About Wikisin education, business, social uses, fun,

community, non-profit

For the IT department @ UoC as we decide“Do we need a wiki on campus?”

Derek Chirnside

First a little quizScore with your fingers, one point per question

You can pronounce wiki

Wiki:<wee-kee>) or <wick-ey>

You have heard

of wikis

You know what wiki means

Wiki wiki (in Hawaiian) . . . . means quick

You have used a wiki

You know what a wiki is

“A type of Web site that allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suitedfor collaborative writing.”

Source: Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

You have used Wikipedia

Bonus:you know what wikipedia.com is

Bonus:used wikipedia.com this week

Double Bonus:You have

actually edited wikipedia.com

Bonus:you have used other wikis

[There are a lot of wikis]

You have thought about using wikis in the classroom, office, business,

or social club . . .

Case One: Social Uses

Video by Commoncraft.com

Summary?

ASIDE: Creating a wiki. Markup language

ASIDE:Avoiding wiki markup problems

Set up a structure for users to enter text into.Find another wiki that does not use wiki markup.

ASIDE:Where is your wiki hosted??

On your server eg http://akowiki.canterbury.ac.nz

On the web eg http://wikispaces.comFree service or fee paying??

Case Two: German 311antonie.alma@otago.ac.nz

Part One . . Students develop script for a soap opera in German using wikispaces http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

USE: Collaborative writing

http://wikispaces.com

Four tools1. Edit the page

http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

Four tools2. Discussion of the page

http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

Four tools3. History of edits

http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

Four tools4. Notification or edits/changes

http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

(Another feature: Permissions)

German 311 (Just by the way . .)

Part Two . . Blogging in character

Part Three . . Video the drama, and put it on YouTube.com

Wikis are Not blogs which are Not ForumsBut there are blikis!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliki

Five key concepts . .

Wikis

RSSAggregators

Blogs Social Software

Tagging

Case Three: TT701 2006

Part One . . Context: needed a quick overview of Adult learning theory.An entire document (20 pages) was loaded into a wiki and opened for comment

USE: Sharing ideas and commentary

Other uses

Other uses

Other uses

Other uses

http://www.ikiw.org/2007/09/10/why-wikis-should-replace-email-for-collaboration/

WIKI Implementation:a conservative view

Implementation #1: Purpose

One of the most fundamental things about making a wiki successful is having a purpose for using it. Although the wiki us very different from many other technologies, one great similarity it shares is that it needs to be used in response to specific “pain points” where knowledge construction and collaboration are not efficient. Once you know where it’s needed, the best way to start is to get everyone together who will be using a wiki and have a conversation to mutually agree on how it will be used, and establish it as part of the existing social structure of your group, team, or project.

Provide some basic structure

http://www.ikiw.org/category/wiki-uses/

Implementation #2: AgendasOnce your group starts using the wiki, be firm about making sure people don’t drift back to earlier means of collaboration.

For example, if you used to send out

meeting agendas by email, and now you put them on the wiki and email a link to the appropriate page, you may get someone who protests and asks for the agenda by email. They may argue that it’s more work to get an email and have to link to a wiki page, instead of just having the agenda right in the email.

Implementation #3: PersistIf this happens, I’d suggest responding that although it seems like an inconvenience

now, it’s really only a temporary inconvenience that paves the way for several improvements. First is a reduction in email when people are using to going to the wiki and an email with a link to the meeting agenda wiki page is no longer necessary. The second is a further reduction in email when people need to edit the agenda and can do so directly on the wiki instead of emailing the person who sent the agenda.

The third improvement is that now information is stored in a more archival, accessible, and secure format than email: if you were to lose your laptop or it’s stolen, email is lost along with it and this can compromise the security of sensitive information. However, if you’re using a wiki, that information is stored on a secure server and won’t be lost or compromised as easily.

The fourth improvement is that once you start using the wiki for meeting agendas, it lays the foundation for further wiki use, like managing the tasks and projects that arise from the agenda. It’s this organic use that makes the wiki quickly become an indispensable tool for information and collaboration.

Implementation #4: Shared documents (eg Policies!!)

Documentation, policies and procedures – kept centralised on a wiki – more efficient than constantly printing and distributing addenda to policies and rules, and vastly more efficient than reprinting and distributing entire documents when enough changes have to be made.So the lesson here is that in addition to

being a great collaboration tool, wikis can also be incredibly useful for keeping information constantly up to date and immediately accessible. In addition to the efficiency of this, think of the cost savings and environmental benefit!

They want to contribute!

They don’t want to be passivereceivers of information.

Why some people like wikis

Wiki technology enablescollaborative knowledge

gathering and “peer review.”

Allows community-moderated,content, updated in real time.

The questions

Identity?Audience?

Q. How many Wiki people does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. One, but anyone can change it back. -langreiter.com

Thank-you