How to contribute

CowleyRoad.org is a DIY community history - help us write it!

How it works

This website functions like a local Wikipedia. You are invited to make an account so that you can add your memories, images and research about Cowley Road buildings.

Making an account

On the top right of any page, click 'Request Account'. On the form, say a bit about yourself and what your interest is in Cowley Road in the 'Notes' field (to help us filter out spammers).

You will receive an automated email inviting you to login with a temporary password. Check your spam folder if you can't see it. Then come back to this wiki and use the Login link in the top right of any page.

Editing a page

Navigate to the building you are interested in, either on the homepage at CowleyRoad.org, by browsing through this wiki, or typing the address directly into the URL. Eg, this is the page for number 250 Cowley Road:

http://www.cowleyroad.org/wiki/index.php?title=250

Once on the page, click the 'Edit' tab in the top right. Wait for a few moments, and you will see an editing page which looks a bit like a Word document. (If you're a bit geeky and prefer to use Wiki markup, you can choose to switch to the Wikitext editor.)

Add your changes, then click 'Save Page' at the bottom. Adding a Summary is optional - for example, "Added photo from 1976" or "corrected spelling".

Adding images

Warning: you MUST hold the copyright for any images you upload (ie, have created the image yourself). The only exception is for open licensed images where you understand the copyright. If in doubt, do not upload them!

Please ensure your images are no more than 600px wide in their largest dimension before uploading them. Then, go to the page where you want to add the image and click the Edit tab. When you are in the Edit view click on the small 'image' icon (this is illustrated in the image to the right). A pop up box will appear. In the 'Image filename' field, type the name you want your image to have. This should preferably include the address number, and the date when it was made. In the bottom left of the pop up box there is a 'Special Type' field - click here and select 'Frame' from the dropdown list. (This will ensure the image is aligned neatly to the right of the page.) You should also add a caption in the 'Caption' field, again including the date and a brief description. Then click 'OK'. In the normal page view you will then see your image name appear in red. Click on this and it will take you to a form where you can upload your image. Once uploaded, when you navigate back to the page you should see your image.

Understanding copyright

CowleyRoad.org is an open access archive, and our vision is to create an open source collection of material which is freely available for community use and re-use. Therefore, we encourage you to add material for which you are the copyright holder, so that the community can freely access your images and recollections in futre. When you upload images you have a choice as to what license you release your image under. Be sure to see the Copyright page to understand what and how you are sharing.

Editing guidelines

In order to make the website clear and user-friendly, please refer to these Editing Guidelines.

If you are using Wiki Markup

If you do not know what Wiki Markup is, you can happily ignore this section. If you prefer to use Wikitext instead of the standard edit interface, you will be using Wiki Markup which means that you will see some extra characters in amongst the text when you edit it. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, apostrophes or equal signs which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two pairs of apostrophes like ''this''

To add an image to a page in the Wikitext editor, type this: [[File:myImage.png|frame| Caption text]]

Please include the street number, and the date if possible, in the image filename. For example, to upload an image of the Excelsior cafe in 1972 you would type:

[[File:250-1972.png|frame| 1972: The Excelsior cafe in its heyday]]

See this guide to wiki markup for more detail.