Thing 6: Wikis

Wikis are a collaboration tool designed to engage people in an ongoing process of creation and collaboration. Wikis allow users to easily add, remove and edit content.

The most well known example of a wikis is Wikipedia, an online open-community encyclopedia that is written and maintained by..well anyone. If someone makes an inappropriate entry, anyone can reinstate an older version. Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:

• anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content
• tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what has been changed and by whom
• earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed
• and users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content.

Some people use wikis to conduct virtual meetings, projects, schoolteachers are posting assisgnments and receiving feedback from parents and children, and businesses are using it to keep up to date with best practise. Libraries have developed their own learning & development wiki to encourage best practise and sharing of ideas.

Discovery exercise

1. Watch the you tube video wikis in plain english
   
   
2. Using this wiki is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich - or so says their maker PB works. Use the following username and password to sign in to the PB wiki: Username: acl.elgar@gmail.com
   Password: aclweb20
   
   
3. Choose one of the entry points to add stuff to the PB wiki, it could be your favourite holiday destination, movie, book, recipe or a joke etc...Yes it really is that easy to use.
   
   
4. Post a comment below about what you learned...what you did...liked...disliked etc about wikis.