Computer Science 112
The Art & Science of Computer Graphics

Spring 2016, The College of Saint Rose

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Your first Studio/Lab task will be to set up and add your first sections to the class Wiki that we'll be using for you to share your work for the class. It is important that you complete this task successfully, as you will be using these procedures for every Studio/Lab submission for the entire semester.

Logging In

Your username and password on the Macs in the lab are the same as your campus-wide computer accounts. Once logged in, you will be presented with your Macintosh desktop. As long as you store your files on the campus file server, it does not matter which computer in the lab you use. Once we start writing programs and rendering images, we will have to take extra care to ensure all files are being saved in the right place.

The Mac environment may be a bit unfamiliar for those who are primarily Windows users, but it is quite intuitive and you should be able to get around fairly quickly. Please do not hesitate to ask for help if you are not sure how to proceed or if you have trouble with anything as you work on this lab.

Setting Up Your Wiki Page

Using the Firefox web browser, which you can launch using the round blue and orange icon in the "Dock" at the bottom of your desktop, follow these steps to set up your wiki page. There is a quick reference at the end of this document that will help you accomplish these tasks.

1. Navigate to http://ascg-wiki.teresco.org/ in your browser. This should bring you to the main page of the class wiki. You can browse around (do so!) but you will not be able to create or edit any pages until you have an account and are logged in.
2. You will next need an account on the wiki, which will be valid only for this wiki. Each of you will need to proceed to the teaching station to create your account. Please do this before proceeding to the next step.

   Note: you may use your real college username if you wish, but you may also use something else if you wish for your work on display on the wiki to remain anonymous. Please be aware that the wiki is available to anyone on the Internet.

3. In the upper right hand corner of the wiki page, you will see a link labeled "Log in". Click it, then enter the username and password you just received.
4. Next, create a page with your "screen" name. Again, you're welcome to use your real name, but you are not required to do so. If you use something other than your real name, just drop an email to terescoj AT strose.edu to match up your screen name with your real name for grading purposes. To create your page, type your chosen screen name in the search box on the left (I'd type in "Jim Teresco"). This will bring up a page that gives you the option to create your page.
5. To create your page, add the text you wish to display to the edit box. Adding plain text will work, but you will want to format it nicely, add sections, images, and so on. To do this, the text you type should be "marked up" to indicate your desired formatting, using the markup language described at the end of this document.

   Your page should include:

   • A paragraph telling everyone a bit about yourself. Again, you need not include your real name anywhere if you do not wish to do so.
   • A description of your favorite restaurant, perhaps one in your home town, and anything else interesting that you'd like to share about yourself and where you're from.
   • At least one "section".
   • At least one image. This can be of you, of your favorite restaurant, or something else you download from the web. Note: when uploading your image, please prefix the name with your real or screen name and make sure you upload it in PNG format. For example, if I wanted to upload an image "Map.png", I would first rename it to "TerescoMap.png" before uploading. If your image is in a format other than PNG, open it in Preview (by double clicking on the image) and choose "Export" from the "File" menu to save it in PNG format. It is imperative that we all prefix our images appropriately so we do not end up overwriting each others' images on the server. They are all stored in the same place.
6. Add yourself to three categories that will help others find your work and that of other former, current, and future students. Please add yourself to the "Artists" category, the "Ambrosia Artists" category, and the "Spring 2016 Artists" categories. Feel free to create and add yourself to other categories, such as your class year, your major, your favorite baseball team, or whatever else you'd like.

Submitting Your Work

When you have completed all of this and your wiki page is complete, send me an e-mail at terescoj AT strose.edu stating that it is ready for me to look at, so you can get credit.

Grading

This assignment is worth 10 points, which are distributed as follows:

Wiki Editors' Quick Reference

This section is a quick reference for our wiki and the wiki markup language you will use to develop your wiki pages. You might want to keep this sheet handy until you get used to the wiki markup language.

Our wiki uses the same software (called MediaWiki) that is used by Wikipedia, so your experience with this will help prepare you to be a contributor to Wikipedia and other similar projects.