The Hoyt Group
The Hoyt Wiki – A Primer
Main Page
The main page of the Hoyt Wiki (http://wiki.Hoyt.org) is shown below. It has the typical features of a wiki site except it has been modified to be more user friendly and focus on the specific needs of the Homer Hoyt Institute. As noted on the main page, a difference from a traditional Wikipedia site is that although most of the pages can be viewed by the public, editing of pages, however is restricted to Fellows and invited guests of the Homer Hoyt Institute. Reviewing this primer will give you a quick overview of the Hoyt Wiki.
It should be noted that clicking on the Homer Hoyt Institute logo at the top left of each page or the small "house" icon in the left side of the top toolbar provides you quick access to the main page of the Hoyt Wiki.
The "Search this Wiki" field at the top of each page is useful to quickly pin-point specific information within the Hoyt Wiki.
My Dashboard
All of the items found in the Dashboard link are standard to all Wiki's. These functions are well documented within the Wikipedia site should you want detailed information on these utilities. One feature however, is notable to emphasize for the benefit of the Hoyt Fellows. The “My watch list” utility allows you to monitor changes to pages that you have chosen to watch by adding the page to your watch list. By “watching” a page you can receive an email notification whenever a change is made or discussion is added to a page. This can be useful when collaboratively working on a topic with a colleague(s).
Hoyt Collections
The Hoyt Collections is a list of Wiki based categories. Users familiar with the Wiki platform and functions will most likely find these links more helpful than users who are more comfortable with a "typical" website's format and function. All of the information listed under the Collections link is a singular part of an aggregate Wiki topic. Those unfamiliar with Wiki's will find the Hoyt Wiki Topics and Hoyt Fellows areas to be more user friendly for their review and use of the Hoyt Wiki.
Hoyt Wiki Topics
The link to Hoyt Wiki Topics is a listing of some of the many real estate topics that are actively being researched and/or discussed by researchers and professionals associated with the Hoyt Group.
Hoyt Fellows
The link to Hoyt Fellows provides quick access to areas of the Wiki restricted to Hoyt and Weimer School Fellows and invited guests. This includes Fellow Bios and access to one of the largest compiled databases of data sources relevant to real estate researchers and professionals.
Edit
The “Edit” link is available on most of the Wiki pages. This link provides those with permission to edit the content of the Wiki page. Clicking edit evokes a rich text editor. This makes it easy to edit the content. The wiki software keeps track of edits so you will know who changed what and when and you can roll back to a previous version if necessary. The following screen image shows you what happens after clicking on the Edit link of one of the pages in the wiki that discusses Complex Real Estate Systems. Note the toolbar with typical editing buttons (bold, italics, numbered lists, etc.).
More
A "More" link is available on most of the Wiki pages. This drop down lists provides the Wiki user immediate access to vital links and tools of the Wiki including "Start a Discussion". As the name suggests, Start a Discussion allows users to comment on the content of the page which is one of the ways that the Wiki helps in collaborative efforts.
