FAQ

From OmegaWiki

This is an unordered collection of frequently asked questions and their answers.

1 Getting started
2 Editing
3 About OmegaWiki

[edit] Getting started

[edit] I have registered a user, and I would like to contribute. How can I become a tester?

[edit] I have the editing rights. What can I do now?

The first thing is to have a look at the article DefinedMeaning to get an idea of how the database works.

Then, look at a few entries to get a feeling for it. You can either try to look up a few favorite words, or hit Special:Randompage/Expression a few times.

Then, find a page where the Defined Meaning is not translated in your native language, and translate it. You could use Expressions needing translation for that. Then, add expressions that match the Defined Meaningin the Synonyms and translations section.

[edit] Ok, my first time to add a new word. What's a good way to do it?

[edit] Check if it already exists

First, try Expression:(your word) to see whether it's already there. Also try Expression:(your word in English or another language). See Meta:Searching for other ways to search.

[edit] Define it

Look up your word in an existing English-English dictionary (if the word is English). How is the meaning defined there? How many definitions do they have? How would you define the word?

Next, open Expression:(your word). First, you see "Language". Type the first three letters of the language of your word. Type "eng" there, and English should come up.

Next, you'll see "– Exact meanings * +– New exact meaning o +– Definition". Select the language in which you'll define your word. Add a definition for the word. For the first definition, try to grasp the core meaning of the word. You can add additional definitions for other uses of the word later.

Hit the Save button and wait for the page to reload. Your entries should now be visible.

In the same way you added a word, you can also add a combination of words if it has a standardized meaning, such as "fried egg".

[edit] Translate it

Next, try to translate the definition you just wrote in a foreign language that you know. Save.

Look at the "Synonyms and translations" box. You know another word in the same language that also matches the definition? Add it here. You know a word in a foreign language that matches the definition? Add it too. Note that you can only add one word between saves (at the moment).

[edit] Relate it

Under "Relations", you can connect your definition to other definition. For example, if you added "dog: A common four-legged animal", it's a good idea to add it to the list of animals. To do that for our example, open the "Relations" chapter by clicking on "+", type "is part of" under "relation type" and type "animal" under "other defined meaning. Select "animal: English: any living organism".

Hit save. Done!

[edit] Editing

see also Editing relational data

[edit] Why is English-US there?

The idea on English is to have it in parts: General English (all content that is the same in all varieties) and specific English. When something is specific, it will be copied to all the other English varieties

[edit] Why is Latin not there?

Latin is not treated (yet) by OmegaWiki because we cannot properly distinguish it:

there is the taxonominal use of Latin
there are currently no proper codes for old classical Latin, newer classical Latin, medieval Latin
There is older and modern "church" Latin,
there were and still are various uses of specialized Latin, sometimes with some ancient Greek added, in science throughout the centuries.

We are not in a position to handle that cleanly, but working towards.

[edit] Is there regional tagging of words?

Not at the moment. We are in pre-alpha.

[edit] Spelling

How do you define spelling?

a spelling is a sequence of characters denoting an Expression in a specific Script, and sometimes according to a specific spelling system or as of a specific time frame in the history of a written language.
see also Spelling variant.

[edit] Are spellings and spelling variants there time tagged?

Not at the moment. We are in pre-alpha. A distinction is made on basis of separate language codes, which sometimes differ for historic language versions and modern ones.

[edit] How is differentiated between spelling variants and synonyms?

See next question.

[edit] How about homographs versus multiple senses of a single homograph?

The spelling variations for the same word will be stored in the same table. However each record can have attributes. So in effect it will be up to the editors to give content its attributes.

When you are concerned about homographs and senses, you approach it from a monolingual point of view. The different senses will have different translations and therefore they willl be apart.

[edit] How is the "Identical Meaning" flag used if an expression has several meanings?

"Identical meaning" is a flag that indicates whether the synonym or translation describes exactly the same concept. If not, "use with caution". If it refers exactly to the concept you're working on, it should be on. If it only sometimes refers to the concept you're working on, or has some additional meaning, it should be off.

But expressions having multiple meanings is a different story. The flag is about the cases where the specific concept you're working on is used somewhat differently in a language, not where a word has a totally unrelated secondary meaning.

[edit] About OmegaWiki

[edit] Who runs and supports this project?

See Open Progress, OmegaWiki and OmegaWiki Commission.

[edit] I love this project and I would like to donate money. Where can I do that?

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