Welcome to week 6 of 25 Things @ Huddersfield!
First off, just a quick note to say that WordPress have rolled out a new version of their software to all of the blogs. You can find more about the new features here.
12th Thing – Wikis
What is a wiki?
Wiki is taken from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki meaning quick or swift. In Web 2.0 terms a wiki is a website in which content can be added, edited and changed by a group of members. This means a wiki is great way of getting people working together and collaborating online.
(The Wiki Wiki bus, by Kables)
Some of the benefits that make wikis so attractive are:
- anyone (registered or unregistered, if unrestricted) can add, edit or delete content
- tracking tools within wikis allow you to easily keep up on what been changed and by whom
- earlier versions of a page can be viewed and reinstated when needed
And users do not need to know HTML in order to apply styles to text or add and edit content. In most cases simple syntax structure is used.
Are all wikis open to everyone?
No, the ethos of sites like Wikipedia is to be open and allow anyone to contribute – a wonderful idea, but this can cause problems. However, in most cases you will only want certain people to be able to contribute or even to see your wiki, especially if you’re using it in a work context.
Watch this short film to see just how useful wikis can be…
13th Thing – Wikipedia
Some of you will have seen and most likely used Wikipedia to find information.
Step 1: Choose the random article link, keep clicking on it until you find an article that interests you, and write about it in your blog. Be sure to click on the discussion tab on the article to see what people are saying about it.
Step 2: Click on current events link and see what’s in the news – put this in your blog post too.
14th Thing – Wetpaint
Hopefully you should have received an email invite to join the 25 Things Wiki on the Wetpaint web site. If you didn’t get it, please send us an email (25things@hud.ac.uk) and we’ll resend the invitation email to you.
If you haven’t done so already, find the email and accept the invitation to join.
The objective of Thing 14 is to add some content to the wiki and to create a “Guide to Huddersfield“. In true “Blue Peter” style, we’ve already added some content to the wiki and you can see some information about the village of Netherton.
Introduction to Wetpaint
Wetpaint is one of dozens of different websites that you can use to create a new wiki…
Let’s Get Wiki’d!
Step 1: Go to the wiki and click on the Guide to Huddersfield link
Step 2: Browse through the main “Guide to Huddersfield” and select one of the pages that you would like to add some new content to — it might be the area where you live or perhaps one of the places in the town centre. If the page doesn’t already exist, then select the “Would you like to create the … page now?” link (as shown below).
Step 3: Once you are looking at the relevant page in the wiki (which might be blank if no-one has added any content yet), click on the “EasyEdit” button. You should now be able to edit the text of the page. You can use the “EasyEdit Toolbar” to format the text and, if you are feeling adventurous, you can add links to other pages. Don’t forget to click on the “Save” button!
If you enjoyed added content to the wiki, then explore some of the other links in the “Guide to Huddersfield” and either add new content or update some of the existing pages!
Optional tasks
Optional task 1: Explore some of the wikis hosted on the Wikia web site. There’s plenty to choose from, including Wookieepedia (Star Wars), Muppet Wiki, Psychology Wiki, and the Recipes Wiki.
Optional task 2: Write a new blog post about your experiences with wikis. Do you think they are useful tools?
25 Things @ Huddersfield 