BlueSpiceSocial

What is BlueSpiceSocial?

BlueSpiceSocial is a package consisting of a set of extensions, that add social media features to the wiki. It allows users to quickly communicate on the wiki and to express their opinion on pages more clearly and easily accessible.

Parts of BlueSpiceSocial

BlueSpiceSocial integrates to many aspects of the wiki.

User profile

User profile

Every user has an profile on the wiki, provided by BlueSpiceSocial. It is located on user's user page (User:Username), available from users Personal menu (by clicking on user image in top right corner), by selecting "My profile" item. This page displays modern overview of users basic information (depending on the wiki setup) and user's profile image. Also, below the user info, a list of users activity is presented. This list shows comments user made, actions on pages, and in general user's activity on the wiki. It also allows other users to leave comments on user's profile page.

Classic user page

Standard MediaWiki view of user's profile page is still available and users can switch between BlueSpiceSocial view and classic view by clicking on "arrows" icon in the page tools (at the top of the page).

Timeline

Timeline is a special page that provides an overview of all social conversations on the wiki. It is available from the left navigation, under "Main navigation" tab or directly by navigating to Special:Timeline. Once on the page, users can sort and filter items displayed based on various critiria or create new Timeline entries.

Creating new entries

Adding new entries

Adding new entries

To create a new entry, click on "Plus" icon on the top of the page. A menu will open that offering different types of entries to create:

• Blog entry - Blog is used for topics to be shared with other users on the wiki
• Microblog - very similar to blog entry, but intended for short, concise announcments.
• Discussion topic - raises a discussion point related to a certain page.

Interacting with social entities

Commenting on an entity

Every entry in the timeline (and anywhere else on the wiki) is called a social entity. Depending on the type of the entity, following options are available in the bottom part of the entity:

• Comment - shows number of comments related to the entity; clicking on it will open all current comments and allow user to add a comment (if user has appropriate permissions).
• Recommend - shows number of users that recommended the entity; users can add a recommendation by clicking on this button
• Linked articles - shows number of articles linked to this entity and shows the list of linked articles when clicked.
• Watch/Unwatch - shows if the user is currently watching the entity (user will receive notifications when entity is changed for watched entities); clicking on this button will change the state of watching.
• Resolved/Unresolved - shows the status of the entity. Some entities, like discussions on a question can have status attached to them, so that other users know if the question is answered.

Editing and deleting entities

Users can edit and delete their own entities (created by them) by clicking on "3 dots" icon in the top right corner of the entity.

Blog

Blog is a special page showing a overview of all blog entities available on the wiki. It is availble from the left navigation, under "Main navigation" section, or by navigating directly to Special:Blog. List of blog entries can be sorted and filtered by clicking on the icons above the list.

Page attachments

Page attachments and discussions

Management of page attachments

Under every content page on the wiki, BlueSpiceSocial integrates an attachments section. This sections shows the files that are related to the particular page. Users can add or remove files to and from this section by clicking on "..." icon at the bottom of the section. Clicking on this icon will lead to Special:Attachments/Page_name page that allows managing files attached to a particular page. Users can attach files that are already uploaded to the wiki by clicking on the "Plus" button and selecting a file, or upload new files to be attached by dropping files into the marked area or clicking the same area to select the files to upload.

This page also shows the history of file attachements for the page.

Page discussions

Same as for the page attachments, BlueSpiceSocial integrates a discussion section on every content page on the wiki. This section offers users to comment on the page content. Users with appropriate permissions will be able to create new topics or comment on existing ones.

See also

Reference page for this extension.