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A Wiki Primer
Learn more about wikis and what they can do for your credibility.
Social media is about 140 characters (Twitter), building work networks (LinkedIn), building cozy 'friend' and 'fan' relationships (Facebook) and more. But, what do you learn from all this interconnectivity? Would you like to build something more solid or participate in groundbreaking knowledge schemes? Then, learn more about wikis and what they can do for your credibility.
Wiki Wiki Everywhere...
Most everyone who uses the Web today knows about Wikipedia. If you are not familiar with wikis or with Wikipedia, two explanations are in order:
- Wiki: According to the Wiktionary, a wiki is a collaborative Web site that can be directly edited by anyone with access to that Web site. Based upon wiki software, the site can be written, corrected, edited and expounded upon by anyone. In many cases, however, the wiki may need to be substantiated and/or edited before publication of any additions or changes.
- Wikipedia: One such wiki as described above, and one of the world's most famous wikis.
While scholarly types would not dare cite Wikipedia, it's well known that those same folks will scour Wikipedia for links to articles that they will cite in their papers. This is part of the draw Wikipedia – the ability to draw information from a singular site, no matter the topic. But, Wikipedia is not the only active wiki available on the Internet. In fact, there are wikis, wikis everywhere. The following list is just a handful of the hundreds of wikis available today (in alphabetical order):
- Conservapedia: A right-wing conservative wiki that is used to attack liberals and that plans to re-write the Bible so that Book is less liberal.
- Wikibooks: A community for creating a free library of educational textbooks that anyone can edit.
- wikiHow: A how-to manual that you can help build and that currently contains over 62,309 articles.
- Wikileaks: An online clearinghouse for leaked documents that plans to make the Web leakier by enabling newspapers, human rights organizations, criminal investigators and others to embed an "upload a disclosure to me via Wikileaks" form onto their Web sites.
- Wikinews: A place to report breaking news on a global basis.
- Wikitravel: A project that already contains 22,386 destination guides, written by anyone who lives or travels to various destinations.
No matter what you think about wikis, they're here to stay. Why? Because wikis are collaborative, they're controversial (sometimes completely false information can leak through) and they're convenient.
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.