The What's and Why's of Wikis

Jennifer L. Wagner

Help Desk/Network Support

jlw@technospud.com

ACSI November 2007

What is a WIKI??

• A Wiki can be thought of as combining a Web site and a Word-processing document.
• At its simplest, it can be read just a regular web site, with no editing privileges possible,
• but the real power lies in the fact that teachers and students can work collaboratively work on the content of the wiki simply
• by using a standard web browser.

Why Use A Wiki?

• With the availabilty of a wiki 24/7/365 from pretty much anywhere, you have the opportunity to connect with anyone you wish....from your classroom to the world.
• A wiki is as easy to use as any word processing program.
• It is free (most of the time) with the availability of adding text, images, video, links, feeds, and more.
• It is editable but also you can trace the edits (or revisions) to see who has added/subtracted data.
• You can select who you wish to collaborate with by invitation (which allows security) or you can open it to anyone.
• You can roll back to prior edits if necessary.
• A simple SAVE updates the page instantly on the internet.
• Some people challenge the validity of "wikispaces" as a legitimate source.  By creating your own wiki, you are able to verify your data for accuracy and create an accurate  portal of information for your audience.

Where to create WIKI?

PB Wiki:  http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki

Wikispaces:  http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers

Media Wiki:  http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

WetPaint:  http://www.wetpaint.com/wiki?zone=cyoGoEdu2

Educational Wikis

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis

http://k12online07.wikispaces.com/

Case Studies & Resources:

http://www.wikiineducation.com/display/ikiw/Home

http://writingwiki.org/default.aspx/WritingWiki/For%20Teachers%20New%20to%20Wikis.html

Wikipedia Concerns:

1.  Wikipedia -- is inaccurate???

    The British science journal Nature facilitated a study that examined the comparative accuracy of scientific entries in Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica in December of 2005. Nature found the two sources to contain a similar amount of errors, with each having 4 serious errors relating to misinterpretations of important concepts in the pairs of articles reviewed. A considerable amount of minor errors were also found in Wikipedia and Britannica according to Nature: "Reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements: 162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively.  (http://media.www.versusmag.org/media/storage/paper584/news/2006/02/01/Features/How-Accurate.Is.Wikipedia-1635972.shtml)

2.  Wikipedia makes NO Guarantee of Validity

Wikipedia is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.

That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in Wikipedia; much of the time you will. However, Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields.