Editorial Observatory website some top menu buttons.
Open and edit an existing guide (a series of articles).
Edit author page with form
Start typing your name to open your public Author page.
My User dashboard
Manage your personal Observatory user account.
(Note: Your User profile, where you would update personal details and access behind-the-scenes tools, is not publicly viewable—unlike your Author page, which is publicly displayed.)
Account Settings
This is where you can update your password and other site preferences.
Logout
Log out of your user account.
Your User dashboard
Access your User dashboard from the top menu → “Edit” button → “My User dashboard.”
It is recommended to bookmark the resulting page.
Below, we explain each part of your User dashboard.
Left sidebar of your User dashboard
Your headshot
If you see a placeholder icon instead of a photo of yourself, please send your editor a high-resolution headshot in an email as an attachment or link (say “here is my User Avatar for the Observatory”). Make sure we have permission to use it publicly for your Author page. Your editor will add it to your User dashboard for you, and it will also appear on your Author page.
Account
Account Settings
This is where you can update your password and other site preferences.
Create your public Author Page (or Edit your public Author Page)
Update your publicly visible Author profile.
Article Template Google Doc (optional)
By default, all Users have a generic template Google Document linked here.
This template can be used to start a new Observatory article that is shared between you and your editor.
Some authors have a personalized template Google Document.
If you would prefer a personalized template, please check with your Editor.
Click Here to Open Your Article Template
This opens the link to the generic template Google Document (or, if one has been created, to your personalized template).
Click here to read the letter from the Observatory founders.
Observatory Contributor Writing Ethics and Standards
Click here to review Observatory contributor writing ethics and standards.
Promoting Your Work
Click here to learn how to promote your published Observatory articles.
Rules and Conventions for Writers
Style Guide (full version)
The Observatory’s Style Guide includes both the main Observatory Style Guide page with information on formatting, spelling, and beyond, as well as everything below and more. It is a great starting point for all questions of house style.
Other important general points of style and writing are covered in the following Observatory Style Guide addenda subpages:
Sends a request to your editor for a new Article so you can start working on a new Article draft in the Observatory. You may wish to email your editor directly with the same information pulled up in this form instead. Make sure to fill in the Captcha and hit the Send button to submit your request.
Published articles
This will populate once you have articles that are published.
Here, you can view or Propose an Edit to any of them.
Author Pages
How to add yourself as an Author
Open your User dashboard. (Click the “Edit” button on the top menu bar, then select “My User dashboard” from the dropdown.)
On the left sidebar, under “Account,” click “Create your public Author page.”
Author fields to fill out
A note about field visibility
All of the following information will be publicly visible once your Author page is published by your editor.
Name
You will not see a Name field because it is preloaded from your Username. Once you save, your full name should appear on your Author page (draft or published) exactly as it would appear in bylines, such as including a middle initial. If not, ask your editor for help.
Roles
Roles describe an Author’s profession (e.g., Journalist, Researcher, Activist, Historian, Economist, Professor Emeritus). Once you start typing in this field, you can select from one of the predefined Roles or you can create a new one following the guidelines below.
Follow headline-style capitalization for each role (in this context only; in running text, follow the Observatory Style Guide).
Each role should be separated by a semicolon.
Roles may need to be shorter than job titles because space is at a premium where they appear. (Note: this abbreviated term is not necessarily your job title.)
See the Authors page for examples and inspiration.
You may choose more than one Role, but try to keep them limited to about three.
Section
“Observatory” is selected by default. (Classics only applies to deceased Authors).
Author Organization Affiliation (Primary Source/Organizations that are the Sources of content and Authors’ institutions)
Primary organizations you are affiliated with or that you coordinate with as partners/Sources of content for the Observatory. Try to keep this to a minimum.
Select from the dropdown. If the name of your Organization does not appear as you start to type its official name, ask your editor to add it to the Observatory as a Source. Your editor can also help if there is an issue with the way the official name is written (please note that we follow the Observatory Style Guide on organization titles for capitalization, punctuation, spacing, etc.).
The editor needs the Source’s official name and website so they can enter basic information about it (its logo, mission). If you are a representative of or liaison for the Organization, you may provide your editor with more information to help them fill out the Source page more fully, such as future and past events, publications of note, Research Areas, other Source-affiliated Observatory Authors, etc.
Note: Authors with a Source listed on the Author page as a primary or secondary Source will appear on that Source’s page.
Secondary sources
Same as above, but for Organizations that may not require a full page.
Author bio fields (two kinds)
Note: There are two fields. “Author Photo Bio” is required and must be short, under 400 characters long. “Full Bio” is for the full-length bio and is optional. Both are rich text-enabled, so you can use the toolbar to format text with links and italics (according to the Observatory Style Guide).
Author Photo Bio (Short Bio) (400-character limit) (appears in some space-limited contexts throughout the site)
This is the short Author bio. The length should be fewer than 400 characters. It appears in most space-limited contexts where your headshot appears throughout the Observatory site, such as on Article page sidebars and on Area page lists of Authors.
Full Bio (full-length Author bio that appears on your Author page)
This is the full-length Author bio. It will appear on your Author page under the tab titled “Full Bio.” The Full Bio tab does not appear by default; you can activate this field by clicking the Full Bio checkbox on the Activate tabs line. It does not have a character limit and can accommodate rich text. Use the toolbar to insert links or special formatting. Follow the Observatory Style Guide.
Photo: Send your editor a headshot
Send your editor a high-resolution headshot of yourself and they will upload it here for you. Remember: you must own the copyright and grant its use under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (or if you do not hold the copyright, you must have in writing that the copyright holder grants CC 4.0 use).
Homepage
Add the URL to your website here. Readers can find it on your Author page by clicking your headshot there.
Activate Tabs for Full Bio, Commentary, Books and Research, Teaching, Multimedia, and Events
These tabs appear under the bio on Author pages. If you check the box, a text box will appear that you can fill in with more details. If you don’t need a tab, you can uncheck it and it won’t display on your Author page. You can always leave the box unchecked and later on check the box when you’re ready to fill in data.
The Commentary tab is a selected list of any online published writing you have written that was produced outside the Observatory. For example: op-eds, articles, essays.
Click the + Add button that appears when you check to Activate the Commentary tab and fill in the fields that appear. Title is the only required field (noted by red asterisk). Link is strongly encouraged. Source is the publication where it appeared. Repeat as necessary for your essential non-Observatory work. You can click and drag each commentary entry in the order you prefer they appear.
Books and Research
Teaching
If you teach or have taught courses, add them here. See Commentary for instructions on how to fill out the fields.
Multimedia
This is the place to organize your list of non-text-based content—e.g., podcasts, video (YouTube/Vimeo). If you’ve done any interviews that were recorded on video/audio, add them here. See Commentary for instructions on how to fill out the fields.
Events
This free-text field is where you can list past or upcoming events you’d like to highlight or promote.
How to deactivate tabs
Uncheck the relevant box to hide that section from your Author page.
Save your Author page
Check the page over for errors before hitting the Save Page button at the bottom. In the Summary field, add a short statement summarizing changes you made (optional). If it’s a minor edit, click the Minor Edit checkbox.
Edit your Author page
Go back in to Edit Form from your Author page as necessary.
Publish your new Author page
When you have filled out the Author page completely and checked it over, let your editor know, so they can publish your Author page. If you want to make edits after publication, please ask your editor.
The “Edit” link on top of an Article page (to the right of “Discussion”) is the best way to edit the Article body.
Once you click “Edit,” there are two ways to edit Articles that you can toggle between using the pencil icon: Visual editing and Source editing.
“Visual editing” refers to editing content directly on a screen, seeing the changes as you make them, similar to a word processor, while “Source editing” involves modifying the underlying code (like HTML) that generates the content.
Visual editing
This is a simple way to edit your Article body visually. The body will appear close to how readers will see it, with some exceptions such as multimedia or the use of templates. (See also: Source editing.)
Source editing (code)
This requires knowledge of the markup language (wikitext). It is how you edit “under the hood.” Your editor can assist you with Source editing. (See also: Visual editing.)
About the two kinds of Articles: Observatory (typical) and Classic (rare)
Most articles are Observatory Articles that follow the instructions directly below. If your editor tells you your work involves Classics Articles, see the section after this.
How to enter an Article (typical Observatory Article case)
I. Starting an Article
Ask your editor to start an Observatory Article page for you, including information via email (preferred) or Request Form. Ask them to send you the link to work on. Then follow the instructions in Part II below. When you’re done editing your Article draft, email your editor to let them know it’s ready for their review. Your editor will then review it and either give you feedback for revisions or publish it.
Include the following in your email to your editor:
Usually leave this blank. This is filled in only if there is a reason it should not be alphabetically sorted by headline. Headlines that start with “The” or “A” should be “The Headline” and Sort As: “Headline, The” for example.
This will appear at the bottom of article for all readers (section is visible to the public too).
Author(s)
Fill in Author(s).
If a coauthor needs to be created and you don’t have access, ask your editor for help (provide your editor with their email address so we can onboard them).
Has audio version
Generally leave unchecked and let your editor handle.
Has video version
Generally leave unchecked and let your editor handle.
Cover Image
Let your editor handle for you.
Cover Image Page
Let your editor handle for you.
Suppress cover image display
Let your editor handle for you.
Suppress uploaded media caption
Let your editor handle for you.
Limit uploaded media width
Let your editor handle for you.
Section
A radio field with options for “Observatory” and “Classics.” Make sure the page was set to “Observatory” if you are entering a typical article (“Classics” is only used for public domain content and will display fields in this form that don’t apply.) Ask your editor if you notice the wrong button was pushed to make sure you’re working in the right namespace before continuing.
Source
Start typing in the source of the Article, if there is one. For example, if it was originally produced by an affiliated organization, or if it was previously published by another publication (including your organization or the Independent Media Institute or one of its projects: Earth Food Life Project, Economy for All Project, Human Bridges Project, Local Peace Economy Project, Our Schools Project, or Voting Booth Project). Select it as it starts to appear.
Articles have nothing in the Source field if the above does not apply.
If the organization name does not start to appear as you type, ask your editor if they would consider adding it to the Observatory as a Source. (In your request, please provide your editor with the organization’s website, contact email address of someone who can handle permissions requests at that organization, and their logo if you have it.)
Date first published
Enter the date of original publication if this is a reprint, or today’s date if it’s original to the Observatory. If you only know the month and year, you may leave the exact day empty.
Display date checkbox
Generally, always check this box, unless it’s extremely evergreen or your editor tells you not to. This will buy you some leeway on updating and give readers context (the date only appears at the bottom of the piece if this is checked, not up top or near the byline in the sidebar).
Explain
URL of the Google Doc source
Paste the URL of the Google Document where you worked on this article with your editor.
Credit Line
Generally you might copy-paste from your previous articles, unless there is a difference in the source or permissions. Use the Credit Line from your Article Template in most cases. Your editor can help with this.
Classify
Area
Required. You can only pick one Area per Article.
Tags
Enter a few keywords related to the Article, using headline-style capitalization and the Observatory Style Guide.
Between 1 and 6 relevant tags is recommended, but you may use more. A maximum of 6 will be displayed in a random order on the page load. If you used more than 6 tags, “View More” button will cut the rest off.
Publish
Publish Checkbox
Your editor will handle this on your behalf after all revisions are complete.
Other
SEO: Prefer manual SEO checkbox
Your editor will handle this for you.
Bibliography
Many articles leave this field blank.
If you have a bibliography to add at the bottom of your article (in addition to/separate from the consideration of footnotes/endnotes), you may enter it here. Follow MLA style and the Observatory Style Guide, and enter in the format of a numbered list. This field should benefit the public with additional sources to look up (it is not just used internally).
Article text
This will be your Article body. It is recommended to fill this in after your first save. (Skip this field on your first save and return to it later via Edit with form or Edit options.)
See Part III below on how to prepare your Article body for the Observatory site. If you don’t follow those instructions and try to copy-paste directly from the Google Document, you will create critical hyperlink and other formatting errors.
Save the Article page
Summary
Add a short statement summarizing changes you made (optional).
This is a minor edit checkbox
If it’s a minor edit, click to check this box.
You can change your default settings for this field in the top navigation menu’s Edit button→Account Settings→Editing→Mark all edits minor by default checkbox.
Watch this page
Check this box if you want to receive email notifications about changes to the Article. Leave it unchecked if not.
You can change your default settings for this field in the top navigation menu’s Edit button→Account Settings→Watchlist→Scroll down to Watched pages and check or uncheck the 3 checkboxes.
Save page (blue button)
Click this button when you’re done with this round of edits to the form. You can make further edits after your first or subsequent changes via “Edit with form” or “Edit” after this.
If you exit the page/tab/window in your browser or hit the Back button in your browser, your changes may be lost.
Change your default settings to push a pop-up prompt warning you if you will lose your work in Edit button→Account Settings→Editing→Warn me when I leave an edit page with unsaved changes checkbox.
Next, you will fill in the Article body.
III: Prepare your Article copy for the Observatory site
Consult with your editor on how to enter your article. Most Observatory editors prefer you begin with a Google Document. Once it is finalized, you will need to convert the text so it is compatible with the Observatory software (MediaWiki/wikitext). (In the rare case that you have prearranged to enter your copy directly into the Observatory site, you may skip Part III.)
If you have any questions or need help with the following conversion process, ask your editor for help.
PC: Follow the instructions for the free online converter: “Try Pandoc!”
The first time you do this, you will need to set up some software. Get the Pandoc app and set up the Quick Action workflow:
Install Pandoc, a file converter app, by going to https://pandoc.org/installing.html and clicking the big blue button “Download the Latest Installer.” Select the latest Mac file—it will end in “macOS.pkg.” (As of 1/8/25, available at pandoc-3.6.1-x86_64-macOS.pkg.) Go through the installation prompts and finish installing it.
Install a Quick Action workflow to your computer to easily convert article files into MediaWiki format in Finder with control+click and Pandoc:
In Finder, open the unzipped .workflow file with the Automator app. Here’s how:
In Finder, find the file PandocConvertMediawiki.workflow that you just unzipped.
Double-click PandocConvertMediawiki.workflow.
Click “Install” on the dialog that has appeared.
Once installed, there will appear the “PandocConvertMediawiki” action under Quick Actions item of the context menu.
Convert the article file into MediaWiki format: These steps convert your Article body from Google Docs to a local Word Document or Open Office file to a TextEdit file containing the code of your article formatted in MediaWiki language.
In Google Docs, click File→Download→Microsoft Word to save your Article as a local file (.docx or .doc). (OpenDocument Format .odt is also acceptable if you use Open Office software.)
In Finder, find your Article file and hover over it.
Do not open the file—don’t double-click on it. Instead, press control+click (on a Mac keyboard; or right-click on a mouse) on the file to open a pop-up menu.
At the bottom of the pop-up menu, hover over the option Quick Actions and then click on the “PandocConvertMediawiki” action.
Your Article file will be converted to your new Article file in MediaWiki format at the top of your folder in Finder.
IV: Insert the MediaWiki code of your Article into the Observatory “Article text” (body) field of your article draft
Now you have your MediaWiki source code for the Article body ready to upload into the Observatory. Here’s what’s next:
Open the new converted MediaWiki file of the Article body with your plaintext editor of choice (TextEdit or Notes).
Macs have the TextEdit app; PCs have Notes or a similar app.
Mac users: If when you double-click the file it doesn’t open in TextEdit by default, then you can set it up:
Select the MediaWiki file, then open up a pop-up menu by pressing Control+Click→Open With→Other.
Change “Enable” field from “Recommended Applications” to “All Applications” and then look for TextEdit.
Double-click the TextEdit icon.
After this, TextEdit should appear on the “Open With” part of the above.
Recommended: You can make TextEdit the default app to open this kind of file now or later or never. If you made TextEdit default, it will open with TextEdit if you double-click a file of this type from now on.
Copy the Article body (exclude frontmatter) part of the contents of the plaintext document and paste it into the “Article text” (Article body field) of your draft on Observatory.wiki (whether you are in Edit With Form or Edit mode, you need to be in Edit Source mode for “source editing,” not “visual editor”).
Check for errors in “visual editor” mode.
Tips for setting up the Article body
Best practices in Google Docs before converting files to MediaWiki
Keep the formatting of your Google Doc simple:
No decorations or embedded images (those can come after you enter it on the Observatory).
Structure elements/headings/subheadings need to be formatted as headers at the correct level (see below).
Carefully format your links and bold and italic text.
Make sure you do not use the above-mentioned special formatting over blank spaces that appear before or after the text that you are italicizing, bolding, or hyperlinking.
Make a note of any block quotes as you create your Google Doc draft; you will manually convert paragraphs into blockquote formatting using the Header dropdown when you enter the piece on the Observatory.
Follow these best practices for Headings and Subheadings
You can format the section titles within your Article body (headings/subheadings) at two points:
In the Google Doc: in the toolbar, change a heading from Normal text to Heading 2.
Best practice: Keep section header formatting of Articles within the range of Heading 2→Heading 4 when setting up sections of an article in a Google Doc before converting.
After you convert via Pandoc to wikitext: change, using search and replace function, '''bolded line headings''' with three single apostrophes into ==Wikitext Headings== with two equal signs around the line. If you have a subheading within a section, use three equal signs: ===Wikitext Subheadings===.
Wikitext guide: Don’t combine Heading tags (equals signs) plus bold formatting—using just headline formatting will be sufficient, and bold formatting is redundant and discouraged.
There is no need to make headings bold (with three straight apostrophes in the code); they are bold by default:
Unnecessary: == '''Heading''' ==
Good: == Heading ==
The space between the Heading text and the equal sign is optional. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s flush or if there is a space.
H1 is the page title—don’t use this except over your Article’s title.
Use: It’s the title of the article that appears at the top of the page. It can only be used once per Article.
H2 is the highest level of an Article’s sections. You can use it for section titles like “Introduction” and “Background” or longer ones; it’s also not uncommon to only use this level throughout the Article body for all sections. Use H2 the way you normally use bold section headers in a Google Doc (if you format them as Heading 2 level in the Google Doc as opposed to simple bolding, they should automatically be converted during the Pandoc/workflow process the way you want them to look).
Use: Many articles will only use this level of heading as the deepest level of heading, and that’s fine; H3–H4 are not necessary, and H5–H6 are strongly discouraged.
Table of contents (TOC) appearance: It appears flush-left in the table of contents on Article pages.
Short Articles that don’t have tables of contents might not even use this or any lower levels of section headers at all.
On the Observatory site, the menu calls this “Heading” (but don’t confuse this with H1, described above!).
H3 is the second-highest level of an Article’s sections. Use medium to sparingly.
Use: If you have subsections within H2 that need to appear in the TOC. (If it shouldn’t go in the TOC, just format the text as bold rather than using H3.)
TOC appearance: It appears one indentation to the right of H2.
H4 is the third-highest level of an Article’s sections. Use sparingly.
Use: If you have subsections within H3 that need to appear in the TOC. (If it shouldn’t go in the TOC, just format the text as bold rather than using H4.)
TOC appearance: It appears one indentation to the right of H3 (at this point, things start to become indented so deeply that the TOC sidebar is going to be hard to read—that’s why our developer recommends not using H4–H6).
H5 is the fourth-highest level of an Article’s sections. Don’t use. Rather, just use the formatting you need to (bold, list, etc.) rather than formatting as a heading/subheading.
H6 is the same as H5. Don’t use.
H7 is what MediaWiki calls “Preformatted” for coding purposes. Don’t use.
H8 is MediaWiki’s default way to style block quotes (we use “blockquote” [adj.] and “block quote” [n.]; note that they add a space per the noun styling, calling it “Block quote” in the dropdown Header menu selection on top of text fields). This renders as a body paragraph that is indented on both the left and right sides.
Use: This is for quotations that are at least three lines long that should appear in their own separate paragraph(s).
Does not appear in the TOC.
Double-check links in Article drafts
Always test your links and fix any broken ones before finalizing any page draft. Ask your editor for help if needed. (See: “Links” in the Glossary.)
One common issue with links is if you accidentally used internal links instead of external links (easy to do, especially if you copy-pasted without converting to wikitext first). If when you click a link in an Article draft, the result is a prompt to create a new page on the Observatory or an error message, that usually means it was accidentally formatted as an internal instead of an external link. Pay attention to if you used the single bracket [ (for external links; which you use for most links) versus double bracket [[ (internal links to pages on the Observatory only) in source edit mode, or click the link in visual edit mode and see if it’s toggled to the wrong kind of link (internal when it should be external) and then change it to external and fix the URL to the desired result (you will probably have to remove https://observatory.wiki/ and add in https://www. depending on what the original link was; make sure you copy from the URL bar for the correct page, since that’s easier than removing and replacing part of a URL—and always test the result again after you’ve clicked to save that new link.
Note: This also applies to any text field in any namespace, not just Article pages but also in Guide pages, Author pages, Source pages, Classic pages, Area pages, and more.
Footnotes, Citations, and Links
Here are the best practices for footnotes (whether notes or bibliographic citations) in your Article’s Google Document/Word Document. Once you convert the document into wikitext and upload it to the Observatory, these references will become endnotes. You can insert a footnote by using the Cite button in the top ribbon of the Edit text field.
In your Google Doc or word processor file, use internal links to sources the same way you would with syndicated articles if you do not want them to appear as endnotes/footnotes/references.
However, we usually want as much of the research you did to appear as references/footnotes at the end of the Observatory Article, so it’s recommended to both use internal links over text to cite sources available online and also to format your links as MLA-style endnotes/footnotes inside the Google Doc/Word Doc prior to conversion. Check the Observatory Style Guide for more information about citations.
In Google Docs:
Put your mouse in the article document where you want to insert your footnote, then click to keep your cursor there (it should remain blinking).
In the top menu bar, click Insert and then pick Footnote. (You can also use the hotkey Command + Option + F on a Mac).
A number will appear where your cursor was in the body text, and a line will appear at the bottom of the page where you can insert and edit your footnote text.
Google Docs will automatically number your footnotes correctly if you have more than one.
The Pandoc/workflow conversion from .docx/.odt files into MediaWiki text files will automatically treat the endnotes/footnotes as references.
Changing the Title of an Article (URL and/or Headline)
It is inadvisable to retitle an Article after it has gone through editing, so make sure to suggest the final title when you request the Article to be started. If your title change is approved by your editor, your editor will change the Page Title and Move the page. The URL may not be able to be altered (aka the Page may not be able to be moved), especially if the page was already published. This applies to Articles, Guides, Sources, and all other Page types.
Formatting Article Body text/content on the Observatory site
Paragraph breaks
Hit Enter/Return button twice in Edit (Visual Edit) mode to insert a line break.
This also works to end block-quote formatting and bulleted/numbered list formatting.
Table of Contents (“Sections” tab on Article Pages)
By default, articles with headings in the body will display a Table of Contents (TOC) in the left sidebar under the “Sections” tab.
Check that your headings were formatted correctly in the Article body if you notice any errors in the hierarchy or titles in the TOC; update in the body if necessary, and upon saving and refreshing, the TOC will reflect your changes.
Your editor is able to customize and turn the TOC on or off on an Article, but it is rare to do so.
Footnote references (external citations/notes)
Similar to how Wikipedia includes external citations as footnotes, the Observatory aims to thoroughly cite authoritative sources using endnotes/footnotes in MLA bibliographic style (check the Observatory Style Guide for more thorough guidance)—in other words, not only using internal citations in the form of external links in the Article body the way many news sites do, but also using external links in the Article body as well as footnote citations. Many of the sources in your articles may be hyperlinks rather than printed sources, and that is acceptable.
Insert references via Visual Editing (recommended)
Click where you want to insert a footnote superscript bracketed numeral antecedent/reference in the Article body (usually after terminal punctuation [period or close quotation mark] in the relevant sentence, or after the relevant first phrase if there are multiple citations in one sentence).
Click the “Cite” button.
Click “Basic.”
Type in the text and format as you would with an Article body.
The A icon offers special formatting options including bold and italic.
Carefully select any text that is supposed to be formatted as a link, then click the link/chain icon. Insert the full canonical URL that should go over that selected text. Make sure you are careful about internal and external links, as with links in the Article body.
Press the top blue Insert button when you’re done entering and formatting your footnote to add it to the Article body.
If you need to change something in the footnote after you save it, you can click the superscript bracketed numeral, then click the Edit button to open the footnote text box again. Make your changes and then hit the blue Insert button to save them.
If you have advanced formatting needs you can’t adjust using the pop-up box in Visual Edit mode, use Source Edit mode or ask your editor for help.
As with the rest of the body text, changes to the footnotes don’t save until you hit the blue “Save changes…” button at the top right of the Visual Editor for the Article page.
Insert references via Source Editing/coding (advanced)
Alternatively to the easy Visual Edit, you could use Source Edit and use <ref>[Linked|Citation] text here.</ref> tags in the Article body. To code an endnote/footnote to appear at the bottom of an Article, the source code to insert into the Article body where you want your number reference to go is:
<ref>Author Name, Book Title, (City: Publisher, YYYY), p–p.</ref>
This will insert a numbered endnote formatted, like this (different text than the above is used below for illustration):
1. Jane Doe, The Book Title, (New York: Publisher Name, 2019), pp. 2–24.
It’s easier to use Visual Edit mode and start typing <ref> where you want your number to go in your body, and then a pop-up will appear where you can format the note, group it with other notes of different sections, etc.
You don’t have to repeat the same footnote text more than once (you don’t even need to write “ibid”!). If you want to cite the same footnote more than once throughout an Article body, you may.
After you have entered the text with all its footnotes, make a note of which footnotes are supposed to match. Then in the Observatory draft, delete the second numbered reference. Move your cursor to the part of the Article body where your second footnote reference is supposed to go and click the “Cite” button. Then click “Re-Use.” Then select the first footnote you want to re-use and they should connect. For example, see Footnote #7 in this article: https://observatory.wiki/Why_Charter_Schools_Open_Where_They_Do%E2%80%94And_Why_That%E2%80%99s_a_Problem.
Slideshows, quizzes, audio files, video files, etc.: adding special kinds of content Templates into Articles
To insert special content, there are Templates your editor can insert into an existing Article/Guide for a Slideshow, Quiz, Audio, Video, etc. Ask your editor for help with Templates.
More information *TK
Back end basics
The Observatory and Wiki software
The Observatory runs on the same software that powers Wikipedia. We use some of the same terms. There are many advantages to the customizations we have developed to the Observatory site’s use of Wiki software that enable you to update and refresh your article as new information becomes available and to add to your Author profile page if you have new publications or other items to feature.
Have Patience With Some Kinds of Changes
Note: Some changes you make may not appear immediately. Please have patience, and they will show up a little later. Note that Pushed changes to Published on the Editorial domain may only appear on the Public domain when opened in an incognito browser window after a few hours’ delay.
To speed things up on the Editorial domain, you can use the “Refresh” link on changed pages and/or another page where the changed page appears but the change isn’t yet displaying. Please have some patience; if it has been a few hours, ask your editor.
Glossary (definitions of Observatory website language and Wiki/MediaWiki terms)
Area
A page that groups Articles connected by one topic (e.g., Environment).
Area Editor
Manages, edits, and/or writes for the Area. Creates and approves drafts of Articles filed by other Authors that fall under their Area.
Article Template Google Doc
A Google doc template that can be used to start a new Observatory article. It is shared between you and your editor.
Author
A contributor to the Observatory. The published Author page is publicly visible.
Admin
An administrator of the site who can help you with actions that require advanced permissions.
Article
An Article is an individual post of analysis, op-ed, resources, lists, explanatory introductions to topics, full details of events with a long shelf life, etc. An Article page can host both full Articles and Quick Read summaries in the same location and can have subsections within it, just like a Wikipedia article.
Editorial Domain
The Editorial domain is the Observatory site (and any page on it) with “ed.” preceding “observatory.wiki”: https://ed.observatory.wiki. It is where you and your editors can work on adding or editing articles. Changes here are not reflected to the public (Users without log-ins) on the Public domain (observatory.wiki without “ed.”) until an administrator “Pushes” the Saved changes to the Public domain.
Full Article
This is the full-length Article.
Guide
A compilation of Articles designed as a course to take readers on a journey through one topic or issue area (with a more narrow focus than an Area).
Links
There are three types of links:
External links. Use these for non-Observatory links. They point to the external URL and use a single bracket syntax with a space between the URL and the link text: [https://www.nonObservatoryLink.com] or [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Plain_Sailing_Cook_Book/Recipes#83 page 83]
Internal links/Wiki links. They point to the current wiki (Observatory) pages and use a double square bracket syntax and optional pipe between the page name and the link text (if they differ): [[Article Title]] or [[Article_Title]] or [[Author Name to Go to Their Page]] or [[Recipe:Classics:The Plain Sailing Cook Book/540. Artichokes—French|Artichokes—French]]. Always use Internal links for any link that begins with observatory.wiki—don’t use external links (bad: [https://www.observatory.wiki/Page_Title]; good: [[Page_Title]] ).
Interwiki links. Use these for linking to Wikipedia or other Wiki projects. They point to the MediaWiki sites listed in https://observatory.wiki/Special:Interwiki. They use the wiki links syntax (double square brackets, a pipe), but with prefix. Our developer defined the English Wikisource prefix ("en.wikisource") and now it is possible to link like this: [[wikipedia:The_Manhasset|The Manhasset]] or [[:en.wikisource:The Plain Sailing Cook Book/Recipes#83|page 83]]. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Interwiki_linking for more help.
Main or (Main) or Mainspace
Everything not in a specified Namespace is in the Mainspace. (See: Namespace.)
Namespace
A “namespace” indicates a contained part of the site. It is indicated by a “prefix,” or the part of the URL following observatory.wiki, such as observatory.wiki/Classics: or observatory.wiki/Projects: to avoid naming conflicts. Most Articles, Authors, Sources, and other pages you will work with (if you are not working on Classics content) will not have any special container and just start the headline or author name right after observatory.wiki.
Public Domain
The Public domain is the Observatory site (and any page on it) without “ed.” preceding “observatory.wiki”: https://observatory.wiki. This is how the public (Users without log-ins) views the site and how you should share links with the public for promotion of your article pages or author page. You cannot make edits to pages or access your User dashboard and certain Editorial features from here—to troubleshoot a page or feature you think you should be able to access, try adding “ed.” before “observatory.wiki” and hit enter in the URL bar of your browser. If you are sharing a page with the public, make sure to remove “ed.” from the URL first.
Quick Read
A “Quick Read” version of an Article is a brief summary of a full-length Article.
Role
A Role describes an Author’s profession (e.g., Journalist, Researcher, Activist, Historian, Economist, Professor Emeritus)—essentially, it’s how you might describe yourself at a cocktail party. It is publicly visible on the Author page.
Source
Partner organizations that can be associated with Articles and Authors. They can have their own public page.
Tag
Tags are labels or descriptors of Articles that help readers to find your article by related terms. Each Article gets one Area, but it can have multiple Tags. For example, an Article titled “Hummingbirds Are in Rapid Decline” might have the following Tags: Animals, Birds, Ecosystems, Endangered, Extinction, and Science.
User
The personal profile of an Author (not publicly visible).
