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OK, we’re getting down to the wire. This post is for the Sikkim trip students….
I know most of you will keep in touch with friends and family via Facebook & other social media. However, I’m hoping that we will also use the group website as a way to keep in touch while we’re gone. As you know, I’ve set the site up as a major part of our intellectual output for this project, and yo all have accounts that should let you write and publish blog posts & webpages.
Here are just a few short tips on how to use the site. I’m hoping those of you who are familiar with WordPress can help the others.
Getting Started
Use your username and password to get into the site at the admin/login page. To create a new journal entry, go to Posts/New (or tap the + button in the top menu. Compose your message in the editor box, add pictures using the “add media’ button in the editor toolbar, press ”Publish“, and you’re done.
Location Data
Since we’re thinking of this as “place-based” education, location data is pretty important to us. You can add three kinds of location information to your post (underneath the editor box):
- GPX Tracks
- These are recordings of where you’ve been (discussed in my last post). If you attach one of these in the “GPX File” upload box, it will display in your post (but not in the list of all the posts…). We’ll use these a lot when we’re in Sikkim.
- KML FIles
- There’s a lot of stuff these can do, but the main reason I included them is that in some cases they can be easier to export than gpx tracks.
- Co-ordinates
- You can use this to indicate where you are in the moment that you’re writing your post. This is what will show up in the “archive” and “our journey” pages (yo can look at the test pages for examples of how it will look).
I strongly encourage you to use the geodata options here! It’ll help our site out a lot.
Featured Image
You’ll notice that each post has one special image associated with it, that is used as a packground image in a couple of places. This is the “featured image”, which you set in a box on the lower right of the writing interface page (or, if you’re using your phone, just really far down in the interface). I’d really like it if every post had a featured image, so try to choose a good one!
Showing a post on the “Our Journey” Page
“Our Journey” is, as it were, the “official” record of our trip. Each day one or two of us will write a special post about the day’s events; it’s expected to be perhaps a little more substantive or public-facing than your regular travel diary. You can move a post into the “Our Journey” feed by adding the “Our Journey” category – in the “Category” box.
Youu may also notice the “Tags” box – we an talk later about how to make use of tags on the site.
See yo all in India!