OpenWetWare:Getting started 3

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Set up your user page/lab wiki
• 3. Contribute to the community

Contribute to community pages

Sharing the same wiki between multiple labs enables community pages that permit sharing of expertise. OpenWetWare has many shared areas listed under the Shared resources section on the Main Page. Everyone is encouraged to contribute to these pages!

List your lab equipment

• In the equipment section of OpenWetWare, several labs have listed lab equipment they have in their labs. This is a convenient way to keep records about usage and maintainance.
• In particular, the plate reader is a good example. It includes useful information about plate variation, lamp energy, and absorbance levels.

Link your lab protocols

• Each lab has their own way of doing particular protocols. Typically a lab will have a list of lab-specific protocols. However, we are also collecting protocols from multiple labs in the shared protocols area. A good example is DNA Ligation which has a general overview of the procedure. It also provides links to the Endy, Knight, and Silver lab protocols so that people can compare different techniques. Link your lab protocol to the relevant community protocols section!

Document information about lab reagents

• Almost every lab has a set of solutions or media that they regularly need to prepare. In the materials section, various people start pages about reagents they use and include any information they use regularly: like recipes, usage notes, safety info etc.

Remember that you don't need permission from anyone to post a page. If you have a protocol or other information that you would like to share, please do so even if you are unsure if it will be of interest to the community. Many people post information on OWW for their own convenience. When they need a copy of a protocol or need to give it to someone else, OWW is an easy place to find it. However, please be respectful of more "personal" pages (like user pages and lab pages). Check out the etiquette page for more information.

Become a power user

The working definition of a power user is any OpenWetWare user who edits OpenWetWare frequently. (The exact definition of frequently is pretty subjective so use your own judgement on that one.) Generally these users believe in the utility of OpenWetWare (or sites like it) and are committed to making them better.

There are some things that you can do to help further your addiction to OpenWetWare.

Check the recent changes list often

• Often seeing the changes that people are making in real time can lead to an urge to correct errors, contribute to discussions and overall improve the quality of pages. Many people actually bookmark the Recent changes rather than the Main Page because it is more reflective of what is going on in OpenWetWare at any given time.

Join the OpenWetWare steering committee

• OpenWetWare is very much in its infancy. Everyone is still trying to figure out how to make the site as useful as possible to themselves and everyone else. So contribute your ideas and participate on the OpenWetWare:Steering committee!

Go to the Community Portal

• If you are looking to kill time and want to edit OpenWetWare, there are various pages in progress and things to do to help improve OpenWetWare. Most of these are listed and linked off the OpenWetWare:Community Portal.

Advertise OpenWetWare to your friends and colleagues

• OpenWetWare, being based on community contributions, can only benefit from having people talking about the usefulness of the site. Many of our new members hear about it through word of mouth.
• Write a testimonial to explain how you use or benefit from OpenWetWare.

Adding comments

Discussions are an integral part of OpenWetWare whether you are asking for or giving feedback, contributing to the Community Portal, or simply commenting on a user's talk page. In order to easily track and read discussions, we have standardized our commenting protocol.

To comment, type *'''~~~~''': followed by your comment to get example below.
▪ Jennyn 16:16, 25 February 2006 (EST): Hello World.
▪ Jennyn 12:14, 18 March 2006 (EST): Hi back!

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