IntroToWikis
From wiki.ucalgary.ca
Contents
Wikis
What is a wiki?
- wiki is an abbreviation for the Hawaiian word "wiki wiki" - meaning "quick"
- an open, collaborative website that allows anyone to add and edit pages
- software that tracks changes, making it easier to repair damage than to cause it
- an organic encyclopedia of knowledge, such as the wikipedia - which now has over 1 million pages contribute by people around the world
- typically, uses special "wiki syntax" so you don't need to know HTML to edit content
- a rich network of links between content
- a direct descendent of the original hypertext model of the internet (and the early world wide web)
What good is a wiki?
- use wikis in the classroom Cool Cat Teacher - using wikis in the K12 classroom
- collaborating on a paper Pachyderm paper for Museums and the Web 2005
- collaborating on project documentation LearningCommons/Documentation/Subversion
- managing information for a project Pachyderm Project
- sharing information for a conference Canadian Library Association 2005
- collaboration on conference presentation What's the Fuss About RSS?
- Brian Lamb has an excellent article in the Sept/Oct 2004 issue of EDUCAUSE Review Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not. This article addresses many of the fears and misconceptions about wikis, especially in academia. A PDF version of the article is also available if you'd prefer.
Where can I wiki?
- wiki.ucalgary.ca - University of Calgary Wiki
- Wikipedia: the free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit
- WikiNews: the free news source that you can write!
- Wikitravel: the free-content travel guide that anyone can edit
- LISWiki: Library and Information Science Wiki
Wiki Software
- MediaWiki drives this wiki, as well as the Wikipedia
- TiddlyWiki is a personal wiki that lives on your hard drive, but can be published as snapshots to the web.
- WikiSpaces - a free hosted wiki with an intiuitive visual page editor
- VoodooPad is a personal wiki application that runs on your desktop (MacOSX only)
- WikityWidget is a personal wiki implemented as Dashboard widget that runs on your desktop (MacOSX only)
- eLearningCentre in the UK has compiled a list of various wiki software packages
