Week 5: Wiki Tools

[Michele Martin]

We'll use this forum to discuss your favorite wiki platforms and any technical questions you have about setting up and using a wiki. You may want to check out Wiki Matrix to get an idea of the various options. Popular options outside the firewall include:

**PBWiki

**Wikispaces

**Wetpaint

Frequently used options for behind the firewall include MediaWiki and Socialtext.

What's your favorite platform?

[Bill Graziadei, Ph.D.]

Recently, I created two pbWikis for educators to enter their IDs and other information about Plurk and Utterli. They are...

Welcome to plurk4educators wiki at http://plurk4educators.pbwiki.com/!

Join plurk4educators wiki - Are you looking for someone on Plurk that is an educator (K-12 & HigherEd) in the same area as you? Check out the list and add your Plurk anchor name/link,e.g., wgraziadei - with a brief description to the list too! Also, you may add your anchor name/link/description under as many categories as are appropriate. Feel free to add pages about how you use Plurk in your Personal/Professional Learning Networks (PLNs).

Welcome to utterli4educators wiki at http:utterli4educators.pbwiki.com/!

Join utterli4educators wiki - Are you looking for someone on Utterli that is an educator (K-12 & HigherEd) in the same area as you? Check out the list of and add your Utterli anchor name/link,e.g., wgraziadei - with a brief description to the list too! Also, you may add your anchor name/link/description under as many categories as are appropriate. Feel free to add pages about how you use Utterli in your Personal/Professional Learning Networks (PLNs).

[Bill Graziadei, Ph.D.]

The reasons I started with and still use pbWiki is because it is very easy to use (no html knowlege, just need to use editor) and its excellent support/approach for new users to "get started" as well as continuing ed for older issues. After signing up, you get a 7-day e-mail (one lesson message per day training course) complete with simple instructions and video module.

The only complaint I have is that when you start a new pbWiki you get a repeat of the e-mail Get Started course.

[Collin Kromke]

I've been looking at a lot of free wikis (outside the firewall), and I'm pretty impressed with Google Sites, and believe it or not it appears to be ad free. I haven't put it to the real test yet, though, so I'll post a trip report once I do.

Zoho has one too, but it doesn't seem as intuitive to use as google sites, and that's important to me.

For those of you who are interested in a personal wiki on your PC or USB drive, be sure to check out TiddlyWiki. I love this tool.

[Michele Martin]

Collin, I'd only taken a brief look at Google Sites before, so with your link went back to look again. I do like the way they've set up the different kinds of pages--like the Announcements option, which is basically like a blog embedded in the wiki. I have to take a closer look, but it seems like it has some features that aren't available through other wikis. I'll be curious to get your trip report, too.

[Matthew Bibby]

Thanks Collin - I am going to check out Google Sites now!

I downloaded TiddlyWiki a while ago with the intention of using it to track information about project and clients. I haven't tried it out yet but may decide that this week is a good time to do so.

[Gerry White]

I like PB Wiki but my real question is, 'How did you get PB Wiki into Ning?'. I am developing a Ning service at the moment but it does need a wiki and having PB wiki in it would be terrific and I notice that you have done it. How?

[Michele Martin]

Hi Gerry--Unfortunately the wiki we're using isn't actually embedded into Ning--Harold just created a tab with a link to the PBWiki site, which you can do from Manage-->Tab Manager. I'd love to have a wiki that's actually embedded into Ning so that you had wiki functionality without having to leave the site, but that hasn't happened yet.

[Meegan Lillis]

We have MediaWiki on our campus which is used quite often by staff at Ferris State to post information about various technologies and to provide training. Our faculty all seem to go to a free wiki such as wikispaces because it is easier for students to get up and running on using those wikis for collaboration versus our mediawiki. I'm curious to know if anyone else uses a MediaWiki in their work or for education?

[Catherine Lombardozzi]

So much to learn, so little time (at least at the moment). Thanks for the heads up on Google Sites - I like the nice, clean look... I also checked out wikispaces. I've only used PBWiki.

I do have some stray questions, if I may...

Are charges for upgrade features charged by my username and sign-on or for every site I open?

If anyone has a project site they are willing to share, I'd love to see what that might look like. What are the big advantages to keeping materials that way vs. on your PC? (Good back-up and access are two I would imagine.) But don't you have to revise the documents on your own drive and re-upload as you work on them? Just thinking through the possibilities here...

Thanks...

[Jeff Cobb]

Michele -

A colleague suggested Deki Wiki (http://www.wiki.is) to me, and I have found that to be very good - though I also like PBWiki a lot. I believe there is also a behind-the-fire wall "enterprise" version of Deki available, though I am just using the free version.

I'm a little stalled on it at the moment, but I created a Wiki to support a presentation on open education (for which wikis are a great resource) at the American Society of Association Executives annual meeting this fall: http://openlearning.wik.is/ The idea here was a) all of the supporting examples and other materials could easily be made available on the Web, and I even created my handouts from the wiki by simply printing to PDF, and b) participants in the session could, if so inspired, contribute to the wiki. (I can't say it has been a success on the latter, but to be honest, I would have been surprised it it had been - still it is there as an ongoing resource, and who knows!)

Jeff

[Harold Jarche]

Jeff, when you look at something like The Four Levels of Engagement, you realize that only a small percentage of your group/community will become contributors. It's a daunting task to get real collaboration and contribution going on the Web, or anywhere else. I'm sure that many people used your handouts; they just didn't tell you about it.