Web 2.0 and Wiki

5. Web 2.0 and Wiki

The term "web 2.0" was coined by Tim O'Reilly in 2004 to include new generation services offered on the world wide web. These services have now become a part of our lives, and both teachers and students are familiar with them. Internet communities build web content together, communicate and represent an added value on the world wide web previously unknown.

In the world of web 2.0, communities of various sizes create knowledge bases and encyclopaedias resulting in a web of interconnected, freely available information. The most famous of such applications is Wikipedia, an initiative of the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia is a wiki type system in which users can edit, modify and expand the published content. The wiki, therefore, is a knowledge base built by the Internet community based on democratic principles.

Lots of wiki type systems are operated by businesses but they are also very popular in education. An increasing number of schools assign homework projects to students to build wiki type encyclopaedias of various sizes. In terms of pedagogy, it is not only the students' ability to search for, sort and collect information that is valuable, but also that they can evaluate, critically analyse and modify content added by others.

Wiki systems can be used in schools either via one of the free wiki portals or even by installing a wiki software on the school server. For additional information search for the keyword "wiki" in Wikipedia or directly open this web page:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki. If wiki is used extensively in school teaching/learning, it is worth installing a new wiki system for the school.

The most well-known free wiki pages in the education sector include Wetpaint, PBworks and Wikispaces. In these cases, content is stored on a remote server but it does not necessarily mean that the content is public (depends on the individual settings).

In a wiki system you edit content on pages, which is somewhat similar to using an online text editor. In every system you have a History function to track editing and changes. This function ensures that the wiki administrator (e.g. the teacher) can see the changes made to the documents, monitor student activities and the wiki development process. In most cases, you even have the option to receive system messages, emails or RSS feeds when changes are made. Messaging or forum discussion is also a basic function to ensure communication between wiki users.

Wetpaint and Wikispaces offer help on how to use the system in the form of English language wiki entries. The use of wiki in education is detailed in one of the most interesting and richest wikis entitled "Wiki in education" available at http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/.