Handbook:Handbook

About the Handbook

The Longevity Wiki Handbook is the 'source of truth' for the Wiki organisation. It currently contains our mission and strategy, the roles we are looking for, links to our communication platforms and some editing advice. Like the Wiki itself, it's all publicly accessible and transparent and will likely grow and change over time.

Mission

Longevity Wiki is an open-access project to create the go-to platform for the science of longevity. The wiki was borne from the need for high quality scientific content on aging and longevity to be freely available and accessible. The Wiki ultimately aims to cover the following topics in detail:

Longevity drugs and the evidence supporting them
Personal longevity strategies/advice
Hallmarks of aging/biology of aging
Animal models of aging
Laboratories working in geroscience, and their focus
Longevity biotech (companies, development pipeline)
Biology of aging + diseases of aging connection

More information about us can be found on our About page.

Strategy

Instead of producing as much content as possible, we’re going to focus on creating 5 pillar articles written by experts on the topic. These articles will demonstrate the knowledge and quality of our initiative, and then we will build out the wiki from there. These are the pillar articles:

Epigenetic reprogramming
Aging and Neurodegeneration
Rapamycin
Biomarkers of healthspan
COVID-19 and Aging

In conjunction with these articles, we are going to create a Glossary page of key terms in the longevity space, along with a short (2-3 sentence definition).

How to edit the Wiki

All articles, no matter what categories they are tagged with, are found on the All Pages site.

Let us know first

If you want to edit the wiki, please contact us first, so we can help you get started.

MediaWiki

Longevity Wiki uses the MediaWiki platform - the same as Wikipedia. This is the software that makes it possible to store all content, edit articles, track changes and more.

Create an account

If you want to edit the wiki, it's a good idea to create an account first. That way it's easier to keep track of your work and you get some extra functionality. To create an account, in the menu click the Account icon on the right (the 'little person') and click Create account and follow the instructions. Creating an account is not mandatory however for editing.

Create a page

To create a new article on the wiki, go to the menu and click Contribute and then Create new page. You will then be prompted to select a title for your article. After that, the Edit toolbar appears at the top and you can start writing. The Edit toolbar provides you with standard edit functions like making headings, bold text, insert links, insert images and much more.

The articles are categorized into four kinds, each with an associated category that should be added by using the Categories Option in the menu within the editor. (See "Editor Options Menu")

Pillar Articles: Described in the Strategy section, need expert knowledge equivalent to having a post-grad (MSc, Ph.D., MD) in a related area, currently managed by the core group. (Category: Pillar Articles)
Longevity Articles: All articles about longevity, traditional wiki development and open for everyone to contribute. Should be created as draft first and reviewed by others in the community. (Category: Longevity)
Glossary: Key terms in the longevity space, along with a short 2-3 sentence definition, no draft necessary. (Category: Glossary)
Drafts: Articles that haven't been reviewed yet and finalized to a certain stage. (Category: Drafts)

These articles are all shown on the website on the Articles page.

Drafts

When creating a new page, the Draft Article banner template should be added to beginning of article via {{ Draft-article }} (without spaces), automatically adding a banner and the "Drafts" category.

Drafts will not be actively mantained, but the core team might ask authors sometimes if they are still working on the article. The process for now is simple: Write a draft, have others in the community review it, finalise it and remove the draft banner (Work in Progress).

For the review process we encourage to use our Discord server and write comments with the comments feature of the editor; text that is written in the editor but not shown on the published page.

Edit a page

To edit an existing article, lookup the article, go to the menu and click Contribute and then (under 'This page...') click Edit. Then the Edit toolbar will open at the top, and you can start writing.

The Edit toolbar

Images

Often it's a good idea to include images in your article. Just make sure that if you use an image of someone else, you are not violating any copyright. In general, you are free to use images with a Creative Commons license, but don't forget to use the right attribution. If you need help creating an image yourself, let us know in the Images channel on our Discord Server, and we can help you create a unique and copyright-free image.

Referencing

For referencing to external sources (e.g. a journal article), Longevity Wiki uses the APA referencing style - the same as Wikipedia. To create a reference, click Cite on the Edit toolbar. There are a few useful resources for creating citations, such as Zoterobib.

Writing style

The aim of the Wiki is to create comprehensive, scientifically accurate and accessible content on longevity. The writing style we are aiming for is essentially the same as Wikipedia, in balancing technical and non-technical content. Here is our writing guide to help you get started. More information on Wikipedia's writing style can be found in Wikipedia's Manual of Style.

Translating an existing article

To translate an existing article, create a new page in the language version of the wiki you want to translate the article into. For more guidance, ask us in the multilingual-wiki channel on our Discord Server.

To carry over formatting and references, copy the source code of the original article sections you want to translate into the new page using Source editing view in the toolbar.

Translate the article using our writing guide, aim to preserve the article's meaning and accuracy. The preferred translation tool for a first draft is DeepL.

Contact information

See our Contact page.