Wiki

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Definition

A wiki is a powerful collaborative tool that allows users to add and edit content on-line. User can also easily create 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).

Definition from the Wikipedia:Wiki:

A wiki is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. The term wiki can also refer to the collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates the operation of such a website (see wiki software), or to certain specific wiki sites, including the computer science site (and original wiki), WikiWikiWeb, and the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. When used to refer to a specific site, wiki is often capitalized.

The word wiki is a shorter form of wiki wiki (weekie, weekie) which is from the native language of Hawaii (Hawaiian), where it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something "quick" or "fast" (Hawaiian dictionary). In English, it is an adverb meaning "quickly" or "fast".

• Explanation by example: This website is powered by a wiki. If you want, you can modify this page, changing words or sentences.

What is a wiki ?

Technical features from a user perspective

Collaborative online editing

• A wiki enables documents to be written collectively in a very simple markup language using a web browser.

• In order to make this work, owners of a wiki should think hard about wiki management policies. Educators need to carefully plan an appropriate instructional design.

A simple editing syntax

• Editing content on a wiki is usually very simple, users have to learn a small syntax. However, some wikis like this one use an increasingly complex syntax, e.g. for this mediawiki see How to edit a page). Even though, users still have the option to work with a very small subset, as demonstrated in the Wikipedia Chatsheet.

• In addition, most mediawiki-based sites use a sometimes huge library of templates. E.g. this wiki has only few, lots !

• There is no standard Wiki syntax. Each Wiki Software has its own, although some types of Wikis are very close. Some isolated Wikis even use HTML instead of the traditional Wiki Syntax or allow combination of HTML codes with wiki coding. WYSIWYG through the web editors (TTW) also start becoming popular.

Page History

• Usually either all edits are kept in history and users can undo changes or compare changes.

Wikis as hypertext system

• Wikis are one a few true hypertext systems still alive on the Web and this explains also part of their success.

• It is very easy to link from one page to another. Originally, most Wikis used a [:Wikimedia:CamelCase | CamelCase] linking mechanism, but this syntax makes reading more difficult and certainly deviates from standard spelling. Therefore, most Wikis use a syntax like

[[Hypertext]]  which will show Hypertext

or if users want to replace the title's page by some else something like:

[[Hypertext | Article about hypertext]] which will show Article about hypertext.

• Some Wikis add other navigational features, e.g. a search facility or categories. In this wiki:
  • You can search either titles or full text ("Go" or "search" button) in the box to the left
  • You can add an article to a category, in order to add this article to the technologies category, we used the command:

[[Category:Technologies]]

Wiki software architectures

Most Wikis are implemented as server-side www scripts. This includes the following components:

1. A webserver like Apache.
2. Most implementations are done in PHP but some use other programming/scripting languages such as Perl, Python, Java, etc.
3. A database server like MySQL, but some Wikis use a file-based system.

Therefore, a typical Wiki runs under the LAMP bundle.

Some Wikis are embedded within portals, e.g. some LMS include a wiki.

A simple typology

• Complex stand-alone wikis like MediaWiki
• Simple stand-alone wikis like PhPWiki
• Portals with a wiki as major component like TikiWiki
• Simple wikis embedded within portals, e.g. Erfurt Wiki is embedded in the Moodle LMS
• Simple CMS modules that have wiki-like features (but lake important wiki features such as easy page creation and linking)

Wiki management policy

• Generally, most sites require that some editing rules for style and content organization are respected. The goal of these rules are to standardize organization of contents within a page or throughout the wiki, in order to make both knowledge retrieval and production easier.
  • Simple example: This wiki's editing rules

• Frequently, Wikis also adopt guidlines for co-editing. Wiki administrators have to pay attention to both new new users having sometimes difficulties to adapt to the wiki paradigm (everybody can do what they want respecting other's work) and persons that do not easily fit into a local "spirit".

• Some Wikis also edict quality and neutrality rules. E.g. the Wikipedia policies and guidelines require "no original research" and "neutral point of view".

• There is an increasing problem with vandalism and therefore many Wikis require at least a login to edit. Educational wikis now tend to exclude external users from editing, since there is a lack of manpower to survey pages.

Educational usage

1. wiki as tool for inquiry-based learning designs (e.g. Lombard)
2. wiki as a collaborative content management system.
3. wiki for collaborative writing (see collaborative learning, writing-to-learn, CSCL, inquiry-based learning, ABAHCOCOSUCOL)
4. wiki as a resource repository
5. wiki as a project/class management tool (see project-based learning)
6. wiki as a website
7. wiki as hypertexts (see cognitive flexibility theory)
8. Wiki as university (see WikiVersity and the Wikiversity/Modified proposal.

Wiki software

Most Wiki installations require some system administration skills. Usually a Wiki runs as a web-based Internet service. If you are interested in history you may consult the Wikipedia wiki software article (and follow the links to various more specialized articles). Wikipedia also provides a [Wikipedia:Comparison of wiki software | comparison of wiki software]

The orginal and similar simple wikis

• WikiWiki, the original written in Perl by Ward Cunningham.
• UseModWiki (Popular wiki indirectly based on Cunningham's original). A popular example is MeatballWiki, a community of active practitioners striving to teach each other how to organize people using online tools. The first Wikipedia also used this engine before completly rewriting the code in PHP.

More recent simple wikis

There are lots !!

• PhpWiki, a Wiki quite close to the orginal. At TECFA we use it in secondary education. In addition, some of our PostNuke servers use a modified version as module which doesn't seem to be available anymore.
• Wikka Wiki] (a fork of WakkaWiki) , a derived version will soon be available as pnWikka PostNuke module. (DKS - 21:25, 12 June 2006 (MEST))
• Wikini

Simple file-based wikis

• Doku Wiki is popular and an active project.
• MoinMoin Wiki, a popular Python-based wiki engine.

Wiki farms and servers

A wiki farm is a server or a collection of servers that provides wiki hosting, or a group of wikis hosted on such servers. A wiki server is software that allows to run several separate wikis through a single installation/administration.

• Swiki is a wiki server popular in education. You can create/administer wikis for different communities, control access rights, the editing interfaces are simple enough for schools, also has file upload. This project seems to be dead, but at TECFA we run 2 Swiki servers for years without any problems.

(Note: implemented with the Small talk language, usually runs on its own Comanche Web Server).

• An alternative solution to installing your own wiki is to use a provider of a wiki farm. See the comparison of wiki farms.

Complex Standalone Wikis

• MediaWiki, e.g. this wiki.
• TikiWiki written in PHP is more a portal than a Wiki.
• Twiki written in Perl. Allows to define forms-based editing (structured wiki) if needed. Pages must use CamelCase names and links are automatically created for CamelCase words.

Indexes

You can find more wikiware on:

• Wiki Engine
• Wiki Engines (on the original wiki site)
• Wiki software (Mediawiki article)

Articles and Books

• The Wikipeida Wiki article
• 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)

• Chen, Helen L., David Cannon, Jonathan Gabrio, Larry Leifer,George Toye, and Tori Bailey (2005). Using Wikis and Weblogs to Support Reflective Learning in an Introductory Engineering Design Course, Proceeding of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition, PDF
• http://www.openfing.org/educarnaval/index.php?2006/02/01/8-educarnaval-2-wikieducation-pas-de-co-construction-sans-education-aux-medias