What are Wikis?

Wikis constitute an impressive presence on the World Wide Web, giving producers and browsers alike a valuable resource for sharing information and collaborative editing. Currently, the most popular wiki in use is Wikipedia, available at www.wikipedia.org, where over 75,000 users and contributors world wide collaborate on more than 10 million Wikipedia articles, written in more than 250 languages.(1)

Another popular site, Wiki.com, allows users to search wikis all over the web, including Wikipedia, from one central location. Users can choose whether to search all wikis, only Wikipedia, or only independently run wikis.

Blog? Wiki? Bliki?

Web logs, commonly known as blogs, and wikis are often confused for one another. This confusion stems from the fact that wikis offer an easy-to-use markup and interface, putting Web development ideas within reach of even the least technology savvy users.

While wikis allow for collaboration, assuming a personality that varies as widely as that of the users participating, blogs are more like journals, with each entry reflecting the personality of its author. Blog entries are not intended for universal editing; rather they are intended to reflect the thought of one individual, or a small group of co-authors.

Why Wiki? Establishing Need

When infusing teaching with technology, it is important to first consider the motives and expectations for doing so. When considering implementation of a wiki, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is the ultimate goal?
• Who is the audience?
• Who will participate?
• What are the overall goals?
• What is the intended finished product?

Establishing need and careful planning are crucial to success in the wiki world. As a tool, wikis are flexible and relatively easy to use. However, if used in the wrong context, they can make projects more tedious and harder to manage than is necessary.

Will Wikis Work?

Wikis tend to work best:

• In collaborative work
• In situations where roles and expectations are clearly defined
• In a trusting environment

If these traits do not match your goals and environment, wikis are probably not the best choice. Perhaps a blog would work better, where less power is granted to fewer. Alternatively, a discussion forum or group web page might work better for the overarching goals set forth by the project.

Considerations

Upon choosing to use wikis, consider the following during the project design phase:

• Function
  • What will it be used for?
• Access
  • Will everyone have access, or certain teams/users only?
• Roles
  • Who will moderate, edit, write, research, etc?
• Assessment
  • How will you determine if goals were met?

When using wikis, setting forth carefully considered, well-documented plans from the beginning will help avoid confusion and unnecessary stress.

Examples: Here are a few basic examples of how wikis could be implemented for project development, data collection and group authoring.

Project Development

• Information repositories
• Collaborative writing and editing
• Timeline creation and upkeep
• Role assignments and descriptions
• Lists of resources

Data Collection

• Lists of resources
• Categorization of information

Group Authoring

• Document authoring and editing
• Listing resources
• Categorization of information

References 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About#Wikipedia_statistics

Further Reading:

Mader, Stewart. (2007). Using Wiki in Education. Retrieved September 17, 2007, from: http://www.wikiineducation.com.

Lamb, Brian. “Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not.� Educause Review 39.5 (2004). Retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://educause.edu/pub/er/erm04/erm0452.asp?bhcp=1.

Grant, Lyndsay. (2007) “Using wikis in schools: a case study.� Retrieved September 17, 2007 from : http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/discussion_papers/Wikis_in_Schools.pdf.

Moody, G. (2004) Of blogs and wikis. Retrieved September 17, 2007 from : https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/03/36/of_blogs_and_wikis.html

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