Welcome new user

Welcome to the Clavis Wiki!

If you are a registered user (or think about becoming one) and uncertain how to contribute, here are some suggestions:

Improve the description of your favourite collection (or any other)

Do you have a favourite canon law collection? Have a look whether it already has an article: Category:Canonical Collection.

• If not, see below on how to create new articles.
• If the collection already has an article, read it - and double-check the standard works of reference if you like. Often, you will see blue page numbers in references to Maassen's Geschichte, Kéry's manual or Fowler-Magerl's Clavis handbook itself, e.g. "see Kéry p. 123". The blue page numbers are page-specific links to digitized versions of the respective books. For more links to digitized secondary literature (and editions), have a look at the Bibliography.
• Dare to improve the text!
  • Click the Edit icon (upper right hand corner of any entry) and simply start writing. The "look and feel" is that of Wikipedia - or an old-fashioned word processor. Don't forget to save your changes.
    • If you want to add secondary literature, please click the Edit source rather than Edit and use this bibliography (simply copy&paste the suggested citation in brackets and ignore it looks ugly; "{{Author|Ann Other}}, Publication" will become "Ann Other, Publication". If the title you want to add is not found in the bibliography, please provide full bibliographical details in the article (but don't worry too much about the style).
    • Categories can be used to mark all copies of a given collection. You do not have to place articles in categories, but if you do, here is what you need to know:
      • There are categories for the date and place of origin, and other information. See the Categories page.
      • There are two ways to place a page into a category:
        • Either click Edit on the page you want to improve, and click on the list icon (between the question mark and the pen), and pick the "category" option, which will lead you to a menu from which you can select categories.
        • Or click Edit source and copy&paste from the Categories page. For example, if you copy&paste (or type) [[Category:Collection saec XI]], the relevant page is placed in the Category:Collection saec XI together with all the other collections from that century. To get an idea which categories are used, have a look at existing articles; if they are in categories you find useful for your collection too, click Edit source and copy the relevant text, and insert it in the article you are reworking.
      • Manuscripts of individual collections have their own categories (see below); you can link to this category by inserting [[Category:Manuscript of XY]] (where 'XY' is the Clavis key for the relevant collection). If you place articles on manuscripts in the correct categories, you can then improve the article on the respective collection by inserting a link to the category by inserting [[:Category:Manuscript of XY]] (note the colon). For example, in the article on the Anselmo dedicata (key: DE), there is a link to Category:Manuscript of DE so you can easily look up information on the manuscripts when reading the article on the collection.
    • Adding links is generally useful. Have a look at the Help page how to do it.
      • So-called internal links connect articles of this Wiki to other articles. If an article on a collection mentions other collections and/or manuscripts, check whether these already have an article (the search bar at the top of the page should help). If so, you can improve the article by adding links.
      • Of course, external links are also often useful: homepages, secondary literature, ...
• Feel free to have a look at articles that already have been improved, for example that on the Collectio Anselmo dedicata. In general - if you see something you want to imitate, it is always best to choose Edit source, simply to see what the relevant code looks like. Do not be afraid - if you deal with medieval canon law, you are used to way more complex texts. Just have look, really.
• Above all: improve the content! Don't be too shy. Linda wanted Clavis to go on. If you are uncertain - leave a note on the discussion page (every page has a discussion page) but never be afraid. All changes can be undone, and Linda's original version can always be restored by any user who wishes so. You cannot delete anything for good.

Improve the description of a manuscript

Do you have a favourite manuscript? Find it in the Category:Manuscript, read the article, and improve it as you see fit. (If you don't find it, see below on how to create new articles.)

• As with collections, there often are references to existing literature, often with page-specific links to digitized literature; for many manuscripts, there are links to online descriptions (e.g. library catalogues, but also CLA, Biblioteca Laureshamensis, the Bibliotheca Palatina, and similar online resources). The List of manuscripts has links to Kéry's book for almost all manuscripts mentioned there.
• All information is welcome, esp. dates, provenance, and links to digital images.
• If you are uncertain what information should go into an article and what the article should look like, read some existing articles to get an idea. Both short articles (like Admont, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 43) and longer ones (like Berlin, SBPK, Phill. 1743) are most welcome.
• Categories are also very useful. See above on how they work, and the Categories page for more details. For manuscript pages, it is particularly useful if you use categories to indicate which collections they contain. To do so, use the Edit source-mode and insert [[Category:Manuscript of XY]] where 'XY' is the Clavis key for the collection in question or (if they don't have one yet) the name of the collectio. See here for the list of keys.
• Again, do not worry too much - simply start writing/improving the article! What has been said above about collections holds for manuscripts, too. Many articles on manuscripts can be improved easily from your own knowledge and/or the help of literature and online resources.

Improve articles with known issues

• Articles with known issues are found in Category:Article with known issues. The subcategories contain hints how to improve the relevant pages.
  • Often, missing information can be added from standard works like Maassen's Geschichte or Kéry's Collections.
  • Some issues can be resolved simply be reading the article and adding the appropriate categories. This is often the case with missing categories for date and place of origin; even basic information like "saec. XII" is very useful. Simply choose Edit source and copy&paste from the Categories page as described above.
  • Sometimes, the relevant information is not found in the article, so one has to do some research, improve the article, and then add the missing category. Some articles are stubs: they only contain very little information at all, so whatever you can add is particularly welcome. They can be found here: Category:Stub.
  • You can improve descriptions of individual collections and manuscripts by standardising the page titles. This requires some experience with Wiki functions, but if you are familiar with the MOVE function, the REDIRECT, and how wiki links work, you can easily do this using a list of standardised page titles ready for copy&paste; see here. Move the page, leave a redirect, done. (If you are sure nothing links to the redirect page, you can delete it too.)
• Not quite sure about your changes and/or keen to discuss difficult issues with other contributors to this wiki? Use the discussion page; to start a discussion, click "+new topic". Please do not change discussion pages, they are meant to document discussion.

Looking for specific tasks?

In the context of our editathons, we have created to-do-lists with specific tasks (often very minor) and precise instructions. Have a look at the relevant discussion page (as it is a discussion page, you can easily leave a reply).

Typos, new features, other issues

• Unhappy with Clavis, or any ideas what new features we should introduce? Contact us or use the Category:Wishlist
• Found a typo in an article? Please correct it!
• Found a typo in the Clavis database? Please let us know: Typos
• Do you see problems with an article but cannot fix it yourself? Put it in the category Category:Article with known issues by inserting [[Category:Article with known issues]]. If you like, leave a comment on the discussion page and/or the edit summary.

Create new articles on collections or manuscripts

If you cannot find a collection or manuscript in the relevant categories (Category:Canonical Collection and Category:Manuscript), use the search bar and/or the more complete lists Description of the collections and List of manuscripts.

• Red entries (in the latter two lists) have no page yet. Click on the red link nonetheless, this will create a new page once you enter something and don't forget to click "Save page".
• If you cannot find the manuscript in any list, nor by using the search bar, you can of course create a page nonetheless. The best way to do so is the follwing:
  • First mention the manuscript or collection in a relevant article. For example, you can mention a manuscript of any collection in the article on the latter or vice versa; you can also add to the Description of the collections or the List of manuscripts. If possible, follow the "house style" for collections and for manuscripts: Collections almost always are referred to by Latin titles (see Category:Canonical Collection for examples), and manuscripts are referred to by "place name (in local language), archive/library name, shelf mark" (see Conventions on referencing manuscripts for details). Look at other articles on similar collections/manuscripts for inspiration if you like, but so not worry too much about all this: whatever you do can be improved later, if need be.
  • In a second step, add a link to the article to the whole title of the collection or "place, library, shelf mark" imn the case of manuscripts. Once you save your change, you will have created a red link which you can click to create the new article. The sequence does not really matter, but this way you make sure the new page is linked to from other articles.
  • Please add categories; at the very least, add [[Category:Canonical Collection]] or [[Category:Manuscript]]. This greatly helps to keep an overview on new articles and to avoid that the same collection/manuscript is described in several articles.