User Guide - Version 0.5
This is the text-only version of the User Guide I have written up. I'd appreciate it if the community read through it and suggested any edits to the guide. With some knowledge of Memrise the guide should make sense without pictures - I just haven't gone through and added all the pictures I took for the guide yet. It is still a bit away from complete and there are some things I'd like to cover but first I'd like the important stuff to be comprehensible.
Thank you, Tchael =========================
A User Guide to Memrise How to use and navigate Memrise for beginner web surfers. I become less detailed as the guide goes on and one familiarizes themselves with how Memrise looks and navigates.
Index: Part 1: Gettting Started Part 2: How Memrise works Part 3: How to create a new course Part 4: Ignoring, editing, and adding to words Part 5: Community
Part 1: Getting Started
Create an account by clicking Log In in the top right corner. Then click "Don't have an account?" below the login area. Create an account or Login via Facebook.
Now that you are signed in, where do we begin? Let's take a look at your profile first. Click on your username to be brought to your user page. You won't see much - but as you continue to use Memrise it will begin to grow. For now you may want to fill in some information about yourself and add an avatar to start! Click the "edit profile" button to be brought to your account settings. You can make all wanted changes from here - and even change what emails you receive by clicking on the "Mail and notifications" tab. If at some point you wish to no longer be a member of Memrise, you may Deactivate your account.
Now let's go over starting your first Memrise course. We're going to take the longer router so you can get used to Memrise! So click "Topics" on the top right corner. You will be taken to the Languages page where you can pick a language and course to learn. However there are other topics to learn from under the "Other Topics" and "Guardian Wallcharts" areas. In "Other Topics" you can learn Math, History, Biology, Physics, World Geography, Musical Notation, The Flags of the World, The Major System, and much much more!
For now let's look for a Spanish course! Click "Spanish" from the list of language flags to be taken to the Spanish topic. Now that you are on the Spanish Page - let me break it down for you.
In the selected Pink area are several tabs. The Community tab takes you to the Community Page seen Here. This page will show you recent mems added, the list of curators, the most recent words and courses added, and usually contains a demo course or two.
The Courses tab is the tab you're on right now and so we will skip over it.
By clicking on "Forums" you will be brought to the topics' forums where you can discuss with the curators and other learners of the topic and get to know your community!
The Patrol tab is for Curators and Moderators to allow us to go through the community suggestions to make edits to improve Memrise for everyone. I will go more in depth about this later on in this guide.
The Dictionary tab is exactly as it sounds! It will take you to a dictionary where you can search either in the native language or in the learning language, which in most cases is English.
The FAQ tab is where you will go to find your topic conventions and frequently asked questions. Conventions are important to follow to allow Memrise to be the best it can be for the entire community. I will go over what the conventions are and why it is important to follow them when I explain how to create a new Memrise course in part 3 of this guide.
In the selected red area are the featured courses. These are courses that are chosen for being most completed and often times good for beginners. These courses will usually contain full audio, many mems, and moderated information.
In the selected purple area - you can click "Create a course" to well... create a course! I will be going over this in just a moment so hang in there!
The selected blue area is self-explanatory. I accidentally highlighted it but felt I should mention that just in case anyone asks why it's highlighted blue!
Select a course and "start learning" to begin your first steps into speaking a new language! Or maybe just passing your physics test...
That is all you need to know to get started on learning with Memrise! There is still a lot more to cover, such as conventions, creating courses, forums, and more advanced features for users who like a bit more customability. So keep reading!
Part 2 - How Memrise works
Before I go in depth with other Memrise features and creating courses. It is important to have a basic understanding of how Memrise works and why things are done a certain way.
Memrise is built like a wiki - each word is shared amongst its topic for every course. If you make an edit to the word in one course, it affects every course. Because of this unique function - we have conventions. Conventions are used to ensure that all words appear in a similar and understandable fashion. If everything is following conventions - Memrise can improve at a much more significant rate. Audio and mems can be added and shared more easily - as well as the information everyone is learning more likely to be correct.
Users may suggest edits to words - and these edits are checked by curators and moderators. If they agree - it is changed and it changes for everyone in every course for that topic that the word is tied to.
Part 3 - Creating a new course
Now let's go over how to create a course. First it is important to know the language conventions! So let's head over there now. Click on "FAQ" and find "For the conventions for the Spanish wiki, please go here" and click on "here". This will bring you to the Spanish conventions. Make sure to read and understand the conventions as they help make sure that Memrise is uniform and beneficial for everyone. If your course does not follow conventions - curators and moderators may edit your course so that it does. This creates more work for them and a headache for anyone learning from your course when everything is changed up!
Now that you are familiar with the conventions, go back to the Spanish topic and click "Create a course". It will bring you to a page where you can name your course and define it. You can also pick a relevant picture to accompany it and make it easier to identify.
After naming the course it will bring you to the next page. On this page you can add words either one-by-one, as a list, or as an .xls spreadsheet. You may also notice that you can "View conventions" from here - but now you know how to find them via the FAQ in case you need to view them when you aren't creating a course!
Adding words one-by-one allows you to search for either the native or learning language for the existing word in the Memrise wikipedia. It will then find the word and add it.
To add as a list, create a list of words that follow the conventions and have one word per line. Make sure to choose which language you are adding as a list so that Memrise will search the correct language. Memrise will then automatically find matching words or definitions. It will also ask you to provide a word or translation for any of the list that did not have a matching counterpart. You can also remove it if you wish. If multiple words for one definition are found - you will be asked to select the ones you wish to add.
Adding as an .xls spreadsheet is generally looked down upon when creating a course. A spreadsheet creates entirely new entries into the Memrise wiki and thus creates more work on the moderators who then have to merge the new duplicate entries. To properly use the .xls spreadsheet uploader - do your best to ensure you only add words that don't currently exist in the topic. Unless the language you are adding is underprivileged with learners or popularity - this is a rarity. Adding as a list is almost always the best option! So please try doing so first by copying a column from your spreadsheet and adding it as a list instead.
When you are finished and happy with your course, click "Done Editing". This will bring you to your freshly made course page where you can view the words in the course, view your flowers, discuss the course, edit the course, or choose more learning options.
Discussions are used to discuss errors in the course or changes in the course. Curators and moderators use this to allow the public to know what has been changed and allows the public to notify curators and moderators of changes that need to be made.
Editing the course allows the course creator or topic curators/moderators to change, add, or delete from the course - similar to when you made the course.
Clicking on "More learning options" will bring up a list of different learning methods. You can focus on old or new words, mix them both, be shown only the words, and select what type of test you would like to take. For now I'll just leave it on the default, "Mix old and new words".
Click on "Learn" or "Plant Seeds" to begin your new course!
Part 4 - Ignoring, Editing, and Adding to words
When you are studying you have many options that appear. When you are first introduced to a word it should look something like this.
The red selected area allows you to edit, ignore, and discuss an item by mousing-over the left-hand side.
Editing the item allows you to forward suggestions to the topic curators and moderators which will then be reviewed, and if deemed fit, changed.
Ignoring the word will cause you to no longer be tested on the word - great for words you already know by heart! However if you ignore a word by accident, you can reverse the change by going to the course page by clicking on the title of the course from your garden. Go to the "Seeds" tab and click on "Show Ignored Words".
Adding a discussion is generally used to discuss why something was changed and is a good way to provide feedback to curators and moderators. On the right-hand side you can mute the audio, pause the study session, or stop it early.
In the orange selected area you can show more information on the word such as alternative translations, the part of speech, the parent, dependants, etc.
Now for the funnest part of all! Mems! These are a great tool to help yourself and others learn a word by really bringing it to life or creating a little story to help you remember it better. If there are no mems "Add one now!" will show up. You can always go to "edit item" and create a mem from there or search a word in the dictionary and add it directly from it's page. You can also add a sample translation which can be used for testing in context through sentences.
Part 5: Community
Memrise's community is a great place to be but sometimes can be a little confusing. To help guide you through the community aspects - let's first take a tour of the forums.
You may remember each topic having it's own forum from Part 1: Getting Started. Well... Memrise has an even more broad forum that is shared for every topic learner! Click on the "Community" tab on the top right and you'll be brought to the global community page. This page shows the mems of the moment from all topics - new learners, and even a small leaderboards. It has it's own tabs as well!
The Mem Stream are all the mems being made for every topic go to be shown.
The Leaderboard is exactly that! A place to compete to see who has studied the most amongst your fellow Memrisers. You can choose from only showing you people who joined at approximately the same date as you, your mempals, or even the entire community!
The Forums are a place to hold discussions about learning, Memrise, and to just idle chit chat. On the forums there are several different discussion boards. There is a board for questions, suggestions, mobile use, bug reports, general memrise talk, wanted Memrise content, Development chat, and even just idle banter for joyful chatter! Click "View All ### Threads" or click the Discussion Board title to be brought to the board. From here you can view threads by clicking the title - which allows you to read and reply to them. You can also start your own by typing a title in the "start a new discussion" box. If you wish to link to a specific thread - click the time stamp by the user creator to be brought to the exact thread. This allows you to share threads with other users.
The Profiles tab will allow you to search for friends currently. It still needs some work and improvement however it is one of the easiest ways to find your friends! Just search their username or perhaps just a bit about them and they'll show up for you.
This is awesome Tchael! I am going to work out the best way that we can make this easily findable and visible to everyone. Thanks!
Ben
Posted by benwhately 6/1/12 (11 months ago)No discussion makes Tchael sad. :(
Posted by Tchael 6/3/12 (11 months ago)Excellent. Can it be made a 'stickie' permanantly at the top of this forum?
Seems very clear and comprehensive to me , on a quick read, through. But I have discovered most of this already over 3 months of trial and error. To really judge how clear the guide is, we need to get new members to say if anything needs further explaining.
Posted by tonyyyy 6/3/12 (11 months ago)@Tchael -
1)maybe a mention on how to make a private wordlist?
Posted by jenniferhunter 6/3/12 (11 months ago)2)For adding words - you mention list and spreadsheet? Could you differentiate between the two - i.e upon reading it, it seems that the list can be on a table on word document. 3)I'm confused by the section concerning editing - does this refer to wiki editing 2.0 - the user can select any item in the word listing - select edit to make suggestion that will be submitted. 4)Maybe a brief discussion on what curators and moderators do - that way people who are interested can read up on what these two user groups do. 5)how to upload audio, how to create mems (types of mems - mnemonic/pronunciation/etymology, input images/video/copyright)
Great stuff Tchael.
I think that users will have questions that relate to the garden mechanics: e.g. why do you have to wait for plants to be harvested, what happens if my plants die, etc. These ought to be tackled before the more advanced features of part 3. I would include an explanation of mems - eg what they are and how to create a good one - early on, rather than at the end of part 4.
I edited some of the middle part for clarity: see what you think. Note that an explanation of curators and moderators is still needed. This should also include a short reference to the Patrol tab and what it does.
Good work!
That is all you need to know to get started on learning with Memrise, so go plant a few seeds now!
Done that? Ok! Now that you've got used to the basics, you might want to know more, like how to create your own courses, become a curator, use the forums, and other more advanced features. Read on!
Part 2 - How Memrise works
Before we go into features like creating our own courses, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how Memrise works - and why things are done a certain way.
How Memrise works Memrise is built as a wiki, which means that each word has its own page. That page consists of useful information like spelling, pronunciation, mems, parts of speech and so on. All this information can be edited by Memrise users (see Part 4 for details of how to edit). What’s more, a word may feature in many different courses within a topic: for example, the word 'gracias' might feature in both ‘Spanish for Beginners’ and ‘Spanish for Business’. That doesn’t mean that there are two separate entries for 'gracias' in the Memrise wiki; instead, both of these courses refer to the same word, and the same wiki page. Therefore, if someone makes an edit to a word - like correcting its pronunciation, or adding a mem - those changes will also take effect in every other course featuring that word.
This means that Memrise is continually being improved by its users. In order to make sure that edits really do improve things, however, changes to a word don’t take effect immediately. They’re first checked by curators and moderators, who make sure they’re accurate. Explanation of curators, moderators, how to become a curator.
Part 3 - Creating a new course
Now let's go over how to create a course. First, it's important to know the conventions for your topic. Conventions are guidelines for what information to include, how to present it, and so on - let's head over there now. Click on "FAQ" and find "For the conventions for the Spanish wiki, please go here" and click on "here". This will bring you to the Spanish conventions. Make sure to read and understand the conventions, as following them helps keep Memrise consistent and easy to use. If your course does not follow conventions, curators and moderators may edit your course to ensure that it does. Of course, if you have suggestions for new conventions or improvements to existing ones, be sure to post them in the forums!
Now that you are familiar…
Posted by Azimuth 6/4/12 (11 months ago)
I notice my version has a redundant 'How Memrise works' subheading early on - so please remove that if you incorporate my edits.
Posted by Azimuth 6/4/12 (11 months ago)"1)maybe a mention on how to make a private wordlist? 2)For adding words - you mention list and spreadsheet? Could you differentiate between the two - i.e upon reading it, it seems that the list can be on a table on word document. 3)I'm confused by the section concerning editing - does this refer to wiki editing 2.0 - the user can select any item in the word listing - select edit to make suggestion that will be submitted. 4)Maybe a brief discussion on what curators and moderators do - that way people who are interested can read up on what these two user groups do. 5)how to upload audio, how to create mems (types of mems - mnemonic/pronunciation/etymology, input images/video/copyright) " ==================================
There is plenty more I was planning on adding - but I wanted to make sure the bone structure was all there before adding on the muscles and skin. I wanted to make sure people who read this guide would understand the most basic items and features before moving onto contributions and more advanced/hidden features.
I'll tidy up the section about editing and maybe flesh it out a bit more. I'll also further clarify the list vs spreadsheet differences in the next version!
=============
Thanks for the fixing Azimuth! I was a bit at a loss of how to explain how Memrise works at the time of writing. Having read your version you do a much better job at it than myself so I'll see that it makes it into my next revision.
My current idea for release/touch ups is every 1 or 2 weeks to give the guide time for discussion, critiques, edits, etc. If there's a lot of discussion and the guide is going to have to undergo a "massive change" from the original (based off the feedback) of course I'll bump it up so that people can re-read the update version instead of getting lost within all of the feedback.
Posted by Tchael 6/4/12 (11 months ago)I have just created a new forum for this, and put it at the top of the "forums" page so that it gets the prominence that it deserves. This new forum can only have new threads started by staff, so it will stay at the top until we have the next version ready, which can then be posted above this one.
Does that sound like a good plan?
I will look through and see if I can suggest any improvements later on today or early tomorrow.
Thanks again Tchael, great work, and thanks everyone else for your suggestions. This clearly going to be incredibly useful to everyone!
Best wishes
Ben
Posted by benwhately 6/6/12 (11 months ago)I guess that's one way to do it! :P Now we just have to teach people how to find this forum! XD
I'd like to test something. This should link to google. - I forget if HTML works on the forums. If it does I'll see what I can do about incorporating the images into the next guide as I feel the visuals will help a lot.
I'll start working on parts tonight and await your feedback before putting in the work for the 1.0 guide - where all the basics are fleshed out and the guide is nice and picture-completed.
Here's some fun trivia for anyone interested in my version naming etiquette. It's rather useless to read.
0.5 Is always the "beta" and is always the first version. 1.00 Is the first official "public" release where it's ready for users.
An increase in the tenths place implies it is an update that affects how it is used. An increase in the hundredths or thousandths, etc. place means it has little to no affect on users.
Grammar fixes and typos are denoted in the hundredths place. So 1.01 just means I fixed a few sentences or typos. While a 1.1 means I rewrote an entire section of the guide or relocated it elsewhere - thus affecting users. For example 1.23 would imply 2 user-affect revisions (0.0->0.2) and 3 (0.03) typo/grammar fixes.
Posted by Tchael 6/7/12 (11 months ago)wow wow wow tchael...fantastic job.
Posted by sfrenchie 6/10/12 (11 months ago)Very nice! I did find a typo on section 1: "Now let's go over starting your first Memrise course. We're going to take the longer router (should be route) so you can get used to Memrise! "
Jill
Posted by Jill348 6/11/12 (11 months ago)Nice catch Jill! I went and fixed that just now in the next version. Just a few more touch ups and asking Ben if placing the pictures will be feasible and look nice with the forums - or finding a way to do so at least. An update should be just around the corner!
Not much has changed - as I simply haven't had the time to get around to it. I added Azimuth's suggestions and am going to need Ben to write more about the curators/moderators because I feel it's best if the people in charge of the curators/moderators tell about them...
I'm still trying to think of a good order+combination to introduce mems and a few other details I had to leave out. I'm trying to keep a good train of thought for the introduction of things. Mems are being tricky with where to throw them in nicely. I might have to rewrite a section so that I can smooth them in there.
Hopefully I can push it out within the next 3 days, as that's my goal! I'm also hoping we can get the pictures I have had for the guide into it so it's more of an update rather than a rewritten section and a typo fix.
Posted by Tchael 6/11/12 (11 months ago)@Tchael, I will certainly write a section on moderators and curators - I am keen to iron out all the bugs in that first though, rather than writing a guide to what it should be but isn't yet... it is getting very close!
We are going to be releasing new mem tools this week, so it might be best to wait until that is done before writing that section!
I will find out a way to do the images today if possible.
Let me say again what a brilliant piece of work this is, thank you!
best wishes
Ben
Posted by benwhately 6/11/12 (11 months ago)Well with that being the case - I think the best course of action would be to at least wait for the mem tools and me to write that section up before pushing out the next update. For that update, if the Patrol bug hasn't been worked out we could have exactly what you just said as it's information - or something along the lines of it as a placeholder. Then when it's sorted you can just throw it in when it's all fixed.
So I guess this 0.5 will have to hold out just another week or so for the new mem tools. :)
Posted by Tchael 6/11/12 (11 months ago)Wow. I only had time to skim it, but this is really a GREAT endeavor on your part and you'll probably get lots of help & good ideas for additions. Thank you!
Posted by karenbarker 6/12/12 (11 months ago)I'm having trouble entering answers using the Microsoft IME. I'm currently working on the JLPT 3 deck. I'm able to enter the first answer, but if I get it wrong, it's from that point that I'm unable to enter anything in Japanese using the IME. I'm able to switch back to the English keyboard and type, but when I switch back to the Japanese keyboard, nothing I type shows up. I'm using Chrome as my internet browser.
Posted by jakkii 6/13/12 (11 months ago)Here are the shortcuts (to my knowledge) for Microsoft IME:
Alt + Shift = Switches between languages Alt + CAPS = Switches from hiragana to katakana
Oddly enough, you can't scroll from katakana back to hiragana. All you have to do is AltShift twice (go back to English, then back into Japanese) and it goes back to hiragana again. I know it's a little tedious, but it beats using the mouse all the time.
Posted by nisbahmumtaz 6/18/12 (11 months ago)Switches between languages isn't the problem. The problem is, I cannot type in the space. I click on the input area, the curser blinks, I start typing, and nothing shows up. It's not until I switch back to English, type something, and then switch back to Japanese am I able to start typing in Japanese again. This only happens when I give the wrong answer and then it gives me the correct word to copy.
Posted by jakkii 6/18/12 (11 months ago)Nice work! I came to this party a bit late and have skimmed it and it seems very good start.
My 2c is to suggest a good descriptions of mems, how they work what makes good ones, what makes bad ones etc. There are plenty of very good ones but a lot of people have clearly missed the whole point. I am talking about words like "cat" with foreign equivalent and a picture of a cat. That really does not help anyone learn the new word.
Posted by zaphod_es 6/22/12 (11 months ago)Let's not forget about good mems about wrong/incorrect/vague translations. Spanish example: gigantico = huge...ah, why not gigantic? If we accept this definition then why not accepting enorme = huge, after all they both describe something really big. It would be like calling a tiger a cat, yes it's correct but no it's not accurate. The problem is that right now curators do not have the tool to validate entries. So inaccurate mems are starting to pile up, I see them all over the place and I wonder how Memrise will hand them up in the future.
Posted by sfrenchie 6/22/12 (11 months ago)This is a bit off topic, can someone can move it to a better place?
Maybe this is not the correct way but I usually give more than one English equivalent just to clarify things. This is necessary with words like meta. Just target or goal would be misleading so I would put in both and probably add objective. Now it is clear the word is not about bulls eyes or soccer.
Using your examples I would put in something like: gigantico - gigantic, huge enorme - enormous, huge
Posted by zaphod_es 6/23/12 (11 months ago)can memrise suggest what words are ready to be ignored? memrise followes the accuracy of the user...
Posted by Celicity 6/27/12 (10 months ago)what the point of this its not that complicated just figure it out its easy
Posted by ChenelleGSS 6/29/12 (10 months ago)Chenelle, you mean you read all those threads just to leave that negative comment? wow.
Posted by sfrenchie 6/29/12 (10 months ago)I'm having issues figuring where to slide mnemonics in and explain what they are and how to make them.
If anyone has a suggestion or is willing to write a section to ease them in that would be great. It's why the next version of this guide has been delayed so long. At this point I'm scratching my head in frustration. I don't just want to throw them in there at random and have it be a bit confusing.
Posted by Tchael 6/29/12 (10 months ago)The next version contains a few fixes, the rewritten paragraph, pictures, and two new sections. One that briefly cover moderators and curators and another that briefly covers mnemonics.
It will be up presumably whenever Ben has the time to write the moderators+curators section and sort out the pictures to post it.
Posted by Tchael 7/7/12 (10 months ago)Hey Tchael, could you also put in the mnemonics section about how to italicize, bold, add a straight line (five or more asterisks) and embed a Youtube video?
I am not sure it is all in the same place on the website yet and it took some searching around to find out all of the methods.
Thanks!
Posted by EtyMed 7/8/12 (10 months ago)Italice and bold are in there. I forgot to add the straight line - and I was unaware you could embed a Youtube video!
Posted by Tchael 7/8/12 (10 months ago)They're going to be in the newer version? Yeah, all you have to put is (e.g.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uakxkjYMDI pretty neat!
Posted by EtyMed 7/8/12 (10 months ago)I see, so it's similar to
but videolink
I'll ask Ben if he'll toss those in there along the **** and explanations!
Posted by Tchael 7/8/12 (10 months ago)coolbeans
Posted by EtyMed 7/8/12 (10 months ago)