This document discusses the uses of wikis in education, business, and social settings. It provides examples of how wikis have been used for collaborative writing projects in language courses, sharing ideas and commentary on course materials, and replacing email for workplace collaboration. Wikis allow for easy editing and sharing of content and are well-suited for group writing projects. They can also be used to keep documents and information up-to-date in a central online location. Successful wiki implementation requires having a clear purpose, getting users on board with agreed-upon usage guidelines, and persisting with the new format even if some users initially find it inconvenient.

1. About Wikis in education, business, social uses, fun, community, non-profit For the IT department @ UoC as we decide “Do we need a wiki on campus?” Derek Chirnside

2. First a little quiz Score with your fingers, one point per question

3. You can pronounce wiki Wiki : <wee-kee>) or <wick-ey>

4. You have heard of wikis

5. You know what wiki means Wiki wiki (in Hawaiian) . . . . means quick

6. You have used a wiki

7. You know what a wiki is “ A type of Web site that allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing.” Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

8. You have used Wikipedia

9. Bonus: you know what wikipedia.com is

10. Bonus: used wikipedia.com this week

11. Double Bonus: You have actually edited wikipedia.com

12. Bonus: you have used other wikis [There are a lot of wikis]

13. You have thought about using wikis in the classroom, office, business, or social club . . .

14. Case One: Social Uses Video by Commoncraft.com

15. Summary?

16. ASIDE: Creating a wiki. Markup language

17. ASIDE: Avoiding wiki markup problems Set up a structure for users to enter text into. Find another wiki that does not use wiki markup.

18. ASIDE: Where is your wiki hosted?? On your server eg http://akowiki.canterbury.ac.nz On the web eg http://wikispaces.com Free service or fee paying??

19. Case Two: German 311 [email_address] Part One . . Students develop script for a soap opera in German using wikispaces http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/ USE: Collaborative writing

20. http://wikispaces.com

21. Four tools 1. Edit the page http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

22. Four tools 2. Discussion of the page http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

23. Four tools 3. History of edits http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

24. Four tools 4. Notification or edits/changes http://seifenoper.wikispaces.com/

25. (Another feature: Permissions)

26. German 311 (Just by the way . .) Part Two . . Blogging in character Part Three . . Video the drama, and put it on YouTube.com Wikis are Not blogs which are Not Forums But there are blikis !! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliki

27. Five key concepts . . Wikis RSS Aggregators Blogs Social Software Tagging

28. Case Three: TT701 2006 Part One . . Context: needed a quick overview of Adult learning theory. An entire document (20 pages) was loaded into a wiki and opened for comment USE: Sharing ideas and commentary

31. Other uses

32. Other uses

33. Other uses

34. Other uses http://www.ikiw.org/2007/09/10/why-wikis-should-replace-email-for-collaboration/

35. WIKI Implementation: a conservative view

36. Implementation #1: Purpose One of the most fundamental things about making a wiki successful is having a purpose for using it . Although the wiki us very different from many other technologies, one great similarity it shares is that it needs to be used in response to specific “pain points” where knowledge construction and collaboration are not efficient. Once you know where it’s needed, the best way to start is to get everyone together who will be using a wiki and have a conversation to mutually agree on how it will be used, and establish it as part of the existing social structure of your group, team, or project. Provide some basic structure http://www.ikiw.org/category/wiki-uses/

37. Implementation #2: Agendas Once your group starts using the wiki, be firm about making sure people don’t drift back to earlier means of collaboration . For example, if you used to send out meeting agendas by email , and now you put them on the wiki and email a link to the appropriate page, you may get someone who protests and asks for the agenda by email. They may argue that it’s more work to get an email and have to link to a wiki page, instead of just having the agenda right in the email.

38. Implementation #3: Persist If this happens, I’d suggest responding that although it seems like an inconvenience now, it’s really only a temporary inconvenience that paves the way for several improvements . First is a reduction in email when people are using to going to the wiki and an email with a link to the meeting agenda wiki page is no longer necessary. The second is a further reduction in email when people need to edit the agenda and can do so directly on the wiki instead of emailing the person who sent the agenda. The third improvement is that now information is stored in a more archival, accessible, and secure format than email: if you were to lose your laptop or it’s stolen, email is lost along with it and this can compromise the security of sensitive information. However, if you’re using a wiki, that information is stored on a secure server and won’t be lost or compromised as easily. The fourth improvement is that once you start using the wiki for meeting agendas, it lays the foundation for further wiki use, like managing the tasks and projects that arise from the agenda. It’s this organic use that makes the wiki quickly become an indispensable tool for information and collaboration.

39. Implementation #4: Shared documents (eg Policies!!) Documentation, policies and procedures – kept centralised on a wiki – more efficient than constantly printing and distributing addenda to policies and rules, and vastly more efficient than reprinting and distributing entire documents when enough changes have to be made. So the lesson here is that in addition to being a great collaboration tool, wikis can also be incredibly useful for keeping information constantly up to date and immediately accessible. In addition to the efficiency of this, think of the cost savings and environmental benefit!

40. They want to contribute! They don’t want to be passive receivers of information. Why some people like wikis

41. Wiki technology enables collaborative knowledge gathering and “peer review.” Allows community-moderated, content, updated in real time.

42. The questions Identity? Audience?

43. Q. How many Wiki people does it take to change a lightbulb? A. One, but anyone can change it back. - langreiter.com

44. Thank-you