Update: Ardvark's Got a Wiki
I've created a page
at WikiMedia for Ardvark. If you haven't worked with
a Wiki before, they're
really pretty neat. Once you register
(free and quick) with
WikiMedia,No registration
needed! Just click edit at the top of any page. you're able to
change the text of any page there and
submit
your own new information and artwork.
This is how most of the web should just work. You log in to a page, see a mistake or missing info, and simply fix it right there. Wikis have been most effective in bringing together knowledge bases like the open encyclopedia WikiPedia and technical manuals, but I'm very interested to see how this collaborative medium lends itself to a purely creative project.
There is an implicit trust in letting others have full access to edit your pages, and I'm excited by the idea of easily letting others make what they will of Ardvark, much in the same way that CVS lets developers easily tweak, change, and even fork projects. Inkscape, the tool I use to draw these characters, is the product of one such fork, splitting off from the Sodipodi project and quickly surpassing its progenitor. For security, the Wiki also keeps a comprehensive version list allowing you to restore the page if someone, for example, spams the page with links to Chinese Viagra to boost their google rating.
Ardvark The Aardvark, once completed, will be a fully paginated children's book that you can download, print, edit, share, and expand upon. To get to that goal, I'm going to need help. I need editors, artists, and writers, anywhere from amateur to pro, to work with me on the project and add their input.
If you're interested in helping out, take a look at the Wiki and play around with it a bit. You can directly make changes to book one, start on book two (or another branch of the story not related to this linear plot) upload drawings easily.
To add a new page, simply go to the address where it would be. For example, book two has not yet been created, but you can create it yourself by going to http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ArdvarkTheAardvark_BookTwo. Just don't forget to update the main page to point to your newly created work! You can also leave notes on any existing page without disturbing the text itself by clicking the "discuss" link.
