Brief introduction to using this site

This is a TWiki web, a collaboration space in which users can edit pages from their own browsers. If you have never used TWiki, a good way to learn about it is using the links on the left under "Help", especially the TWiki documentation. For the truly time-constrained, here is a brief rundown of what you can do here:

• Browse: If you just want to keep posted about the project, browse as you would on any other site. To find out what's new, follow the "Recent changes" link on the left.

• Discuss: Most pages on this web have a "discussion" area at the bottom. Just add your comment in the box and click "add comment". There is also a GeneralDiscussion area for comments that don't fit under any of the individual topics. You don't need any knowledge of TWiki to add comments; but you can use TWiki's TextFormattingRules to prettify your comments.

• Add pages: To add a new page (or "topic" in TWiki-speak), just enter the desired topic name in the "Find topic" box to the left. Every topic name must be a WikiWord. If the topic name already exists, make up another one. If it doesn't, TWiki will invite you to create it. Then write your page using TWiki's TextFormattingRules.

• Edit existing pages: Click the "Edit" link on the desired page and follow instructions. Before you do this, please read TWiki's TextFormattingRules and guide to GoodStyle.*

Adding and editing pages can be done by registered users. To register, go to TWikiRegistration. There are some permissions involved--please email Karen Livescu at klivescu@csail.mitNOSPAM.edu if you have any trouble.

Note that everything on this web is completely public. Don't write anything you will regret in the morning

* Note: There seems to be a problem whereby a user will sometimes get a write permission error when saving changes to a page. What is actually happening is that the page is updated, despite the error message, but the change is not logged in RCS (the revision control system). If you get this error message, you should be able to edit the page again and not get the error. Any ideas on why this might be happening would be appreciated.

-- KarenLivescu - 15 Dec 2005