23. S-Curve on the Diffusion of Wiki Technology 1995- Creation of Wiki by Ward Cunningham for Portland Pattern Repository. 2001- Wikipedia created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. 2010- Wikis are being created and used by businesses, government, educational institutions, and individuals. To date (2010) Wikipedia has over 2,500,000 pages.
Hello my name is Tabitha Edenfield and I am a third grade teacher at Sand Hill Elementary. I am currently completing coursework for my Specialist degree in Educational Technology at Walden University. I want to thank you for adding me to today’s agenda for me to talk about a new innovation that I think would be beneficial for our system.
Have you ever forgotten to forward an attachment after you labored over it?
Have you ever had to revise an agenda more than once due to changes in what would be presented at a meeting?
Have you ever wished that there was a place where you could post work that you would like someone to review before submitting?
Have you ever wished that you had had input from a colleague about an important decision?
If you answered YES to any of these questions then a wiki might be just what you need.
What is a wiki?
Ward Cunnignham is the creator of wiki technology. He created it so computer programmers would have somewhere to work together for find “good patterns” for programming. He first installed it on his own website for his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham as an add on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He called this first wiki the Wiki Wiki Web.
Problems that faced wiki usage during development were concerns of privacy and vandalism on wiki sites since anyone could edit the wiki. Another problem was that it requires internet connectivity which some people still do not have. Since it is web based it is open to spam that can corrupt the wiki. Finally a wiki has no set organization so with unlimited authors and editors there is a great possibility that the wiki may become disorganized and difficult to navigate. Disorganization as more and more users edit and add information
Jimmy Wells and Larry Sanger are the creators of Wikipedia which is the largest and most successful web based encyclopedia. It is set up as a wiki so that anyone can publish or edit about any topic on their site. Binbin Zheng and Xiuli Zhuang found that wikis are a new form of learning style that that requires change in both the teacher and the student for success. It will take time and practice for all parties involved to become efficient.
These problems were overcome by providing managers of wikis was to regulate user access. Technologies for a print version of wikis are improving. Most importantly SPAM and vandalism can now be avoided by requiring member to login to the wiki which allows for the use of automated spam bots.
The initial audience for wikis was to discover patterns in good computer programming by collaboration between computer programming creators. Today all facets of society have wikis: government, business, education, and individuals.
Though there is no “thing” that has to be marketed, the idea of Open/Free content does. There must be change agents that are willing to put their ideas into practice to prove that wikis can be a profitable innovation.
Evan Prodromou is one of the current experts of business wikis. His personal business wiki is Wikitravel. Wikitravel is a place where to date over 23,000 free destination guides that can be reviewed before deciding on a vacation.
Evan Prodromou has developed a set of rules for success for commercial wikis. They are have a notable purpose, demonstrate value, be transparent, extract value where you provide value, set boundaries, be personally involved, and run it with the right crowd.
You may be wondering what was the innovation decision process of wikis.
Knowledge of wikis began in May of 1995. This is when the InvitationToThePatternsList was created on the Wiki Wiki Web so people could share the way that people, projects and patterns changed the way they wrote programs. This knowledge was spread through a “common gateway interface.”
After the success and popularity of the Invitation to the Pattern List the Portland Pattern Repository was persuaded to take a chance to use a wiki for the its programmers to work more collaboratively.
The Portland Pattern Repository decided to gamble on using a wiki to aid its members to find patterns that lead to success by analyzing research. Each member was able to upload their findings so that others would be able to compare, add, or revise the findings they found. It was a way to work smarter, not harder.
The Portland Pattern Repository began using wikis in May 1995 and it was immediately popular and successful and is still in use today.
March 2005, marked the 10 year anniversary of Ward’s WikiWikiWeb . It is still a viable wiki for many today. Companies, medical facilities, educational institutions and systems, and public and private groups utilize wikis.
I feel that wiki technology has almost achieved maximum innovation with education being that last sector of society to diffused into. Education is usually the most reluctant to change because of the nostalgic feeling we get about traditional education. Unfortunately today’s students are very different than students from just 10 years ago. Education needs to embrace the technological needs of this new generation .
Innovators and earlier adopters of wikis were program designers and technology educators. Some ways to encourage adoption are to provide research to increase performance, practical yet creative ways to use wikis in the classroom, and technical support when questions and problems arise.
Laggards in the adoption of wikis tend to be teachers close retirement because they feel that what they have been doing for years ahs worked well for them and see no need to change with few years left to teacher. Also teachers how enter education late in life can also be laggards because they tend to teach in the way that they were taught. To encourage adoption of wikis by laggards could be to offer one on one or small group training or to pair a laggard with someone who is eager to use the newest technologies that are available.
Why does critical mass on wikis need to be researched? Advantages for wikis need to be provided through research so that they are effective ways to collaborate, that they are not a fad and that the use of them is rational.
Another attribute that needs to be addressed is wiki’s complexity. Fortunately wikis are easy to create and navigate. Early adopters can act for later adopters as vicarious trails. The late adopters will observe the benefits and decide if it would benefit them. Early adopters also can act as support for later adopters.
Benefits of wikis must be observable because seeing is believing. To reach critiacl mass observers that are undecided on wiki use my see positive advantages for usage and see that wikis will increase performance of their students, which is the bottom line for teaching. Will it help me be a more effective teacher and improve student performance?
I believe that decentralized diffusion in education is the best way to spread the use of wikis by training innovators from various campuses who could then go back to their home campus and train others. Site administrators should choose teachers who they feel would be the best change agents and knowledgeable of technology to attend training. Always start with the most willing to use new technology.
Change agents to need to be able persuade others that wikis will make their job easier and more streamlined when more and more responsibility is being added to them. Change agents also need to provide support to adopters as they have questions. They could compose a basic guide with other innovators and early adopters of common questions and concerns that new adopters may have. During training change agents need to provide quality examples of wikis that are easily duplicated. Follow up training will be needed as more complex issues and questions arise. Monthly informal meeting will be able to foster the collaboration to instill the desire to sustain wiki use.
In education I have found that to have universal adoption of a new technology it is best to get leaders in the schools on board that will use their influence to persuade others to adopt new ways of doing tasks. Implying that wikis will eventually be required would persuade some to adopt faster so that they will be ready and knowledgeable when wide spread adoption is not an option.
What do teachers have to say about wikis?
Now to see wikis in action.
All in all Cunningham has said that wikis are the simplest database that could possibly work.
I believe that wikis are cost effective because the cost if free, simple to create and navigate, and will allow for teachers from all over the county to work together on projects what will benefit our students to become the leaders of tomorrow.
