j's scratchpad

Wikis
Jessica Baumgart
BWIN
Friday, September 15, 2006

Presentation as a Wiki

Who am I?

• News librarian by day, technophile by night

• Participate in technology group at the Berkman Center
• Involved with Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects

Raise your hand if you:

• Know what a wiki is

• Edit a wiki every now and then
• Contribute to a wiki regularly
• Have your own wiki
• Manage a wiki
• Have installed a wiki on a server

What’s a Wiki?

• Specialized Web site allowing easy editing

• Usually has a visible edit link or button
• Wiki syntax is somewhat easy to learn, not HTML

Editing a wiki is easy.

[a quick demo of how to edit a wiki]

A Web site anyone can edit?

Isn’t that bad?

If anyone can edit, remember that means anyone can edit.

Anyone Editing is Good.

• Aids communication, especially among decentralized team members or over time

• Encourages participation
• Central repository for information

Anyone Editing is Bad.

• “Help! I erased everything on the wiki!”

• Technology comfort level
• Ownership
• Wiki spam and vandalism
• Loss of content control

Some wikis have access controls.
The front page of Wikipedia, for example, does not have an edit tab: http://www.wikipedia.org/. Even many registered users cannot edit the page. Only specific trusted individuals within the community have the ability to edit the page.

Caution 1: Storing Information

• Anyone can edit the wiki

• Compatibility with other storage formats
• The right or best tool
• Wiki spam
• Vandalism

Caution 2: Using a Wiki as a Source

• Content can change at any moment

• Who’s responsible for the content?
• Credentials?

Wikis Come in Different Colors

• Different wiki platforms have different functionality

• Think about what you want or will use the wiki for
• Desirable features
• Cost
• Intranet, Web site, hosted

Different Wikis

Different wiki software

• MediaWiki: http://www.mediawiki.org/

• Twiki: http://twiki.org/
• PBwiki: http://pbwiki.com/
• MoinMoin: http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/
• Wet Paint: http://www.wetpaint.com/

Examples of Wikis

• Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/

• Atom: http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/
• Library Success:  http://www.libsuccess.org/
• Newslib mini: http://newslibmini.pbwiki.com/
• SLA Boston Chapter: http://silversmith.olin.edu/slawiki/
• SLA Boston Programming
• BarCamp: http://barcamp.org/BarCampBoston
• BarCamp Registration
• reddit: http://www.reddit.com/
  • Help screen done by wiki
• Codex Dresden: http://epsilon.media.mit.edu/codex/
  • Team work

  • Distributed, real time collaboration
  • Archive for the future
• A Codex Dresden Puzzle

Future of wikis

• More wikis in use for more things

• Growth in the business world
• Change people’s ideas about the Web being static

Future of wiki software

• More enterprise solutions

• More features, like XML feeds
• Easier to use

Wikimania

• International conference for the Wikimedia Foundation

• Excellent way to learn what’s happening with their projects
• Opportunity to network with others interested in wikis

Wikimania 2006

• Held in Cambridge

• Brought together many North American contributors
• Many highlights

Learn More:

• Wiki conferences

• Berkman technology group: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/thursdaymee…
• Local Wikipedia group: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:M…

Thank you!