EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2004, Volume 39, Number 5
Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not
It’s risky to talk about wikis as if they’re all the same. In practice, the term wiki (derived from the Hawaiian word for “quick”) is applied to a diverse set of systems, features, approaches, and projects. Even dedicated wikiheads engage in perpetual arguments about what constitutes true wikiness. But some fundamental principles (usually) apply.
- Anyone can change anything.
- Wikis use simplified hypertext markup.
- WikiPageTitlesAreMashedTogether.
- Content is ego-less, time-less, and never finished.
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Newcomers to the medium may find it easiest to start with simple tasks. Wikis work great as shared online sketchpads or as spaces for brainstorming. They are perfect for creating perpetually updated lists or collections of links, and most users can instantly grasp their utility as informal bulletin boards. Because it takes only a couple of seconds to set up a new page, no purpose is too trivial.
One common way to use wikis is to support meeting planning: a provisional agenda is drawn up, and the URL is distributed to the participants, who are then free to comment or to add their own items. Once the meeting is under way, the online agenda serves as a note-taking template, and when the meeting is completed, the notes are instantly available online, allowing the participants or anybody else to review and annotate the proceedings.
With some planning, more complex processes can easily be supported.
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Wikis are already making their mark in higher education and are being applied to just about any task imaginable. They are popping up like mushrooms, as wikis will, at colleges and universities around the world, sometimes in impromptu ways and more often with thoughtful intent.
Posted by at October 18, 2004 10:23 AM