''How Wikipedia Works'' is a 2008 book by Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates. Published by
No Starch Press
No Starch Press is an American publishing company, specializing in technical literature often geared towards the geek, hacker, and DIY subcultures. Popular titles include '' Hacking: The Art of Exploitation'', Andrew Huang's ''Hacking the Xbox' ...
, it is a
how-to reference book for using and contributing to the
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
encyclopedia, targeted at "students, professors, and everyday experts and fans". It offers specific sections for teachers,
users
Ancient Egyptian roles
* User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty
* Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User"
Other uses
* User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...
, and researchers.
It was designed as a reference work and has detailed bibliographies for each section.
Publication
''How Wikipedia Works (and How You Can Be a Part of It)'' is published by
No Starch Press
No Starch Press is an American publishing company, specializing in technical literature often geared towards the geek, hacker, and DIY subcultures. Popular titles include '' Hacking: The Art of Exploitation'', Andrew Huang's ''Hacking the Xbox' ...
as part of their series of technical how-to books.
The book was originally published under the
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...
. At the time of publication, Wikipedia was also released under the GFDL. The book has since been re-licensed under the
CC BY-SA
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...
, which Wikipedia now uses.
Reception
''
The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
'' (UK) called it "a great one-stop source for information of the world’s go-to source for information."
["How Wikipedia Works"](_blank)
Geek Guide2. ''The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
''. October 7, 2008. Archived from th
original
on November 3, 2008. David Weeks of ''MyMac.com'' called it a "fine reference guide" and praised its comprehensive content, but mildly criticized the book's length. He recommended that readers start by skimming through the book and consult it later for more detailed guidance when editing.
See also
*
Bibliography of Wikipedia
This is a list of books about Wikipedia or for which Wikipedia is a major subject.
Wikipedia as primary subject
*
*
*
* ''
Wikipedia: The Missing Manual''
References
External links
Website No Starch Press
''How Wikipedia Works''pdf
, Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
2008 non-fiction books
Books about Wikipedia
Creative Commons-licensed books
Handbooks and manuals
No Starch Press books
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