WIKI OR What is a Wiki and why

WIKI OR, What is a Wiki and why should I care? Donnice Cochenour July 27, 2005 1

What is a wiki • Web-based collaborative work space. • Content management system. • Draws together multiple document types. • Complex HTML tagging not required. • Easy to add or modify content. • No delay in posting updates. July 27, 2005 2

Wiki history • Hawaiian term for "quick“ or “superfast” • Started by Ward Cunningham in 1995 July 27, 2005 3

Public wikis • Switch. Wiki – lists over 1, 000 public wikis • Wikipedia is the best known July 27, 2005 4

Wiki farms: • http: //www. wikispaces. org/ - free public wiki space on the web. Anyone can join and add pages. • http: //www. wikicities. com/wiki/Wikicities - free public space for wikis that will appeal to a wide range of editors. Wikia, Inc. adds advertisements to spaces. • http: //www. schtuff. com/ - free public wiki space on the web. Anyone can register and setup a wiki space. schtuff. com adds advertisements to spaces. • http: //www. projectforum. com/pf/details. html - commercial hosting service starting at $20/month. Also sells wiki software, and offers free software (with limited features) to be downloaded, installed on local machine. Has a good description of getting started practices. July 27, 2005 5

Library wikis: • University of Winnipeg Library and Information Services – http: //whatwouldbatgirldo. xwiki. com/ • University of Connecticut Libraries' Staff Wiki – http: //wiki. lib. uconn. edu/wiki/Main_Page July 27, 2005 6

Library wikis • University of Minnesota Libraries Staff Web Site – http: //wiki. lib. umn. edu/Staff/Finding. Aids. In. EAD • University of South Carolina – Aiken Library – http: //library. usca. edu/ July 27, 2005 7

More library related wikis: • Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki – http: //www. libsuccess. org/index. php? title=Main_Page • NISO Metasearch Initiative – http: //www. lib. ncsu. edu/niso-mi/index. php/Main_Page • LISWiki – http: //liswiki. com/wiki/Main_Page • Unofficial conference wikis • User Group shared procedures, macros, etc. July 27, 2005 8

Dis/Advantages of wiki: Advantages +++++ • Technical support and training is minimal • Changes are immediate • Easy authoring, open access, unrestricted collaboration Concerns ------ • Soft Security – relies on community of users to police • Absence of explicit organization = Loose collection of linked pages (but more organized than a blog). • No standard mark-up language makes migration difficult • Intellectual property rights of collaborative content July 27, 2005 9

Library user (public) wikis: • Suggestion box • Interactive FAQs • Library Instructional uses: – – Online course interaction Student team projects Interactive finding aids Informal bulletin board for course communications July 27, 2005 10

Task force or project wiki: • Shared work space for collaboration – Project or task force discussion space • Track action items • Store or link to shared documents – – Project documentation Minutes of meetings Deadlines, assignments and schedule Bookmarks to websites July 27, 2005 11

Starting a wiki: • Identify purpose for wiki • Create basic structure for wiki • Provide initial content to get it started • Clearly state expectations • Let it evolve July 27, 2005 12

CSUL’s wiki • http: //vulture. library. colostate. edu/wiki/tiki-index. php • Still in development so some features may change. • See Wiki Usage Guidelines for CSUL. • Register to create your own login and password. • Login to Wiki first time using email sent to you by Wiki. July 27, 2005 13

Registration screen July 27, 2005 14

CSUL’s wiki • Training wiki – Wiki Overview – Wiki formatting tips July 27, 2005 15

Tasks: • Edit an existing page • Create a new page – page names must be unique – first add new page name to an existing page • Monitor a page for changes • History (rollback, compare, diff) • Attachments – formatted documents • Preferences July 27, 2005 16

Wiki best practices • Train users • Keep it organized – use categories • Watch recent changes – enable alerts • Lead by example – use for your projects • Be civil – expect changes to your words • Success depends on user contributions! July 27, 2005 17

Readings • Michael Angeles, "Using a Wiki for Documentation and Collaborative Authoring, " LLRX(r). com, November 28 2004. • Brenda Chawner and Paul H. Lewis, "Wiki. Webs: New Ways of Interacting in a Web Environment, " Handout prepared for LITA National Forum, October 8 -10, 2004, Sheraton West Port Lakeside Chalet, St. Louis, Missouri. • Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman & Wanlei Zhou, “Teaching and learning online with wikis, ” in Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21 st ASCILITE Conference (pp. 95 -104). Perth, 5 -8 December 2004. • “Something wiki this way comes, ” Business Week Online, June 7, 2004 July 27, 2005 18