Thing 4: Wikis (Week of 12/15)

This week's topic is wikis.

A wiki is a website that multiple people can edit easily. It's great for working together on documents, projects, and so on. For a simple explanation, see this video, Wikis in Plain English: http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english.



Where did the word "wiki" come from? According to Wikipedia, Ward Cunningham created the first wiki in 1995. His "WikiWikiWeb" lets software developers create a library of "software patterns." The name "Wiki" was inspired by the Hawaiian word wiki or wiki-wiki, which means "quick" and is often used as a term for taxis and airport shuttles.

The most well-known example of a wiki is in fact the Wikipedia. It's an online version of an encyclopedia, where anyone (and everyone) can post and edit information. There's a great explanation of wikis in general and Wikipedia in specific at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/wiki.htm.

Sample Wikis in the Library Field
Libraries have started to use wikis for all sorts of topics. Here are a few examples you might want to check out.

http://www.libsuccess.org/ (Best Practices in Libraries)
http://wikis.ala.org/readwriteconnect/index.php/ALA_wikis
http://www.publicpbwikis.com/Library/Public_Library/ (Public Library wikis)

This Week's TechPlay Exercise

1. Take a look at some of the wikis listed above.


2. Try your hand at posting to a wiki. Don't worry, we've already created a sample for you to try. At lgpl.pbwiki.com, we've created a Staff Wiki.
   


3. This week, you should receive (if you haven't already) an e-mail from do-not-reply@pbwiki.com, called "Invitation to Join lgpl." Click on the link to join.


4. Set up your account by creating a name and a password.


5. On the next screen, click on lgpl.pbwiki.com.
   


6. You are now at the Front Page of our wiki. We've created two pages for you to edit, one on staff resources, and one for nametags. Click on each link to get to the page and read the instructions. You can edit each page and add your own information by clicking the "Edit" tab at the top.


7. Post a message to your blog about this week's exercise. Did you like wikis better than Google Docs for collaborating with others?
   

Challenge:
Want a challenge? Try creating your own wiki. We used PBWiki, a really simple, free wiki tool. At http://pbwiki.com, you can click on the green button to create a wiki. You have already created an account, and PBWiki will walk you through the process of choosing a name, color scheme, and so on.