Help:How to port pages: Difference between revisions

Aims of porting

When we port pages, we have these aims:

1. Present the original, "as the author intended" uneditable version. Once a port is complete and has been reviewed for noticeable hiccups, we create a specially named version of the file (ending in "(original)"), and protecting that version from edits (except by admins). Note that "as the author intended" may have subtle differences:
   • WWW links need to begin with http:// or https:// in order to function correctly, and they should be edited if necessary
   • References to images within the article may need adjusting since image placement may not be the same as in the original. E.g. "the picture at right" may become "picture #1", and captioning may also need related changes.
   • The original may be too large for a single article, and may be partitioned. See Category:Beyond dams.
2. Allowing this material to be used as part of our wiki pages, or in any other way consistent with the open license.

Fixed vs evolving content

Different types of ported content call for different policies.

Ported Project pages represent descriptions of past activities. As such, the ported content is not an appropriate target for modification, and so an editable version of this content is not useful. Nevertheless, the page containing the content may legitimately be modified through changing or adding templates, links and categorization, either before or after the original content. An editable page that includes locked content, provided in a protected template, provides this capability. The template will include the original content plus appropriate attribution of the original content. There is no value in having a separate editable pages.

On the other hand, for material that lends itself to collaborative evolution, a single copy of the original content cannot be both frozen and editable. Two pages will be established. First, a page containing frozen content will be created using the same protected template approach as for ported Project content. In addition, a second page will be created which includes all the content without protection. Attribution is required, as well as a link to the protected original content page.

Some content may contain a mix of historical (and therefore essentially fixed) content, plus content that lends itself to collaboration. Mixed content will be treated as collaborative content, as long as there is at least a substantial amount of collaborative content.

Phase 1 is the main effort

The first phase of the process is to get copyleft permission and move the content cleanly into Appropedia. This portion of the process does not require administrator priveleges. Here are the steps:

1. Identify the material to be ported.
   • In some cases this may already be done. E.g. see Practical Action/Pages to port
     • If you have identified a set of content to port, and want to see which files have already been ported, you can either search for the source name (e.g. search for Practical Action), or if there is a specific template used on material from that source, go to that template page click "What links here" in the left menu bar. (The link can be written out, e.g. Special:Whatlinkshere/Template:PATBpage.) Also, you should always search for the title before doing a specific document, in case someone did it but didn't include the template or source name.
2. Get permission from the copyright owner.
   • In some cases this also may already be done. E.g. see again Practical Action/Pages to port
3. Create the new wiki page in the "Original" namespace (that simply means the begins with "Original:")
   • If the porting process might take more than an hour, notify others that "porting is in process" by copy/pasting the following at the very top of the article on a line by itself:

     {{Being ported}}

4. Post the content to the wiki page in the original "as the author intended" version, without changes.
   • Exceptions to the "without changes" rule (these exceptions should not change author's intent):
     • Changes to references to images within the document, and to the image captions, may be needed to retain the original meaning. For example, "picture at right" may be ambiguous because it can be difficult to exactly match layout, and so reference may be altered to "picture #xyz".
     • WWW URLs are required to begin with "http://" or "https://". URLs without those prefixes should be altered to include the prefix in order for the links to work correctly.
     • Categorization and notice templates may be added at the very beginning and very end of the article.
5. Use the appropriate template to give credit to the author(s) and link to the source document, if possible.
   • If you are not comfortable with templates, then put some information on the talk page and an admin will help.
6. When porting of the content is complete, remove the "being ported" template (if any) and copy/paste the following on a line by itself at the top of the article to notify an admin that the article is ready for protection:

   • {{Checkoriginal|~~~}}

Phase 2 is done by an admin

This second phase of porting must be done by an Appropedia admin. The details of the admin responsibilities are described at Category:Checkoriginal

Templates

Attribution templates

• Template:Beyonddamspage for pages derived from the Beyond Dams publication
• Template:Erssonpage for pages derived from the Erssons' web site
• Template:PATBpage for pages derived from Practical Action Technical Briefs
• Template:Gpbaronpage for pages derived from content by G.P. Baron
• Template:Demotechpage for pages ported from content created by Demotech

Other related templates

• Template:Being ported
• Template:Originalported
• Template:Checkoriginal

See Also

• Help:Porting_content_from_PDF_format
• Category:Notice templates
• this wikipedia page lists porting tools that can help