Wiki

A wiki is a powerful collaborative tool that allows user to add and edit content. User can also crate easealy new pages. If necessary it's possible to add some permissions to the pages (lock pages or only identified users can modify the content of a page).

This website is powered by a wiki. If you want, you can modify this page, changing words or sentences. All modification are stored and you can always undo all the modifications.

Writing content on a wiki is very simple, user has to learn a small syntax (for mediawiki: Guidelines:How_to_edit_a_page) to personnalize and to structure the content.

Generally users that wants to participate to make a wiki evolve, they have to respect some rules for editing content. The goal of this rules are to standardize the content, to make easy the access to the content of each page.

Administrators have to pay attention because a wiki has a non-conventional interface, and the so at the beginning new users could have some difficulties to adapt to the wiki paradigm (everybody can do what they want respecting other's work). The adoption of a chart could help to improve the efficacity of a wiki.

How To

If you decide to implement a wiki, you have to have an hosting and you have to install it manually. Actually, there aren't web platforms that permit to open a new wiki on the fly, without manipulations.

Educational usage

1. wiki as a collaborative content management system
2. wiki for collaborative writing
3. wiki as a resource repository
4. wiki as a project/class management tool
5. wiki as a website

Open Source Softwares

1. MediaWiki
2. Doku
3. WakkaWiki
4. Wikini

Articles and Books

• Book The Wiki Way
• Collaborative Learning with a Wiki (PDF document): presentation of a wiki and discussion around the adoption of a wiki in language learning.
• Teaching and learning online with wikis (PDF document): introduction on wikis and how they work. Attention is focused on how to choose a wiki for e-learning activities. An icebreaker example for students is also explained.
• Towards Emancipatory Use of a Medium: The Wiki (PDF document)

Resources

You can find wikiware on:

1. Wiki Engine
2. Wiki Engines