Wikis
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Wikis |
Contents
Introduction
Wikis
are webpages which can be edited easily by users. Wikis allow two or more authors to collaborate on editing a single document.
The term "wiki" comes from Polynesian, meaning 'fast'. Fast is what it is all about. An author can build web content, using a wiki, with very little training and negligible knowledge of how websites work.
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This is a wiki page, constructed on UCSpace |
Collaboration
Wikis are ideal for collaborative authoring. Wikis can be powerful programs which also perform functions such as blogs, discussion boards, file sharing and archiving. However, there are specialist platforms which perform most of these functions better. No other platform is better for facilitating collaborative authoring.
Depending on the permissions granted by the wiki administrator, anyone can edit a wiki.
Wikipedia
The best known wiki is Wikipedia. Wikipedia was founded in 2001 and is an encyclopedia written by volunteer contributers. Over the seven years of its existence, Wikipedia has grown to be one of the most extensive reference sources in the world. Anyone can register to become a contributor to Wikipedia and can submit new articles or edit existing articles.
Wikipedia is a wonderful case study for the strengths and weaknesses of wikis. Most of the material of wikipedia is of very high quality and extensively referenced. Some of the material is of low quality and has been posted to serve the interests of the author rather than the interests of the community. And a very small amount of the material has been deliberately posted as sabotage. What happens to Wikipedia can happen to any wiki system.
The good stuff in Wikipedia comes from conscientious authors collaborating to make posts as good as possible. This has been the story of most of Wikipedia. When this process works well, the collaboration of many authors leads to a post which is better than any individual could write by themselves.
Video
Here's CommonCraft's short video on using wikis:
Wikis sites to try out
Here's some free wiki sites you can try out and use to develop collaborative content:
You could also try editing your own UCSpace:
Or why not set up an account and become a wikipedia editor:
