MediaWiki - New from O'Reilly

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or interview with the
author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7314 or kathrynb@oreilly.com

MediaWiki - New From O'Reilly
Wikipedia and Beyond

Sebastopol, CA--MediaWiki is the world's most popular wiki platform, the
software that runs Wikipedia and thousands of other websites. Though it
appears simple to use at first glance, MediaWiki has extraordinarily
powerful and deep capabilities for managing and organizing knowledge. In
corporate environments, it can transform the way teams write and
collaborate. 

"In 2001, Wikipedia changed the world by proving that thousands of
strangers could collaborate to produce a valuable information resource.
Encyclopedia publishers shuddered. Skeptics scoffed. And in the meantime,
users around the world have produced millions of Wikipedia articles," says
Daniel J. Barrett, author of "MediaWiki" (O'Reilly, US $39.99).

"Wikipedia was not the first wiki," reports Barrett, "but it's clearly the
most successful, largely due to its powerful software, MediaWiki." In his
new book, Barrett covers MediaWiki's rich (and sometimes subtle) features,
helping readers turn into wiki experts in no time.

With "MediaWiki," you'll learn how to:

- Find your way around by effective searching and browsing
- Create and edit articles, categories, and user preferences
- Use advanced features for authors, such as templates, dynamic lists,
logical parser functions, and RSS, to organize and maintain large numbers
of articles
- Install and run your own wiki, and configure its look and behavior
- Develop custom wiki features, called extensions, with the PHP
programming language and MySQL database

The book also provides special guidance for creating successful corporate
wikis. For beginners who want to create or work on collaborative,
community-driven websites with this platform, "MediaWiki" is the essential
one-stop guide.

"A good book! It's a nice overview of wiki editing and administration,
with pointers to handy extensions and further online documentation." 
-Brion Vibber, Chief Technical Officer, Wikimedia Foundation

"This book is filled with practical knowledge based on experience. It's
not just spouting some party line." 
-Rob Church, a developer of MediaWiki

I was a MediaWiki newbie before reading this book. Now, many aspects of
the platform that were murky before are crystal clear." 
-JP Vossen, author of O'Reilly's "Bash Cookbook"

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bio, and samples, see:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596519797/

MediaWiki
Daniel J. Barrett
ISBN: 978-0-596-51979-7, 358 pages, US $39.99
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472

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