Blog
From Help With Kumu Wiki
Kumu Wiki Blog:
Tuesday January 3, 2017
We're moving to new infrastructure at 6:00AM January 4, 2017. There will be brief down time during this migration.
Wednesday December 17, 2014
Today we added some more RAM to the server to improve it's performance, mainly on the Etherpad side. We have more plans to improve this service in the coming months.
Friday November 9, 2012
We've recently updated our policy to force E-Mail addresses to be confirmed to edit. This should not affect members of the Brock University community, but instead spammers.
This step has been taken to both increase the threshold for spammers to deface our wikis and to improve our reporting of spam activity to http://stopforumspam.com -- who's reports from others have been invaluable in protecting our wikis.
Please contact the CPI if you have any concerns.
Wednesday October 17, 2012
Etherpads!
Today the CPI launched our public pilot of a Brock University Etherpad service. Etherpads are an excellent way collaborate seamlessly on documents.
An Etherpad is a web-based collaborative real-time editor, allowing authors to simultaneously edit a text document, and see all of the participants' edits in real-time, with the ability to display each author's text in their own colour. Text is synchronized as each contributor types, so that everyone viewing this page sees the same text. Each author has different colouring for whatever they type. Those with access can use the Time Slider feature to see how the pad progressed.
Special thanks goes to Michael Brousseau in the CPI who did most of the work to implement this services.
To further explain Etherpads and their role in teaching I encourage you to watch Paul Devoto's video explain his student's experience:
You can learn more about Etherpads in this wiki or if you are a Brock University staff or faculty memeber you may want to create your first pad now at https://kumu.brocku.ca/request/
Monday August 27, 2012
Minor technical updates were made over the weekend to support the role out of Etherpad support. Please let the CPI know if you notice any issues.
Tuesday July 31, 2012
Many additional spam fighting features have been added. Most features are powered by http://www.stopforumspam.com/ and http://www.projecthoneypot.org/ . Hopefully there won't be anything to notice.
You can view the results at http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned/
Thursday May 31, 2012
Added the ability for wiki owners to create a list of a few of their wikis. Here's an example: https://kumu.brocku.ca/s.php?w=39%2C105%2C41%2C1391%2C1846%2C6039%2C7230%2C15277%2C33288&t=Really+cool+list%21%21%21%21%21%21%21%21%21&bu=y or the same list without the Brock University header and footer https://kumu.brocku.ca/s.php?w=39%2C105%2C41%2C1391%2C1846%2C6039%2C7230%2C15277%2C33288&t=Really+cool+list%21%21%21%21%21%21%21%21%21
As it seems appropriate, there's an option to make a tinyURL out of the link.
This should help instructors making a group of wikis for a course. The link can be shared through a tool like Isaak/Sakai and make it easier for students working on wikis in group to find their wiki from a list of 30, not 300.
Friday March 16, 2012
Something that should have been done a long time ago: if you're editing a wiki from Brock University IP number you will not be subject to the anti-spam tools like banned terms list or link counting.
Thursday March 15, 2012
IP based bans have helped with wiki spam. You can view the results at http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned/
Reverse DNS based bans have been implemented now to move to the next step in keeping it easy for humans to add content and not spam-bots.
Friday February 10, 2012
We've recently added the ability to ban an IP across the whole server. Here's hoping that this will stop some spam.
Wednesday October 5, 2011
Back-end request/settings updates for wiki "owners".
Here's a list of features recently added to http://kumu.brocku.ca 's "back-end" for managing wikis. These features were added in consideration for those using a kumu-based wiki as part of a Brock University class.
- New reporting tool: The information found there is a calumniation of the information found under the Special:Specialpages section of each wiki, particularly the user contributions information (Example of user contributions). Wiki owners can access this features by logging into https://kumu.brocku.ca/request then entering the Wiki Report area and selecting the link that corresponds with the correct wiki.
- CSV import of users: Around this time last year a feature was added for wiki owners, or someone they delegate, to add users to a wiki. This combined with the ability to prevent new accounts from being created meant that a wiki could be restricted to an attributed group. The CSV import will help with creating that group. Wiki owners can access these features by logging into https://kumu.brocku.ca/request then entering the Settings area and selecting the Add, update & review contributions link that corresponds with the correct wiki.
CSV files must be in the format of Student ID then Student Name in the first two positions OR CAMPUS ID then Student Name. The Isaak/Sakai "Import Grades" option of the Gradebook is an excellent source for a properly formatted CSV file. Additional columns will be ignored. - Search and Sort: Searching and sorting features were recently added based on the DataTables plug-in for the jQuery http://datatables.net/
- Logs and Back-ups: The amount of logging and archiving of settings with respect to "back-end" has been increased.
- Future updates: We'll be creating new wikis with a newer version of mediawiki. ....also, our spam/block list is getting to big to be applied!
Friday September 9, 2011
I've recent added a Quick Reference article, which include the standard comments I make about kumu-based wikis when I visit classes. The video is only the first 10 minutes of the 20 minute presentation, but it should get most course/students going.
The article is at Quick Reference
Mclare 15:38, 9 September 2011 (EDT)
Friday April 15, 2011
Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 9 and most recently Apple's Safari web browsers have added the ability to set a HTTP header that asks web sites not to track you. We had added the http://addthis.com sharing tool (on the left, after the toolbox) to help with sharing articles on Twitter, Facebook and other places. http://addthis.com's business is built upon tracking visitors to sites with this tool added to it. While we still want to offer this feature if you use one of these we browsers and set th e option the "Do Not Track" option http://addthis.com tool will not be loaded, preventing anyone from being able to track your visits to http://kumu.brocku.ca web pages (other than the kumu server).
You can learn more about the Do Not Track Header at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_track_header
Thursday December 23, 2010
Long time no blog!
Recent developments include the ability for wiki owners to update their own settings, an offer from the CTLET to handle mass wiki requests when needed (for example, the PEKN courses) and we've given the main http://kumu.brocku.ca/ page a make over for appearance and usability.
Mclare 23:20, 23 December 2010 (EST)
Wednesday; March 17, 2010
Long time. No updates.
Things are still working well with Brock University wiki server. The only recent changes are the new Bold New Brock appearance and the re-labelling of https://my.brocku.ca accounts as CAMPUS IDs.
Tuesday; October 7, 2008
We're finally using https://my.brocku.ca accounts!
If you have an existing account that matches your https://my.brocku.ca/ account that password will be used over any "wiki-only" password. If you need assistance contact Matt Clare in the CTLET via http://www.brocku.ca/ctlet/staff Mclare 16:46, 7 October 2008 (EDT)
Wednesday; August 6, 2008
- The Kumu wiki server now uses a shared image repository, images from other wikis on this server will appear by default when you copy content from one wiki to the other. This should be a useful feature, but you might have to do things like rename image.jpg to image2.jpg if you don't user the name first.
Tuesday; July 8, 2008
PDF Export
Added an "Export as PDF" item to the Tool Box on the left. You can now make a PDF document out of every article regardless of what software is on your computer.
That said, if you'd like to know more about making a PDF on your computer I'd recommend you check out http://kumu.brocku.ca/sakai/Making_PDF_documents
Spam and Banned Terms
FYI: We've hit 809 banned terms at http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned . It's unfortunate that we have to ban so much, but the rate of spam seems to be going down along with concerns about false-positives. Please let us know if you are stopped from posting something to the wiki because of a spam-term.
Wednesday; May 21, 2008
- Added more buttons
- Category -- A big part of a successful wiki
- Start Table
- Add a cell to a table
- Add a row to a table
- End table
- How to use the Editing Tool Bar has been added to the article Help:Formatting
--Mclare 12:06, 21 May 2008 (EDT)
Tuesday; April 8, 2008
- Updated tool bar to reflect extra tools on kumu
Original tool bar: 
New tool bar: 
The new tools include:
- Redirect to different page
- Strike through text
- Superscript
- Subscript
- Small(er) text
- Insert a hidden comment
- Insert an image gallery
- Insert a quoted passage
- Insert a reference
- Place the reference section on the page (try to do this towards the bottom for obvious reasons)
- Add YouTube content
- Add Google Video content
- Add your own flash movie (from http://jingproject.com etc).
This based on the "new" toolbar at Wikipedia plus our own extensions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MarkS/Extra_edit_buttons
Anything else you think we should add as a button at the top of the edit page? Please leave us a note on the talk page: Talk:Blog
Thursday; April 3, 2008
- Added pre-filled text for new/blank articles:
Not sure what to do? Just replace this message with some appropriate text. There's help to be found at http://kumu.brocku.ca/help/Editing
- "We" can override it for any wiki that wants it removed.
- Good idea, bad idea? Let us know: Talk:Blog
Friday; March 28, 2008
- Removed cialis from the banned list on Tuseday because it was blocking socialism
- Forgot to mention that we've limited posts to having no-more-than 10 links at a time (but articles can have a limitless number of total links). Any arguments to increase that number are welcome, but first take a look at the link log at http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned
Thursday; February 28, 2008
- Added support for open-format Sitemaps protocol, http://www.sitemaps.org/
- Site maps will be sent to the following search engines nightly: Google, Yahoo, Ask, Moreover and MSN Live Search (or whatever it's currently called).
- Site maps can be viewed and update at the following URL for public wikis: /wikiname/sitemap.html, for example: http://kumu.brocku.ca/help/sitemap.html
Monday; February 25, 2008
- Modified the banned terms list to better anticipate drug theme spam and buy blah blah links around 9:00PM
- Got a complaint about a false positive for a link to Wikipedia at midnight was quickly resolved. Details at: http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned.php
Tuesday; January 29, 2008
- Added the "Very Secure Example Wiki" to demonstrate how a SSL secure and single "magic password" wiki could work.
- The Wiki is located at: https://kumu.brocku.ca/verysecure
- Username: verysecure
- Password: verysecure
Wednesday; January 23, 2008
- Changed wiki time to local St. Catharines time
- SSL Cookie: Fixed problem where someone could be logged in via https:// but when they viewed a page via http:// they were no longer logged in.
- Add words and URLs to spam list: http://kumu.brocku.ca/banned.php
