wikis 101...or, how i learned to stop worrying and trust the internet phoebe ayers –...
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Wikis 101...Or, how I learned to stop worrying and trust the Internet
Phoebe Ayers – [email protected] Davis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elkit/114382996/
Overview: A little history What? Why? How?
Examples Questions and brainstorming
What can you imagine using wikis for?
Now? Later?
Social definition:
A wiki is a tool for
collaboration, information sharing
and knowledge/content management
Technical definition:
A “wiki” is a type of software to run a website that
anyone can edit
“Wiki”: Hawaiian for “any idiot can edit”
A little history
No, there will not be a quiz later
In the beginning: In 1995, Ward Cunningham invented a type of
website software That allowed anyone to modify the site’s content So this “WikiWikiWeb” could grow naturally and
efficiently Ward gave this software a catchy
name
…That I hear actually does have
something to do with Hawaiian
buses
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grenade/177953735/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/19490596/
In Which The Wiki Takes Off! The wiki was invented “In order to make the exchange of
ideas between programmers easier”*
… but was soon discovered as a way to easily share content as well as ideas
Different wiki engines were written… [UseMod, PhpWiki, MoinMoin, Twiki]
And communities began to grow
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiWikiWeb
We’ll get back to this “In the late 1990s, wikis were increasingly
recognized as a promising way to develop private- and public-knowledge bases, and this potential inspired the founders of the Nupedia encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, to use wiki technology as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia: Wikipedia was launched in January 2001”
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Today: Dozens of wiki engines & wiki companies on the
market, including: “Enterprise wikis” – software for company intranets
(Socialtext, Confluence)
Free wiki hosting services – Jotspot, Wikia, Wetpaint
Or, download & install your own: Mediawiki, PhpWiki, Kwiki, etc. etc.
And dozens of communities…. Including Wikipedia – famous and enormous
A recap: A Wiki is a type of website that allows users to
easily edit and change some available content Two parts:
“wiki engine” (software) users – edit content and develop the wiki
community “Wiki” or “the wiki” often generically refers to both Wikipedia is just one example, running on one
type of wiki software (Mediawiki)
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
http://www.flickr.com/photos/psmith/110333255/
Wiki features
How does it work? A wiki page starts more or less empty Wiki pages are connected by internal hyperlinks Every page should be connected
No ownership of wiki content – anyone can work on any piece
6 magic features: Most wikis have:
Edit this page - open editing of pages (sometimes with permission layers)
Distinct syntax – simple, non-html Discussion – comment on a page or the site Versioning or “diffs” – you can see every
change that’s been made to a pageRecent changes - can (usually) see all changes
made to the siteRevert – can always change a page back to what
it was before
Edit this page!
What do you mean, “edit”? All you need is a computer, internet access and a
web browser special markup language:
[[this is an internal link]][http:www.link.com this is an external link]’’italics’’ or ’’’bold’’’ ==Headline 1=====Headline 2===*Bulleted list#Numbered list (item 1)#Numbered list (item 2) ~~~~ - to sign and date your comments
• As opposed to the HTML we know (and don’t love):
<a href=http://www.link.com> this is an external link</a>
<i>italic text</i><b>bold text</b><h1>headline</h1> <li><ul>list element 1</ul></li>
Not to mention CSS <style type="text/css"> body { background: #fff;
Etc.
MediaWiki: ==S.R. Ranganathan==The ’’’Five Laws of Library Science’’’ are as follows: # Books are for use. # Every reader has his or her book.# Every book has its reader. # Save the time of the reader. # The library is a growing organism. * See also: [[Library]], [http://www.ala.org The ALA]
HTML: <h1>S.R. Ranganathan</h1><p>The <b>Five Laws of Library Science</b> are as follows:<ol><li> Wikis are for use</li><li> Every reader has his or her Wiki</li><li> Every Wiki has its reader</li><li> Save the time of the reader</li><li> The Wiki is a growing organism</li></ol><ul><li> See also: <a
href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library”> Library</a>, <a href=“http://www.ala.org”> The ALA </a> </li></ul>
Either way:
S.R. RanganathanThe Five Laws of Library Science are as
follows: 1. Books are for use. 2. Every reader has his or her book.3. Every book has its reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. 5. The library is a growing organism. • See also: Library, The ALA
Page history
IP address of “anonymous edit”
Edit summary
How to read a Wikipedia (MediaWiki) article
history
Minor edit
Links to user page, user talk page, and
user contribution history
Date and time of edit
Reversion of most
recent edits to old
version (poss.
vandalism)
Compare to
current
version of
articleOr most
recent
preceding
version
Click to compare two versions
The magic “diff”
Recent changes
Revert this page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ross/3789540/
Example wikis
Wikipedia
(in a nutshell)
What is it? “The free encyclopedia”But also: Related to wiki-dictionaries, textbooks and
citizen journalism A place to find open-source media A reference desk A huge community One of the world’s most popular websites A site with a mission
Wikipedia basics
GNU/GFDL licensed content: free as in beer and free as in speech
Open to all and editable by anyone Edit anonymously or with an account Funded mostly (>80%) by
individual donationsSmall budget and 4 paid employees
Why is Wikipedia special?
Multilingualism/multiculturalism People are using it Astonishing size
It’s remarkably good Fundamental change to information
production, dissemination, and authority:
You’ve never seen anything like this before, ever
Wikis in Libraries
Wikis in libraries Tool for the public:
subject guides, more
Staff intranets: Reference sites Documentation, committee work, travel reports
Conferences: Participants planners
Community documentation: Library best practices
Why use a wiki?
Fast Easy Fun Findable & searchable online Can easily collaborate with all users Best tool for the job….?
Our motto: "WWW" (When Wondering? Wiki)
How?
How? Technically:
• Hosting service (free or pay) vs installing your own wiki on your webserver
Other Criteria: • Ease of use • Customization• Cost
More: http://lis753wiki.pbwiki.com/Do It Yourself
What you’ll need:
What you’ll need to install your own:
Webserver access Mediawiki install: need Apache, MySQL,
PHP (and access to your MySQL db) Other packages: varies
E.g., Kwiki: Apache & Perl
How? Socially:
Why does Wikipedia (or any wiki) work? A large, enthusiastic, and unconstrained user
base Users write and determine policy as well as
content on WikipediaThis may depend on situation Users must be:
Minimally trained Motivated Encouraged
What you’ll need:
Make the wiki inviting – pre-populate some pages
Provide training Make it fun and rewarding to edit Allow people to discover collaborative
writing Assume good faith
Remember:
You can’t break it You can always go back Security levels can be set and tweaked Many people contributing
a small amount can get
a lot done
Various configurations:
resources
Resources (see handout)Comparing wiki Software: • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_software• http://www.wikimatrix.org/
Choosing and installing a wiki in a library setting • LIS753: A wiki about wikis (lots of helpful resources):
http://lis753wiki.pbwiki.com
• List of examples: http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=How_Libraries_Can_Use
• More, from the Virtual Reference SIG wiki: http://vrsig.pbwiki.com/Wikis
• Presentation by Meredith Farkas: http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/seminar_page.php?sid=66
“wiki wednesdays”
http://www.socialtext.net/wikiwed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wikipedia:Meetup
And online communication: blogs, forums, IRC, wiki help pages… and meetups
Questions!?
And thoughts…
Phoebe Ayers
This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License :
Cc-by-sa; reuse permissible with attribution; distribute derivative works only under an identical license
Slides available at: http://people.lib.ucdavis.edu/psa/wiki.ppt
Handout available at: http://people.lib.ucdavis.edu/psa/wikihandout.doc