Monday, November 10, 2008

Thing 18: Vini Vidi Wiki?

Wikis. We've heard much about them, but what are they really? Put simply, wikis are a webpage or collection of pages that anyone can edit. Links to other pages in the same wiki make it easy to cross-reference information, and access can be open or limited to invited authors. Like Google Docs, wikis are another way to collaboratively work on the web, but where the docs are individual documents, wikis provide an entire 'website' to work in.

Wikipedia may be the most well-known use of this tool, but sites like PBWiki and wikispaces make it easy for individuals and small groups to create a wiki for any purpose. Storing and organizing committee information, documenting commonly-asked questions and working on multi-author booklists are just a few examples, but our friends at Common Craft have a little more fun with it:



Discovery Activity
To play around with editing a wiki, why not take a stab at BPL Booklists, a wiki I created a year or so ago as a 'sandbox' for folks to play with. Please log in using the email "boston26dot2 @ gmail.com" (take out the spaces) and password "thingz." Click on the link to the 26.2 Things Book List and add a short review in the same format as an example. Please include your first name and initial so I can give you credit for this Thing.

If you need some helpful hints, take at look at the PB Wiki style page.

If you'd like to really Go the Extra Mile, create a wiki of your own that you're willing to share with the class. Post the link to your blog with a description of the wiki.

Up for some more working together online? We're making the old school new school in Thing 19: Clip, Clip!

1 comment:

Akkire said...

hi jen.

about your question on my blog - so far, the sites and tools we've been introduced to are ones I know of already. so , no they are not helping me organize exaclty...I don't really see them all tying together.

however, if there is a site which will help me check my four emails in one location, I would LOVE that tool. please do explain.