A centre of expertise in digital information management Reflections On Personal Experiences In Using Wikis Brian Kelly UKOLN University

A centre of expertise in digital information management

www.ukoln.ac.uk

Reflections On Personal Experiences In Using Wikis

Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]

UKOLN is supported by:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ili-2006/talk-2/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ili-2006/talk-2/

AbstractA brief review of personal experiences in using Wikis and some reflections of implications for institutional provision of Wiki services.

AbstractA brief review of personal experiences in using Wikis and some reflections of implications for institutional provision of Wiki services.

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

Resources bookmarked using 'ukoln-wiki-workshop-2006' tag


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Contents

• Making a start: Wikalong• Using Wikipedia• In-house use: Twiki and MediaWiki• Bundled Wikis: Moodle• Web 2.0 services: Writely, WetPaint, Jot,

Pbwiki, …• Reflections• Using Wiki To Support Ourselves


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Wikalong

Wiki used for workshop on "Beyond Email: Strategies for Collaborative Working and Learning in the 21st Century", Nov 2004

Wikalong tool used:• Hosted service for

annotating Web pages• Firefox/IE plugin• Also referrer service

Experiences• Easy to use• Data copied to UKOLN

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/ucisa-wlf-2004-11/discussion-groups/discussion-wikis

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/ucisa-wlf-2004-11/discussion-groups/discussion-wikis

Eventually (year+ later) spambot add link spam to page (& try to make invisible)

Eventually (year+ later) spambot add link spam to page (& try to make invisible)


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Wikipedia

Also in Feb 2004 created Wikipedia entry on Rapper Sword, a personal interest (not morris dancing!)

Over time content grows, appearance improves (through community support – e.g. corrections to German grammar).Decision to give geographical & historical emphasis.

No longer in complete control (new-fangled US rapper team first to have entry in Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapper_swordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapper_sword


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In-House Wiki - Twiki

In 2005 Twiki software installed locally and used to support UKOLN's research interest (e.g. collaborative discussions on metadata elements by international metadata community).

Twiki then started to be used for other purposes. But:

• Was it the right tool for other purposes

• Would be get locked in

• Training & support issues

• …


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From Twiki To MediaWiki

MediaWiki used to support (a) events and (b) JISC standards catalogue.

Wiki provision for events seems sensible: admin support; community building; clarification; etc.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/community/index/IWMW2006

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/interop-focus/community/index/IWMW2006

Wikis for collaborative document work seems sensible. Need to have shared agreement or mechanisms for handling tensions.

Other issues: (A) Wiki as a process for stuff which is deployed elsewhere (e.g. writing papers) or Wiki as a delivery vehicle and (B) interoperability of Wikis; exporting data and application logic.

Other issues: (A) Wiki as a process for stuff which is deployed elsewhere (e.g. writing papers) or Wiki as a delivery vehicle and (B) interoperability of Wikis; exporting data and application logic.


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Experiences of In-House Wikis

Ideal solution not yet identified:• MediaWiki is liked by techies (MySQL, extensible,

…) & is used in Wikipedia (scalable)• Patterns of usage not yet established (one Wiki or

multiple instances)• Management of MediaWiki extensions may be a

support issues• Transclusion (embed content from one Wiki to

another) sound great – but technical issues (performance, recursion)

• Usability issues: what does home mean?• How much training, support & development do we

invest?


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Let's Try Some More!

Various externally hosted Wikis used to gain experiences of approaches

Pbwiki – note RSS links to pages (and versions of pages)

http://iwmw-barriers.pbwiki.com/http://alt-c-2006.wetpaint.com/http://alt-c-2006.wetpaint.com/

Wetpaint – attractive interface and also RSS links to pages (and versions of pages)

Suprglu – RSS aggregator, which can bring together RSS feeds from disparate Wikis (and other tools)

http://altc.suprglu.com/http://altc.suprglu.com/


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Bundled Wikis - Moodle

Do you need dedicated Wiki software, if the functionality is provided in other enterprise software (VLEs, CMSs, etc.)As part of ongoing evaluation of tools, approaches, etc., Wiki in Moodle used for planning a paper & arranging event.

Thoughts:• Poor interface• Poor quality HTML• …

Issues:• Evaluation of subjective aspects• Improvements in next versions• Replaced functionality (e.g. SOA)

Issues:• Evaluation of subjective aspects• Improvements in next versions• Replaced functionality (e.g. SOA)


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Licensed Wiki At Event – Jot

Licensed Jot Wiki service used at ALT 2006 Research Seminar in Holland.

Used by participants in "Emerging technologies & the Net Generation" day's event.

http://altspring.jot.com/http://altspring.jot.com/

Participants described interests in Wiki prior to events

Reporters summarised discussion groups using Wiki – and reported back where sat (chair scrolled through notes)

Notes in digital form made it easier to produce white paper


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Web 2.0 Services: Writely

Writely used for planning paper. This provides:

• Word-processing style interface

• Authentication system• Multiple ways of saving

file (publish to Blog; save locally in various formats)

• RSS disclosure

At one stage (just after Google buy-out) email authentication didn't work (invalid sender field meant email was not sent). However message sent to Writely forum resulted in fix within 2 days


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What Is A Wiki?Is Writely a Wiki or a Web-based word processor?

Is Google Spreadsheets a Wiki: fill in values and see how the graph alters.

Thoughts:• Stop confusing things: it's like Wikipedia; it doesn't matter.• We need to properly scope our Wiki deployment exercise;

otherwise the scientists who wish to collaborate build data structure will be unhappy with a text-based Wiki service.

Thoughts:• Stop confusing things: it's like Wikipedia; it doesn't matter.• We need to properly scope our Wiki deployment exercise;

otherwise the scientists who wish to collaborate build data structure will be unhappy with a text-based Wiki service.

Is Gliffy a Wiki or a Web-based collaborative drawing tool: add a location where you think Wikis are on Gartner hype curve.Is a personal Wiki a Wiki (Wikipad on Palm)?


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Third Party ServicesThird party tool used on Web site to convert RSS to HTML

On 10 Oct, email received saying page was corrupt

Page fixed and problem investigated & documented

Company had failed to pay bill for domain (admin error)!

Bill was paid & domain quickly restored

Discussion:• Demonstration of why 3rd party services must never be used• Minor irritation; process for fixing worked & improved processes for

minimising future risks developed (& processes will improve with community involvement)

No innovation until central services get round to evaluation & deployment, or certain amount of risk acceptance. What’s the answer?


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Reflections

Some thoughts:

• Support: Net generation happy to pick up and use various tools vs Oversimplistic

• Authorisation: Leave open vs simple authorisation vs need for single signon / Shibbolised services

• Usage: What do we want to use Wikis for?

• Take-up: What will users use Wikis for and how with they use them (if at all)?

• Key features in selection: technical (open source, backend database, …) vs user features (interface, ease-of-use) vs institutional (enterprise software; backend integration; …)

• Outsourcing: Evil Thatcherite nonsense vs. sensible business decision vs sensible technical decision (APIs, Web Services, REST, RSS, …)


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Sharing Experiences

There’s a need to explore more deeply the role for Wikis in our organisations.

UKOLN is hosting an “Exploiting The Potential Of Wikis” workshop which will explore the issues for HE.

• Is there scope for this in your sector?

• Note workshop materials will have a Creative Commons licence and our findings will be published on the Web site.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/wiki-workshop-2006/

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/wiki-workshop-2006/


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Conclusions

We've heard about:• Personal use of Wikis • Institutional use of Wikis

Issues for you to consider:• What will you use Wikis for?• How will you evaluate and select your

preferred Wiki service?• How will you ensure your Wiki service

fulfils its intended purpose?


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Questions?

Any questions

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A centre of expertise in digital information management Reflections On Personal Experiences In Using Wikis Brian Kelly UKOLN University