How to Edit the Wiki[]
- To edit the wiki, click “edit” at the top of a page, then type what you want to say, then click “save”. Done. It’s that easy.
- If a page is missing, feel free to create one. Click “create new article”, type the name you want for the page, click “save”
- While editing, try clicking the “source” button in the top right. It will show you the actual “wiki code” that makes the page look the way it does. It might look confusing at first, but you will soon learn how to do more fancy things and make your pages look the way you want them to by editing the code directly.
- If you have an idea, question, comment, etc, feel free to reply to all on this email. Group email discussions are very useful.
- Most importantly, don’t worry about messing stuff up on the wiki. Wikia saves multiple old versions of each page, so it takes me just a few seconds to undo any problem you might accidentally cause. So don’t be afraid to try new things when editing the wiki!
Ideas on getting started[]
Create a free Wikia account.
- This makes editing easier and cuts out a lot of the annoying advertisements. You can create multiple accounts so that you can have more than one username. I have 2 different usernames: one more anonymous name (for adding comments about training programs) and one real name (“Jerad M Gardner, MD” – used for editing anything else, particularly the Immunostain pages). This allows you to be anonymous when you want to, but also to take credit for your hard work by using your real name. But you can do whatever is best for you.
Add comments/insider info about your training program
- This was the main reason I started the wiki: to have a comprehensive and up-to-date directory of residency and fellowship programs. After adding info about your residency, please try to talk your fellows into adding info about their fellowships. If they don’t want to do it, offer to add it for them (anonymously, of course). Just remember how useful this info would be/ would have been to you when applying for residency/fellowship. Pay it forward!
- Here are some examples:
Pick an immunostain and start adding info, pictures, references to its wiki page
- Dr. Ed Uthman, a private practice pathologist from Houston and a member of this group, had the brilliant idea of creating an Immunostain wiki, so I added that area to the website. I really hope to make the wiki the best online resource for immunostain info. I think we can do that as a team effort (and we will learn a lot about immunos in the process!).
Get more members for the Wiki Working Group.
- It would ideal to have a group of 10 or so people. If you are interested or know anyone who might be interested, please email Jan Glas at jglas@cap.org and she will put them in contact with the right people. Working on the wiki doesn't require a lot of technical computer knowledge (although that is great); anyone who is proactive and enthusiastic about the idea would be great!
Tell residents about pathinfo.wikia.com! Please let everyone at your program know about our wiki, including program directors.
- It would be great to see program directors update info about filled fellowship spots, etc on the wiki (because they can do it instantly versus waiting for their IT department to update their program website!). The more visitors we get, the better the site will become. If you can think of anyone else we should tell about the site or any other ways we can get the word out, please post your ideas here.
Add basic info to each program on the list.
- For right now, the goal is for each program page on the wiki to have the following info at least:
- Link to the program website.
- List of fellowships offered by the program. (Once every program in the wiki has this info, we can more easily create a list of all fellowships offered for each specialty. So there will be a list of all dermpath fellowships, all hemepath, all surg path, etc. Cool, right?)
- Also, if you see that a program is NOT on the list, please create a page for that program (or else post the missing program here so someone else can add it). Some institutions that only have path fellowships but not residency programs might not be on this list yet because the list based on info from FREIDA (which only lists residency programs).
Future Goals[]
- Expand the wiki to include diagnostic and didactic material
- Create online resource for pathology diagnoses and education.
- I would not mind seeing this done in wikipedia (as an alternative idea). Look up any tumor in wikipedia and you will find 2 sentences at most (exaggeration, but still...). But look up a random plant (like Mistletoe, for example) and you will find reams of botanical knowledge. It seems that PhD's are very interested in posting info about their subjects of interest on Wikipedia, but pathologists are not (or we are too busy).
- Honestly, I also think it would be useful to get pathologists to update Wikipedia info on their areas of interest. One reason worth doing this is so that they can include their published papers in the citation section in the Wikipedia references! When other researchers google a tumor, the first thing that pops up is the Wikipedia entry with their references easily visible.