Wikis Presentation by Stephanie Guerdan, Jason Mooney, Clair Hann, Clare McKendry, and Kaitlin Healy

Introduction What is a Wiki? A wiki is a piece of server software which allows a group of people collaborate on a website. It uses a simple markup language of only text and links. Wiki” is Hawaiian for the word “fast” It is also said to be an acronym for “What I Know Is” Wiki content is written and edited by users constantly

Background A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. – Markup language is a type of code (like html, for example) that gives instructions on how text should be displayed. The first wiki software was called WikiWikiWeb and was created by Ward Cunningham and published in The best known Wiki is the encyclopedic wiki page Wikipedia.org, but hundreds of wikis exist for various subjects.

Pros They allow anyone to easily edit any page. No HTML knowledge is necessary to edit pages. Any web browser can be used to edit a page. Errors such as broken links, spelling errors and factual errors are quickly and easily corrected by users. Insightful comments are also easily added to any page. Community users can easily catch and correct malicious content. Comments by users are integrated directly into the web page. Key words are automatically highlighted by colored text and linked to another wiki page. Wikis are free.

Cons Wikis are vulnerable. All the data on a wiki can be destroyed by automated attacks. Pages are easily tampered with and vandalized. Pages and edits are not reviewed before they are posted. Wikis rely on readers to correct erroneous content which may take a long time if the page is not popular. Therefore less popular topics or pages on wikis are less reliable. It it difficult to ban single attackers from posting maliciously. Malicious comments are corrected, not prevented.

The Most Popular Criticisms of Wikis Anyone can edit an entry This leads to: Wrong Information Sometimes articles are written by experts but sometimes they are not Misinformation The deliberate placement of wrong information; may be hard to spot Vandalism

Opinion Wiki’s provide an easy and fast source for research and projects. Students working on research reports can easily contribute their new found results. Unfortunately, the ease of altering doesn’t always make Wiki’s reliable. Students can create wiki’s on anything. If its doesn’t already exist, one can be created to prove a point, regardless of accuracy.

Credits Slide Show Organized by Stephanie Guerdan Introduction presented by Clair Hann Background presented by Stephanie Guerdan Pros and Cons presented by Jason Mooney Criticism presented by Kaitlin Healy Opinion presented by Clare McKendry

Sources de.htm de.htm Leuf, Bo and Ward Cunningham. The Wiki Way: Quick Collaboration on the Web. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson, 2001: 16. Brain, Marshall. "How Wikis Work." 13 July HowStuffWorks.com. 30 November