How can we share our information more effectively?
Wikis |
A wiki is a more sophisticated collaborative editor, not just restricted to editing single documents. It is a type of website that allows users to easily add or remove pages. It allows existing pages to be edited and links between pages to be created. It is essentially a website that can be changed by those who visit it. Different options exist to control who can do what. At one extreme some wikis allow anyone to edit what they find without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. In essence, a wiki is a simplification of the process of creating web pages combined with a system that records each individual change that occurs over time, so that at any time, a page can be reverted to any of its previous states.
It is now becoming more common for wikis to be created and edited by a few people (such as the American Flu Wiki).
Pros |
Cons |
Beware |
Instant editing, easy to keep up-to-date, mistakes can be easily corrected by rolling back to an earlier version of the page |
Editing a wiki is often not as simple as a normal word processor and may have more limitations |
Users need to overcome barrier of being able to edit as well as read a web-page |
Minimal training needed to add and edit pages |
If a completely open wiki is used, it must be moderated or managed by an editor |
Wikis need animation to foster collaboration. For new users, the ability to edit a web page directly is unnatural and can be a barrier |
Case-study on a wiki: ladder4learning
ladder4learning promotes “learning” for people and organisations in the community and voluntary sector in South East England. Ladder4learning have developed a Jargon Buster Wiki because they felt the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) is guilty of using an overwhelming range of inaccessible terms and acronyms.
The rapidly changing nature of the sector means that new initiatives and their corresponding terms come and go and it can be very hard to keep up-to-date with the latest jargon and acronyms. While a number of Jargon Busters exist, they rapidly become outdated. A wiki allows for rapid and regular updating by anyone in the VCS and this enables a collaborative approach on a national scale.
Users can register as members of the wiki, or they can use the wiki as a guest and remain anonymous. The success of this collaboration can be seen by the fact that the majority of definitions are added to and edited by people and groups outside ladder4learning
They are aware that with such collaborative, free-use tools there is always the potential for abuse of the site, for example the addition of inappropriate words and definitions. To date, this has not been an issue with this Wiki.
Further reading: Wikipedia