Thing #8 What in the World is a Wiki?

A few of the wikis I looked at are:
1001 Flat World Tales
Code Blue
Discovery Utopias
Dr. Reich's Chemistry Wiki
Go West
Kindergarten Counting Book
Primary Math
Wikis are quite interesting items of technology that seem similar to web sites yet have distinct differences. Each one is individual in appearance and layout, with or without photos, graphics or art work. The intent in the educational ones are for Teachers to disseminate information to their students, with course syllabuses, instructions, explanations, schedules, assignments, projects, etc. Student comments, questions, work, photos and projects can also appear on educational wikis. Even young children can post writings, diagrams, etc. in a meaningful way for all to access.

The aspect of this tool for many people to participate in is a difference in a wiki and a web site. Material in a wiki can be input by many participants, edited, added to, etc., in a dynamic way, whereas a web site is static, to be changed only by the designer or web master. Contrary to building a web site, "There is no HTML to learn or any programming interface to master. You simply click on the wiki page’s 'Edit' button" to add, delete or change something.

Another refreshing difference in a wiki from a web site is the absence of advertising on most wikis. The wiki focused and to the point about the topic or project, with no distracting frills, no flashing messages, no tricky paths to follow to other areas of the web.

I can imagine how useful a wiki would be in a collaborative project with other teachers, with students to directly communicate crucial information, or to plan events involving many people. Even large family reunions, as a personal use, could be managed more easily than making a lot of phone calls or exchanging emails. They are superior to conference calls because there is a black and white written record of each participant's input. Wikis open up a new world of learning and communicating interactively, such as the solicitation for thousands of responses from students over the world to input on the Thousands Project.