Wiki

Definition

A wiki is a powerful collaborative tool that allows users to add and edit content online. 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 ?

Collaborative online editing with history

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

• On most wikis, all modifications (or at least a representative sample) are stored and you can always undo all the modifications or even compare different versions of a page.

Editing Syntax

• Editing content on a wiki is usually very simple, users have to learn a small syntax

• There is no standard Wiki syntax. Each Wiki Software has its own, although some types of Wikis are very close.

• However, some wikis like this one use an increasingly complex syntax, e.g. for this mediawiki see How to edit a page). Users still have the option to work with a very small subset, as demonstrated in the Wikipedia Chatsheet

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 CamelCase linking mechanism, but this syntax makes reading more difficult and certainly deviates from standard spelling.

• Some Wikis add other navigational features, e.g. search or categories like this wiki.

Wiki architectures

Most Wikis are implement as server-side www scripts.

• a webserver
• more implementations are done in PHP, but you also can find Perl, Python, Java, etc.
• most of the time, a database server like MySQL.

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

Wiki Management

• 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 oder to make both knowledge retrieval and production easier.
  • Simple example: This wiki's Help:Editing rules editing rules

• Frequently, Wikis also adopt editorial charts. 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".

• There is an increasing problem with vandalism and therefore many Wikis require at least a login to edit. Educational wikis now tend to exclude externals from editing.

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 and installation

Installation

Most Wiki installations require some system administration skills. Usually a Wiki runs as a web-based Internet service and you therefore need to have the following compontents already installed:

• a webserver
• some scripting language, e.g. PHP
• most of the time, a database server like MySQL.

Open Source Software

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

You can find more wikiware on:

1. Wiki Engine
2. Wiki Engines

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)