Wikis

2009-03-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Week Seven: March 16-20
Class Session 1: March 17, 3-4pm - Room 774
Class Session 2: March 19, 3-4pm - Room 774

1. What is a wiki?

A web page or collection of web pages:
-designed to enable anyone* to contribute or modify content,
-using a simplified markup language (no HTML expertise required).

*Differing levels of control, depending on the project. But, as a rule, self-organizing -- the community enforces behavioral norms.

2. Where does the term “wiki” come from?

Ward Cunningham started WikiWikiWeb in 1994, to allow programmers at his company to collaborate more easily. He remembered a Honolulu International Airport counter employee telling him to take the "Wiki Wiki" shuttle bus that runs between the airport's terminals.

3. What are the pros and cons of wikis?

Pros:
-Because they are so easy to edit, wikis democratize the Web.
-From the PLCMC Core Competencies Blog: “It is an incredibly useful tool for collaborative writing, pooling knowledge or exchanging ideas, especially on a subject that changes or needs updating frequently.”

Cons:
-On the other hand, if anyone can edit your wiki, quality control and spam can become problematic.
-Wikis can be disorganized and difficult to navigate at first. From Cunningham: "A wiki is not a carefully crafted site for casual visitors. Instead, it seeks to involve the visitor in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration that constantly changes the Web site landscape."

4. Just for fun:

Harry Potter Wiki
You can explore community policies, make a new page, track the latest changes, etc.

5. OK, but for what purposes can libraries use wikis?

From WebJunction: at the very least, wikis can provide a tool for quick & easy communication; at the most, they can become community hubs.

Some examples of libraries using wikis:

LibSuccess is a wiki for librarians to share professional best practices.

The Princeton Public Library started a book club wiki.
(Their wiki is only open to library users who enroll in the book club program.)

The American Library Association has used wikis to provide conference goers with information on local attractions, advice to new conference-goers, etc.

Here at UNCG, Ginny uses a wiki for project management (for the Civil Rights Greensboro web site.) You won't be able to open this wiki, but I will show it at the class sessions.

6. My experience with Wikipedia

Upon a recommendation at a state archives conference, I initiated a project to post biographical notes from our finding aids on Wikipedia, with links back to the finding aids themselves.

A) You do have to register for a user account; this part is easy.

B) “How to Edit a Page”
(Includes common mark-up shortcuts, also links to a Manual of Style.)

C) Now to the difficult part: Learning all the POLICIES AND GUIDELINES!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines
THERE ARE LOTS OF THEM!

Specific problems I encountered:

1) Notability
Your topic must have received significant coverage in secondary sources to qualify for a stand-alone article.

2) Copyright

Wiki uses the GNU Free Documentation License
-Basically, you have to grant permission for other people to use your stuff, as long as they cite you.

However, as my project involved cutting and pasting from our existing finding aids, Wikipedia's web crawlers would identify our articles as copyright violations and flag them for removal. A statement on my user account explaining the project was not sufficient, as Wikipedia wanted us to add a statement on all our finding aids, on our library website, that is was okay for part of the finding aid to be on Wikipedia. (I ended up having a student with writing experience edit the entries enough so they would not be flagged by the web crawlers.)

3) Conflict of interest
Linking to the website of your organization in Wikipedia articles is discouraged. (I've received a warning about this but no deletions yet.)

Articles still there: Clarence Harris, Margaret Coit, Joseph M. Bryan

8. How to start your own wiki

[From meredith.wolfwater.com]

Getting Started:

*Step 1: Choose software and configure wiki
--Wiki farms: Easy to set up, don't need server, less control and customizability.
--DIY wikis: Need your own server, but more control and flexibility.

*Step 2: Protect wiki from spam
--Have a specific purpose; provide clear guidelines and disclaimers; perhaps require registration; then depend upon your loyal users.

*Step 3: Add content

* Step 4: Encourage community members to add content (marketing)

9. Ways to increase/decrease adaptation of a wiki

[From wikipatterns.com]

-An example of a "People Pattern":

BarnRaising -- a planned event in which a community meets at a designated time to build content on the wiki together. One person alone can't build all the content in a wiki, and a community of people needs to understand how to use the wiki, and feel a sense of buy-in for it to become successful. A BarnRaising achieves this because people come expecting to learn how to use the wiki, and they are able to interact with each other as they work, thus strengthening community bonds and creating a support network that keeps people using the wiki.

-An example of a "People Anti-Pattern":

The Gate -- involves putting up too many barriers to participation on the wiki. Gates are present when people have to go through a difficult account creation process that's not straightforward, have to undergo mandatory training, or have to have their contributions approved before posting them on the wiki.

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Wikis

2009-01-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Week Seven: March 16-20
Class Session 1: March 17, 3-4pm - Room 774
Class Session 2: March 19, 3-4pm - Room 774

"Wiki is not plural for wicker."

This week we examine the concept of user-created and edited encyclopedia-like sites called "Wikis". The biggest and most popular wiki is 'Wikipedia', but wikis can also be created by groups who want to create specialized sites for their instructional and reference information.

Check back when this week starts to see a full description of this topic!

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UNCG Libraries "Exploring Web 2.0" Week Seven

Wikis

Wikis