Social Software Series: Wikis If you walk into the ETC, you'll see on the whiteboard behind Dave C.'s head the words "Wiki, wiki, wiki . . ." When I interviewed at Bryn Mawr almost 3 years ago, I mentioned wikis as a technology to watch. When asked what a wiki was, I had a difficult time explaining it properly. A wiki, I said, is a web page anyone can edit. This didn't make sense to some on the committee. I could tell by the puzzled looks around the room (though there were some nods). I went on the explain that wikis could be used to create content collaboratively. In fact, I learned about wikis from my husband, Doug, who uses them in all of his classes and for many of his research groups.

My definition of wikis is accurate, that it is a web site that is editable by anyone, but it doesn't quite explain why it is such an interesting bit of social software. The Wikipedia, one of the most amazing uses of this technology out there, offers a thorough definition of wiki and how it works. The thing about wikis is that one relinquishes control over the content (hmm, didn't I mention this control issue before?) But, at the same time, you may have hundreds of editorial eyes looking at that content and making sure its accurate. And its easy to change. If one of those sets of eyes sees a mistake, they can fix it immediately and not have to go through a lengthy editorial process. Want to see how this works? Watch the screencast (.mov; 40 megs) of the London bombings entry being created (or at least the first 900 or so edits; ultimately there were thousands).

How to use this in education, aside from a simple way to create a syllabus? In yesterday's Chronicle (subscription required), comes one answer. One professor used wiki technology to energize discussions about romantic poetry. Rather than use a discussion board, which is rather static and not very interconnected, he opted for a wiki. The students wrote about specific bits of language, linking straight from a full text of a poem. The result is here and it's pretty interesting. I'm amazed by the depth of information here and lots of interlinking between information so that students learn to make connections between the texts they're studying rather than view them as isolated from any context.

Wikis are also used in writing classes, both creative and traditional composition. Instead of using traditional word-processing software, students can use a wiki, which makes them look at writing differently, according to M.C. Morgan, a professor of English at Bemidji State. Wikis can encourage revision, peer editing, and making connections between earlier work and later work.

If you're interested in trying a wiki at Bryn Mawr, you might test the waters with the wiki software included in Blackboard. It's simple to use. Instructions for using it can be found here. If you want to try a more traditional wiki software, just e-mail me (lblanken {at} brynmawr {dot} edu).

wiki, education ¶ 2:27 PM, posted by Laura