wikis are wacky development
Since social media outreach has become a topic of conversation for education associations around the country, I recently began assessing different new media tools. I felt a tool was needed that would enable each association to maintain their organization’s contact information, contribute insights on what has worked for them, discuss the pitfalls to watch for and share return on investment (ROI) results. After looking over the different new technologies, I decided a wiki would give us the flexibility needed, so thus began the wiki development process.
First, what is a wiki? Wikis are a great co-creative tool for online collaboration where many people can contribute, edit and maintain a web site. Wikis can be used, for example, as a teaching tool, a knowledge and resource management tool, or a social network—very flexible, indeed. Many people are familiar with Wikipedia, THE Wiki Encyclopedia, where users can collaborate on just about any topic, person, place, or thing imaginable. The beauty for visitors of the wiki–and potential collaborators–is that it doesn’t take any knowledge of HTML to edit/add pages.
In my research I found out there were several ways to develop this tool. There are free hosting services where you can set up an account and create a wiki, like PBworks. Another way is wiki server software that can be installed as a SimpleScript, a couple examples are: PmWiki, WikkaWiki and MediaWiki that my Internet service provider offers as plug-ins.
Most of the wiki plug-ins are similar, but I chose the PmWiki plug-in because it offered a variety of layouts, design features and ways to control access. I won’t go into the wiki jargon about cookbooks, recipes and skins (themes) here–that could be a another post in itself! Suffice to say, I have learned a lot about wikis and still have much to learn!
In developing the wiki I wanted a custom design, so I added a skin, created logo graphics, chose colors and after much php hacking (modification, that is—that’s where the wacky comes in–it’s something I never thought I would get into!) the wiki for the EA Connection Hub (EACH) was launched.
Check it out….what do you think? Any tips? Have you developed your own wiki?
