Introducing wiki… …a tool for collaboration Online Northwest Conference, January 21, 2005

1. Introducing wiki……a tool for collaborationOnline Northwest Conference, January 21, 2005 Kate Rubick and Mark Dahl Watzek Library, Lewis & Clark College rubick@lclark.edu, dahl@lclark.edu http://www.lclark.edu/~dahl/presentations/

2. The task at hand: At a professor’s request, devise a mechanism to allow two classes of 20 first-year students create a shared list of resources on the Constitutional Convention.

3. What had been done before: In previous years the professor had created an email list group so students could share resources as they found them. The results had been unsuccessful.

4. Why wiki? • wikis allow multiple authors to collaborate on a document. • Open source software is available for wiki setup. • The wiki interface is user-friendly. • Introducing students to wiki segues into a larger discussion on evaluating sources.

5. "wiki”is Hawai'ian for “quick.” • The first wiki, created by Ward Cunningham in 1994-95, still runs today: http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?wikiwikiWeb • One popular (and controversial) wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page hint: try searching the term “wiki” in Wikipedia. • A Web bibliography on wikis is WikiBibliography at: www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/wikiBib.htm

6. What is a wiki? What is not a wiki? • Blogs • Personal publishing device for a single author • Forums or bulletin boards • Support discussions among multiple people about a particular topic or “thread”

7. wiki • wikis allow multiple authors to collaborate on a document • Several people can write, edit, delete and rewrite content on the same page • Good for collaborative projects—working documents

8. wiki attributes • A page needs to be linked to exist • Simple editing rules/simple styling • Italic • Bold • Links • Images • Let’s enter the LC wiki

9. Just click edit

10. …and then edit

11. wiki style • Our wiki software has a variety of visual styles to chose from that apply to the whole wiki • Hawaiian (soothing images) • MacOS • Space • Etc.

12. How to setup a wiki • Lots of open source wiki software packages • Download code for PHP, Perl, ASP.NET, Python, Java • We use PHPwiki • Another alternative is a hosted wiki service such as http://editme.com

13. Teachable Moments Each section came into the library for an instruction session one hour in length. The purpose of the instruction: • prepare students for doing college-level library research on the Constitutional Convention. • Show students how to use the wiki.

14. Accessing the wiki from the Watzek Library site…Start at http://library.lclark.edu

15. Find the Research Guide for Inventing America…

16. And then locate the pathfinder for their class…

17. The wiki requires login authentication…

18. The first screen you see when entering the wiki…

19. The wiki before the students began editing…

20. The simplest assessment tool:a blank index card Each student was asked to fill out a card at the end of the instruction session. • On one side they wrote what they learned or something they liked about this session. • The other side was to describe something they wished had been covered or other suggestions for improvements.

21. The responses varied… “The information about the wiki tool was explained very well and was really useful.” “I am seriously confused about the wiki.” Of 29 responses, 21 indicated that they thought the class had sufficiently prepared them to use the wiki tool.

22. The finished product:http://library.lclark.edu/dynamic/wiki • 71 resources were entered, somewhat haphazardly, into the wiki. • Almost all 80 students contributed 2 resources. The professor said that all students contributed at least one resource. • Both the students and the librarian (albeit for different reasons) had problems adhering to the concepts of Wabi Sabi!

23. The success of the project: • In a survey with 30 responses, 19 said they used the wiki to complete research for their final paper. 16 said they used sources they discovered in the wiki in their final bibliography. • In that survey, when asked to rate the wiki for ease of use between 1 and 5 (with 5 being easiest), 20 gave it a rating of 4 or 5. • The professor said that the final papers she received were 2/3 better than those received the previous year.

24. Additional technical info • PHP wiki was easy to setup because • Works with Open Source databases such as MySQL and PostGreSQL • Integrates with LDAP for authentication. This is very helpful when using the application among students

25. Integrated with Internet technologies • RSS Feeds • XHTML downloads

26. Thoughts for future projects: • Consider wiki collaboration projects for upper-level students. • Aim for small groups. • Carefully design how the wiki will be organized and make organizing the information a requisite for project participants.

27. References: Chang, May. “I’ve Gathered a Basket of Communication and Collaboration Tools.” Computers in Libraries 24:8 (September 2004), pp. 6-11. Overview of Weblogs, Forums, wikis and Instant Messaging. Mattison, David. “Quickiwiki, Swiki, Twiki, Zwiki and the Plone Wars.” Searcher 11:2 (April 2003), pp. 32-48. In-depth article, includes a glossary of wiki terminology. Waldman, Simon. “Who Knows?” The Guardian, London, Final edition (October 26, 2004), p. 2. Nice article on wikipedia.