Introduction to Wikis

Wikis

Wikis are web pages that can be edited by anyone or a group of users.

Think of it as a collaborative Dreamweaver.

The Wiki itself is a web application.

Wikis are great for research teams, project teams, students in a class, and just about any other collaborative effort.

A key service wikis provide is versioning, which allows the moderators to turn back time if necessary.

Wikipedia

wikipedia.com is perhaps the greatest grass-roots intellectual effort ever. It is an encyclopedia created by, well, everyone! Need to know about some computer science or philosophy term, its a great place to start. The nice thing about it is that, unlike Britannica, etc., it stays pretty much up-to-date because people are always working on it. There are grandmothers in the Netherlands who spend their days working on particular topics!

Wiki110 -- cs.usfca.edu/~wolber/wiki110 is a wiki I've set up for my classes. I'll check it often, but for the most part it is there for the students in the class to collaborate. You can comment on lectures, projects, etc., post resources that others might like, or just talk about where the weekend party is.

Editing a Wiki

1. Login to Wiki110. When you are logged in, there is an icon for providing a name and timestamp to all your entries (second to last icon on the edit bar).

2. To edit a page, click on 'edit' at top to edit a page.

3. The wiki is a mediawiki wiki, the same as wikipedia. It has its own syntax, e.g., '''david''' means david in bold. Use the toolbar at top to see how to do things, but its pretty straight forward.

4. After editing, remember to save the page and check to see that it looks how you want it.

5. Be respectful of others-- don't delete the entries of others or write mean things.

In-Class Assignment

1. Go to the Wiki110 page and create an account. Then navigate to the CS 107 Students page. Your name should be there and should link to a blank page. Click on the link to your page and add the following information:

Name, Link to your blog, link to your home page, picture.

You can add other information as well.

2. Working in teams of two, choose a topic or person that interests you. Search for that topic/person on wikipedia. Read the information there, and then do some research (Googling) on the topic. Once you've found an interesting item to add, create an account at wikipedia and add your content. Be sure and spell-check the content you add and you may also want to run it by your instructor. This is real stuff and millions use wikipedia everyday.

Resources

Richardson, Will, Wikipedia Screencast, Wikipedia Screencast