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Elizabeth Scroggs Diffusion and Integration of Technology EDUC 8841 Dr. Watson. What is a Wiki?.
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Elizabeth ScroggsDiffusion and Integration of TechnologyEDUC 8841Dr. Watson
What is a Wiki? “A wiki is a Web site that allows users to add and update content on the site using their own Web browser. This is made possible by Wiki software that runs on the Web server. Wikis end up being created mainly by a collaborative effort of the site visitors. A great example of a large wiki is the Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia in many languages that anyone can edit” (Tech Terms, 2005).
What could wikis provide to educators? • “Wiki technology can provide benefits of improved work processes, improved communication and collaboration, and improved knowledge sharing. With organized and usable knowledge being a key ingredient to organizational success, ensuring productive creation and sharing of knowledge can be deemed advantageous for organizations” (Hester, 2008).
Need: • “The practices of participating in wikis, and social software more generally, could potentially provide a structure supporting a community of practice model of learning as individuals come together, and develop a repertoire of shared practices, bringing new experiences to the group and learning from the group’s existing practices” (Grant, 2006).
Research: • The history of wikis dates from 1994, when Ward Cunningham invented the concept and gave it its name (he gave the name "WikiWikiWeb" to both the wiki, which ran on his company's website at c2.com, and the wiki software that powered it).
Research continue: • The creation of true wikis only became possible with the development of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. • c2.com thus became the first wiki, or a website with pages that can be edited via the browser, with a version history for each page.
Development of wiki software, 2001–2003: • Until 2001, wikis were virtually unknown outside of the restricted circles of computer programmers. • Wikis were introduced to the general public by the success of Wikipedia, a free content encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone.
Development continued: • After 2002, the number of wiki engines continued to grow, as new commercial products were introduced, and as new open-source projects forked off of existing ones.
Development continued: • As they developed, wikis incorporated many of the features used on other websites and blogs, including: *support for various wiki markup styles *optional use of external editors *support for plugins and custom extensions *use of RSS feeds *integrated email discussion *precise access control
Commercialization: • Release of the Wiki Base softwareWard Cunningham wrote a version of his wiki software meant for public usage, called "Wiki Base". In his announcement, he wrote: "WikiWikiWeb is almost public. Actually, a pretty good clone of it is public at: http://c2.com/cgi/wikibase. I've translated almost all of the actual wiki script into HyperPerl, a wiki-literate programming system that I think you will like." Visitors were requested to register on the wiki before they took the Wiki Base code.[4] Cunningham expected users to fold changes back into his editable version, but those who implemented changes generally chose to distribute the modified versions on their own sites.[4] • Alternate applications for wikis began to emerge, usually imitating the look-and-feel of WikiWikiWeb/Wiki Base; such applications were originally known as "WikiWikiClones". The first one was most likely created by IBM programmer Patrick Mueller, who wrote his in the REXX language, even before Wiki Base was released.[4] • [edit] Early wiki websites for software developmentInspired by the example of the WikiWikiWeb, programmers soon started several other wikis to build knowledge bases about programming topics. Wikis became popular in the free and open-source software (FOSS) community, where they were used for collaboratively discussing and documenting software.[citation needed] However, being used only by specialists, these early software-focused wikis failed to attract widespread public attention.[7]
Adoption • While offering an easy-to-use collaborative platform for teams to capture and share knowledge about their products, processes, people and projects, enterprise wikis also typically have limitations that have often impeded their wider adoption and usage in the enterprise.. • 1. Accessibility - You do not have rapid access to precise information. Unless everyone has awareness of the page-hierarchy and the overall content organization scheme, information isn't so readily or intuitively accessible. Wildcard searches maybe the only mechanism for others to find information. If there are multiple wikis (which isn't uncommon) then it becomes even more difficult. • 2. Reliability - Content is static and has a tendency to become stale (thus unreliable). Since information or content is primarily user-generated, it tends to be static in nature. Unless someone is taking the responsibility for diligently maintaining this content, it becomes stale and unreliable very quickly. • 3. Maintainability - Content is unstructured and thus requires a great deal of manual effort and discipline to keep it current. Cross linking of information across pages typically involves copying and pasting URLs. Integration with content outside of the wiki is also the same process. • 4. Integration - Most wikis are supporting mechanisms for integrating widgets into the content - which provides for some limited way of bringing data from other applications. It is not quite the same as integrating information, since it is rarely contextual.
Timeline of communication channels of the innovation process • 1994 Ward Cunningham started developing the WikiWikiWeb. • 1995 Cunningham introduces the wiki to the World-Wide Web. • 2000’s the wiki is adopted by society. • 2001 Jimmy Wales introduces several different versions of Wikipedia. • 2007 the wiki enters the Oxford English Dictionary.
