23 Things for Learning - Post #5

# 11 thing - Let's Wiki

A wiki is a webpage that multiple people can edit. An example you may have heard of is Wikipedia: information may be added by its readers in a collaborative format. Another wiki is Project Gutenberg, the collection of free book texts. Many people collaborate to bring non-copyrighted material to Project Gutenberg. Here are a few more samples:

Anatowiki http://anatowiki.wetpaint.com/?t=anon
Welker’s Wikinomics http://welkerswikinomics.wetpaint.com/
Salute to Seuss http://salutetoseuss.wikispaces.com/
LearningLatinAmerica http://learninglatinamerica.wikispaces.com/
El Mundo Tarvin http://misstarvin.wetpaint.com/
Human Physiology http://physiwiki.wetpaint.com/
TWU ID http://twuid.pbwiki.com/

Wikis can be set up for personal reasons, too, including family genealogy projects, group vacation planning, and more. A wiki can support nearly any collaborative effort that requires updating a document or information.

Set up a wiki.

(Estimated time to complete: approximately 60-70 minutes)

There are several wikis you can use that are free and web-based. We’re going to use PBWiki, so go to http://pbwiki.com/.

Click on Create a Wiki (green button).

Fill out the form and click on the Create My Wiki button.
Follow instructions for checking email and confirming.
After confirming, keep your wiki “public” and then agree to the terms and follow the instructions for setup. (Scroll past the $$ wikis down to click No Thanks, just take me to my wiki).

You will go to a page that says: Welcome to PBwiki 2.0! Click on the EDIT tab.

Highlight everything in the window and delete it. Now you can start fresh.

Type in a question. It could be something like What are the barriers to student retention? or What is your favorite restaurant? or something like that. Just type a question.

Click the save button at the bottom of the entry.

To the right, click Create New Page.

Name the page My New Page, skip the choices, and then click on Create New Page.
On the new page, type your own answer to the question on your homepage, and click save.

Feel free to fiddle with the settings or create other pages. When you are done, click on the name of your wiki at the top left.
You must give someone access to your wiki to make it available for editing. If you are asked by someone else to grant access to your wiki, you’ll need the requester’s email address (the one they used to sign up for PB Wiki). You give them access in Settings, (located at far right of wiki page). Then it’s just like editing your own page.

There are some great videos on how to use pbwiki here: http://pbwiki.com/content/supportcenter

Blog it. This has been a very abbreviated introduction to wikis, but in your blog entry, be sure to share your thoughts on the process for setting up the wiki, whether or not you like it, whether or not you might find it useful. You might go back (above) and check out some of the example wikis shared. Be sure to include your wiki URL.