Weinberg College
of Arts & Sciences

Slate FAQ

What is Slate?

Slate is Weinberg College's web-based collaboration tool, commonly referred to as a wiki, that can be accessed on campus or anywhere that you have internet access and a web browser. Slate can be accessed by computers, tablets and smart phones that have a web browser without the needs of a VPN or other software.

Slate is our branding of Atlassian's Confluence software.

• What can Slate Be Used For?
• Who Can Use Slate?
• How Do I....?
• Wiki Guidelines and Best Practices

What Can Slate Be Used For?

• Document repository
  • Departmental operations manual
  • Contact lists
  • Organize and document research
  • Manage faculty searches
  • Meeting agendas and notes
• Collaborative documentation efforts
  • Developing proposals, papers, and manuscripts
  • Share research and other data
  • Developing departmental documentation
  • Discussion forum
  • Documenting processes and procedures
• Anything else that you want to document
  • Student employee schedules and project assignments

Who Can Use Slate?

Slate is available for departmental use by Weinberg staff, faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students working in a department or lab. Faculty and graduate students can request a Slate space for lab or other research needs. Collaborators outside the College or Northwestern can be given access as well, though anyone outside the university will need an affiliate NetID.

How Do I...

How do I request a Space?

Simply enter a request in Footprints and let us know:

1. What you would like the Space to be named
2. Include the following information for Northwestern faculty, staff, and students:
   1. Name
   2. NetID
   3. Whether they need read-only or read-write access
3. Include the following information for each non-Northwestern person:
   1. Name
   2. Email address
   3. Whether they need read-only or read-write access
4. Let us know if you'd like assistance with how to "design" your Space or if you'd like a primer on how to use Slate

We will then create the Space and add people to it. Please be aware that as you need a NetID to access Slate we will request affiliate NetIDs for non-Northwestern users. These affiliate NetIDs will need to be renewed every year.

How do I add people to an existing Space?

1. Submit a new request
2. Provide the name of the Space to add someone to
3. Include the following information for Northwestern faculty, staff, and students:
   1. Name
   2. NetID
   3. Whether they need read-only or read-write access
4. Include the following information for each non-Northwestern person:
   1. Name
   2. Email address
   3. Whether they need read-only or read-write access

How do I access Slate?

In your web browser, go to http://slate.weinberg.northwestern.edu and use your NetID and password to login. If you have problems logging in, submit a new request.

How do I restrict access to pages?

When adding someone to the restricted list by entering their NetID, you are actually granting them access and denying access to anyone who is not on the list. This may seem backwards to anyone who is accustomed to adding someone to a list and having them denied access.  Read more about Page Restrictions.

Other commonly performed tasks

• Now that I have Slate, how do I organize it and learn the terms?
• Creating Content
• Using the Editor
• Editing a page's name
• Modifying the page layout
• Creating and modifying tables
• Deleting a page
• Sharing content
• Identifying if someone is editing the page I'm editing
• Examining old versions of a page and comparing two versions of a page
• Linking pages
• Adding and managing attachments

Confluence Demonstration Video

Confluence 5.3 User Guide

Wiki Guidelines and Best Practices

Philosophy

• Content is king - Adding useful content to a wiki should always be one of the main purposes of a wiki. Users should be encouraged to add information without worrying about making it perfect or polished. Don't consider a wiki to be the next great novel or masterpiece. Remember that a wiki is a community effort, so there will always be others out there who can help make the information more clear if needed. The bottom line is to help others solve a problem or better understand an issue. If your information does that, then you've succeeded. 
• Respect is key - At all times, be professional in both your composition fo new pages and edits/comments to existing pages. The focus must be on the content and improving our shared information store.
• Ownership is not king - As a team, you are all responsible for ensuring that your knowledge is most accurately represented for yourselves and future team members. A critical component of this is ensuring an environment for constructive feedback. If you create a page, make sure to occasionally revisit it to check for updates/comments and engage in addressing any feedback. If you come across a page that can be improved or needs to be updated with new information, offer feedback through edits and comments.
• A different mindset - Using a wiki for documentation is meant to create "living documents" that accommodate frequent revisions and rely on connections among pages. Having a wiki enables a team to continuously improve their shared knowledge base through peer review and constructive feedback.

Implementation

• Build on existing knowledge - Remember that all of you will be contributing to the wiki and that the topic you're interested in may be directly or indirectly represented already. Make sure that you don't end up with multiple (and possibly contradictory) pages on the same topic. Make sure to search for an existing page on your subject, and either modify the existing page (if a direct update is needed) or link to the existing page in your new page.
• Focus on clarity - Every wiki page (or document, for that matter) should aim to clearly explain why it exists and be structured for quick digestion. First, the topic should be descriptive, as it will be used as a key factor for searches. The page itself should start with a brief summary or overview of what the document is meant to provide. Subject headings are recommended to both logically organize the page and serve as the basis for automatic table of contents creation.
• Use references - In many cases, you're building on existing knowledge. Rather than re-write all that information, please collect and post those references as part of your page composition. Reference URLs can be posted either in-line with the relevant content or at the end of the page under a References heading.
• Discuss major changes - If you see a page that requires major revision, check to see who created/updated it and schedule a discussion. It may be that a previous version is more accurate or that the underlying process/procedure/policy needs to be revised based on a changing environment.