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Wikis

Page history last edited by Anita Hamilton 13 years, 9 months ago

Page developed by Anita Hamilton

Wiki means "hurry" in the Hawaiian language and is another example of software that facilitates collaborative writing. A wiki is a collection of linked webpages that are able to be contributed to, edited or updated by its users (Kamel Boulos & Wheeler, 2007).  Like blogs, wikis can have different levels of access such as reader, writer, editor or administrator, however a wiki does not show contributions in reverse chronological order, they are incorporated into the whole site and the changes are only evident when you view the "history" of the wiki.  The history can also be used to "roll back" to previous versions of the wiki, which is useful if an unwelcome contribution has been made.

 

The most well known wiki is Wikipedia.  It is an open wiki which means it can be modified by anyone.  Wikipedia is sometimes criticized in as being unreliable however a comparison made with the online Encyclopaedia Britannica showed the accuracy to be very similar (Giles, 2005, as cited in McClean, et al, 2007, p.175).

 

Wiki programs

A wiki can include text, pictures, video, audio, links to its own wiki pages, Internet links, RSS feeds and the list grows as technology advances.  Four wiki programs are described here: 

 

  1. PBworks is a hosted program and is free to use.  It is one of the simplest wiki programs to use and can be quickly set up and easily personalized.  To learn how to set up your own wiki visit their website and click on the link to the user manual.
  2. Wikispaces is another hosted programme that is also free to access. Of course, you can pay for access to more features, but the basic free programme is flexible enough for most user's needs.  To learn how to use wikispaces once you have accessed the site, look for the Help button on the top menu bar. Here is a link to a YouTube clip showing how to use Wikispaces. BlipTV has instructions for wikispaces in spanish.
  3. Wetpaint is another wiki program that is easy to use and can also be quickly set up and easily personalized.  Its appearance is more sophisticated than PBworks.  Here is a link to a YouTube clip detailing how to use Wetpaint.
  4. Mediawiki is the wiki program used by Wikipedia.  It is free to download but it needs to be hosted.  This program requires some computer technical knowledge to set up and manage.  If you are in a setting that has its own IT department you can ask them to dowload and manage Mediawiki for your project. 

 

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Professional collaboration

Wikis are useful for tasks that require collaboration by a group of people, for example a group projects or development of a community resource.  A community resource wiki called Health Evidence Search Wiki is being developed to share information about reliable online databases to search for healthcare evidence.  This is an example of Web2.0 technology facilitating dissemination of Web 1.0 information. 

 

"Get a Note From your Doctor" is an example of a peer-reviewed wiki which is expert moderated with only approved physicians able to post (Seeman, 2008).

Examples of our own

A wiki developed collaboratively between the University of Alberta and the Glenrose Rehabilitation hospital in Edmonton, Canada is Home for Life.  This wiki/website houses information about universal design, modifications and accessibility, and is aimed at providing information for consumers, families and professionals.  Anyone can contribute to the wiki, however it is moderated to ensure accuracy and applicability of information. 

 

Another wiki developed by occupational therapists from New Zealand and Canada is Occupational Therapy and Indigenous Peoples - Partnerships for Change. Until recently this group had not met each other, but they were able to collaborate on the wiki using Skype to connect. How did this start? Two colleagues exchanged business cards at the National Canadian conference, emails were exchanged, ideas shared, and the wiki emerged from there. 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Commons License
Wikis page of OT4OT by OT4OT is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License Please attribute (or reference) any use of this site to OT4OT (2010).

 

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