Student Usage Rate

  We do not have information on how many UW Madison students use wikis.

Wiki Basics

A Wiki is "a website that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum, but also allows anyone to edit the content."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki )

Uses

Wikis are used to create collaborative collections of information that are free and open to the public.

Suggestions for Educational Uses

Have students create definitions of important course terms or themes. They can then collaboratively develop the definitions and understandings throughout the semester.

Etiquette

• Do not vandalize wikis. For example, do not add an entry to Wikipedia about your pet goldfish, or erase relevant and accurate information from existing entry. If you are going to edit a wiki, edit to improve it.

• Be sure to cite your sources. If the original source is on the internet, consider creating a link to the source.

• If you notice inaccuracy or incompleteness in a section of a wiki, but do not have the knowledge or time to complete this information yourself, it is nice to stick in a tag that says "Fix Please." This is a heads up for other users to check this information over and to fix it, if they can.

• Be thoughtful in anything you are considering deleting from a wiki that you did not put there in the first place.

• When adding information to a wiki, try to write as clearly as possible; consider the wide range of readers who may visit the site.

• Do not use a wiki as a personal Web space. Wikis are not designed for this. Wikis are designed to be collaborative communities.

Wiki Jargon

wikizen - a member of a wiki community. (http://wiklossary.nearlythere.com/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi)

wikiSquatting - "using a wiki as personal Web space." (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WelcomeVisitors)

Getting Started

A common way to begin with Wikis is to use them as reference tools. Next time you need to look in an encyclopedia or dictionary, try Wikipedia or Wiktionary. Once you are comfortable with these Wikis, consider editing them.

Popular Wikis

• Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers.

• Wiktionary is a collaboratively written dictionary and thesaurus.

• Wikibooks is a collection of collaborative textbooks.