A wiki is a type of website that
allows visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise
edit and change some available content, sometimes without
the need for registration.
Wikipedia
Ward Cunningham created the first wiki
in 1995. The name "Wiki" was inspired by the Hawaiian
word wiki or wiki-wiki, which means "quick".
Wikipedia
is probably the most well known example of a public wiki.
Many wikis are private: existing on intranets or behind firewalls
with access restricted to registered users. [See Wiki
Vandalism]
A wiki allows users to:
- edit pages from within a browser window
- use a simplified markup language
- instantly modify pages
Generally each page in a wiki has three representations:
- the html code page
- the webpage which is created from the html
code and is viewed in a browser window
- the user-editable source code page, from
which the server produces the html page
The user-editable source code page is edited
using a simplified language commonly called wiki markup language.
Pages written using wiki markup language are usually referred
to as wikitext.
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There is no
accepted standard wikitext language. The grammar, structure,
features and keywords used depend on the particular software
used on the wiki site.
- How
to edit a page on Wikipedia
Contains advice on editing Wikipedia
pages as well as an introduction to wikitext language.
- WetPaint
Sandbox
Experiment with wikitext language by
editing an existing sandbox wiki page or create your own
sandbox to play in.
- Wikispaces
Wikispaces uses these text markup rules.
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Wikis encourage group
social interaction and collaboration and support asynchronous
communication allowing users to contribute at a time, and from
a place that suits them. Many students find that their learning
is most effective when they are actively involved in the construction
of their knowledge.
The following articles explore the Educational
Value of Wikis.
- Using
Wiki in Education
The Science of Spectroscopy wiki includes
information about and examples of some educational uses
for wikis.
- Teaching
and learning online with wikis.
Augar, N., Raitman, R. & Zhou,
W. (2004). Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st
ASCILITE Conference.
This paper presents wikis as a useful tool for facilitating
online education. Basic wiki functionality is outlined and
different wikis are reviewed to highlight the features that
make them a valuable technology for teaching and learning
online.
- Building Collaborative Capacities in Learners: The M/Cyclopedia Project, Revisited.
Dr Axel Bruns, Sal Humphries. Queensland
University of Technology
This paper explores the four key characteristics of a 'produsage'
environment and identifies four strategic capacities that need to be
developed in learners to be effective 'produsers' (user-producers).
- Wide
Open Spaces: Wikis Ready or Not
Brian Lamb, Educause September/October
2004
A practical introduction to using wikis for teaching.
- My
Brilliant Failure: Wikis in the Classroom
This Kairosnews blog entry by Heather
James highlights the importance of wiki users having control
of the construction of the wiki.
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These sites
demonstrate how teachers and their students are using wikis
to enhance teaching and learning.
- Terry
the Tennis Ball
This Wiki is bought to you be the students
of Grade 3-4 at Bellaire Primary School in Geelong, Victoria,
Australia. It is the adventures of a tennis ball called
Terry. Our teacher, Mr Pearce, started the story on the
29th of April 2006 and we have been adding to it since.
- Grade5M
Wiki
We are situated at Yarra Road Primary
School, in Croydon, Victoria, Australia.
- Wiki
as a Tool for Web-based Collaborative Story Telling in Primary
School: A Case Study
Alain Désilets ,Sébastien
Paquet. National Research Council of Canada
This paper presents a case study where primary level
students (Grade 4-6) used a Wiki for collaborative storytelling.
The paper reports observations on the collaborative process
that took place during the activity. It also describes the
activity in sufficient detail to allow a technically sophisticated
teacher to use it in the classroom, and makes recommendations
on how Wiki could be improved to better support collaborative
storytelling by young children.
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- deletion of legitimate information,
- insertion of nonsense or irrelevant content,
- addition of unwanted commercial links (spam)
- policy violations specific to that wiki.
Most public wikis do not require registration
which means that anyone with a web browser can edit the wiki.
Responses to vandalism vary from wiki to wiki, but most vandals
are blocked by username or IP address when it becomes clear
they are being deliberately destructive.
Although large and more controversial wikis
are more prone to vandalism than less well frequented wiki
sites, these larger sites usually have an extensive active
group of users who monitor and maintain the wiki content.
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Can the information on a wiki be trusted?
Although a number of articles discuss the reliability of Wikipedia
as an information source it would be incorrect to assume that
other wikis are therefore reliable sources of information.
Evaluating
Web Sites
- Internet
Encyclopedias Go Head to Head
Nature 438, 900-901 [15 December 2005]
A Nature investigation finds Jimmy Wales' Wikipedia comes
close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science
entries.
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