Introduction to Wikis
From FCTL eLearning Wiki
This page will provide a brief orientation to wikis, how to plan for them, and where to locate resources.
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Introduction to Wikis
What is a wiki?
A wiki is an online collaborative writing project whereby users can contribute to the development of a single Web site from anywhere and at anytime (all that is needed is access to the Web). Users may contribute to the content, layout, discussion, etc. of the collaborative project. Wikis do not require a lot of technical skill or special software. The software for this MediaWiki is on a server, and the mark-up language (WikiML) is easy to learn and apply. The best known wiki is Wikipedia.
"Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites, attracting at least 684 million visitors yearly by 2008. There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 250 languages." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
Why would I use a wiki?
Instructors find that Wikis allow students to be actively engaged in a collaborative writing process. They can create their own content through research and group interaction. Student participation is easily tracked, include the number of times a student accessed the page, their individual contribution and discussion postings – all are recorded. If a student makes a change that the instructor or group does not agree with, wikis allow for easily returning to an earlier version of the page.
Interactivity
The wiki is highly interactive, pages are easily linked to one another allowing for the reader to navigate in a in a very natural, free-flowing manner.
Examples of wikis:
Wikipedia: Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov
Wikiversity: History http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/School:History
Wikibooks: Instructional Technology http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Instructional_Technology
Getting started
If you are Ferris faculty and would like to use our wiki server, you need to request a wiki space from Terri Aldrich aldricht@ferris.edu. Wiki accounts can be both public and private with various levels of security, such as a publicly viewable site which requires an account in order to edit. The wiki can be configured to allow users to create their own accounts, or for stronger security, an administrator (sysop) must create the accounts - this might be the preferred option for a course wiki.
If permitted, a new user must first create an account before they can edit. Do this by clicking on the link in the upper-right corner of the page. "Log in / create account".
Once logged in, the number of tabs changes from four to eight. The additional tabs provide the user the ability to edit a page (and protect, delete, or move the page - depending on the user's rights).
Article tab
The article is the publicly viewable page and so, is the collaborative working draft. Users must log in and select the edit tab to make changes to the article.
Discussion tab
The discussion tab is where users may comment and offer ideas for improving the article. Once a cohort becomes comfortable with the collaborative process, members may choose to edit the article as opposed to commenting in the discussion area. Wiki pages can easily be reverted to an earlier version using the history tab.
Edit tab
Wikis use a simple markup language know as wikiml along with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editor that is easy to learn and easy to use. Some common editing tasks include: copying and pasting text into the article, creating headings, bolding text, adding bulleted lists, adding links and images, and creating additional related articles.
Text from a word processing document can be pasted directly into a wiki article in the edit mode. The text will lose nay formatting, but the paragraphs separated by double spaces will be intact.
Headings can be added by adding equal signs at the beginning and the end of a section title. One equals sign at each end will create a level one heading, two equals signs results in a level two, and so forth. This process will automatically produce a Table of Contents after the third heading is created.
example: =heading one= ==heading two== ===heading three===
To discover how a particular process works the user may select the edit tab and then view the wikiml.
Paragraphs are created when a double space is used between them.
Numbered and bulleted lists are created by placing an asterisk * (bullet), or a pound sign # directly before the list item.
External links are created by placing brackets on either side of the URL. (As with most editors, you may alternatively cut and paste the URL directly from the address bar. As long as the address begins with http:// , a link is automatically created. The big advantage of adding the brackets is to create a short name. By following the URL with a space and a name or title before adding the bracket, only the name or title is displayed for the link.
example: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia] Wikipedia
Internal links are links to existing pages, or may be used to create new pages on-the-fly. Double brackets are placed at the beginning and at the end of the page name. If spaces are used when creating a new internal page, underscores will be added between words. To create a short name for the URL, place a pipe | between the page name and the link title. Links to new pages without content show up as red text.
example: [[FSU_Best_Practices_for_Online_Delivery_of_Instruction | Best Practices]] Best Practices
Images can be added to a page as either an external link, or by uploading an image file (jpg, gif, or png format). To upload a file select 'Upload file" in the toolbox menu.
example: [[Image:Smiley-face.gif|Happy Happy]] 
History tab
By using the history tab a previous version of a page may be restored. The history tab will list all of the edits (each time the page was saved) to an article along with the contributor's name and the date and time the change was made. By selecting the radio button next to an earlier revision and a more current version, the pages can be compared. To restore the page click on the edit link next to the version title and then save the page. It will then become the most current version.
When viewing the history page user contributions are listed in chronological order. To see all of the contributions made by an individual, click on the "contribs" next to the username.
Watch tab
A user may be notified each time an article is edited by clicking on the "watch" tab. An email is sent to the user notifying them of the changes. This is especially useful for group projects. Users may choose to watch both the article and the discussion page for edits.
