HEA-ICS has been considering what resources might be made available to support new academic staff. As a result of consultation with colleagues, it became apparent that a common source of frustration for new staff is that much of the practical information that they require is not documented in department or university manuals or discussed at induction sessions.

We have collated a large number of questions that colleagues have identified as falling into this “undocumented” category, categorised them, and inserted them (together with possible answers) into a Wiki. The idea is that the Wiki can be deployed in any department, and (following initial editing) can serve as an ongoing resource.

How does this work?

First of all, install a local version of MediaWiki software and upload our content (see installation instructions). This should be normally be done by technical staff.

Secondly, someone in your department (normally your HEA-ICS representative – see the key contacts web page) needs to edit the Wiki so that the “answers” are correct for your department and university. This should take no more than two hours – probably much less.

Finally, publicise it to your colleagues and encourage them to keep it up to date!

Further Information

Have a look at some screenshots (1, 2, 3).

We have documented the background to this exercise, including the methodology we employed to create the Wiki, and detailed installation instructions for use by technical staff.

Contributors: Mike Joy and Shanshan Yang
August 2007