The invasion of wikis

Talking about wikis...

During this week we have taken a look on the world of wikis, discussing what a wiki is and trying to prepare the ground for a future activity concerning the creation of a wiki for language learning.
I have got no further information about this new experience, but I hope that the result of the course as a whole will be useful for all the students learning English at university.

I would like to start my analysis with a very simple definition provided by Wikipedia, trying to expand on it:

A wiki is any website based on any kind of Wiki software which enables users to add to, edit and delete from the site's content quickly.

According to this definition, a wiki is a database that allows people to create, edit or search for web pages by means of a browser. Every user can create his/her own documents and change or re-edit the pages of the others. For this reason, a wiki is considered to be a tool for collaborative writing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_writing

This type of writing refers to the projects created by many people together, sharing their abilities and correcting each others. In some wikis their works might be overseen by an editor, but this dipends on the structure and purposes of the wikis. If you want to obtain the maximum result from collaboration, team’s efforts must be turned to the same aim which has to be manifest for everyone.
All the editing operations should be done in an easy way because of the support given by Wiki software and the quickness of the technology itself.

Quickness and collaborative possibilities might be summed up in the word wiki, a shorter form of wiki wiki which means fast in Hawaiian language but also refers to the bacronym “What I Know Is”.

One important feature of wikis is that users do not need to know HTML language in order to write their articles because all their comments will be automatically translated by the software.
Many public wikis allow the users to write without a preliminary registration. I think that this is due do the fact that the first rule of wikis concerns the good faith required for all users.
This is not the case of private wikis in which the registration is compulsory, sometimes even to read pages: the measure has been taken to avoid vandalism related to a wrong use of the system and concerning the large number of misleading information given intentionally or the damages caused to the whole wiki.

Going on with my analysis, I found out that the language used in wikis is informal and plain but quite painstaking. The words are chosen for their specific meaning, without redundancies; the sentences are rather short and clear, avoiding ambiguity in speeches. The layout is very clear and the large presence of hyperlinks enables a non-linear but logical reading.

However, even if wikis follow up the specific philosophy of freedom in writing, the users should comply with an etiquette which is called “Wikiquette”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:Wikiquette
This does not contain strict instructions but suggestions in order to facilitate civil collaboration and grant respect for different points of view.

According to Wikipedia definition, the users must treat others as they would have them treat them, that is they have to avoid unuseful discussions, help mediate disputes between other users and choose their words carefully in order not be offensive or tactless.

All the articles presented by users have not to violate the Neutral Point Of View (NPOV) required by Wikipedia and many corrections should be done in order to respect it.
To sum up, the language is relatively free: it has to follow some guidelines defined by Wikipedia.

I must confess that, in reading all these guidelines, I had a good time. Some sentences such as “Turn the other cheek” or “Forgive and Forget”, “If someone disagrees with you, this does not necessarily mean that (1) the person hates you, (2) the person thinks you're stupid, (3) the person is stupid, (4) the person is evil, etc.”, make me reflect upon a better world based on Wikipedia!
Among this naïve suggestions is hidden the real purpose of Wikipedia, that is that of creating a good encyclopedia by benefitting from fundamental people’s contributions.

Those reading or writing a web page in a shared wiki succeed in increasing the community of Wikipedia. Everyone can find his/her position in this community by performing the different tasks put forward by the main team each week, taking part to the forum of Village Pump http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump or posting news to the Community Bulletin Board.

I believe that both private and public wikis pursue the same purpose of Wikipedia.
I focused my attention on a specific wiki concerning education http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Wiki and I found out that it aims to create a complete collection of learning material for teachers and students, using the modern technology of wikis.

I would like to point out that the etiquette of this wiki is, in some ways, very different from Wikipedia’s. http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Help:Editing_rules
As a matter of fact, it avoids neutral points of view, while writing an article. However, the etiquette helps readers to understand whether a statement is based on a speculation or on a reliable source and simply follows three basic rules:

• Think of the wiki as a whole (make sure that people can find articles and quickly refer to them)
• Give credits (and take if you wish)
• Qualify the status of information
  

It also gives directions concerning the written presentation of events, referring to titles, multiple meanings, quotations and much more.

To conclude my analysis, let me suggest you an interesting wiki for our language education: Wikiversity.http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page

I think that this wiki might sum up our learning experience so far. It provides readers with learning materials and activities, introducing them to a community which enables them to be involved in a dynamic way in their learning process.

See you with the next e-tivity.

Francesca