Re: [Air-L] wiki tool suggestions?
I've used both www.socialtext.com and Confluence (http://www.atlassian.com). The former offers a free hosted service and is very easy to use. I particularly like the big "edit" button at the top of each page - you can't make it much easier than that. Confluence is a little different from the more typical, open-ended wiki structure. New pages are organised hierarchically, with breadcrumbs assigned automatically. I think this gives users more of a feel for where they are in the wiki, which can be confusing if you are used to more traditional navigation structures. Hope that's useful. Rob -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Emma Duke-Williams Sent: 07 September 2007 14:12 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] wiki tool suggestions? I personally like Wikispaces, which, by default, has a discussion board attached to each page. That could be good to ensuring that discussions between students about changes, are tied to a particular page, rather than getting lost in other discussions/ emails that they're having. I've recently been to ALT-C - a conference in the UK for Learning Technologists. One of the papers ( http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2007/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=1220 ) looked at how students were using wikis etc. They found that students found the group work aspects very difficult, and the most common way of creating a wiki was for them to divide up the content and create a "page" each. Reference was made in the presentation to a different session, when "Wiki etiquette" was discussed (not sure which session, as i didn't go to it). They made the point, however, that they'd spend a lot more time discussing how much work most students need to help them effectively use a wiki. (The presentation doesn't seem to be linked to from the page. Others that I went to were, so hopefully this one will appear at some point) I know that when I had students creating wikis, they were definitely of the "I'll do that page & you do that page" variety. So, getting them to understand what a wiki really involves is, I think, going to take quite a bit of work. -- New URL: Blog: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________ DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British government's fight against world poverty. For more information subscribe to our e-bulletin at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/feedback/ ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail
Hi, all, I've been trying to do some summary of the recommendations here: http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=Wiki_Hosts I'll second endorsements of phwiki & socialtext. Contrary to Elijah's position, I'm perfectly happy to leverage commercial services for my teaching. This semester I am using Facebook, Wordpress.com, del.icio.us, Yahoo! Pipes, and Second Life as pretty central organs for my courses. All of those suffer many of the faults Elijah describes: closed source and data-locked. It's not that I don't care about the commercial intrusion, I suppose it's that I am not as sanguine about the university as a non-commercial space. Even when I was teaching at a public university, and especially from the perspective of administering programs, the university environment is far from non-commercial (even when it is non-profit). I get much more squeamish about $100 textbooks and required use of Blackboard than I do with making use of commercial hosts. Alex On 9/7/07, Robert Worthington <R-Worthington@dfid.gov.uk> wrote:
I've used both www.socialtext.com and Confluence (http://www.atlassian.com). The former offers a free hosted service and is very easy to use. I particularly like the big "edit" button at the top of each page - you can't make it much easier than that.
Confluence is a little different from the more typical, open-ended wiki structure. New pages are organised hierarchically, with breadcrumbs assigned automatically. I think this gives users more of a feel for where they are in the wiki, which can be confusing if you are used to more traditional navigation structures.
Hope that's useful.
Rob
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Emma Duke-Williams Sent: 07 September 2007 14:12 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] wiki tool suggestions?
I personally like Wikispaces, which, by default, has a discussion board attached to each page. That could be good to ensuring that discussions between students about changes, are tied to a particular page, rather than getting lost in other discussions/ emails that they're having.
I've recently been to ALT-C - a conference in the UK for Learning Technologists. One of the papers ( http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2007/timetable/abstract.php?abstract_id=1220 ) looked at how students were using wikis etc. They found that students found the group work aspects very difficult, and the most common way of creating a wiki was for them to divide up the content and create a "page" each. Reference was made in the presentation to a different session, when "Wiki etiquette" was discussed (not sure which session, as i didn't go to it). They made the point, however, that they'd spend a lot more time discussing how much work most students need to help them effectively use a wiki. (The presentation doesn't seem to be linked to from the page. Others that I went to were, so hopefully this one will appear at some point)
I know that when I had students creating wikis, they were definitely of the "I'll do that page & you do that page" variety. So, getting them to understand what a wiki really involves is, I think, going to take quite a bit of work.
-- New URL: Blog: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~duke-wie/blog/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________
DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British government's fight against world poverty. For more information subscribe to our e-bulletin at http://www.dfid.gov.uk/feedback/ ______________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Peapod. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.peapod.co.uk/cleanmail _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- -- // // This email is // [ ] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [X] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais // Social Architect // http://alex.halavais.net //
Contrary to Elijah's position, I'm perfectly happy to leverage commercial services for my teaching. This semester I am using Facebook, Wordpress.com, del.icio.us, Yahoo! Pipes, and Second Life as pretty central organs for my courses. All of those suffer many of the faults Elijah describes: closed source and data-locked.
I don't mean to suggest that folks not take advantage of commercial services when possible; far from it. There are good reasons not to try to, for example, teach a class of 35 students how to install Drupal. ;) At the same time, it is critical that we remain aware of what we sacrifice by choosing to use particular services. Some of the things we give up, we may wish to give up freely; others, less so. I think that it is vitally important that folks have a backup plan; "what do I do if I can't get to my materials today? tomorrow? for the rest of the term? ever?" This stuff happens.
from the perspective of administering programs, the university environment is far from non-commercial (even when it is non-profit). I get much more squeamish about $100 textbooks and required use of Blackboard than I do with making use of commercial hosts.
I'm unfortunate enough to have seen things go painfully awry with regard to all three points you mention; when they go bad, they're *really* bad. :) --e
participants (3)
-
Alex Halavais -
elw＠stderr.org -
Robert Worthington