Help:Contents

Category & Page Relationships

The relationships between categories and pages provide some structure for content in the Wiki, which will be useful as the Wiki matures with more content, or becomes a repository for additional research projects. The typical relationship between categories or categories and pages is a parent-child relationship, although in some instances a page or category will have multiple parents. A parent is a page or category with at least one child. A child is a page or category that includes the [[Category:something]] tag. Below is an explanation of the relationship between different levels of content.

1. Group of categories - (eg: Category:Internal strategies, Category:External strategies). These are top-level groupings, and for this project these categories have no parents. This level can be thought of as Parts of a report.
2. Category - items at this second level have a parent (a level 1 group of categories) and at least two "children" outcome (eg: Operations planning). Think of these as chapters in a report.
3. Outcome or result - is a category that describes a desired outcome for which a transit agency would employ strategies. Content at this level has at least one parent and two children. While content at this level will usually take the form of a category, it can take the form of a page if the content for none of the children strategies is (or is anticipated to be) long enough to warrant its own strategy page. Think of these as sections of a report (e.g. 4.2)
4. Strategy - a strategy usually takes the form of a page. Think of an outcome or result as a sub-section of report that presents implementable ideas (e.g. 4.2.1). Each item linked in further reading should include at a minimum of two sentences that inform the reader's decision to follow or not follow the link. This page includes:
   1. an introduction to the concept covered in the page that gives the intelligent but unfamiliar reader context
   2. an overview of the benefits and drawbacks involved with pursuing the strategy, including how the strategy can help an agency in pursuit of any desired parent outcome or result , but also any adverse effects the strategy may have on other strategies, aspects of transit service delivery, or stakeholders
   3. examples of the strategy in action
   4. further reading for those interested in learning more, including academic literature and case studies, with link to content or DOI/library page.
5. Sub-page - When some content provided on a strategy page would be too narrowly-focused or detailed for the typical reader, this additional information should be linked in a sub-page. A sub-page differs from a strategy page in that it is not a strategy in-and-of itself (and therefore does not have a [[category:whatever]] tag, and it usually only linked by a parent page.

Page content

Page titles

Page titles should describe strategies, measures, or concepts as clearly and accurately as possible please:

• use active voice
• use simple language
• avoid prepositions
• avoid redundancy when possible (eg: transit, bus, rail)

Page elements

A presents information related to a strategy or measure. Each page should have:

1. an introduction to the concept for the intelligent reader who may not be familiar with this specific concept (required),
2. an overview of the benefits and drawbacks involved with pursuing the strategy, including how the strategy can help an agency in pursuit of any desired parent outcome or result, but also any adverse effects the strategy may have on other strategies, aspects of transit service delivery, or stakeholders (required)
3. examples of agencies which have studied or employed the concept (preferred)
4. at least one link to further reading (required)

The minimum length of a mature page should be 10 lines or longer. Any mature page not meeting these criteria is considered a "stub" and should be rolled up into its parent.

Further reading

Always include a link and short abstract that helps the reader answer the question "should I follow this link?". A major feature of this wiki is that it can facilitate the identification of cost effective strategies that are appropriate to an agency, and connect agency staff with the additional information they need to explore and implement the strategy.

Standards for further reading and citations

Please cite authoritative sources such as studies, reports, and journal articles from reputable authors or organizations. For the most part, blog entries or news articles should be avoided. In some cases, an especially well-developed encyclopedia (Wikipedia) article can be offered for further reading with a proper introduction that is a well-done survey of a topic, but shouldn't be the sole source of research for a plan or strategy.

Citation format

Citations, references, and links to further reading should take the form: Author or Institution Name. "Publication Title." Year of Publication

References and footnotes

Occasionally you will want to cite statements made in pages. Any in-line citation should use the the following code to produce a footnote citing a specific source: <ref>[http://linkurl.com/example Author or Institution Name. "Publication Title." Year of Publication.]</ref> Alternatively, one can produce a text-only footnote by omitting the link code brackets <ref>example footnote</ref>.

Produce a list of footnotes using the <refrences /> tag at the bottom of the page under a </nowiki>== Notes == section. </nowiki>.

Images

Images can make the transit wiki visually interesting and convey information not possible through prose. Consult the following to add images to your pages:

• Find an image that you own, is in the public domain, or is licensed for use on this Wiki
  • Visit Wikipedia's finding image tutorial for an overview on which images are acceptable to use in a Wiki like this one. Creative Commons licenses that allow non-commercial use with or without attribution are acceptable for this Wiki. Please always cite the source of an image, even if attribution isn't required by the license.
  • Places to find pictures
    • See what's already on this Wiki at Special:ListFiles
    • Creative Commons Image Search
    • the Wikipedia Commons
    • Flickr photos with Creative Commons licenses
    • The Federal Transit Administration's photo galleries: Region 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
• Upload or sideload (paste image URL) the image at Special:Upload. Please cite the source of the image with "Source: http://linktosource.page/image and the Photographer's Name, User Name or Organization" in the summary field
• Use the code [[File:Your Image Name.JPG|right|300px] to place an image on the right that is 300 pixels wide. These parameters can be adjusted, for more information see MediaWiki help on adding images - a how-to-guide for placing images in an article.

Categories

Category titles

Juan has created titles from the outline following the above relationship rules. You shouldn't need to create a new category. Should you need to, please coordinate with Juan by email.

Category page contents

A category page is a special page that will auto-generate a list of child categories. A category page can also be edited to include an introductory section that describes the group of categories, category, or outcome/result. In relation to a paper report, you can think of this as a brief introductory section (e.g. 4.0) that would precede several sections on a specific strategy (e.g. 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.2).